Get Rid of Werner Von Kerman or Playfully Acknowledge Dark Rocketry

[Jonfliesgoats]

There is a lot of dirty business associated with rocketry in the middle 20th century.  A number of pendants who should have faced trial for war crimes were sent to Huntsville, AL with operation Paperclip.  We quietly forgot the slave labor used for the construction of V2s in the hellish tunnels of Nordhausen.

If we are going to address these issues so that young rocketeers know that technology, any technology, come with dark applications, we ought to make light of these issues.  If we are going to omit any reference at all the dark genesis of the space race, Werner has to go.

Personally, I think there is something beautiful in that devices which were designed principally for weapons delivery and reconnaissance wound up uniting mankind.  In real life, former Pendants, Imperialists and Communists allowed Human beings to land on another celestial object.  That is a feat which is significant on an evolutionary level!

In addition to the physics and management this game allows people to experience, it allows us to consider these greater concerns regarding human priorities versus base tribalism.  An effort to exercise good taste while tackling these issues is always difficult, but it can be done.  Feigning sensitivity to these issues by avoiding them altogether is a missed opportunity.

Ethics of technology is something that KSP already lets kids experience.  They laugh as they leave Jeb marooned on Duna for years with naught but a smashed lander.  I would suggest missions where we launch cute pets, like Laika and space chimpanzees, for research.  I would also suggest we find a playful way to address the weapons and world dominating ideology behind these technologies.  (Caricatures of Kerbal Stalin?) Big ideas and big gambles come with space flight and rocketry.  KSP with its tongue in cheek nods to the loss of astronauts in mishaps, existing references to Pendant war criminals, potential to leave heroic kerbonauts stranded far from their home planet introduce kids and adults to these big ideas.  This can be done without having a mature rated game.  It just takes some good artists.

 

 

As an aside, I just wound up on the other side of earth having used satellite navigation and laser accelerometers. All this stuff was developed to deliver nuclear weapons!  Instead it helps me have ice cream in Japan!  Cool, no?

[Alshain]

Werner von Kerman had absolutely no part in the dark genesis of the 20th century space race, and in fact is completely fictitious and does not exist.  If for any reason Werner von Kerman attempts to convince you he does exist, please disregard it.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Alshain

[W. Kerman]

5 minutes ago, Alshain said:

Werner von Kerman had absolutely no part in the dark genesis of the 20th century space race, and in fact is completely fictitious and does not exist.  If for any reason Werner von Kerman attempts to convince you he does exist, please disregard it.

Reference to Werner Von Braun, who WAS a real person.

[Alshain]

42 minutes ago, W. Kerman said:

Reference to Werner Von Braun, who WAS a real person.

I'm well aware of the reference.  That's not the point.

[Vanamonde]

We actually had a huge fight about this on the forum a couple of years ago, and it turned into a nasty mess. We had to give out a lot of infractions, and I think a couple of people even got banned from the forum for remarks made in the heat of anger. The upshot of it all was that Werner von Kerman stayed as a reference to the real person's contributions to spaceflight, and whatever else he may or may not have done was beyond the scope of this game and forum. Let's please leave it at that.