– Nå ser vi en forbrytelse utført i vårt navn.
Reaksjonene på den russiske invasjonen av Ukraina har vært mange, og en rekke aktører i spillindustrien har startet kronerulling eller donert penger til å hjelpe Ukraina. Men det skjer også ting i Russland, et land der det ikke er helt ufarlig å stå opp mot regjeringen.
I Russland har nesten 2000 spillutviklere med russisk statsborgerskap signert et åpent brev der de kommer med krass kritikk av regjeringen og støtte til Ukraina. De ber også om en umiddelbar avslutning på krigen. Jeg velger å publisere en engelsk oversettelse i sin helhet her:
An open letter from Russian game industry workers against the war with Ukraine
We are video game developers and game industry workers. We are all citizens of the multinational Russian Federation. We create worlds, tell stories, create an opportunity for people to spend their leisure time in a bright and interesting way. Sometimes we make games about war, but we don’t want war to come out of monitors and TVs into the real world.
With this open letter we declare: WE ARE AGAINST WAR.
We call on the Russian authorities to stop hostilities on the territory of the sovereign Ukrainian state, return to their zone of jurisdiction and initiate negotiations on a peaceful settlement.
Over the past 30 years, we and our colleagues from neighboring countries, including Ukraine, have managed to build a unique ecosystem in the Russian-understanding region – a competitive industry and a professional community that creates world-class projects.
Russia benefited from this: we paid millions of dollars to the state budget, attracted new capital and highly qualified personnel to the country, created world-famous companies and brands that raise the image of our country abroad. We did this despite the lack of support from the state, and often in spite of its foreign and domestic policies.
Now all this can come to an end.
The close ties between the Russian and Ukrainian segments of the industries were already broken in 2014. On February 24, a new blow was dealt to them, from which it will be hundreds of times more difficult to recover.
The Russian financial system that we use is already under sanctions, and this puts our work and the well-being of our families at risk. In addition, the gaming industry is inherently global. Today, in the eyes of the whole world, Russia is the aggressor. The credibility of the Russians will fall everywhere. Without trust, any business relationship dies.
But the worst thing is that right now Russian troops are conducting military operations on the territory of Ukraine, destroying the peaceful life of ordinary citizens.
Many of us in Ukraine have relatives, colleagues, friends. Ukrainians and Ukrainian women are often our wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents. We are still in touch with them: we see and hear their fear, their pain, their confusion. Their determination, their anger, their hatred. There is no jubilation from what is happening. There is only the endless horror of war.
Stop this war!
No geopolitical reasons justify unleashing a bloody war with a neighboring state, with a fraternal people. And the mistakes and atrocities of other states, if they have taken place, are no reason to take on the role of the villain. We all bear the scars of the terrible wars of the 20th century. We know the price of shed blood, we have paid it more than once. We pay to this day. Unfortunately, we will continue to pay.
This war could and should have been avoided. We call for it to be stopped now before it goes even further.
De heldigvis ganske få apologistene her til lands kunne hatt godt av å lese det nest siste avsnittet noen ganger.
Individuelle utviklerstudioer har også gått ut mot krigen. Disse inkluderer Ice-Pick Lodge, en Moskva-basert utvikler som står bak mange kultklassikere, inkludert Pathologic og nylanserte Know By Heart. Her er deres uttalelse:
Hvor mye disse uttalelsene ender opp med å bety er vanskelig å si, men de indikerer i alle fall at mange russere er motstandere av det som skjer i deres navn.