Sliverus wrote:

I’m gonna go into a bit more detail on the game and why I think it’s not allowed.

Country Balls is a game where you try to take over the world, little by little, by playing as a country (represented by a ball with the flag’s insignia on it) and attacking the other country balls.

You can customize your country ball however you see fit. However, each country ball has a pre-set design that is incredibly stereotypical. I’ll show you some images. Sorry about the terrible quality. I blame the fact that it’s an Android phone that I took the images on.






It’s racist and stereotypical. Unfortunately, I’ve already conquered the entirety of the United States and can’t display an image of what it looks like for you, but America is the only country in that game that doesn’t look like a stereotype. It’s just wearing a military helmet and has a serious face.

Do you see what I mean? I don’t think this game is ok for Scratch if it’s portrayed like that. However, I wouldn’t say that they’re inherently wrong, but you’d need to change the way that country balls work in the game and find a way to make it non-racist.

Not all countryball projects are games…but yes those images of the games are totally racist steryo type

Sliverus wrote:

(#41)
I’m gonna go into a bit more detail on the game and why I think it’s not allowed.

Country Balls is a game where you try to take over the world, little by little, by playing as a country (represented by a ball with the flag’s insignia on it) and attacking the other country balls.

You can customize your country ball however you see fit. However, each country ball has a pre-set design that is incredibly stereotypical. I’ll show you some images. Sorry about the terrible quality. I blame the fact that it’s an Android phone that I took the images on.

(images are removed to shorten post)

It’s racist and stereotypical. Unfortunately, I’ve already conquered the entirety of the United States and can’t display an image of what it looks like for you, but America is the only country in that game that doesn’t look like a stereotype. It’s just wearing a military helmet and has a serious face.

Do you see what I mean? I don’t think this game is ok for Scratch if it’s portrayed like that. However, I wouldn’t say that they’re inherently wrong, but you’d need to change the way that country balls work in the game and find a way to make it non-racist.

Countryballs isn't a game, it's an artstyle, some of the country have a bit of stereotypes (America wearing sunglasses, Britain wearing a top hat, Poland being upside down, Canada wearing some sort of winter hat), but none of this is really offensive or hateful and it wouldn't be enough to be taken down

bump

Nightmare-Kirby wrote:

they will be gone soon and there will soon be only death of the countryballs then we will have to bring back a oldtime favorite..COUNTRYHUMANS

say [...]

Countryhumans are so controversial so PLEASE DON'T!

Nuclear_Melon wrote:

As an Australian I find stereotypes rather amusing, like ‘Oh yeah mate that’s cactus mate au yeah koala kangaroo every animal in this country is actively trying to kill me constantly.' Those are funny. It's usually just plain saying ‘Australians are dumb’ that's offensive. At least, for me. I can't really speak for 25.74 million people can I?

You forgot about “drop-bears” and all those “koalas are bears” things. They are not funny.

And yes, stereotypes can be amusing sometimes.

Sliverus wrote:

I’m gonna go into a bit more detail on the game and why I think it’s not allowed.

It actually originated from an art style on a website called Drawballs. People started using that art style for racist comic strips, such as this one, making fun of the fact that Poland can’t fly into space:

Or this one, making fun of Germany’s Nazi past:

I really apologize for the awful image hosting here. Technological restrictions make everything hard. But do you see what I mean? They’re not inherently bad, if used correctly.

It came from krautchan, not drawball, essentially german 4chan
Plus the 2nd comic is about how germany can't be openly nationalistic while other countries can because well i think you know why, not just making fun of it's past

Reviving topic….

IceCreamTub wrote:

Reviving topic….

same

NanoNerdNGU wrote:

Although, I know to absolutely REFRAIN from showing a sw@stika

Just popping in here to remind everyone that a swastika isn't a bad symbol at all. Yes the Nazis used it in a horrible way - obviously don't talk about that - but it's been around way before their time and was used by plenty of other countries, like India, in far better ways.

Cool--Scratcher wrote:

NanoNerdNGU wrote:

Although, I know to absolutely REFRAIN from showing a sw@stika

Just popping in here to remind everyone that a swastika isn't a bad symbol at all. Yes the Nazis used it in a horrible way - obviously don't talk about that - but it's been around way before their time and was used by plenty of other countries, like India, in far better ways.

Depends on context

Wake upppp

Any day now…

IceCreamTub wrote:

Any day now…

What are you asking for? Why do you want activity for the sake of activity?

Sliverus wrote:

IceCreamTub wrote:

Any day now…

What are you asking for? Why do you want activity for the sake of activity?

some people just like to watch the world burn
ANYYYWAYYYS i think we've got the answer now. countryballs aren't banned, but the reason a lot of them are removed is because of how sensitive the topic is. there were busloads of people reporting this to be closed, but i guess the message didn't get through, because yknow i'm still here
should this topic be closed now orrrrrrrr

My rule for whats allowed on Scratch or not is, if it can't be shown/said in a 4th grade classroom, then it's probably not suitable for Scratch.

Any discussion or imagery of no-no Germany or no-no Russia beyond simply acknowledging their former existence would likely not be allowed under those rules.

Interactions between country balls are usually based off of politics and the real world. Some political topics might be allowed in a 4th grade classroom, others likely not.

gavinskycastle wrote:

My rule for whats allowed on Scratch or not is, if it can't be shown/said in a 4th grade classroom, then it's probably not suitable for Scratch.

4th grade?
Talking about ww2 is allowed in a fourth grade classroom, talking about the president isn’t
And you can als9 see a picture of war or people shooting at each other so

I’d think kindergarden..

Prince_Wolf1 wrote:

gavinskycastle wrote:

My rule for whats allowed on Scratch or not is, if it can't be shown/said in a 4th grade classroom, then it's probably not suitable for Scratch.

4th grade?
Talking about ww2 is allowed in a fourth grade classroom, talking about the president isn’t
And you can als9 see a picture of war or people shooting at each other so

I’d think kindergarden..

I never learned about WW2 in Kindergarden and 4th Grade…I knew absolutely nothing about it until 5th Grade.

OWNERATORVIP wrote:

Prince_Wolf1 wrote:

gavinskycastle wrote:

My rule for whats allowed on Scratch or not is, if it can't be shown/said in a 4th grade classroom, then it's probably not suitable for Scratch.

4th grade?
Talking about ww2 is allowed in a fourth grade classroom, talking about the president isn’t
And you can als9 see a picture of war or people shooting at each other so

I’d think kindergarden..

I never learned about WW2 in Kindergarden and 4th Grade…I knew absolutely nothing about it until 5th Grade.

thats not what i mean..
i mean you can talk about it.we haven't learned about it yet (soon) but i mean you can talk abbout it and you can also see people shooting at eeach other or getting shot at in fourth grade

i think that anything you wouldn't show in a kindergarden or 1st grade classroom is a better thing too go by.
because you wouldn't show the boston massacar (the pictures) in a kindergarden classroom (most likely) but you learn about that in fourth grade

how would you not know anything about WW2 though?
they have books in the libarary about fake people but who live during WW2..
but also people talking about it, wouldn't you know about it?

They aren't banned.

I honestly don't understand how a ball with a country's flag on it can be stereotypical. I have never seen any offensive/stereotyping Countryballs since they were made like a year ago… There are Countryballs which are made after a specific ideology (like communism, socialism, etc.), but that's about as far as it goes.

Prince_Wolf1 wrote:

because you wouldn't show the boston massacar (the pictures) in a kindergarden classroom

There aren't any actual pictures of the Boston Massacre and any images are just historical representations of what it should've looked like, and most aren't inappropriate.

ajskateboarder wrote:

They aren't banned.

I honestly don't understand how a ball with a country's flag on it can be stereotypical. I have never seen any offensive/stereotyping Countryballs since they were made like a year ago… There are Countryballs which are made after a specific ideology (like communism, socialism, etc.), but that's about as far as it goes.

Prince_Wolf1 wrote:

because you wouldn't show the boston massacar (the pictures) in a kindergarden classroom

There aren't any actual pictures of the Boston Massacre and any images are just historical representations of what it should've looked like, and most aren't inappropriate.

Would you show it in a kindergarten classroom?

https://www.nps.gov/articles/images/Boston_Massacre.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false&quality=78&format=webp