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Many, many years ago I was told by a CEO of a big Swedish retail company that “There is no such thing as bad publicity, and any free pr is good pr“. Fair enough, I suppose. Nevertheless, at the time, I thought that his words were nothing more than pure rubbish. However, today I know better. You see, there is actually a whole lot of truth to it. And just earlier today I got the chance to witness such an example live before my very eyes. Please allow me to explain what I mean. As I was saying. I don´t know if you´re into dating simulators, but last week on the 9th of March DEVGRU-P (Darr Lehmann) released their Tank dating simulator “Panzermadels”.

Well, that´s no big deal right? I mean, there´s nothing controversial about dating tanks that look like sexy anime females in a computer game? (it´s just fiction after all). Well, so I thought at least. Especially since there already exist sother games and animes that use the same concept (military vehicles and warships that look like females). Just take “Kancolle“, for example. That IP is a really popular anime and online browser game.

“Kancolle” (Aka “Kantai Collection”) is a really popular anime and online browser game about girls who possess the spirit of Japanese warships.

So I was not all that much surprised to find out that DEVGRU-P´s “Panzermadels: Tank dating simulator” did really well on Kickstarter last year (182 backers pledged $4,379 in total on the 19th of June, 2015). It´s quite simply really, as Gamers appears to like the “military vehicles/battleships goes girlish” concept a whole lot nowadays (not to mention dating simulators in general). And that’s probably why people truly enjoy “Panzermadels” on Steam (so far the user reviews are very positive). So what could possibly go wrong with the release of the game? Well, due to “Panzermadels” mature (read “lewd”) content. “Some” people have accused the game of being “sexist“, “offensive“, “objectifying” and “triggering“. And I have to say that I find that to be rather saddning, because what has the world come to when you can´t even make a Tank dating simulator without having people up in arms over its existence?

Besides, it seems like those who don´t like “Panzermadels” automatic assume that it´s just straight males who have bought the game (that´s the vibes that I felt on social media at least). Sure, I don´t have the sales numbers for “Panzermadels” when it comes to males Vs females picking up the game. However, I do know that there are quite a lot of females out there (no matter their sexual orientation) that enjoys dating simulators of different kinds (even the really dirty one´s).

panzermadels tank dating simulator t 34 girl

Yes, that´s the female version of the T-34 tank.

Even so, I couldn´t help to notice one particular individual that trash talked “Panzermadels: Tank dating simulator” quite loudly on Twitter yesterday. And the person in question were none less than Giant Spacekat´s own CEO (Brianna Wu). So what did Miss Wu say then? Well, she stated that “Panzermadels” is nothing more than “anti-feminist filth” that objectifies the game´s females as sex objects. *Deep sigh* Right of the bat, apparently it didn’t occur to Miss Wu that the game is fictional and so is the game´s characters (male as female). And how can a video game be anti-feminist in the first place? Do you have to break some certain video game design rules in-order to become an “anti-feminist” title?

panzermadels tank dating simulator brianna wu

Miss Wu loves to get attention, so she does whatever it takes to get some media focus, ironically enough though. In this case, she gave quite a lot of free PR to the “Panzermadels” game.

I have no idea really, but let me rephrase all of that into a follow-up question instead. What defines a true feminist video game? Well, Anita Sarkeesian praised “The Syntian”. So that should give us a “little” hint about which games that deserve to get the “feminist approved” label I guess…Nevertheless, let´s not forget that miss Wu´s “Revolution 60” game got accused of sexism back in November last year. So I found it to be somewhat hypocritical that Wu even mentioned anything about “anti-feminist” and “sexual objects“, since her own game got accused of the very same thing last year.

In all fairness though, I think that people should be allowed to create and enjoy whatever games they like. I mean, does this sound harmful, sexist or evil game to you?’

“Erwin Lemmor just got transferred to a prestigious military academy to study Armored Warfare. But when he arrives, Erwin realizes it’s not Tank School, but “Tank School” for World War II Tanks. Who happen to look just like Japanese School Girls…!

Instead of studying military history and doctrine, he’s in “Basic Artillery Computations for Fire Support 101”, and “Radio Operations 214”. Will he win the heart of the tank-girls, or end up as cannon fodder? Only you can decide in, “Panzermadels: Tank Dating Simulator”.”

No dating game is complete without at least ONE beach scene.

Yes, that´s the actual product deprecation for “Panzermadels: Tank dating simulator” (you can watch the release trailer further down the page). As for the “would you go to bed with a tank?” question. Well, If a tank had the same looks as the girls in “Panzermadels” Then, sure, why not? Besides, make love not war right? 😉 (sex robots are already on the rise, so we “might” get to see some tank girls in the future as well?).

With that said. What do you think about all of this? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.