Archive Maintainer : Please place in /graphics. =========================================================================== Advanced engine needed : None =========================================================================== Title : Geneva Convention-compliant medikits Filename : geneva.wad Release date : 2016-08-07 Author : id; uploaded by Simon Howard (fraggle) Email Address : [redacted] Other Files By Author : greenfish.wad Description : This WAD replaces the Doom medikits with medikits from the BFG Edition release of Doom that are compliant with the Geneva Conventions. =========================================================================== * Discussion * The Geneva Conventions are a series of international treaties signed by most countries which establish international law for humanitarian treatment during times of war. One detail of these conventions is the establishment of the red cross as a common symbol for neutrality on the battlefield; along with the red crescent, red crystal and red lion and sun, the symbol is used to identify non-combatants such as battlefield medics who should never be targeted for attacks. Because of the importance of these symbols as symbols of neutrality, most countries have laws restricting the use of them to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross and related societies. Using these symbols without permission can be a crime; see Title 18, subsection 706 of the US federal code, the Geneva Conventions Act in the UK, and the Canadian Trade-marks act (section "prohibited symbols") for examples. Many games, including Doom, have historically used the red cross on in-game powerups items to indicate that the item provides a health boost. Often this is inaccurate since real life health kits do not usually use a red cross; ISO 7010 E003 defines a white cross on a green background as the symbol for health. In 2006 the Canadian Red Cross began to actively campaign against the misuse of the red cross symbol in video games: The 2012 release of Doom 3: BFG Edition included a re-relase of the classic Doom games, with the medikits changed to replace the red cross with a red and white pill symbol. This WAD contains these modified sprites so that they can be used independently with any version of Doom by anyone who so wishes. * FAQ * The appearance of the pill sprites in the BFG Edition IWADs caused a lot of confusion, and in some cases even anger! This is an attempt to respond to some common questions and misconceptions about the sprites. Q1. How can the red cross claim copyright or a trademark over such a simple, abstract symbol? A1. The red cross symbol is not a copyright or a trademark; it is actually explicitly protected by international law (the Geneva Conventions). This is reflected by individual laws in many countries. If you used a trademark (eg. Coca-Cola logo) without permission you could be sued; in the case of the red cross, in many countries you could actually face criminal sanctions. See the laws cited in the discussion section above. Q2. This sucks - the red cross is a symbol of healing and a pill isn't! A2. That's not actually true. Firstly, the red cross is a symbol of neutrality, not healing - it is also used by battlefield chaplains for example. Secondly, the standard (ie. ISO 7010) symbol for healing used on real life medikits is a white cross on a green background, not the red cross. So the red cross used on the original medikit sprites is not even accurate or correct. Q3. Plenty of other games use the red cross. The red cross is a standard symbol of healing in video games and this should continue. A3. Lot of other games do use the red cross, but many other games are now making efforts to eliminate usage of it. For example, the 2010 iPhone re-release of Wolfenstein 3D replaced the red cross with a heart instead. The red cross is a pretty important symbol in terms of international law and deserves to be protected. Video games have traditionally used all kinds of symbols to indicate health - hearts, the letter "H", soda cans and turkey meals, to just name a few. The idea that the red cross has some special importance is pretty silly. If it's really essential, the white cross on a green background can still easily be used for the same result. Q4. You're some kind of medikit symbol nazi! Why are you telling me to replace my medikit sprites? A4. First of all, Nazi Germany was actually a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, so if you don't respect the red cross symbol, in some sense you're actually worse than the Nazis. But I'm not actually telling you to do anything. Nobody is forcing you to download and use this PWAD file. I mostly just find it interesting that the BFG Edition of Doom changed the medikit sprites, so thought it would be a nice idea to release a PWAD with the changed sprites so that people can see for themslves what the fuss is about if they don't own the BFG Edition. It was also an opportunity to include some discussion of the change along with this FAQ. Q5. The original berserk pack has a red cross but it is on a black background instead of a white one. Was this still illegal, and if not why have you replaced it? A5. It may indeed have been okay for the berserk pack. The US law protecting the red cross symbol (US code title 18 subsection 706) references "the Greek red cross on a white ground" as the symbol that is protected. I'm not sure if this is the case in all countries though. Regardless, the BFG Edition replaced the red cross on the berserk pack too so I included the modified sprite here, and it's nice to be consistent between power-ups. Q6. Why is this such a big deal? It's just a stupid cross. It's only a few pixels on a sprite. A6. Why indeed? Respecting the red cross symbol is the right thing to do. For some reason a lot of people seem very upset about how id changed the medikit sprites in the BFG Edition re-release. As you said, it's only a few pixels and really a rather inconsequential change to do the right thing. Q7. Isn't this "censorship"? A7. I don't think so, and I think complaining it is is pretty silly. Although the red cross is not a trademark (see Q1 above), you can make an analogy between the red cross and a trademark; it would be silly to think that game developers are being "censored" because they can't use the McDonalds or Coca-Cola symbols in their games without permission, for example. id made this choice of their own volition to comply with international law; as far as I know, no game developers have ever faced actual prosecution or lawsuits for using the red cross symbol. Even if you still believe this is somehow "censorship", it's still probably not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. Q8. Couldn't you have replaced this with (different colored cross, something else instead of a pill) instead? A8. Yes, but this is what appears in the BFG Edition. Q9. I found this WAD but I was actually searching for WADs which violate the Geneva Conventions. Can you help? A9. Apart from the obvious answer of "the original doom.wad or doom2.wad", you might want to check out redcres.wad (in /graphics in the idgames archive), which changes the medikits to use the Red Crescent symbol used in middle eastern countries. Q10. I am for some reason fascinated by this entire subject. Where can I read more about it? A10. An introduction, from Wikipedia: The ICRC's pages on the red cross symbol: Red Cross of Canada: "It may just be a game to you but, it means the world to us": Past discussions within the Doom community: =========================================================================== * What is included * New levels : None Sounds : No Music : No Graphics : Yes Dehacked/BEX Patch : No Demos : No Other : No Other files required : None * Play Information * Game : Doom Single Player : Designed for Cooperative 2-4 Player : Designed for Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Designed for Other game styles : None Difficulty Settings : N/A * Construction * Base : Exported from BFG edition IWADs May Not Run With : Vanilla Doom, because of the limitations on loading sprites from PWAD files; you'll need to import it into the IWAD using deutex or something similar. Tested With : Chocolate Doom * Copyright / Permissions * I claim no copyright over this WAD since I didn't make the sprites. Any copyright I do hold I release to the public domain. * Where to get the file that this text file describes * The Usual: ftp://archives.gamers.org/pub/idgames/ and mirrors