'Insensitive' - Outrage as famine board game creator clashes with Liveline listeners

Irish people have expressed their outrage at a new "insensitive" game about the Famine that has been created for the American market. 

'The Great Hunger: Ireland's tragedy in the 19th Century' was made by Compass Games.

It involves between two and five players representing families of tenant farmers and field hands attempt to expand their family across the map of Ireland before a card is drawn to say "the blight arrives." 

Players then must attempt to save as many people as possible by finding help or employment or by emigrating to the United States.

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"Victory is survival. When the blight finally abates, the family with the largest surviving population across Ireland and America will be deemed the winner," the game’s website states.

One of the its designers, Kevin McPartland, spoke to Kieran Cuddihy and a number of callers on RTÉ's Liveline yesterday.

"The game is a historic simulation game. It's a detailed look at a historic topic," he explained.

He added that it was "very immersive" and a way to learn about the Famine without "reading a book or watching a documentary." 

A number of people called the radio show to express their outrage with people calling it "insensitive" and "highly questionable." 

One man called in to say Kevin was "mansplaining" the Famine to Irish people and said that he "doubts very much that the Irish public will go out in their millions to buy your board game."

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Kevin responded to say the game is "not at all" for the Irish market; it's for Americans.

The next caller was a woman who said that what she dislikes is the notion of educating people through a game, adding that it was "highly questionable." 

She said there are a number of Irish-American lecturers across Ireland and America, and that would be a better way to learn about such a sensitive topic.

"There's just a sense of your history being condensed down," she explained.

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Another man called to say that the "diddly iddly" music in the trailer isn't even recognisable as Irish music and that the Irish accents are the "fakest" he's ever heard.

In contrast to the other callers, a woman called Rosita said she thinks it's a "really good idea." 

"I find any resource helpful. I mean, teenagers aren't going to go to a lecture about the famine, so if there's a game there brilliant, they can play that and then ask questions. It's increasing knowledge and that's a really good thing," she said.

You can watch the trailer for the game here.