KZ manager
Encyclopedia
KZ Manager is a name shared by many similar resource management
computer games putting the player in the role of a Nazi
concentration camp "manager", where the "resources" to be managed include, depending on the version of the game, prisoners (either Jews
, Turks
or Gypsies), poison gas
supplies, "normal" money and various equipment, as well as "public opinion" on the "productivity" of the camp.
. However, ordering said gas costs money, which can be gathered by forcing the prisoners to work.
Spending too much time without a "sufficient" number of executions makes "public satisfaction" drop, and having too few working prisoners will soon drive to a resource shortage, and closing of the camp, thus losing the game. Also, prisoners must be "purchased" by the camp's "manager", and the corpses of the deceased prisoners must be disposed of (the game describes them as "Müllberg", German
for "garbage mountain " or "pile of garbage"), an operation which also has an associated cost.
Like other resource management games, this means that ultimately the goal of the game is trying to find an optimal balance and timing between expenses, income, actions and "production goals", although with a highly controversial twist.
, text mode
games, graphical DOS
versions as well as a Windows
version, called "KZ manager millennium". According to a 1991 article by Linda Rohrbough , an Amiga
version seems to exist as well. Gameplay and graphics of the Amiga version and its 256 color DOS port were far more advanced than in the original C64 game.
Resource management
In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective deployment of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or information technology...
computer games putting the player in the role of a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
concentration camp "manager", where the "resources" to be managed include, depending on the version of the game, prisoners (either Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
or Gypsies), poison gas
Zyklon B
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
supplies, "normal" money and various equipment, as well as "public opinion" on the "productivity" of the camp.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to keep the camp functioning by keeping the "public opinion" or other important resources and gauges over or under a certain threshold. In one version, public opinion rises when the "manager" executes a number of prisoners with Zyklon BZyklon B
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
. However, ordering said gas costs money, which can be gathered by forcing the prisoners to work.
Spending too much time without a "sufficient" number of executions makes "public satisfaction" drop, and having too few working prisoners will soon drive to a resource shortage, and closing of the camp, thus losing the game. Also, prisoners must be "purchased" by the camp's "manager", and the corpses of the deceased prisoners must be disposed of (the game describes them as "Müllberg", German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for "garbage mountain " or "pile of garbage"), an operation which also has an associated cost.
Like other resource management games, this means that ultimately the goal of the game is trying to find an optimal balance and timing between expenses, income, actions and "production goals", although with a highly controversial twist.
Versions
The game has been remade several times during the 1990s, with the earliest versions being DOSDOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
, text mode
Text mode
Text mode is a kind of computer display mode in which the content of the screen is internally represented in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of character cells, each of which contains one of the characters of a...
games, graphical DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
versions as well as a Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
version, called "KZ manager millennium". According to a 1991 article by Linda Rohrbough , an Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
version seems to exist as well. Gameplay and graphics of the Amiga version and its 256 color DOS port were far more advanced than in the original C64 game.