Curse

Fril Estelin · Sep 14, 2008, 08:57 AM // 08:57

What's your take on that?
http://kotaku.com/5048050/muslim-mas...ound-offensive

Quote:

"Muslim Massacre" Surprisingly Found Offensive

The top-down shooter Muslim Massacre instructs players to "Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons!" And that's pretty much it. Kicking off with a George W. Bush voice sample ("Let's roll!"), the player lays waste to scores of Muslims in a bloody 2D landscape, on city streets and soccer fields, with Robotron (or, if you prefer, Smash TV) inspired gameplay.

You kill hundreds of faceless men and women, some with suicide bomb vests, some unarmed, as you work your way up to "bosses" like Osama bin Laden and, ultimately, Allah. It's packed with tasteless stereotypes and unapologetic detached violence.

It's unwaveringly offensive by design — it's given the tagline "the game of modern religious genocide" — so it should come as no surprise that people are voicing their displeasure with the game. According to UK publication Telegraph, British Muslim organizations are up in arms over the shooter.

“Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive,” said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization.

Muslim Massacre, created by Something Awful forum goon Eric "Sigvatr" Vaughn, has been publicly available for a while now, but people are now starting to give it some attention.

We've played the game and found it to be a rather straightforward shooter, with a surprisingly well crafted visual style and retro 8-bit musical nods. It has allusions to 80s shooters like Contra and Ikari Warriors and is stupidly "patriotic" in its execution. It doesn't play particularly well, nor is it a bad game.

Muslim Massacre is, according to its creator "fun to play" but "The Muslims represented in the game aren't meant to be based on actual Muslims."

As for an after-the-fact artist's statement, Vaughn is quoted as posting on the SA forums that “If I was to try and come up with a meaning for the game at this moment, it would probably be something along the lines of metaphorically destroying the stereotypical depiction of a Muslim.”

Please refrain from flame and trolling as it is related to religions and can easily/quickly slide into a fight...

Note that the game author apologised and explained his intents on the game website:
http://www.muslimmassacre.com/

Quote:

An Apology

I would like to make a public apology for any offense that I might have caused through releasing this game, and to Muslims in particular. My intentions when releasing this project were to mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion. I would like to make it clear that I have never shared such a belief and my intention was to mock those who actually do believe these things.

It quickly became obvious to me that releasing this game did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people. I believe removing this game and website will do much more to attain my desired effect than leaving it on the internet, so I am doing just that.

I would like to ask for the forgiveness of Muslims around the world and to make it clear that I did not release this game with ill intent. So without further ado, I would like to say that I am truly apologetic for what I have done and will take full responsibility for all offense that has been caused. I can only hope that any further misgivings can be laid to rest.

Sincerely,
- Sigvatr

fenix · Sep 14, 2008, 09:05 AM // 09:05

It's only a game. If you are that upset by it, then you obviously unconsciously don't want people to make fun of your religion and how silly it is.

This game should be put back up, except versions of it made with Jews, Christians, etc etc etc. That way it's fairer to the other silly belief system.

enxa · Sep 14, 2008, 09:19 AM // 09:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mohammed Shafiq

“Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive,” said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization.

This statement would let me belive that encouraging children to kill 'generally' is ok, as long as that killing isnt discriminatory.

I am highly opposed to any kind of cencorship in video games (and in art, generally). The game will have its audience, it will not cause anyone who isnt already encouraged to kill(discriminate) muslims to suddenly become so after playing the game. Thats not how the mind works. So its ok as far as i am concerned.

(i will just note that i too belong to a discriminated group, so i can say that to an extent i understand what is going on here, but i still say no to any kind of cencorship)

Avarre · Sep 14, 2008, 09:26 AM // 09:26

This isn't serious business.

Kerwyn Nasilan · Sep 14, 2008, 10:28 PM // 22:28

Really people need to just stop being easily offended, It is a game. I am completely un-religious and personally think the world would be better off w/o it but that is not the point. Wanna make a game where you have to hunt down white atheists Americans and make them all weigh like 700 pounds with bags of McDonalds or whatever other stereotypes you can think off.

JupiterStarWarrior · Sep 15, 2008, 05:01 AM // 05:01

I personally am not of the Muslim faith, and I was slightly offended by the concept of the game. It would be totally different if the enemies in this game were terrorists instead of Muslims, because we all want to end Terrorism (except, obviously, terrorists). As for censorship, I almost agree. But, there is a fine line between being ridiculously offensive, and freedom of choice. I honestly think that a hate-game should be illegal (where the object of the game is to slay a particular group like Muslims, Christians, Whites, or Blacks). There is freedom of speech, but there is a responsibility that is present in that freedom.

Would I have played this game? Hell no. It was a stupid concept, and even though the creator of the game apologized for it and stated it was supposed to be a mockery, I don't buy it.

*tosses two pennies on the table and walks away*

komma · Sep 15, 2008, 05:04 AM // 05:04

i would luv to play this game.....but maybe i want to be the muslims effin stuff up in america. patch plz.

Issac · Sep 15, 2008, 10:04 PM // 22:04

Gotta say that its f&*ked up. And then they say the Muslims are the more screwed up people :S.

enxa · Sep 16, 2008, 09:54 AM // 09:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by JupiterStarWarrior

There is freedom of speech, but there is a responsibility that is present in that freedom.

The same goes to the press as well as the creator of the game. The media reporting on this game have probably caused more damage than the game itself, giving it publicity and attention and bringing it to the public, under some excuse of caring and whatnot, instead of letting it quietly and unnoticed circulate the underground websites and never reach anyone who wouldnt seek it anyway.

Etta · Sep 16, 2008, 10:32 AM // 10:32

Change the word Muslim into Terrorist and none of this poo poo would happen. Then again no one would give a damn about this motherloving game.

That Sigvatr guy is a mook anyway.