Sensational(ism)! Bully Out To Destroy Our Children... Again!
Everyone get on the horn, Bully is out to train our impressionable, precious, feeble minded children to lie, cheat, steal and brain each other. I hope the oozing sarcasm wasn't too subtle, because lets face it people, this game didn't destroy the youth the first time, it's not going to do it on the re-release. Today in the UK Telegraph, Bully has once again come under fire and the need to make uninformed guesses as to the content and "damage" it is going to cause children.
A violent new video game which is set in a school and encourages players to act out assaults on pupils and teachers has been condemned by anti-bullying campaigners and teaching unions.The game, called Bully, features a shaven-headed pupil who torments fellow students and teachers at his school.
Just.. wow, first paragraph and there are already grievous misconceptions about the most basic concepts of the game. To the author's defense, he is mostly feeding off what other people are saying about the game, later quoting Niall Cowley of BeatBully, and organization fighting to stop child on child violence.
We're disappointed this game was created in the first place. Some mindless people thought this was a fun, interesting piece of software to create, but it undermines all the hard work that organizations like ours are seeking to do.Our philosophy is about educating young people that bullying is not a cool thing to do, and this leaves us with a bad taste in the mouth.
I'm sure that this will fizzle out like the original fiasco that centered around this game. Most anyone who knows anything can make informed decisions about this game, and no matter how much bad press it gets there is no denying the fact that they simply don't know what they are talking about with this game. It's easy to look at the title and scream about it's supposed questionable material based on one out of context adjective. Rockstar is just this decade's Night Trap or Prince. The Tipper Gore's of the world are just hungry for a scapegoat.
Video game glorifies bullying, say critics [Telegraph]
[via GamePolitics]
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 21 January 2008
· Comments (7)
Other stuff like this: bully, jack thompson, poor fact checking, rockstar, scapegoat
I would sue the newspaper for not having their facts correct. Just because its called Bully doesn't mean its about bullying other people, but could be about helping others who are being bullied. For an example, if a book was titled Bully, people won't jump all over it like it was the anti-christ!
Sigh. I just...
...
... Sigh.
I really hate those feckless anti-bullying organisations.
They're just as bad as when you went to a parent or teacher about bullying. Lots of garbage advice that does nothing at all in real life.
I was bullied very heavilly in my younger years and I can tell you this game is exactly what a victim of bullying does need to play. It offers you a chance to retalliate where in the real world you can't. It's escapism that can make you defeat the bullies that plagued you.
But no, these dumbass organisations would rather you give your bullies a hug (because of course they're the misunderstood victims) and act surprised when you come back with a bloody nose.
Sickening!
Their ignorance regarding the content and tone of the game is astounding.
Pisses me off. As a boy who was bullied, and loves this game, it.. that.. pisses me off.
Pisses me off. As a boy who was bullied, and loves this game, it.. that.. pisses me off.
Funny this should resurface, because I finally got around to trying this game the other day.
Interesting that the game, at least from what I can tell so far, is about the main character GETTING bullied and having to defend himself.
And from what I can also tell, the solutions to the puzzles require 1.) you have to avoid breaking school rules, including wearing your school uniform, and 2.) making friends and cooperating with various social groups so that they stop bullying you.