April 17, 2008 -
The Sharjah municipality in the UAE has banned Sony's God of War, according to a report in Gulf News.Government officials apparently felt that the game, rated M in the U.S. market, violated local norms. From the Gulf News report:
A UAE national said he was one of the people who was shocked to discover that the game was distributed in commercial areas...
"I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values," said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.
The permanent fatwa committee has instructed all concerned government departments to forbid the sale of such games and to confiscate them.
Comments
Sounds like GP may have misread the Gulf News article. Reading it myself, it appears that the article is actually about a crackdown on sales of said banned game (or pirated copies of it).
For some reason, I doubt that it was banned for the violence. Most likely, they didn't like images of boobs and references to Athena and Zeus.
Harmful psychological effects? It would seem to me you have your causation backward. It is not Christianity (or any other religion or interpretation, extreme or otherwise) that makes people psychologically 'weak,' it is the psychologically weak that seek out (sometimes frightening interpretations of) religion to satisfy their needs.
I'm also not implying that only the weak seek out religion, only that many of the weak find comfort there.
It always frustrates me to read the not-so-subtle hypocrisy in these threads. Some of you hate the way the more obnoxiously vocal members of these groups generalize and exaggerate, so you do the same in return. Rise above, people.
TBH at the core, religions (most monotheologic) all teach the same basic fundimentals: Treat others respectfully, do good, dont do bad, die and go to better or worse place depending on what rules you followed during life. Then you just just add minor diferences, change names and events and there you have it. Its basicly just saying: good = reward, bad = punishment.
But there are people, and always will be people who intrepret things in thier own way. People (as in human nature) are greedy and selfish and will always abuse power and manipulate things to fit thier needs. These people will often influence and convince other people (a vast majority of humans are sheep, so willing to follow along with a charasmatic voice) to follow along and belive what they say. This is where all the zealots and wars and fighting between the religions come from, not the religion but the people and figures who are in charge of said religion. Humanity can be a sick creature and with so many sheep in its populace if the shepard says that the sky is red then the sheep will belive it till they die. This is where all the conflict comes from and ends up being a "My god is bigger than your god" argument.
I mean seriously, look at just christianity, all the sub-factions of it, catholics, penicostals, babtists, ect, ect, all follow the bible and its teachings...but each group belives that they are right and the others are wrong just cuz they intrepret things differently.
I just have a problem with organized religion, I know what I belive in (basicly still christianity) but I dont want to be clumped in with any group, because then you just get into petty squabbles. Too much "Humanaity" in them. and by humanity I mean corruption, hypocracy, selfishness...not in the core teachings but in the general concensious of the sub-religion.
So I say the world should stop with my dick is bigger and better, its just the over-zealous and fanatical morons who decide to kill another in the name of a god and religion, cuz correct me if Im wrong but no where does it say in any religious text (again monotheologic, bible, quaran, ect.) that you should shun and kill another just cuz they dont like you, have different opinions or live on a certain land. History has been filled time and time again will mass-genocide in the name of religion: catholisim, christianity, muslim. Will anything change? No. Religion is a cause that many will rally too and there will always be humans who take advantage of those who have pure intentions and pervert them for their own personal gain.
But those with a free will and an intelligent mind should acknowledge that its not the religion that is bad (most of the time) but rather the people who misintrepret it and act blindly, either out of manipulation, ignorance, over-zealous, or personal selfish reasons to justify their actions. Thats just my 2 cents on the matter.
Honestly though, I'm sure that under the tenants of Islam, there are many things that this game would butt heads with. However its the wackos that hold those tenants a little too dear that cause all the problems in the world.
Best. Quote. Ever.
Seriously, what is the big deal about nipples? It's ok to see a guy's nipple but ZOMG we can't see a woman's nipple! Nowadays it's ok to show 98% of the boob so long as the nipple itself is hidden... WTF? Someone care to explain the logic behind that?
The erect, female nipple is considered sexual by the creepy, prudish little freaks that run showbusinness. Most of them are men. Some are flat chested women(jealous much?).
I don't think the UAE is as harsh as the other countries. I've heard that it's more "Westernized".
Wonderfully said, religion at its core is not the problem, humans grouping together and creating messed up rules to make them selfs feel better about them selfs or their group is, and thats a fundamental part of humanity.
Jeff
prudish mentailies run deep is every other modern civilization.
But yeah, showing the whole mammary gland is ok, as long as you don't reveal the orifice? Seems rather... silly. Then again, where do you draw the line, if not at the nipple? Is there an arbitrary line across the breast that is the "don't show below here" line?
As for the religion angle, I'm apathetic. Personally, I think religion is a lot like freedom. You can have yours as long as it doesn't mess with mine. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem tied up in making sure that other people aren't breaking the tenents of the first persons religion. They claim it isn't moral, but they define moral based on their own religion, the religion of the majority.
So you are a South Eastern Clockwise Orthodox Stevejobsian. That's fine until you say that PC's are against your religion, so the PC store will have to shut down.
The grey area's are when you say that a religion shouldn't mess with the freedoms or religions of other people. You have two sides to that argument:
1: Who are you to say what we can and can't forbid? Are you the World Police?
2: I am the voice that speaks for those that can't. If I don't protect their freedoms, then who will?
Which is the correct way to look at that problem? I dunno, go ask Janis.
(Please note that I didn't single out any religions, nor did I claim that religion in and of itself was a problem. In the end, it is people that cause all the problems.)
So then, your point is, like many, that you can believe what you want, just so long as it does not negatively impact someone else?
If so, I agree.
@Stu
And how.
look at TBN and the subtle undertones it has agisnt thos of non faith, one can draw comparasons to anythign else really, altho they still more of a problem with "its ok because we are doing it mentality"....
Yes, those bad things mentioned *are* Islamic values, if you read the Qur'an. These are also Christian and Jewish values, all the same. The fact that most people we have contact with ignore certain values which more obviously compromise human decency and modern law does not prove that they are not taught by Abrahamic religions.
To jump full force into Godwin's law here for a moment, just because some Nazis secretly helped people etc, does not mean Hitler preached tolerance and understanding. These people just ignored him at times.
When I think about it some more, and reading some info on UAE, I think it was a combination of nudity (and off-screen sex), non-Islamic gods, and the heavy violence that made them ban it. I disagree with the decision, though.
Many people say why banned a game that been out for years. This country is most likely moving away from the first playstation and the PS2 is the hot new thing. I remember 5 years ago, I meet a person who said that the N64 was the new thing.
Yeah, cause Islam was around before Greek mythology... /sarcasm
Sorry, those "values" didn't exist for another couple thousand years.
To each his own, but I fucking hate all religion, I just see it as another roadblock preventing humanity from evolving mentally. (i.e: stop fucking harming each other.)
I personally find them extremely ignorant and bigoted. Take a look at Lavarock up there. Has no idea what a Christian value, teaching, or whatever you want to call it is at all.
http://kotaku.com/380674/uae-state-enforces-god-of-war-ban#c5230088
They're just assuming that the people they see on TV pretty much sums up every remotely religious person out there.It's kinda sad,seeing as how we're trying to fight the stereotypes about gamers that say we're nothing more than violence stirring,rape condoning barbarians,and they're stereotyping religious people based on what they see on TV,it's VERY hypocritical.
I'm well aware of why, I just don't approve. If your going to say that a certain religion preaches anything at all, you should at least be familiar with it's teachings. I find it understandable, I just don't like it.
Well spoken.I'm a Christian myself,Libertarian in views.
I understand free speech,it was just a little bit irritating hearing them sputter on about something they really don't about.
I'm sure it's just in KSA. I think the reason behind it is that some groups kept complaining about Pokemon being Jewish and similar random BS, until Government officials believed them and banned it.
1. Too many flamers blasting a a belief system they know too little about.
2. Previous scholars have studied both religion and science in-depth before, proving that this great "divide" we're creating between the two disciplines is based on ignorance. Ask the Jesuits. Heck, ask Guy Consolmagno S.J.
Please don't ban me!
Not sure, but I hear he's still here trolling, albeit under a different moniker.
Ooh, intrigue! Things at GP.com just got a bit edgier... ;)
meh I don't mind tossing water on the flamers and numbing up the overly sensitive devout heads.
JustChris
Very interesting point,it works on a few levels.
One can say traditional point of views works like that IE outmoded philosophy/law/old fashion stabilizing factor.
THAT is why I love to live in America, but with guys like Jack Thompson, we may need to move to the moon pretty soon.
"ok, thx for claryfing that. that’s the same thing in christianity and other religions too:"
I'll avoid the religouse issue, nothing I could say would change the mind.
@ New Spectrum
Might want to look into Buddism, it's not a true religeon. Religeon is not a bad thing by far, nothing in ANY holy book says that you can't prosue what you want from life, as long as it doesn't hurt another person.
@Everyone else
The reason this MOST LIKELY took so long to get a ban was because importining took this long, banning was most likely do to a high anger towards something breaking an important tenet in Islam (the nudity.) Or something as simple as a buckle to threats or a cleric not wanting the game to be played.