Muslim Massacre Game Sparks Outrage
Muslim Massacre Game Sparks Outrage
September 10, 2008
Muslim Massacre, an amateur PC game, has drawn sharp criticism from Britain's Islamic community.
As reported by the Telegraph, the game was programmed by Eric Vaughn aka Sigvatr, an American who currently lives in Australia. The website for the game calls it "The Game of Modern Religious Genocide," and describes it as follows:
The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons! Don't be a liberal pussy!
Mohammed Shafiq, head of the Ramadhan Foundation, a U.K.-based Muslim youth organization criticized the game:
Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive. There is an increase in violence in this country and some of it comes from video games. When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence.
If it was the other way around, with a game featuring Muslims killing Israelis or Americans, there would be uproar and rightly so. We would urge ISPs to take action against sites like this.
For his part, Sigvatr was unapologetic in posts about his game on SomethingAwful:
I think it's pretending to be legitimate commentary and I'm sure there will be lots of people who defend it on those grounds, but ultimately it's just a game where you blow the gently caress out of arabs... Anyone is free to believe whatever they won't (sic) though, because I don't even know how to interpret it myself anymore. the bottom line is that I enjoyed making it and it's fun to play...
Comments
Another game, another ethnic group, it happens all the time, nothing special about it =/
Agreed. Perhaps the guy is one of those "All Palestinian Muslims are part of al-Qaeda" Vessels-Of-Fail. Any game that senselessly assigns a group of people as the bad guys (for example, if Anonymous makes a game where we have to destroy Scientology) is automatically an ULTIMATE Fail.
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I AM DOOMED TO HAUNT JACK THOMPSON'S DREAMS UNTIL HIS CRUSADE AGAINST VIDEO GAMES ENDS.
A game where we have to destroy scientology wouldn't qualify as ultra fail. A game where we just mow down everyone who believes in scientology (and I'm talking random followers) would qualify as "ultra fail" (now with lemon flavor).
Agreed, other groups have also been targeted by games (particularly the poor innocent freemasons) and have been quite acceptable, considering they don't encourage killing someone just because they belong
Well, here's another game, made outside of the legitimate game development community, that will be pulled as evidence that the ESRB isn't working even though it has nothing to do with them. Crap pisses me off on multiple levels. Proof that neanderthals are still alive in the technology age. Won't be long before Jack or some other a-hole with no real power but a loud annoying voice will start "trumpeting the warning of our doom!"
*yawn* Yet again.
Game is offensive to be sure, but Mr. Shafiq lost some sympathy with me the moment he stated the tired "kids + violent video games = real violence" BS.
Yup, he had my vote until he started uttering that garbage. Still, he's at least partially correct; the game is moronic.
You have to bear in mind that a lot of the general public has never really had any reason to consider that the 'games = RL violence' opinion forced down their throats might be incorrect. I'm friends with a couple of muslims and while the younger generations are very forward thinking, considerate and liberal; their parents are incredibly socially conservative. So it's not suprising that views like this would be held because nobody in the mainstream media has offered a legitimate challenge to it yet, sadly.
No. They. Aren't.
Second: this guy tried posting the game up in the ECA forums. We should have had this sooner, really.
/b
I don't think it became a story before there was a reaction. Before then it was just another horrible flash game on the Something Awful forums.
If GP had to report on every racist/idiotic/wordfiltered thing in the Something Awful forums there would be 2,000 posts here a day and there wouldn't be much room for actual gamepolitic news.
/b
It's just a game...If you don't like what it's about, don't play it.
A game designed in bad taste is still just a game. Inexcusibly offensive? Yes. Dangerous? No.
Didn't here the Russians complaining everytime we kill there whole country in a game.
That's because in Soviet Russia, their country kills us.
And it's 'hear' and 'their', sped.
I haven't seen someone use the term "sped" in years.
Ah nostalgia
So an Austrailian makes a game and some British guys complain about it? What exactly do they propose to do anyway? I doubt complaining about it will get the guy to voluntarily take it down.
Wait a friggin minute...
AUSTRALIA? isn't that the place where they wanted to ban fallout 3 because of some drug(?) use!?
I though he was an Ameri- um, I mean uh, Eric Vaughn? No I never heard of the guy. What's that? We dumped him off in Australia? No that plane was supposed to go to Ir--, um I mean no seriously, I never heard of the guy!
LOOK SHINY!
(darts off)
"When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence."
Call me crazy but when kids spend six hours a day on games I think they're less likely to go outside to do anything.
*slow clap*
You get the award for best comment of the day.
Agreed
Except pop down GameStation and get a bag of chips on the way back, of course.
May I please quote you?
ofcourse :)
To quote the late great George Carlin:
"You show me someone who spends all day sitting around playing games, watching porn and playing with himself and I'll show you someone who isn't causing any ****ing trouble"
This game is tasteless and stupid.
All games with that kind of graphics are
Played this a while back when it was posted on SA, and its surprisingly fun. Tasteless for sure as well.
And no one complains that Americans are portrayed as a bunch of knuckle dragging, war mongering fiends? Hardly gentlemanly, I suspect the... creator of this little horror had a political ax to grind against the United States. Thus the rather negative view he takes. Did anybody look at this? I'm an American, a citizen of the United States and I resent this kind of pig headed bias. But of course, he can say any damn fool thing he wants naturally about that.
Oh no it's just that the british islam community (the people complaining) don't care about the representation of the U.S. I'm sure that if you showed it to certain Americas they'd raise up a fuss as well. Let's hope they don't hear about it though, it'd be a pity if this game turned into the next virginia tech rampage or whatever it was called.
I noticed it too.
That's the first thing I thought, except I looked at it less like "Oh no, a game juxtaposing America with Nazi Germany" and instead thought "Yay! A game juxtaposing America with Nazi Germany!" Then I see Muslims getting offended by the game and they're either missing the satire entirely, or the game isn't at all what I think it is.
Is that graphic of the man with the bandana, ripped from something. I could have sworn I have seen it before.
Although the game is in poor taste, it is only a game and not going to cause the damage people seem to think. For one, less than 1% of the children of the world will have heard of it. and less than 1% of those will have played it. Less than 1% of those will base their view of Islam and attack those people because of this game. (I think I am on the high side of those statistics.)
I don't think we have a problem.
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Rambo?
Street Fighter?
Not sure, it just looks like something from an NES game.
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Contra? Cabal? Double Dragon?
Looks like Cabal to me
This game sure does sound offencive, and I don't mind harsh criticism for this game because genocide is not good, nor this game doesn't seem to be against genocide since it's an "American War Hero" killing an entire race.
But another problem is how some people acting like that this is going to cause real life violence. I know that if we even go with the book Grand Theft Childhood, they do say 6 hours of violence does increase aggression, but no violence at all has the same effect, so a little bit of violence is good. Also, kids don't play 6 hours a day on violent video games, and if so, the parents need to kick them off and make them do some sports, or family time.
And last time I checked, violence in America is going down like crazy. I know that in Britain, violence is still going up, but it shows that video games aren't the cause. Maybe keep kids away from the streets, and do something that would make a life out of. From what I heard about Britain education system, it seems very harsh and unforgiving.
Remind me, how is Muslum outrage news?
Easy. Cause this is a new STORY. It's not just about them being angry, it's about a new flash game that is being considered controversial.
Yeah, if I remember correctly, everything pisses them off: opinions they don't like, people taking about Muhammad, their women acting like anything other than family pets...
And pork.
And pork. I ask you, what has the poor pig done to deserve such hatred? Pigs are cool.
I'd guess be prone to food poisoning.
oh com'mon. It's not like that.
There are only some terrorists that have wrong beliefs. Rest is good :]
Didn't they kill some 3000 innocent "Americans" some 7 years ago?
Yeah you're right, all muslims care about is suicide bombing and killing other people. /sarcasm
And all we care about is killing muslims virtually.
What's your fucking point?
Scratch that. What's whoever the bitching muslim was's point?
Some terrorists killed people in WTC not muslims.Seconldy such games shows hatred against a community. Its a start of another holocaust. Germans of that time also said the same.."Its just not buyin stuff from the jews" it ended up in killing of around 6 million innocent people.2day its just a game,2morrow they will b a better version.
No you are wrong. They are normal people like me you.
Seems like just another game made for tongue-in-cheek commentary, in particular the video games that terrorists use to train suicide attacks. Vaughn, the game's creator basically says "Hey Al-Qaeda, now we have our own 'jihad' game on religious supremacy." But unlike that terrorist group he's not actually serious about carrying it out.
I can understand how Muslims would be ticked and I'll just leave my oppinion at that.
So its wrong when an American makes a game where you kill muslims, but when a muslim makes a game that kills Israelis, it's fine?
Double standards, eh?
Fundamentalists always have double standards when it comes to stuff like this.
Like with that Satanic Verses thing; the guy writes fiction and they order a death sentence on him. They kill other people only loosley connected to the thing and they consider it heroic.
Right now, the liberals are facepalming.
Has anybody else read "Satanic Verses"? I seem to be the only person I have ever heard of who has actually trawled all the way through it... scratch that, YAWNED all the way through it. A relentless torrent of Beauloux.
Salman Ruchdie, the safest medically-proven cure for insomnia yet discovered.
And I have no religious axe to grind...
Muslim "race"? What an idiot.
Let's see: Some moron came out with a "Let's kill the Jews" videogame, would that send off any alarm bells? It should.
What if somebody made a cop-killing game? Or a prositute-killing game? Can you imagine such a thing?
How about a Kill Posters at Kotaku and Those Who Run that site game? Maybe then somebody in the video game biz would wake up. Duh.
Jack Thompson
Somebody already made one of your videogame ideas. You said you would send money to a charity. You didn't. You backed out on your word. Have fun collecting unemployment.
You do realize that he's quoting the article right? You just hate everyone and everything (including the Telegraph it seems) don't you?
Everyone has a right to create whatever they choose John, shouldn't you be defending that as a 1st amendment expert?
Or we could play the "bad lawyer killing his own career" game. Oops...is that a bit to close to reality for you? Wait...do you even know what reality is?
Name one cop-killing game. Name one prostitute-killing game. Go on.
No, GTA doesn't count. Being able to do something in a game doesn't mean you have to. GTA is a do-whatever-the-hell-you-want-to game. You can spend six hours a day driving an ambulance if you feel like it.
There is no goal in GTA to kill cops or prostitutes. You just can if you want to - the game has guns, and it has cops. Something has to happen if you point one at the other. You can do those things in real life too, you know. Does that mean life is about killing cops?
Actually you are wrong on that. GTA DOES have sections of games where you have to kill police officers in order to progress and I'm pretty sure it isn't alone in that sort of "escape from the cops" reverse hero scenario. However I could name you about 100 movies that have the same thing.
There are no prostitute killing games that I am aware of though outside of sandbox environments.
Wow, you actually started off quite civil and I was actually enjoying reading you commenting on the site. Then I got to the third sentence and you resorted back to the same ol' same ol'
The goal of the game above is to kill all muslims. That is the purpose of the game. GTA's goal is not to kill as many cops and prostitutes as possible.
With your final suggestion, that actually comes across as pretty threatening. If someone were to make a similar comment about you, you would be threatening Dennis with a lawsuit right now.
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Seconded, man.
"I told you he can be civil." -Locnil
He's right. I saw it with my own eyes.
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I AM DOOMED TO HAUNT JACK THOMPSON'S DREAMS UNTIL HIS CRUSADE AGAINST VIDEO GAMES ENDS.
My day wouldn't be complete without my daily dose of JT flavored fail, thanks alot!
-- "Jack and listen are two words that don't go together...just like Jack and sanity, Jack and truth, Jack and proof, Jack and win..." -- sortableturnip | http://www.orangeloungeradio.com/
Funny how noone has made a Jack Thompson killing game...
Jack, why don't you go play an attorney simulator and get real good at it?
BTW, Jack, not posting on JAABlog anymore? Did they start blocking your postings?
Sure they have. GP reported on one quite a while back. Here's another:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/386525
Andrew Eisen
I am astounded, as always, at an instant assumption that if an action occurs in a game, the game is endorsing it.
(thanks to whichever Anonymous typed this line)
How 'bout a game where you kill the forces of Satan? Oh wait, that was Doom, and you were the only one who had an outrage.
Oh, and prostitutes are criminals, not lawful contributors of society like most police are. Yes, there are some cops who break the law, planting marijuana in order to have sex with unsuspecting women and such, and don't deserve to be protected.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
"How about a Kill Posters at Kotaku and Those Who Run that site game?"
Myself, as someone who has posted at Kotaku frequently in the past I have to say that would be an awesome idea! So any game developers out there I give my full permission to use my likeness to commit digital homicide against.
You see Jack as I, unlike you, can seperate fantasy from reality I have no qualms about having a digital representation of myself murdered frequently an worldwide.
How about a Kill Posters at Kotaku and Those Who Run that site game?
seeing as how you have posted at Kotaku quite a few times Jack, I'm assuming you have suicidal tendencies.
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
Keep making your hypocritical death threats Mr. Thompson.
One week until you lose your power.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Anyone down to make a "Disbar Jack Thompson" game?
Seriously, there are definitely some design opportunities that would be easy to pull off...
-Every time Jack tries to talk louder, slam your gavel down and yell "order in the court" (Perfect for the Wiimote)
-When Jack holds up an oversized sign that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the matter at hand, the player can either take it upon themselves to remove the sign or signal for the bailiff to tazer Mr. Thompson
-Players must recognize which incoming motions are legitimate...and which motions are from Mr. Thompson.
-The finale allows players to use simple facts and logic in order to aggravate Mr. Thompson the most. The best endings can be achieved when Jack either walks out of the courtroom before a decision is made and he is spouting conspiracy theory, or Jack announces that he be pursuing a career as... I dunno... a sign twirler.
Duh's not a word Jackie
And how dare you compare this aberration of a game to the art of GTA? First; targeting an ethnic group IS wrong, killing corrupt leeches of the law ISN'T wrong
Second; I am quite convinced that we can all agree "Kotaku Kraze" (generic name for a Kotaku killing game) would be quite fun
Sincerely;
James DuBois
P.S.
Go to Hell
Second; I am quite convinced that we can all agree "Kotaku Kraze" (generic name for a Kotaku killing game) would be quite fun
especially since Jack himself posted on Kotaku and thus would be one of the people killed, figuratively speaking
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
I am astounded, as alwasys, at an instant assumption that if an action occurs in a game, the game is endorsing it.
Why does Law and Order special victims unit keep on endorsing rape and muder?
Agreed. I could make a game where all you do is kill little children, that doesn't mean I endorse it or think it's even remotely acceptable, I just think it'd be an interesting/fun game idea (which I mean, come on, some people would have fun with it, and it's nothing to get offended about).
This shows how sick one can be...
it's just a game where you blow the gently caress out of arabs
I see that somebody doesn't have a forums account.
what if this Sigvatr got kidnapped by a group of radical Muslim group:
RM: American Infidels! We have taken your great hero Sigvatr hostage, and we will-
(phone click)
RM: Hello? Hello?
Muslim race? i didnt know that there was race called muslims.
As a muslim I gotta say, it's a badly designed game. I couldn't care less about WHO's getting blown away or WHY. The game by design is stupid, so try as I might, I couldn't get OUTRAGED. All in all, we won't remember this game or it's creator in a month.
It's certainly offensive to me. For obvious reasons. Considering the amount of offensive material available all over the 'net though, it's not a big deal.
As for you Jack, have you grabbed that Wal-Mart application yet? Don't forget to be sincere when saying "Welcome to Wal-Mart!" And try not to sue. Old habits die hard y'know.
yet, they're incouraged to kill us.
Normally I'm one to defend a game that draws criticism just for it's content. SCMRPG is a game that's mediocre but it has a good message behind it and can do a lot fo good (initiating discussion, putting people into a different frame of mind about the events, ect) from what I can see of this (no I haven't played it and I hate giving judgement without doing so) there is no message, no agenda. It's just killing Muslims which frankly is stupid, irresponsible, and offensive.
Bottom line, making such a broad judgement on such a large group and then asking people to "wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons! Don't be a liberal pussy!" is extremely ignorant and just plain stupid.
And this is one reason I'm glad to be an Atheist.
United we Stand, Divided we fall.
sat·ire [sat-ahyuh
r] - noun
-The Bird
"When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence."
Call me crazy but i don't think anyone will even spend six hours a lifetime on that game. Boxhead already perfected that type of game, and boxhead is only funny in about 10 minutes before it gets old.
I don't really think Kotaku would have a spazz attack if someone were to make a game depicting their deaths. Maybe that's because they have enough brain cells to realize that it wouldn't inevitably lead to their demise at the hands of some "crazed gamer" (LOL). They'd probably find it more humorous than anything else.
"When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence."
When kids spend six hours a day playing video games they are more likely to stay inside and play more video games.
uh, i studied laws of islam and those terrorists are breaking every one of them!
"SILENCE SIGVATR !!!!! I KILL YOU !!!!"
LOL!!
Well well, the media put their finger on the pulse of post-9/11 world 7 years on and probably had kittens when they discovered this totally 'new' game that's brand new and new, although it's old news already.
I remember when Carmaggedon came out and they had to replace the people splatting red blood with zombies that splatted green goo instead. It didn't really bother me too much because I still got to run over things that looked like people (and sounded like them!) That's why I like computer games. I get to do things I don't normally do in real life.
This game isn't even realistic like COD4 and it's essentially the same two groups of people. I like the muslims I've met, but I don't know the muslims I haven't met because we've never met. They probably would be offended by this game because they are muslim, and muslim people have a strong set of beliefs.
I'm not really offended by it, because I don't have a strong set of beliefs. I'm probably desensitized because I've played hundreds of games where I kill Russians, Americans, Britons, Australians, and Pyros. However, I don't think I've played many games where I kill people who follow a particular religion - apart from Doom of course (they worship Satan in that one).
Overall, it could have been a game about killing aliens, or Jews, or 16-year-old-LAN-party-geeks, and would still be the same. The only difference is at this particular moment in the history of the world, quite a lot of people are paranoid about anyone who follows Islam because of what some muslims did to their country because of what their country did over a prolonged period to an entire region of countries where the majority of the population are muslim.
Did that make sense? Probably about as much as this debate about pixels.
Pretty good fun. Some of them are quite tricky to kill. Managed to get past Osama (who orders planes to crash on you) but then got killed by a bloke with a rocket launcher.
"When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence."
Yeah right, and who commands the muslim children to recite the quran believing it's their duty to "KILL THE INFIDEL WHERE EVER YOU FIND THEM" ?? (among 160 other verses designed to cause them to hate non-muslims)....where do terroists come from?...they are children who were brainwashed by their muslim peers and fed on the evil ideology of islam. People in glass houses shouldn't be throwing stones.
Fuck Allah!! and kill the muzzard race! ...thats how the good fight prevails over evil ...kill them all and lets get on with living together without some evil spawn deceptively devouring all our freedoms through both passive and forced infiltration of our homelands. Islam means to have us all submit to their demands...I for one will never submit...I'd rather die taking them with me than to submit (islam) myself to their evil indoctrination and evil Allah!!
Guess what..we are offended when 102 people die because of some cartoons.
I love it. I can't wait for Trig to grow up so he can play.
DONT BAN THE GAME; BAN THE TERRORISTS!
Well my feelings were hurt on 9-11. Those freekin crybabies can piss up a rope! How many "Honor killings" of young girls will be commited today by those maniacs? Send them all back to their dessert ratholes.
REMEMBER 9-11 AND OVER 3000 INNOCENTS MURDERED
What happened to games being fun to play? It's a fantasy. I would like to have tried a demo on 9/11 to see what the fuss is about, but now it is censored. Shouldn't all shoot 'em up games, movies and books be banned too?
The game appears to be based on the fullfillment of Muslim doctrine and fatwahs. What is the issue with pretending to send them to pair-of-dice if it makes the player feel good? We pretend to send Nazi's to Hell in games.
If this game was about Muslims killing Jews and Christians for fun or religious reason, there would not be the same controvercy.
Free speech cuts both ways, so let sales decide if this is a "good" game or not.
Don't cencor the gamer's artistic rights and programming code. Even if you think it is evil, "Trash has a Right to be Trash" in a Free World.
Love,
4 Profit on Earth
When you can't do anything just take you frustration out on a game. With all this sophisticated technologies these days you will still never be able to find Osama in real world.
He is so damn good for you people. Enjoy!
Peace should prevail and all races have right to have one.
But I see here, people mostly complaining about Islam and Muslims. Free World doesn't mean you are free to hurt others physically or emotionally.
If there would have been a game of Muslim hero killing all christians or americans... we as muslims would still condemn it. Killing germans in your games isn't good at all. this will ultimately arise a essence of hatred. Yes it was in real history but doesn't mean you scratch the dust over it from time to time and revive the essence of those times.
Normally we play games where we kill bunch of bad guys, robbers, criminal gangs etc... but this one by Eric Vaughn totally reflects hatred about Muslims and eliminating race!!! Most of you wouldn't know Islamic laws and thus spilling out hatred. You have to judge Islam by its teaching but not the followers. Act of terrorism and honor killings are against Islamic laws too.
The guys who are cursing ALLAH and Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]... GET A LIFE. Its same as cursing Jesus [PBUH], Moses [PBUH] or any Prophet. Ever heard of Muslim cursing other GODs or Prophets? No.
[Quote]
Yeah right, and who commands the muslim children to recite the quran believing it's their duty to "KILL THE INFIDEL WHERE EVER YOU FIND THEM" ?? (among 160 other verses designed to cause them to hate non-muslims)
[/Quote]
YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT IT.
If you are a game lover, try spending 6-8 hours a day playing racing games or hunting zombies.
Islam is about PEACE!!!
Peace should prevail and all races have right to have one.
But I see here, people mostly complaining about Islam and Muslims. Free World doesn't mean you are free to hurt others physically or emotionally.
If there would have been a game of Muslim hero killing all christians or americans... we as muslims would still condemn it. Killing germans in your games isn't good at all. this will ultimately arise a essence of hatred. Yes it was in real history but doesn't mean you scratch the dust over it from time to time and revive the essence of those times.
Normally we play games where we kill bunch of bad guys, robbers, criminal gangs etc... but this one by Eric Vaughn