"We should note that Billy Suicide is an amateur game, not the product of the commercial video game industry."

Like they give a shit.

Indeed. Is it offensive? Possibly. The goal of the game is NOT to kill yourself... Furthermore, it is unlikely people without severe psychological disturbances or grossly illogical thinking would attempt suicide after seeing it in a game, especially when it's an unwanted consequence. 

When people commit suicide they have, generally speaking, a very primal line of thought. Thinking about suicide, calling out to others for help when those disturbing thoughts call to mind(which is what most suicide prevention agencies get because those truly are frightening thoughts), and actually being in the proper state of mind to do it are three completely different things, albeit perhaps on a continuum. The primal thinking that can best described as "pull trigger, feel good" or "if I take this entire bottle of aspirin, I'll feel SOOO much better", that generally comes before actual suicide attempts is not likely to result from a viewing of a game, or any media content for that matter. There are, however, cases in which young girls will attribute the medias portrayal of women (unrealistic standards) as a defining factor in hating themselves and thus lead to suicide attempts, but I humbly believe there is a predisposition to either the media content and/or suicidal tendencies underlying that issue. 

With all that being said, I could be very wrong here. That's just my thought

Oh, and those who are outraged by the game should take a look at one of the descriptions for the game

"Try to keep Billy alive.

Please note the programmer of this game suffered from depression and this game is more or less a representation of something he went through."

Man, what a bastard! Trying to share his experiances of depression with others... what was he thinking?!

Zomg. Save the chilluns... Always gotta mention the chilluns.

I´m still waiting for a Lemmings outrage...

The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/

Oh my! A suicide game! I should play it and get really good at it!

Finally a game the Stupid One Who Shan't Be Named can get behind! He even advocated playing it earlier. He can't POSSIBLY complain about it!

Actually, there are a number of games that had this mechanic, or something similar. Indigo Prophesy (stop playing halfway through, trust me, the game tanks quickly) and Eternal Darkness both had sanity meters which could have bad endings if you let them fall to far. A number of other flash games (mostly sims not in english) have had similar mechanics, usually having your character becoming comotose.

 i was wondering why gamepolitics didn't report this already.

but here it is.

Sounds like fun!  I'll have to give this game a try.

As for the controversy, yes, suicidal folks may use it and commit suicide.  Car drivers might play a driving sim and then go driving.  Pilots might play a flight sim and then fly for real.  I'm not sure why that's news or even noteworthy.  Suicidal folks are by nature suicidal - heck, drinking a cup of tea might encourage them to kill themselves, but that's no reason to stop production of Earl Grey tea.

[edit] Played the game - it's fun for what it is.  I failed - Billy killed himself after only a couple of minutes.  This game just goes to show how far out of the game mainstream the wacko anti-gamers have to go to find something to be outraged about.  I mean this game is about the simplest sort of game there is.  I mean have people got nothing better to do than complain about a little amateur 'one-man show' production like this?

Oh, and by the way, The Sun hasn't been regarded as a serious newspaper for decades.  It was a laughing stock when I lived in England in the 1970s and '80s (we used to call it 'The Stun').  It's hardly unusual that The Sun finds this game outrageous - outrage is The Sun's stock-in-trade.

If a video game can convince you to off yourself, you weren't likely to make it much longer anyway.  Although my first run through Devil May Cry 3 did have me reaching for a straight razor.

So, even though the game is about preventing suicide, because the game involves suicide, it's bad...

---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.

It this were a book, everyone would have swallowed it already, and would be carrying it like a badge of honor, verbally petting and praising each other for being "sensitive" or "cultured". But if it's a game, then it's trivial and disgusting, even if the goal is suicide prevention.

Once again,

People judge a game without playing it.

Now as a person who wants to make games that people can think about what is going on, I find that their claims of the game doing damage without them accturely playing it really offencive.

See, its ok to make a movie about suicide, or a television show about it, Write a song about it. (Suicide is painless anyone?)) "But, a videogame? OMFG, NO!

 - Warren Lewis

Understanding dark humor is not The Sun's forte.

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