Pacific Islanders Protest iPhone Game
Pacific Islanders Protest iPhone Game
April 30, 2009
Pacific Islanders are expressing outrage over a popular iPhone game which they say encourages the torture and killing of characters who resemble them.
The Brisbane Times reports that the Pacific Women's Information Network has targeted Pocket God, which puts the player in a deity-like position of power over "primitive islanders." Group spokesperson Elaine Howard - who lives in the United States - told the newspaper:
How do you think people would react if you created a game where you were God and you could create and kill as many Mexicans as you wanted? Or Asians? People would be outraged.
I hope you don't decide to advertise your application in New Zealand or Australia because you will get a backlash of the same intensity.
Dr. Malakai Koloamatangi of New Zealand's Canterbury University added:
To claim [the characters] are not Pacific islanders is ridiculous. Everything about them is Polynesian. How can they justify encouraging the torture of a race in this way? It's disgusting.
I'm not saying let's bring in the thought police but there needs to be limits on what is acceptable, and this surpasses those.
Bolt Creative, which developed the 99-cent app, denied that it intended to depict any actual ethnic group in the game.
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Posted 11/21/09 at 01:00pm
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ZippyDSMlee: MT taco:Come come join us, we have discounts!!!
Posted 11/21/09 at 12:35pm
magic_taco: It doesnt have anything to do with the "National Institue of Morons & Failures"
magic_taco: It doesnt have anything to do with the "National Institue of Morons & Failures"
Posted 11/21/09 at 12:34pm
magic_taco: No, I just recently had something on my mind.
magic_taco: No, I just recently had something on my mind.
Posted 11/21/09 at 10:57am
ZippyDSMlee: magic_taco:days are more specail when zippy gets up in the AM!!!!
ZippyDSMlee: magic_taco:days are more specail when zippy gets up in the AM!!!!
Posted 11/21/09 at 09:21am
magic_taco: ...ok...
magic_taco: ...ok...
Posted 11/21/09 at 08:16am
ZippyDSMlee: Welcome and goodmorning its zippy in the AM....wat OMG its 8:50AM!!!!
ZippyDSMlee: Welcome and goodmorning its zippy in the AM....wat OMG its 8:50AM!!!!
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:42pm
ZippyDSMlee: oh may the cute stab out your eyes, http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
ZippyDSMlee: oh may the cute stab out your eyes, http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:17pm
JDKJ: O.K. Suit yourself. But when you're wearing Ray-Bans, sitting on a curb with a white cane and a cup of pencils, and doing Stevie Wonder impersonations, don't say I didn't warn you.
JDKJ: O.K. Suit yourself. But when you're wearing Ray-Bans, sitting on a curb with a white cane and a cup of pencils, and doing Stevie Wonder impersonations, don't say I didn't warn you.
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:10pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No thank you I don;t want your cooties...or STDs...
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No thank you I don;t want your cooties...or STDs...
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:01pm
JDKJ: Me. I'm rehearsing the role just in case I do get dubbed Zippy The Soecnda.
JDKJ: Me. I'm rehearsing the role just in case I do get dubbed Zippy The Soecnda.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:59pm
DarkSaber: Wait, is that meant to be Zippy, me or you?
DarkSaber: Wait, is that meant to be Zippy, me or you?
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:49pm
JDKJ: I cud caer lez. =^^= *wakes up in mid-afternoon after staying up until 3:00AM soldering resistors on to circuit boards, stumbles around in formerly white but now grey underwear, while simultaneously scratching groin with vigor and making coffee*
JDKJ: I cud caer lez. =^^= *wakes up in mid-afternoon after staying up until 3:00AM soldering resistors on to circuit boards, stumbles around in formerly white but now grey underwear, while simultaneously scratching groin with vigor and making coffee*
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:46pm
DarkSaber: knell? Don't you mean Neil? Anymore of tht and I'll dub thee Zippy The Soecnda
DarkSaber: knell? Don't you mean Neil? Anymore of tht and I'll dub thee Zippy The Soecnda
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:44pm
JDKJ: Now, now, Saber. Don't be salty. You weren't the first one to knell and bob and you ain't gonna be the last one, either.
JDKJ: Now, now, Saber. Don't be salty. You weren't the first one to knell and bob and you ain't gonna be the last one, either.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:42pm
DarkSaber: JD's feeling rather desperate it seems.
DarkSaber: JD's feeling rather desperate it seems.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:33pm
JDKJ: C'mon, Zip. You already touch yourself way too much. Spread the love. Before you go blind.
JDKJ: C'mon, Zip. You already touch yourself way too much. Spread the love. Before you go blind.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No and I ain't touching any part of you or your friends!! :P
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No and I ain't touching any part of you or your friends!! :P
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:25pm
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Lik Mitaint?
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Lik Mitaint?
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
ZippyDSMlee: neill and bob,oldest giveing head joke and most lamest...
ZippyDSMlee: neill and bob,oldest giveing head joke and most lamest...
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
JDKJ: But thanks for the memory. MIB's a classic. *sings* "Here come the Men in Black. Galaxy defenders. Here come the Men in Black. They won't let you remember."
JDKJ: But thanks for the memory. MIB's a classic. *sings* "Here come the Men in Black. Galaxy defenders. Here come the Men in Black. They won't let you remember."
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
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Comments
Wow, these people must have pretty low opinions of themselves if they liken themselves to Video Game characters, what's next I wonder, complaints about 'Tropico' from Cuba?
I guess Black & White passed these guys by. Hell, I guess POPULOUS passed these guys by.
I'm not saying let's bring in the thought police but there needs to be limits on what is acceptable, and this surpasses those.
So you don't think we should call in thought police, but you ARE trying to say what the thought police should police.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Thanks, now I wanna play Populous again...
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
I always thought of that game as "Race To Armageddon." Then again, I owned the SNES version (probably still do, come to think of it) and it was heck of annoying trying to control it, plus I got owned when I reached a level that denied me the final-battle option.
---
The Mammon Philosophy
Beat me to it. Black & White is more than enough to make their complaints look foolish.
IMA FIRIN MAH LASER!!!
Black and White 2 was the same, Greek, Japanese, Inca or Norse, at the end of the day, they are all equally flammable ;)
I raised my creature to eat people and use their fields as a toilet. Good times!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Multi-Grab+People+Cliffs.
Worth it for the sound effects alone ;)
While I agree with you, Black & White did this to white european-sounding people long before this game came around, I doubt that would change this person's mind even if they knew about it. You notice what every group listed (islanders, mexicans, asians) is? That's right, a minority. And in the minds of chuckleheads like this, anything negative about a minority is instantly and completely evil and wrong, while anything bad about white people is perfectly legit. Hypocritical? Of course. But that's their stance, and good luck changing it.
And of course, this stance also ignores the fact that, globally, white people are a minority.
So did Utopia
*******
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1907543
The "primal Islander" depiction stereotype has been around for, i'm guessing a long time, and that this game is in no way the first to do it.
I want all games that have you kill white people to be banned. They offend me.
I'm offended you're implying it's ok to kill anyone that isn't white in a game. Duel at dawn?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
I'm offended by the fact you're both offended. Move the duel to high noon and I'll join in.
I'm offended that you're all offended by stupid little things you find offensive.
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
*Shoves MP towards the duel*
I'm offended that you are still refering to the combat as a duel as that is a combat between two indiviuals... at this rate it's becoming some kind of a battle royal.
Oh man, does it? But I've run out of explosive collers!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
IT'S TIME TO D-D D-D... D-D-D-D-DUEL!!!
Sorry, couldn't resist. At least I didn't react like Haruhi did that one time.
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"The sun will always rise tomorrow. We can only live for today, and hope more days will come." -Unknown
What annoys me is that these people expect all characters in Video Games to have no race, no gender, no distinguishing features whatsoever, it's ridiculous.
If I wrote a game set on a tropical island, what would they expect me to populate it with? Eskimos?
But then you p**s off the eskimoes!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
LOL
In truth, I would probably annoy someone who lives in the United states, who's last contact with Antartic weather was a holiday in Canada and who's great grandfather was an Eskimo, which therefore gives them the right to represent the entire race ;)
Yeah, this seems much more likely!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
"Lisa, vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and eskimos."
- Homer Simpson
Man, you're just diggin' yourself deeper by not calling them "Inuit."
---
The Mammon Philosophy
Heh, I was was growing up when it was perfectly acceptable to call Native Americans 'Indians', so I'm probably a bit behind the curve on the latest Politically Correct terminology ;)
Even "natives" is a little fishy here in Canada. Proper vocab guidelines says we call 'em "First Nations."
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The Mammon Philosophy
O_o Sounds like an Insurance Company....
Protesting about s***ty cut-price iPhone games seems to be the latest 'in' thing doesn't it?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Once again. I will say it.
PLAY THE GAME... then you criticise in both the good and the bad.
Hey, I got it! Lets pick a seemingly random item to be offended about and then write our local papers until they finally cave and allow us to whine to our communities. Anyone have any ideas?
I HATE the colour orange...
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
So no Orange Box for you, then? ;D
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The Mammon Philosophy
Or links on this form.
Look at the evil orange link DarkSaber. Kill kill!
Wow I feel like a reporter at the G20 summit.
--
A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. Benjamin Franklin
How about how newspapers have sharp edges and are white. So not only are they dangerous for the children, but they are saying it is ok to use white people as a messageboard...
Sorry, best I can come up with. If anyone can make it sound more silly I invite the input.
Not to mention the enslavement of the BLACK ink which is forced to do all the hard work while the white paper just has to concentrate on being white and keeping the ink in its place!
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Darksaber, that is so much win I am still picking myself off the floor. Now we need to find an article about an orange cone and we would be all set.
If we combine it together well I think we got a winner? Now then, should we include a note at the end saying it was all satire or should we let them figure it out.
Why bother. They are going to sensationalize it anyway. It will be *like* totally true on Fox News within an hour if releasing it.
I think we need to send these people a care package saying Im sorry you have such a low self esteem that when you look at this crappy iphone app you see yourself. But then again I wanted to do that with the Mexicians complaining about the Taco Bell Dog because frankly if you see your self as that dog its just sad not insulting just sad.
Tomorrow: Anthropologists offended by Cro-Mag Rally. "The idea that a caveman could drive a go-kart is ludicrous and offensive to our noble early-modern ancestors. I'm not saying we need to send the Thought Police back in time, but I've already warmed up the flux capacitor and I'll be damned if I'm wasting the 1.21 gigawatts."
---
The Mammon Philosophy
1.21 Gigawatts!
Great scott!
---
The Mammon Philosophy
88 MILES PER HOUR!
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
Er.....flux capacitor?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
*******
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1907543
When this baby hits 88 mph...
...you're gonna see some serious shit.
Sucks I don't have a pic to go with it.
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"The sun will always rise tomorrow. We can only live for today, and hope more days will come." -Unknown
This is heavy.
GameSnooper
Here you go
There have always been motherf*ckers, there will always be motherf*ckers, but what we can't do is let them control our motherf*cking lives. -John Oliver, December 1st, 2008
I'm offended that you're offended that I'm offended that you're offended that....wait....what are we offended about now?
*******
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1907543
You need to put an 88 mph pic in the above thread of replies. I wanted to post one, but I can't find it.
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"The sun will always rise tomorrow. We can only live for today, and hope more days will come." -Unknown
Canadians...
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
IDK, the only bad Canadian I ever knew was Derovirus, and that's if he really was Canadian. I know a Canadian guy that goes to my school, and he's a good person.
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"The sun will always rise tomorrow. We can only live for today, and hope more days will come." -Unknown
"I'm not saying let's bring in the thought police but there needs to be limits on what is acceptable, and this surpasses those."
This statement is a complete contradiction...
And so it begins....
First the Moslems protests, then the Hindus protests, then the Christians protest, then Jews protest -and the finally pacific islanders protests. There's a reason why we freedom of speech; there's reason behind a fine tradition of not letting religion or any pressure group letting pressure us into submission when it comes to freedom of speech.
And it this:
Everyone can then come and say that they don't like this or that game, just like OIC did when they made the Italian company behind Faith Figther take it down. Any politician or high authority can at a point in an investigation just say that he or she feels insulted if or offended when (if) the papers make accusations against him, say for not doing his job properly or the misuse of public funds.
In Black and White 1 and 2 you could also punish (pacific) islanders if you so choose.
Benoit Sokal made an adventure game called Paradise set in Africa; guess which people populated this game - if you guesed africans, you're right :)
Nikopol, also an adventure game made by Sokal featured flying Egyptian pyramids, as well as the main villain was Egyptian of sorts. I haven't seen the Egyptian government protests this game.
I haven't seen the Egyptian government protests this game.
First you need a self-important busy-body to bring the game to their attention and tell them that they should find it offensive.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
"How do you think people would react if you created a game where you were God and you could create and kill as many Mexicans as you wanted? Or Asians? People would be outraged."
I'd buy a game like that, because if it specifically said that the people I was killing were Mexicans, it is probably set in a satirical fashion and would be funny or awesome. At the very least I would buy the game with an open mind and play it before I decided that the game was/wasn't offensive, like a sensible human being. If I found the game to be in bad taste, I simply wouldn't play it.
Oh wait...did...did I just make SENSE right there instead of jumping to conclusions and trying to force MY views on other people?
Ignoring the fact that this game probably just says "islanders" without ever straightly saying that it is a specific group of uncivilized people. Especially the group of uncivilized imbeciles that would find offense in this. (Note that the only uncivilized people are those that find this offensive, not necessarily the other people in this group of islanders)
-If an apple a day keeps the doctor away....what happens when a doctor eats an apple?-
So in your example if something didn't say Mexicans but had an eagle on a prickly pear cactus eating a snake always right on screen it wouldn't be suggestive at all?
http://www.appcraver.com/pocket-god/
Check the screen-shot. The Moai makes this game specifically about killin' Easter Islanders. It's something that is even more specific than Pyramids since Aztecs and several other societies have created similar great works.
I have to disagree. It's a matter of intention. Did they use the setting, simply for the setting? Or were they actually trying to make a racist statement?
How do we know that, they specifically set it on Easter Island? Maybe someone wanted to put in a Moai head, because hey, it LOOKS tropical island-like.
We can argue over that all day. But in the end, it's all about the intention behind it.
The point is that there aren't Maoi statues all over the place. They are found in only one place in the entire world, created by only one culture. Regardless of intention, if this game was about smashing guys with large goofy hats wearing bandoliers in front of the Alamo you really think it wouldn't have been intended to be about texans?
I know a Polynesian girl. She doesn't look anything like these guys.
Maybe she's lying about her roots?
Andrew Eisen
Got another one of those? I can't see it.
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"The sun will always rise tomorrow. We can only live for today, and hope more days will come." -Unknown
Check the linked Brisbane Times article. I just copied the screen its using.
Andrew Eisen
Obama doesn't have huge lips. Some Jews don't have huge noses. Not all asians are good at math....
Are you saying she's the exception to the rule (or stereotype)? I wasn't aware any Polynesians looked like that.
Andrew Eisen
I love this game! And, seriously, racist? I'm sorry, but if it was fluffed as a group of stranded tourists, who were caucasian, nobody would be complaining.
Also, the game wouldn't see a probable surge in sales, either.
This game will be banned like Baby Shaker was. Thanks for being a bunch of pussies, Apple.
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFldBVWFgWo
I move that we BAN ALL VIDEO GAMES. I have found something in every single video game thats racist and demeaning to all races and sentient beings. Come the frak on people! Trying to compare this game to an actual group of people is like saying the Super Mario Bros. game is a game about white supremacy.
WRONG!
Super Mario Brothers is about a pair of mass-murdering Italians.
"How do you think people would react if you created a game where you were God and you could create and kill as many Mexicans as you wanted? Or Asians? People would be outraged. "
A game like that already exists. It's called The Sims.