By now you may have heard word of the game Space Invaders 9/11 shown at last week's Leipzig Games Conference, or perhaps you read our Destructoid Discusses! on the subject. It's definitely the type of thing that's difficult to ignore, although some gamers likely thought the creator was a dick (or alternately, thought nothing at all) and went on with their lives.
In the meantime, the artist Douglas Edric Stanley has pulled the exhibit, making it clear on his personal blog that he disapproves of the way people reacted:
"While I take full responsibility for the uncomfortable ambiguity of certain aspects of this work, it was never created to merely provoke controversy for controversy’s sake, and unfortunately, this is what the piece has now become... The American response to this work has been, frankly, immature, and lacking the sophistication and consideration that other parts of the world have so far shown the work...
Contrary to previous reports, I am an American, and it saddens me that we as a people remain so profoundly unable to process this event outside of some obscure, but tacitly understood, criteria of purely anesthetized artistic representation."
It's genuinely hard to know where to begin to address that statement, so I'll keep it simple: how can you expect Americans, not to mention any people at all, to react well to a game that mixes pop culture and national tragedy? Gameplay merits aside, people feel emotion before logic when it comes to sensitive subject matter -- unfortunately, that's the price of working with such topics. I'm not sure what Stanley expected, but it's hardly surprising, at any rate,
Were you offended by the game, or did you think it wasn't given a fair chance? If the topic of 9/11 can be explored in film form, is it fair that it be explored in game form as well?
[Via GamePolitics -- Thanks, Joe]
Contest:
4:04 PM on 08.25.2008
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Absolute bullshit.
This was a game he made in 2001 when the tragedy happened. He received no attention because it was obviously crude.
With the anniversary of the game, he thought it would be a good time and desperately try to get the attention he wanted.
He got it. I think he's a dick.
And it's completely different from WW2 games and the like. It's just not something people want to see. WW2 had many heroic people fighting on both sides, unlike 9/11, which was just a horrible fucking day perpetrated by a bunch of extremists.
There is no beauty in that. None at all.
*ahem* penis.
While it may have been offending 3 or 4 years ago. I've seen hollywood, oliver stone, the american mint and countless others dilute the gravity of the event by attempting to profit off of it.
That said, I don't know if I really understand the point of the piece. I haven't really read anything about it other than that everyone is mad and that Tecmo is gay.
Move on people
You mean like every WWII game ever?
Maybe he should offer his services to Rudy Giuliani.
Much like how I feel with Cloverfield, whereas not as top level as destroying the towers AGAIN, it mixed shaky cam and an attack on New York city to heighten the viewer's emotions by drawing from the imagery collected during recent traumatic disasters (911).
Just bad taste. Moving on.
Where the "art" in that is I have no frickin clue. And as far as those who are drawing parallels to games about the wars in the Middle East, and potential wars with other countries, I don't hear you complaining about glorifying World War II and the endless slaughter of nazis in how many games now?
Go ahead, destroy me.
Go ahead, destroy me.
Oh, and Heretic, speaking of being butt hurt, maybe you should tone it down a few notches. I love how you mentioned soldiers and even animals, but you fail to realize that the people who died in the 9/11 attacks were fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, etc, too. I agree that America's reaction immediately following it was a little strange, but you can't deny the fact that thousands of people dying needlessly is a tragedy.
If we're going to crucify one guy for using a tragedy in a game we should hold all game devs to the same criteria. No more WW2 games, no Civil War games, in fact why don't we just keep explosions and collapsing buildings out of all of our games.
Being sensitive about something no matter how tragic it is won't fix a god damn thing. And if you want this game to fail the best way not to do that is to give it attention and whine about it. Look what that did for Eminem, it made him rich. ICP too, and Marilyn Manson etc.
Before anyone jumps my case and tries to tell me I didn't have anyone close to the event, half my family lives all over New York.
People do seriously need to get over 9-11. It changed everything. We get it. I'm sure that turning Iraq into a crater for no reason is a bigger event for everyone that cares, not including Americans obviously since they're still getting revenge on a hapless third party for 9-11.
They show up in video games, movies, etc. Personally I don't think its a big deal that they did space invaders on teh towers. People know it was a tragedy and understand it, but you can't just wipe out a part of history and say "hey the towers are off limit now" Again its been 7 years... it should be a non issue now but never forgotten..
There's a difference asshole.
It was also HE who pulled it from display because of the very same extreme reactions it got. A chickenshit for someone trying to defend his work. If you believe in your art you stick to it and don't let anyone tell you to take it down. Plus, his reaction to the extreme reaction from people shows he's more than willing to condemn an entire people without even pondering as to why some of those very people would find the display as offensive.
Only in America can we breed such people.
Good work , you gave this guy credit :)
They both taking modern illegal conflict and putting there own spin on it..... yet one is so wrong and the other is alright?
Frankly I've found the majority of the gaming communities reaction to this issue disgusting and yes extremely immature. It is just like the arguments used against us (You can't have violence in a game! It's offensive!) and practically everyone criticising ignores the actual details of the work and the context in which it was presented. The worst thing about this artwork is that it's really just derivative of a lot of standard commentary since the attack. As an artwork it's just kind of boring really.
The only reason he made 9/11 a part of the game was to create controversy.
And if not, I'd love to hear his reasons.
I have people close to me who were devastated by this event and I hate everyone who would approaches this with a lack of respect.
As an artist myself making, sometimes works that sometimes piss people off you have to stand behind. It's your duty as an artist show people see things how you see things. When you pull your piece you are saying "I don't like how my work interacts with the world, waaaaaah I'm gonna go hide it"
It is supposed to be discussed and give an emotion. Whether or not you think it's insensitive is left but to me I agree it was nothing more than attention, otherwise if you truly believe it, then you ride it out and saying "THIS IS ME AND HOW I VIEW THE WORLD" regardless of the medium.
Euro trash that doesn't realize too much tolerance is why their society is failing and ours is doing alrighty.
Fuck Euro trash.
Also Taito is pretty pissed about that Space invaders too and are readying something far worse than pissed off American....attorneys
- Banksy