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French tramp game enrages homeless charities photo

A new Internet game is taking France by storm, but upsetting everybody else. Clodogame (translated simply as Trampgame) is a transient simulator in which players start off as a penniless street bum and must work their way up the food chain to become "king of the streets" and "the most talented tramp in Paris."

Trampgame invites virtual vagrants to attack other homeless folk, become a "peerless pickpocket," steal coins from candy machines, public toilets and laundrettes, play instruments and choose cute pets in order to increase their success as beggars, and take control of their alcohol intake. The game sounds pretty damn brilliant, and I wish there was an English version. 

Of course, some people take the Internet too seriously, and charity organization the Red Cross is among those who have stepped in to criticize Trampgame: "It's a disgrace, it's degrading, it's humiliating to make the homeless the butt of derision. The image portrayed is exactly the one against which we've been trying to fight."

I don't know why they're so concerned. It's not like real homeless people have a computer to play it on.








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17 comments | showing # 1 to 17
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Kraid's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:03
Kraid
SACRE BLEU!
Bishna's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:03
Bishna
HAHAHA, why tell the blind they are being mooned?
Isay Isay's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:14
Isay Isay
What if the profits from the game went to homeless shelters? Wouldn't that make their lives Les Misérables?
Naim Master's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:21
Naim Master
I see what you did there... -.-
rel123's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:27
rel123
Homeless people should get jobs and pay their rent like the rest of us. What makes them so special?
Soulwax's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:30
Soulwax
Bill?
king kong five's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:37
king kong five
I don't think the concern is so much about homeless people becoming offended by this as it is about an idea that a game like this seems to be promoting that encourages us to view the homeless as alien (and, consequentially, less valuable) people.
David Boring's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 12:40
David Boring
i think the game is from germany, it's called pennergame over here. i was working at a youth radioproject and the game seems to be really big with trhe 12 to 14 year olds
FidoDido's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 13:25
FidoDido
Jim, Jim, Jim. Call me a crotchety old bore, but I gotta say I'm with Jean-François on this one ... at least for the time being. From the information in this post, the game's exploitation of highly vulnerable individuals for entertainment's sake just seems pointless. Sort of reminds me of Bumfights.

I'm usually against knee-jerk censorship, and I'm all for parody and satire if there's a genuine, well-considered message behind the mocking. When satire is done right (see: Brasseye), it can be bloody brilliant. But heck, Clodogame seems like controversy for controversy's sake. Picking on the homeless for novelty value is plain stupid.

THAT SAID, I'll freely admit that I've yet to try Clodogame out myself, so I'll reserve my final verdict for now. If I play Clodogame and find a cutting, multi-faceted piece of social satire, I reserve the right to change my mind.

Here endeth the rant.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 13:34
Holyetheline
Do want. haha

People need to loosen up and let games be games.
Leathersoup's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 13:40
Leathersoup
Almost sounds like the old Rags to Riches game that was on the C64.
FatherChesz's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 13:56
FatherChesz
But...can you start and maintain a successful ring of bumfights?
whormongr's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 17:35
whormongr
I don't see any homeless people upset with it
BattyAdroit's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:27
BattyAdroit
This game seems pretty juvenile.
hpv's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/02/2009 01:24
hpv
I am against this because it is French and not a footballer.
Jetsetlemming's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/03/2009 20:00
Jetsetlemming
There was something like this in English, at least a while ago. I distinctly remember playing a browser based mmo game that let me play as a hobo. It was free to play but you could pay a subscription to unlock different hobo clothes and more action points to do more things in a day (you only got a certain number of hobo moves you could do in a single real-time day, and there was some sort of pvp element).

You know, this post has actually gotten me kind of nostalgic for those browser based MMOs I used to play as a teenager. I remember one let you run your own fiefdom, join or run "kingdoms" with one player being the king or queen, go to war against other people, etc. At one point I was actually the king of my group and came in like 3 on the leaderboards at the end of a round (the game would constantly restart itself every 2 months or so and everyone restarted their warring and building up from scratch). I can't for the life of me remember the game's name, though. :(
-JT-'s Avatar - Comment posted on 09/17/2009 08:22
-JT-
Hobowars.

Slow charitys are slow
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