History and common sense teach us all a valuable lesson in dealing with people whose religious beliefs don't parallel your own: violence is only acceptable if you're willing and able to decimate the opposition. It appears that a University of Virginia student didn't take that into account when creating what is reportedly a game with an atheistic bent in which you travel back in time to "nip the problem in the bud" by killing Abraham, Mohammed, and the authors of the Bible.
The video released by WSLS-10 reporting on the game and its creator seems questionable at best, especially considering the unnamed student's refusal to reveal his identity for fear of a violent backlash, and rightly so. What the developer apparently didn't learn in his time on this planet is that large groups of people prone to illogic tend to react badly when you threaten or desecrate something they revere.
While I can sort of appreciate the foundation of the developer's sentiment, he isn't doing anyone any favors by making this game. He's made himself a target for extremists and provided pundits and mainstream media outlets with all the fuel they'll need for a week or two full of "violent gamers" coverage, something I, and hopefully you, resent. As such, I have a message for this mysterious radical. The next time you decide to show the world just how clever you are, we'd appreciate it if you used someone else's hobby as a medium. Gamers have got enough problems without adding accusations of attempting religious extermination to the list, thanks to thoughtless imbeciles with an agenda.
[Via GamePolitics -- Thanks, Justin!]
Contest:
4:02 PM on 06.05.2008
| 
If we do that, the terrorists have already won ;)
So basically he is pissing of the people who deserve to be pissed of. Good on him.
Obvious troll is obvious.
Especially if it is just a skin mod for that Execution game from a week or so back.
What you're saying is that new ideas and art have no place in games. It should just be fun.
Obvious troll is definitely obvious.
Either atheist or religious, you can still be a jerk and go overboard on your beliefs.
The reaction of the fundies makes exactly the point he was trying to make. The Dev was playing a different game, and anyone who took him seriously or literally lost. If people make their shoddy religious ideas into a life or death struggle, then it becomes a duty to expose them. Hats off to this guy for doing exactly that.
Appeasement never works, just ask Chamberlain.
OTOH, self-censorship sucks, 'off limits' protection is BS, it wouldn't be the first bad taste game made by some dude from nowheresville, and its not like this is going to be published by EA anytime soon anyways. And like Rockhoof was saying, if this provocative act of imagination incites a actual violent reaction, then it just proves the kid's point and looks bad on the big religions.
No. I was refering to my blog here where I argue that new ideas and social activism should come to games.
Ignoring it is exactly what we see here folks, and this dude poked the embers and got exactly what he wanted.
You and I should hang out some time. This is just going to pass over and be forgotten in a few weeks just like those other games.
Elitist atheists ftllllose
Maybe he was smart enough to not include Jesus because Jesus would kick the player's ass with his mystical powers, while the other characters are normal humans.
Also brb making a game where Mohammad, Abraham, and Jesus and his apostles team up to travel through time and kill Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Hitler, Stalin, Stephen J Gould and George Soros.
At the end there'll be a Fear Effect style scene where they turn on each other and you have to choose one to fight the last boss, the creator of this game (who's actually the antiChrist) with. On hard mode you can choose Abraham and Jesus, Mohammad gets eaten by a shark.
Where can I sign up for the beta of your game?
I wonder what the ending would be like...
Let me stress this: Fundamentalist religious freak = problem, people who offend fundamentalist religious freak = part of the solution!
You remember the danish mohammed cartoons? They weren't even meant to be offensive. But some demagogue decided otherwise to further his cause. So your solution is to quietly stick your head in the sand and let these people kill innocents. Well, you are part of the problem, man. These people (and by that I mean every fundamentalist cunt out there) have to be offended until they stop being violent about it.
The real losers are gamers that would like to see these types of ideas (not necessarily atheism, but violence, philosophy, politics, etc ... ) explored in meaningful ways, not crude, shallow crap like this and Super Columbine/VTech.
Oh wait...