While recent complaints leveled against Ubisoft have mostly concerned the lackluster casual games being pumping out on the Wii and DS, anti-war group Direct Action to Stop the War has a far more serious bone to pick with the publisher of Imagine: Babyz and Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. It seems that the cause of their ire was sparked by Ubisoft’s involvement with America’s Army, which bears a Teen rating. The organization detailed their complaints in a letter to Ubisoft North America president Laurent Detoc.
"The military recruitment of children under the age of 17, however, is a clear violation of international law (the U.N. Optional Protocol). No attempt to recruit children 13-16 is allowed in the United States, pursuant to treaty. It is also important to consider the effects of the game within the context of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Undoubtedly soldiers now recruited through America's Army will serve in these wars. The invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are violations of international law, and contributing to their continuation through the propagation of the game is, if not a criminal violation, a moral outrage."
"Ubisoft's role as publisher of America's Army is contributing to an international crime. But you are not alone: Gameloft is working on the cell phone application and Secret Level was a developer of the 2005 version of the game. Is child recruitment, recruitment to fight the cause of dubious wars the proper business of your company and those of you in their employ?"
I can respect being against child soldiers and all, but I think these folks are missing a big point: even if little Timmy enjoys playing virtual Army exercises, he still can’t enlist in the actual Army. It sounds like Direct Action’s problem isn’t necessarily with Ubisoft, but rather with the armed forces marketing themselves to minors in any way, shape, or form.
Along with the angry letter, the organization also directly contacted Laurent Detoc by phone. During the conversation he reportedly stated that Ubisoft wasn’t going to be involved with any future America’s Army titles anyway, but that apparently isn’t good enough for Direct Action, who would like to see the company “end their contracts with the military, stop work on the game, and make public pronouncements in writing to that effect.”
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Contest:
11:46 PM on 08.05.2008
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"Dear Direct Action nut jobs,
Shut the fuck up!
Thank you.
Signed,
Ubisoft"
HOWEVER, I have been saying this for ages (even on Destructoid) and even more so with all the GTA IV crap that has been going on with the press such as FOX news.
The game IS advertisement for the army, look at the website where you download the game from (are you blind?).
My main gripe I have is the USA press say GTAIV is a murder simulater (lulz, how stupid of them) when it is a mature rating (aimed at adults) and yet there own government is using the public taxes to make and promote and give away for free to teenagers a much more real killing simulater to recruit kids in to joining the army and it gets no bad press at all.
Tax payers paying the government to make a game to give away foir free advertising the army to kids... It IS true!
They have a go at counter strike for school shootings, but I bet those same kids played americas army too at some point. But no mention of that as it would be hypocrytical.
The double standards in America is so stupendous, I'm glad I am British... sooner or later we confess our mistakes.
So before you all bash this Direct action group actually look at the website (and its adverts and promotion of the army service even in its articles)and the game itself (you can only play as an american soldier) and the rating (no other heavy FPS game would get teen rating) and it being free (yes totaly free) and it being paid by the tax payers in america.
They even claimed it was used to train army soldiers before they gave it away for free.... Unlike Doom, built for that purpose.
Yet they get no bad press as it is a good old American game with good values?
BTW I have nothing against the game and I do not personaly care about its rating, I am just trying to point out how the USA governemnt can make a voilent war game and give it to kids for free and yet Counter Strike and GTAIV can get so much crap for no reason.
AA IS made for recruiting new army members AND is being pushed to teens, which is in fact against UN-regulations...
Work on that first, Direct Action. Kthx?
lulz, I'd like to waterboard the president and see if he changes his mind.
Plus, great point, Dex.
True, Little Timmy can't join up with the Army right after quitting the game but I think it's ridiculous not to acknowledge that the game's purpose is clearly to plant the seed of desire to serve in the armed forces at a later date. And just think, the 13 year olds targeted back when the game was first released (2002) are now 19. Perfect age to enlist. Nice how that worked out for them.
@Dex
I would say that the slim odds of just getting the army to even respond to the petition (they're kinda tight lipped mother fuckers, ya know) convinced them otherwise. Now, a publicly traded company who has a large stake in family friendly games, you can actually cause some change there.
@FWhipple
Why would they ever come down on MGS2? Why would you ever think that? It certainly doesn't portray the life of a child soldier as a positive experience. Do you think they'll also call for a banning of the film Blood Diamond? You're just reducing their argument to absurdism.
@SourGr8pes
Of course, that's not at all the purpose of the group which is solely designed to put an end to the war in Iraq. Child soldiers is what people have picked up on from a base reading of the arguments. What they're really taking issue with is the marketing that the army is engaging in thus ensuring that we'll have always have some fresh soldiers over there. It's a smart play on their part, you can't argue that, especially in the face of dwindling recruitment statistics.
I think a direct charge war crimes is a bit much, but it's clearly aimed at recruiting future soldiers to fight wars in which we are committing war crimes.
Dex is right, they should be going after the Army since government-funded propaganda is illegal. But maybe they think it's easier to stop the activity by going after the commercial interests and not an over-funded government organization. Which is almost definitely true. Remember, the US Army doesn't have a bottom line, because they get paid no matter what.
PS:
Dear Trevor McGee,
Shut the fuck up!
-hpv
Reading that now, he kind of comes off like a sociopath. In context, it was more 'killing people is fun lol sarcasm' than 'my daddy never loved me enough so now I hunt men for sport'.
America's Army is aimed at videogame players, typically young males. That is who the Army wants to recruit and that is where they aim their propaganda. It is hardly a crime for Ubisoft to make money off an interactive advertisement. Video games are not the first time youth culture has been co-opted for recruitment and it won't be the last.
In Ubisoft's defense, America's Army is a far more enjoyable propaganda experience than that fucking 3 Doors Down song "Citizen Soldier". Plus, you might actually get guys with a videogame. With 3 Doors Down, you'd be lucky to get an out of shape neckbearded nu-metal fan.
You can convince people at a young age to want to enlist. I know it's not regular, or often or whatever, but they aren't wrong.
America's Army is -not- a game: It's a subversive recruitment tool used by the U.S. Military to peddle their deceitful and dangerous rhetoric. I'd rather see Ubisoft get permanently shit-canned than have the United States Army gain even the slightest *potential* to turn more misguided American youth into perpetual cannon fodder.
ROTC programs in high school -I was in it when I was a kid in Hawaii and received *actual* training- repelling from hellicopters, hand to hand training field training (ground based wargames with simulators and blank firing weapons w/ flash surpressors- I was a 60 gunner because I am big) as well as "ranger" optional classes (that I took) where you have to complete 1 "hell week" a year complete with no food, sleep dep and 20 hrs of training a day.
recruiters that come on high school campuses and offer scholarships and sign up bonuses
and many others....
personally I don't like the military, but one thing that I do see as a plus to this: enrollment stays up, so we don't have a draft when jackasses like bush feel that they "need" a war and we don't have to fill service like they do in other countries, so to a certain extent it is the devil you live with to keep the country a little more livable that don't give in to advertising...
Comeon... going after ubisoft? And to all the people trying to make the claim that all the 'kids' who played AA when it first came out are now of age. Congrats... you've determined that time moves forward.
If this isn't sarcasm you're one stupid cunt. Usually I can just tune out this kind of U.S. altruism bullshit, but you're taking the piss. Please, by all means continue to believe in U.S. military supremacy until the Chinese fuck you in the butt. But shut the hell up about "policing" anything. That is just retarded.
Does this mean children under the age of 13-16 are allowed?
One must note that quite a high percentage of the toys given to pre-teen boys are, and have been for centuries, arguably Army recruitment tools, from wooden swords to lead soldiers to plastic figurines to action figures. Why should video games be singled out for special treatment, other than that (and even if) the US Army is funding them? I'd argue that GRAW is just about as effective for recruitment as America's Army.
Let's face it - many kids, in whatever country, have a rose-tinted view of the Army, and the commercial media do a lot to support that view. When you hear the word "soldier", your first response is to think of this badass Rambo dude in fatigues with a huge machine gun - not the grunt in PT kit doing push-ups in the mud. As far as I understand, America's Army does make an effort to remove some of the rose-tinting, and for that I think the developers should be commended. It would be all too easy to make a Serious Sam-style game with yelling suicide bombers and insurgents in technicals - and I suspect a lot of impressionable kids would be fooled by that kind of game - so it's good that they at least put in the effort. I would have to call them out for not making it more realistic in terms of consequences, but there is only so much that one can expect.
Summary: Anti-war groups need better targets. One, the commercial concerns which profit from marketing rose-tinted violence. (I don't agree with them on this, but it would make more sense at least.) Two, the human condition that predisposes people to violence. Until they fix that (and good luck trying), there will always be impressionable kids attracted to the idea of shooting people for money.