November 3, 2006
From the Waterloo, Ontario Record comes word about a pair of teenagers who are upset about Rockstar's Bully.Katie Neu, 14, and Robert Frenette, 17 have set up an online petition and written letters to government officials in an effort to ban the game. Neu said:
We want the game pulled from the shelves. Both me and my friend have been bullied and this game would lead to people like us getting bullied worse... From what I've heard, it's was extremely graphic and violent and not appropriate.
Neu admitted that she hadn't played Bully, but had read reviews and checked out the game's website. The paper also cites her as saying Frenette had played the game online, but that doesn't sound accurate. Perhaps he had viewed a trailer online.
The Record also reports that EB Games is selling Bully from behind the counter. The paper quotes Jacquie Langdon, EB director of marketing:
We realized that this was going to be a controversial topic... we made a decision to merchandise the game behind our cash (representative)... We take our commitment to parents very seriously. We felt it would be our best opinion to educate the consumer if we left it behind the cash (and) our sales associates would have to be asked or would have to show the game from behind the register.
Comments
These kids are just idiots. Play the game and speak or don't and shut up about it. You can't have it both ways.
Anyway, I'm with everyone else on this: if they didn't play the game, then they don't know what they're taking about and shouldn't be arguing.
No experence = no argument, it's that simple.
Jack Thompson is a professional. These kids are amateurs. You can't expect an amateur to make him/herself into a total clown as well as a professional might.
also, just look at the signatures in their petition. 6 consecutive people with the same surname? yeah sure.
with comments like
" This game is proof that we are setting up our furture generations to be more violent and less compassionate. We created what our world is, we create the media. Not the other way around. Is life not violent enough already? Don't buy this game."
"People think that bullying is just a childhood phase that will pass; however, the harm bullying can do is lasting. That's why I don't think this game should be sold. It undermines everything that parents and teachers are trying to do"
"I am an educator and know the effects!"
" As a guidance counsellor I deal with the victims of bullying on a daily basis. This game will do nothing except create more."
and my personal favourite
"After so many studies conclusively proving that video games, movies and tv have a profound effect on children's emotional and social development, you would think the Canadian people would rise up and insist that the lawmakers of this country ban this type of media."
I mean these people are obviously not looking at the facts nor the actual game.
so you admit you haven't played the game. then you can't speak about the game. end of story.
Proud that two youths, I hope are doing this without unseen adult influence are standing up for something they believe in, thats respectable.
I'm also ashamed at their lack of knowledge on what they are protesting, any credibility is lost when you are uninformed.
I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!
It WILL NOT cause more bullying because you play an ANTI-BULLY!
It WILL help relieve the stress of being bullied. Sure as hell did for me.
Anyway, there's not much for me to say without being redundant, so I'll go now.
Way too many people who haven't played this game are trying to voice an uneducated opinion.
I think most of us have been/will be bullied in our lifetime. I seriously doubt a video game (which really isn't as bad as people make it out to be) is going to change that for better or for worse.
Gamers need to educate people. It would definately help a lot.
I had noticed EB Games selling it behind the counter, though... ironically, Wal*Mart have it right there on the shelves for all to see, and my local Wal*Mart is right next to my local EB Games.
The rating amuses me, it has a new line in it I've never heard before "Contains violence, mild sexual themes and imitable behaviour" Thats a new one for me!
Wow, I hear that a lot about this game! It seems like almost every person who has a problem with this game has also never played it.
"If you don't like it, then don't play it" It looks like that isn't good enough for some people. Every thing I've heard about this game tells me that it's fairly innocent. All of the "controversy" over this game has come from sensational news stories and PEOPLE WHO HAVE ADMITTED THAT THEY HAVE NEVER PLAYED THE GAME. I hate to say this, but some people are just sheep. Their opinion is not based on what's in the game, but what other uninformed people have told them.
These are the stupid little douchebags you see in high school that will grow up to be those jerks who give out dental floss or apples on Halloween. Although there's also a good chance that their equally moronic parents are in the background somewhere pulling the strings...
Consider this: We all want our children to be smart and well educated and we all known that in the professional world, college, high school and even as far down middle school the importance of doing in-depth research is vital. Now imagine you were a teacher and a student handed you a paper that was only based off a few sound bites and stuff they heard on the internet you would rightful fail them for doing a poor job of researching the issue and yet that very same lack of rigor that we find unacceptable in an academic setting is suddenly not just acceptable but praised and even enough to be consider enough information to make a decisions on what our laws should be. (and even enough to draft those laws).
Forget about Bully what message does it send to our children when, educators, consolers and all those other authority figures we tell them to respect and emulate are make laws off a video they saw on the internet?
No need to say more, you've all said it yourselves.
I think that we should find their email adress, and email them in mass. a call for debate would be good. and if they A-refuse on the basis that we're gamers or B-act like utter assholes in the debate, then it will only serve to further our cause.
Would you like to keep your kids safer? A game called 'bully' will be going out on Oct. 27. To help get it removed from shelves please sign this Petition.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
There is no such thing as the "Canadian Review Board". There's a regional one in Ontario, but each province has it's own review board, or uses the decisions of a neighboring board. Ontario's adopted the ESRB rating symbols in 2005.
http://www.ofrb.gov.on.ca/english/default.htm
It's a proven fact that bullying never happened before video games. Just like how violence never existed before comic books, there was no sex before Elvis, and children always listened to their parents before rock and roll.
"Neu admitted that she hadn’t played Bully, but had read reviews and checked out the game’s website."
Yet she still thinks the game will cause more violence? I can tell from the freaking tv ads that the game has about as much violence as a cartoon show, and is just as gory as one (Think Loony Toons, not today's cartoons).
$10 says their parents are the ones behind this.
Uh, no it's not. You're pretty heavily penalized for violent acts. And even the missions that require you to be violent, it's usually either self-defence or to protect someone.
This quote just shows how dumb people banning this game really are.
1. this game was not made in japan.
2. you have not played the game, and have no evidence to back up your statement that it is terrible.
Think?
"This is terrible. When will these big companies in Japan realise we don't want their filth infecting our shores. I haven't played the game but I understand it's terrible."
What's funnier is the response from someone with a similar name (how similar? same first initial and same last name, i.e. E****e Watson and E***y Watson)
"I agree, terrible game. should be banned without question. We should all play nice things and read Harry Potter."
seriously play the game before you judge. Bullying existed before this game was even dreamt of.
I say the Canadien government paid them to do it. Who was taking that $10 bet, i'm game
I saw that. Hopefully his email doesn't get clogged by hundreds of irate people from both sides. ;)
I still can't believe that JT is offering his "help" in getting it banned. He can't even figure out Florida obscenity laws, let alone Canadian ones...
While 13 year olds don't have ID, it's possible they want to make sure that parents are aware of the game's content before selling it to their kids. It does prompt parents to ask questions when it's locked behind the counter. "say, why do you store it there?" And yes, it is pretty much caving to public pressure. But as a retailer, they are allowed to enforce sub-M ratings as they see fit.
Wow. You people really have no idea what you're doing. First, YOU HAVENT PLAYED THE GAME YOU'RE TRYING TO GET BANNED. That sent up plenty of Red Flags. If you were doing a research paper the same way you did this, all of your sources would basically be quoted as "I heard from someone it was in the book, but I didn't read it" and you'd get an "F". Second, if you were/are being bullied in school, DO SOMETHING ABOUT. I got picked on a lot in Elementary and Junior High, but the way I dealt with it was to make myself heard. I'd tell an administraitor. If that didn't work, I'd stand up them and basically say "Dude, what the hell is your problem? Why are you doing this to me?". 99 times out of 100, it's never something good, and they'll most likely mimic you. However, you can walk away with the satisfaction that they're stupid. Along with that, do what I did: start lifting weights and taking Tae Kwon Do. I'm more confident, and whether my High School was very task-oriented or whatever reason; I never got picked on.
Also, this is part of natural selection/karma. If a child can't distinguish between fantasy and reality (the JOB OF THE PARENTS), then he deserves to get in all the trouble he wants, and lead a lower quality life for it. Think of it like your brain's fact-checker. Even if a child manages to play this or GTA (that latter of which shouoldn't happen because THE PARENTS SHOULD WATCH OVER AN DISCIPLINE THEIR CHILD), if a parent did their job, their average thought process will be "The game makes this fun, but if I do any of this stuff in real life, I'll get arrested, or maybe even killed!". However, without this "fact-checker": "This game make this look fun", and then goes out and does it, and gets into trouble, all because he couldn't control his damn impulses. But of course the second child will blame it on the games, and avoid any and all personal responsibility while the parents who are partially to blame (even if they did their job) cry and sob for the camera so Jack Thompson can sue the companies for $$$.
Oh, and Mr. Thompson, on the matter of "gay sex": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXSg958wRIE Oh yeah, that's REALLY offensive; a totally optional activity that most people wouldn't even try to do on purpose prior to this discovery. Someone alert the media! Oh wait, you already did and equated anal sex to two poorly rendered characters putting their faces in front of each other and going "MMMM"
I'm pretty sure most if not if not all gamers where picked on in school. AND by people who where too stupid to even figure out how to plug in a playstation. Pretty much it was thier ignorance that spawned thier bulling nature, because they were jelous that they needed thier kid sister to plug in barbies pony adventure for them.
Gamers also tend to be some of the more humble people outside of video games on the net however, we do talk alot of smack. But that pretty much it. Our "bullying" is hardly anything more then telling a guy that to get the ultimate weapon he needs to push Alt+f4.
I am guessing the person's inbox is quite full by now, and likly quite on fire. Which is actually a pitty. While an intellegent discourse here might be useful, I am guessing that the flames will make the pro-bully people look bad.
As for JT. What does he ever do that requires actual knowledge of the law? All he needs is a paid appearance on some show or to associate himself with something that looks 'good' to the media and his job is done.
Oh, no! Not name calling! Unkind words, they huuuurrrttt!!!!!