We live in a society where outrage sometimes feels as if it has become the new normal. You'd think it'd be easy for anybody with half a brain to get through life without causing too much offence for looking at a cat the wrong way, but sometimes it feels as if there are those out there who actively seek out reasons to be appalled.
It has its place of course; without the Suffragette movement women wouldn't have the vote, without Civil Rights black people would still be sat at the back of the bus, and if it wasn't for public outcry over the persecution - and prosecution - of gay people, we'd never have seen the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexual acts. Outrage is often a good thing. Conversely; sometimes it goes too far.
Of course, video games - being barely-understood by the wider world, and a seething stew of boiling hatred between those within it - often seem to stoke more outrage than is strictly necessary. Sometimes the industry brings this upon itself... Other times it feels as if a brouhaha has been manufactured for the sake of it.
Here are ten controversies from both sides of that divide, that you likely wouldn't have seen coming.
It has its place of course; without the Suffragette movement women wouldn't have the vote, without Civil Rights black people would still be sat at the back of the bus, and if it wasn't for public outcry over the persecution - and prosecution - of gay people, we'd never have seen the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexual acts. Outrage is often a good thing. Conversely; sometimes it goes too far.
Of course, video games - being barely-understood by the wider world, and a seething stew of boiling hatred between those within it - often seem to stoke more outrage than is strictly necessary. Sometimes the industry brings this upon itself... Other times it feels as if a brouhaha has been manufactured for the sake of it.
Here are ten controversies from both sides of that divide, that you likely wouldn't have seen coming.
1-2-SWITCH OFFENSIVE TO COWS!
"PETA, PETA... pumpkin eaters."
America's animal rights organisation PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of animals - this week damned Nintendo's 1-2-Switch for its depiction of cow-milking. In a statement, PETA president Alfred E. Newman (Ingrid E. Newark) suggested that Nintendo could alter the game to include the sound of a mother cow bellowing mournfully after being ripped away from her calf.
This isn't the first time PETA has taken offence to a game. The organisation also had an issue with Battlefield 3, stating that "killing virtual animals can have a brutalizing effect on the young male target audience". On another occasion it accused Super Mario of wearing the skin of dead animals.
To highlight animal testing, PETA also released a version of Pokemon whereby the enslaved "pocket monsters" had their skin removed, and were subjected to drug tests.
Let's hope they've not played Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Of course, Nintendo has some form when it comes to animal abuse. Aside from all the turtle-stomping in Mario, the original Japanese version of Ice Climber required players to batter seals to death using big hammers.
America's animal rights organisation PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of animals - this week damned Nintendo's 1-2-Switch for its depiction of cow-milking. In a statement, PETA president Alfred E. Newman (Ingrid E. Newark) suggested that Nintendo could alter the game to include the sound of a mother cow bellowing mournfully after being ripped away from her calf.
This isn't the first time PETA has taken offence to a game. The organisation also had an issue with Battlefield 3, stating that "killing virtual animals can have a brutalizing effect on the young male target audience". On another occasion it accused Super Mario of wearing the skin of dead animals.
To highlight animal testing, PETA also released a version of Pokemon whereby the enslaved "pocket monsters" had their skin removed, and were subjected to drug tests.
Let's hope they've not played Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Of course, Nintendo has some form when it comes to animal abuse. Aside from all the turtle-stomping in Mario, the original Japanese version of Ice Climber required players to batter seals to death using big hammers.
PORTAL 2 IN ADOPTION SCANDAL!
Of all the games liable to stoke offence, you would've thought Portal 2 would be at the bottom of the list. However, the bottom of no barrel is free from being scraped in the desperation to feed a 24-hour news cycle.
US local news station WBTV ran a story on Portal 2 after being contacted by one Neal Staple, a concerned father who felt that the game was insensitive to adopted children. After the main character in Portal 2 is revealed as being adopted, she is taunted with the damning epithet: "Alright, fatty. Adopted fatty. Fatty, fatty no parents."
Staple told the station: "If you're not an adoptive parent it's probably not that big a deal to you, (but) it throws the question, the most ultimate question that child is ever gonna have for you, and it just throws it right in your living room. It literally pokes fun for not having parents."
Also for being a fatty, but clearly that wasn't an issue close to Neal's heart.
US local news station WBTV ran a story on Portal 2 after being contacted by one Neal Staple, a concerned father who felt that the game was insensitive to adopted children. After the main character in Portal 2 is revealed as being adopted, she is taunted with the damning epithet: "Alright, fatty. Adopted fatty. Fatty, fatty no parents."
Staple told the station: "If you're not an adoptive parent it's probably not that big a deal to you, (but) it throws the question, the most ultimate question that child is ever gonna have for you, and it just throws it right in your living room. It literally pokes fun for not having parents."
Also for being a fatty, but clearly that wasn't an issue close to Neal's heart.
LITTLE BIG PLANET OFFENDS MUSLIMS!
Sony halted the release of Little Big Planet in 2008, recalling every single copy of the game worldwide, after it learned that the soundtrack featured phrases from the Islamic holy text the Qur'an.
In a statement aimed at heading off controversy before it began, Sony stated: "During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an."
For the record, the phrases were: "كل نفس ذائقة الموت" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", or "Every soul shall have the taste of death'"), and "كل من عليها فان" ("kollo man alaiha fan", or "All that is on earth will perish").
In a statement aimed at heading off controversy before it began, Sony stated: "During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an."
For the record, the phrases were: "كل نفس ذائقة الموت" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", or "Every soul shall have the taste of death'"), and "كل من عليها فان" ("kollo man alaiha fan", or "All that is on earth will perish").
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2005 BANNED IN CHINA!
Sega's Football Manager 2005 ran afoul of Chinese authorities for featuring Taiwan and Tibet - two countries which China does not officially recognise. The Chinese government claimed the game's contents were "harmful to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity", and that it "seriously violates Chinese law."
It also claimed that the game had been "strongly protested by our nation's gamers", which sounds like a lie.
Developer Sports Interactive issued a statement pointing out that the game was never officially released in China, and had only made its way there through actions of dirty pirates.
It also claimed that the game had been "strongly protested by our nation's gamers", which sounds like a lie.
Developer Sports Interactive issued a statement pointing out that the game was never officially released in China, and had only made its way there through actions of dirty pirates.
EA SPORTS MMA PROMOTES DANGEROUS DRINK!
Rather than damage the integrity of EA Sports MMA - a game in which people punch and kick one another in a variety of ways until they're bruised and bleeding - Electronic Arts cancelled the game altogether in Denmark, where it would've clashed with the country's law against the marketing of high-caffeine energy drinks.
EA Sports MMA featured heavy branding from Rockstar Energy Drinks. In a statement the company bronked: "Our game authentically recreates the sport of MMA in every facet, including energy drink in-game sponsorships on fighter shorts, gear, and in fight venues."
EA Sports MMA featured heavy branding from Rockstar Energy Drinks. In a statement the company bronked: "Our game authentically recreates the sport of MMA in every facet, including energy drink in-game sponsorships on fighter shorts, gear, and in fight venues."
TRIGGER-HAPPY SUPER MARIO BANNED IN VENUZUELA!
As part of a blanket ban on games which feature shooting of any kind, Super Mario games - due to his ability to lob fireballs from his hands - are unavailable in Venuzuela.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez instigated the ban, calling such games "poison".
The ban suggested that Chavez hasn't quite gotten over the Mercenaries 2 controversy, which Venezuelan lawmakers believed sent coded messages to American citizens to rise up and destroy Venezuela: "You have a danger next door, here in Latin America, and action must be taken. It's a justification for an imperialist aggression."
"They once put my face on a game", pouted Chavez incorrectly, adding: "'You've got to find Chavez to kill him'."
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez instigated the ban, calling such games "poison".
The ban suggested that Chavez hasn't quite gotten over the Mercenaries 2 controversy, which Venezuelan lawmakers believed sent coded messages to American citizens to rise up and destroy Venezuela: "You have a danger next door, here in Latin America, and action must be taken. It's a justification for an imperialist aggression."
"They once put my face on a game", pouted Chavez incorrectly, adding: "'You've got to find Chavez to kill him'."
POKEMON GO BANNED OVER UNSPECIFIED IRANIAN SECURITY CONCERNS!
When it was released last summer, Pokemon Go stoked a number of controversies, accused of everything for being a tool for paedophiles to track children, to causing players to walk blindly into traffic, to violating high security areas.
Iran's High Council of Virtual Spaces, the country's official body overseeing online activity, banned the game outright, lest the hunt for pretend monsters lead players into their restricted areas.
Iran's High Council of Virtual Spaces, the country's official body overseeing online activity, banned the game outright, lest the hunt for pretend monsters lead players into their restricted areas.
LEFT FOR DEAD 2 IS INSENSITIVE TO VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA OR RACIST OR SOMETHING!
Something which seems like catnip for those who enjoy being outraged is seeing black zombies getting shot by white characters.
Resident Evil 5 was widely decried for what was seen as a regressive depiction of Africa (specifically African zombies), while Left 4 Dead 2 stumbled headlong into the exact same undead minefield.
Being set in and around the Southern United States, the game reflected the demographic make-up of the region by including zombies of colour. Unfortunately, with the game released in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, one Willie Jefferson of the Houston Chronicle was compelled to accuse the game of racism in an article entitled "Racism in Video Games: The New Norm?"
"Setting the game in a city that was a scene of dead, bloated bodies floating by so soon afterward was a bad call, IMHO," he moaned. "The city has had enough to deal with."
Resident Evil 5 was widely decried for what was seen as a regressive depiction of Africa (specifically African zombies), while Left 4 Dead 2 stumbled headlong into the exact same undead minefield.
Being set in and around the Southern United States, the game reflected the demographic make-up of the region by including zombies of colour. Unfortunately, with the game released in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, one Willie Jefferson of the Houston Chronicle was compelled to accuse the game of racism in an article entitled "Racism in Video Games: The New Norm?"
"Setting the game in a city that was a scene of dead, bloated bodies floating by so soon afterward was a bad call, IMHO," he moaned. "The city has had enough to deal with."
PILLARS OF ETERNITY FEATURES TRANSPHOBIC POETRY!
Role-playing is becoming the most inclusive genre in gaming. Trans and gay characters are increasingly the norm in fantasy realms. Unfortunately, Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity was accused of the exact opposite, for featuring the following poem on a headstone, as submitted into the game courtesy of one of its Kickstarter backers:
"Here lies Firedorn, a hero in bed.
He once was alive, but now he's dead.
The last woman he bedded turned out a man,
And crying in shame, off a cliff he ran.”
Caught in the eye of the outrage storm, Firedorn, the backer responsible, wrote a blog post explaining his memorial: "To anyone who was offended by this, I sincerely apologize. My intent was to ridicule the perpetrators of such behavior and not offend its victims.
"Any form of artistic expression leaves a lot to interpretation and is entirely subjective. But extrapolating any intent from a short limerick and crying in outrage is not the way to go about any of the struggles these victims face. Laugh at Firedorn's misfortune, his idiocy, his stupidity and narrow mindedness instead."
Unfortunately, as a result of the poem being highlighted by feminist mouthpieces Brianna Wu and The Mary Sue, the trans woman who first discovered it received harassment online from bad misogynists, and was forced to change her Twitter account to private.
"Here lies Firedorn, a hero in bed.
He once was alive, but now he's dead.
The last woman he bedded turned out a man,
And crying in shame, off a cliff he ran.”
Caught in the eye of the outrage storm, Firedorn, the backer responsible, wrote a blog post explaining his memorial: "To anyone who was offended by this, I sincerely apologize. My intent was to ridicule the perpetrators of such behavior and not offend its victims.
"Any form of artistic expression leaves a lot to interpretation and is entirely subjective. But extrapolating any intent from a short limerick and crying in outrage is not the way to go about any of the struggles these victims face. Laugh at Firedorn's misfortune, his idiocy, his stupidity and narrow mindedness instead."
Unfortunately, as a result of the poem being highlighted by feminist mouthpieces Brianna Wu and The Mary Sue, the trans woman who first discovered it received harassment online from bad misogynists, and was forced to change her Twitter account to private.
ANIMAL CROSSING IS A PAEDOPHILE'S PLAYGROUND - AND RACIST!
Nintendo's Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii ran into controversy in 2009, when Missouri's ABC 17 News ran a story claiming that sexual predators could use it to lure children into their clutches. This is despite the fact that Nintendo had included protections in the game which made it impossible to connect directly with strangers.
The station quoted Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force member Andy Anderson as stating that "Adults playing Animal Crossing and similar games are likely doing it for the wrong reasons."
It was the second controversy for the Animal Crossing franchise in as many years. In 2008, copies of Animal Crossing: Wild World were sent to journalists for evaluation. The version of the game they received had most of the features unlocked, courtesy of an unnamed Nintendo employee.
Unfortunately, said employee had taught sheep character Baabara to use the N-word (no - not "Nintendo"). Consequently, the character's dialogue was peppered liberally with phrases such as "So got any juicy gossip for me, N***a?"
Inexplicably.
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