Is this over the top?

Bard

From http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/fun.games/01/23/gay.game.reut/index.html :

AMSTERDAM, Holland (Reuters) -- A Dutch gay activist is fighting to outlaw the import of a U.S. computer game in which the player can shoot homosexuals, junkies, dogs and cats.

Henk Krol, editor of the leading Dutch gay newspaper, has asked prosecutors to start court proceedings and is lobbying parliamentarians to outlaw the game, called "Postal 2."

"It is disgusting. In the Netherlands we have anti-discrimination laws to protect people from discrimination based on sexual preference and that makes it easier to do something," Krol said on Thursday.

Postal 2, produced by Arizona-based Running with Scissors, is due to become available in the Netherlands in late March.

'Not anti-gay'

Vince Desi, who runs Running with Scissors, said the game did not discriminate against homosexuals.

"It's definitely not anti-gay. You know what? It's a game -- get over it," Desi said.

Desi said the player can shoot gay people but does not have to do so, and does not win any points for shooting anyone.

"In the game, the player plays the role of a character called The Postal Dude. He lives in a town where there are all kinds of people, white, black, skinny, fat, straight and gay. You can play the game in a passive role without killing anyone," Desi said.

"We are not political," he added.

Postal banned in Australia
Postal 2 is a new version of the firm's earlier game "Postal." That game has been banned in Australia, but Krol said it was widely sold in Dutch toy stores.

The target of that game was to eliminate hostile elements and unarmed civilians in city streets, parks and suburbs using a variety of weapons. The player could exit the game by "committing suicide."

Krol says he is not certain the authorities will be able to prevent Dutch residents from buying the game from the company's Web site, but hopes his campaign to prevent it being sold in toy stores will make buyers aware of the game's content.

"A lot of these games are being bought by parents and grandparents and one of our goals is to get people to understand what they are buying," Krol said.

Desi said he did not believe a ban on selling the game in the Netherlands would apply to Internet sales.

"I don't think anything would prevent people from buying it on the Internet," he said.

Screenshot from the game

Considering that you can shoot anyone in the game, and are not, apparently, actively encouraged to shoot gay people, is this an over-reaction or should the game be banned?


[edit]: oh my god, I posted on GLB!

Stefan

Which of the guys in the screenshot is supposed to be gay?

Bard

Originally posted by Stefan
Which of the guys in the screenshot is supposed to be gay?

The scene is from a gay bar, apparently, so I'd presume they're ALL "supposed to be".

swiss

Nothing like a little indignant outrage for a little cheap publicity for a game. The only issue I have with this is that from the screenshots the graphics look pretty crap. GTA3 is a much better title if killing civillians is your thing .

If you can shoot anyone, then... pfft I'm not going to get bent about it (crap pun I know).

yellum

Can you shoot blacks, jews, gypsies and handicapped people too ?

Are gay people labeled in it ?

Sounds to be like they're hyping it up for attention.

I'm all for it if they have a fat balding ugly character called Vince Desi in the next version that you can beat the crap out of.

Shinji

It's Postal. It's not a very good game, it's just designed to get people upset. They succeed admirably at that.

The guy isn't overreacting as such, but to be honest, he should really find something better to do with his life. The sooner people realise that this kind of media thrives on adverse publicity and that the way to deal with it is to ignore it, the better.

De Rebel

Originally posted by Stefan
Which of the guys in the screenshot is supposed to be gay?

well its never the one shimmying around in the fuxking pink tee shirt, what self respecting queer would be seen dead in that 70s getup....

the sensationalisim and hype is what these guys are after, working on the principle that there is no bad publicity. ignoring it is the best policy, though there is a danger that it could reenforce negative perceptions of gays and lead to various forms of offensive avtivity. in reality its not a "gay agenda" item; violent games which stereotype minorities/social groups and treat those minorities as expendable are deplorable, whether its gays, women, blacks or whatever.

just like some some innocent cartoon many eons ago warped many childrens minds and led to that discgracful movement that today butchers kittens in the name of producing kittencake

HerrLipp

Looks offensive, but I still voted no leave it alone because I'm totally opposed to censorship.