The Bully

[MGREXX]

Well it looks like Rockstar's new game "Bully" has people up in arms.......and it's not even out yet!!!!!!!!

Is this the beginning of the end for Rockstar? It looks like they shot themselves on both feet with their GTA: SA fiasco. Short term, they made a ton of cash on the controversy but in long term, did they ambush themselves. It looks like they are REALLY on the spotlight now but in a negative light, which this story clearly shows.

Gamespot news link

[Roy's Blues]

meh

[Godzilla]

meh

317389[/snapback]

[Zentrandude]

meh

317389[/snapback]

317391[/snapback]

heh agreed

[rnurmin]

LOL

[Knight26]

The game sounds stupid to begin with, and personnally I never cared for any of their games, so on my care meter this ranks somewhere right below how much I care for Tom and Katie.

[Druna Skass]

I'm getting sick of these godd@mned p*ssified whiners!

IT'S JUST A F*CKING GAME!

[azrael]

meh

317389[/snapback]

[JB0]

I'm getting sick of these godd@mned p*ssified whiners!

IT'S JUST A F*CKING GAME!

317402[/snapback]

In this case, it's a game that, knowing Rockstar, quite likely glorifies an activity that's already unofficially condoned by the majority of people in a position to do something about it.

While I reserve final judgement until the game is actually out and real information becomes available, as things stand currently I am unamused. And quite bluntly, more than a little pissed.

[Sundown]

Oddly, I sort of like the premise to the game. It doesn't seem like you're the bully, at least on the outset-- but that you're supposed to be standing up to the bullying, albiet in less than civil ways. I'm digging the game's art style and ambience... ruddy British-looking reform school kids rumbling on the school grounds. Being able to take vengence upon your foes with the red-rubber-dodgeball o' fear. It's like Harry Potter but with fists.

Of course, knowing Rockstar, they're likely to take the game in tasteless and insensitive directions.

-Al

Edited August 4, 2005 by Sundown

[Kin]

The government is only good at planning scemes to protect themselves...

They don't want to finance on better education and prevention or some parentsprograms.

It should go like: All parents are responsible for their children. Prevent your child from possesing, spreading or involvement with mature material. If a violation occurs, the parents of the child will be questioned and assigned for a parentsprogram which helps and monitor to prevent this situation.

In this case the child is not a victim of the gamemaker but of the parents.

Again... the people of "...." are being brainwashed by the government.

Edited August 4, 2005 by Kin

[Druna Skass]

I'm getting sick of these godd@mned p*ssified whiners!

IT'S JUST A F*CKING GAME!

317402[/snapback]

In this case, it's a game that, knowing Rockstar, quite likely glorifies an activity that's already unofficially condoned by the majority of people in a position to do something about it.

While I reserve final judgement until the game is actually out and real information becomes available, as things stand currently I am unamused. And quite bluntly, more than a little pissed.

317411[/snapback]

Doesn't change the fact that it's still a game, a game not intented for kids to play anyway. That's the bottom line, it's not for kids, these people are getting mad for no real reason.

The only thing I'm somewhat pissed about is that this game is most likely going to have repetative game play and not much in the way of innovation.

[Druna Skass]

The government is only good at planning scemes to protect themselves...

They don't want to finance on better education and prevention or some parentsprograms.

It should go like: All parents are  responsible for their children. Prevent your child from possesing, spreading or involvement with mature material. If a violation occurs, the parents of the child will be questioned and assigned for a parentsprogram which helps and monitor to prevent this situation.

In this case the child is not a victim of the gamemaker but of the parents.

Again... the people of "...." are being brainwashed by the government.

317427[/snapback]

Yeah but then they'd just lose votes, because I mean God forbid, people would have to raise their own kids.

These people need to learn it isn't the goverment's job to raise and police their godd@mn kids.

[Hurin]

It should go like: . . . If a violation occurs, the parents of the child will be questioned and assigned for a parentsprogram which helps and monitor to prevent this situation.

317427[/snapback]

Sounds great! So when do we annex Poland!?!

[Agent ONE]

It should go like: . . . If a violation occurs, the parents of the child will be questioned and assigned for a parentsprogram which helps and monitor to prevent this situation.

317427[/snapback]

Sounds great! So when do we annex Poland!?!

317436[/snapback]

You are SO my son. I was thinkin the same thing for about 15 min.

[HWR MKII]

And yet noone is complaining about Leisure Suit Larry? weird. Its language is just as harsh as the GTA series and any sexual references in it are louder than John Belushi in Animal House yet the media ignores it. Face it people its cheap advertising for rockstar and everyone loves a scapegoat. Who really cares on here besides MGREXX?

[Druna Skass]

And yet noone is complaining about Leisure Suit Larry? weird. Its language is just as harsh as the GTA series and any sexual references in it are louder than John Belushi in Animal House yet the media ignores it. Face it people its cheap advertising for rockstar and everyone loves a scapegoat. Who really cares on here besides MGREXX?

317479[/snapback]

Like I said in another thread, the morons are only going after GTA because it's well known. That just proves the politicos are just whoreing themselfs for votes.

[JB0]

I'm getting sick of these godd@mned p*ssified whiners!

IT'S JUST A F*CKING GAME!

317402[/snapback]

In this case, it's a game that, knowing Rockstar, quite likely glorifies an activity that's already unofficially condoned by the majority of people in a position to do something about it.

While I reserve final judgement until the game is actually out and real information becomes available, as things stand currently I am unamused. And quite bluntly, more than a little pissed.

317411[/snapback]

Doesn't change the fact that it's still a game, a game not intented for kids to play anyway. That's the bottom line, it's not for kids, these people are getting mad for no real reason.

The only thing I'm somewhat pissed about is that this game is most likely going to have repetative game play and not much in the way of innovation.

317430[/snapback]

Fine. I'm annoyed because Rockstar is exploiting childhood traumas for money.

[GobotFool]

sounds like a dumb game. The best way to not endorse such stupidity is simply, don't buy it, and don't go around bitching about it. Controversy is the best form of free advertising. Hey isn't that simple?

[EXO]

meh

317389[/snapback]

You and Dr. Vandermeer are true MW patriots! LOL!

[The Nighthawk]

Sounds like a pretty stupid game... I lived it, why play it? Yet another Rockstar game I won't be wasting money on. *goes back to playing Zelda*

[Max Jenius]

See... that's just dumb. Its the same problem I have with sports games; I don't really like games about things I can just do in real life.

[Flaming Guantlet]

I'v read about this thu Game Informer. It doesn't sound all bad on paper, you know like ruining someones plant science project by teacher's request, dunk others kids heads in a toilet, and so on. After all that GTA:SA HOT COFEE* fiasco, this definatly Rockstar's more "tammer" projects which aims to get a "T" rating last I heard. With all the protests and controversy, I have yet to hear one peep out of my local news outlets.

*Edit For Slight Clarification.

Edited August 5, 2005 by Flaming Guantlet

[Ghadrack]

See, I read about it in last months copy of EGM and I was really excited about the game. I like the premise, a bully that gets thrown out of school and sent to the "Technical School" where all the bigger bullies are, who then has to fight his way up the food chain to make it through. I'll buy it, even if it sucks to support a company that has some balls. I don't want to have my choices in video game entertainment mandated to me by some 60 year old turd who has never held a controller, let alone played a video game, but still beats his wife and watches kiddie porn snuff films on the weekend before he goes to church and tells everyone else what bad christians they are.

[F-ZeroOne]

Didn't see this one coming...

Just to prove that there is nothing new under the sun, two classic games for the 8-Bit ZX Spectrum - Skool Daze and Back to Skool - featured similar subject matter, though obviously in a more primitive and less graphically defined way. You could write rude words on the blackboards, too...

Incidentallly, one of the longest running comic characters in the UK is Dennis the Menace (no, not that Dennis - ours is the real one, obviously...! ), whose actions in some instances could be construed as bullying, or at least were until people started getting politically correct about it. Hundreds of thousands of kids must have read The Beano comic that he appears in over the years, and I don't recall it ever being linked to actual bullying behaviour in real life...

I'm in two minds about this - I don't totally agree with the subject matter, but without actually having seen the game in action its difficult to judge how it handles it. The trouble is always the idiots who can't tell behaving in a game from behaving in real life...

[MGREXX]

You are all missing a very important point.

KIDS WILL FIND A WAY TO PLAY GAMES THAT WERE NOT INTENDED FOR THEM. THAT'S JUST A FACT!!!!!!

I was at Gamestop around the time that GTA: SA came out and saw this 7-9 year old kid walk in with his parents, so that he could buy GTA:SA. Did the employee say anything to the parents when it was clear that the games was for the boy? NO. Did the parents even bother to look at the rating? NO. It was just complete ignorance on the parents who were probably so clueless of the games content and rating that they probalby still think of gaming as Pac-Man and Mario Bros.

This is just one scenario but kids WILL find ways to play games, so please stop blaming the parents. I still say that the publisher's and developer's should be more responsible and concient of the contenet that they release.

Edited August 5, 2005 by MGREXX

[Gaijin]

OKAY!!!

[JsARCLIGHT]

When I was a kid I had a BB rifle shaped like an M16... I had access to and use of fireworks equal to quarter sticks of dynamite... I had a balisong at age 12... My friends and I used to have fun riding our bikes out to the desert outside of town and blowing stuff up, setting stuff on fire, shooting cans, breaking things, you name it.

But I also had good parents that taught me right from wrong, reality from make-believe and the reprocussions of turning those impliments loose on innocent people.

I am a firm believer that the only thing keeping my friends and I from becoming complete juvenile delinquents where our parents... who raised us well. Back then we did not fear the cops, we feared our FATHERS and what they would do to us if we did something bad. Guess what? NONE of my friends turned out bad, we are all respectable people with jobs, families and in some cases are pillars of our comunities. What keeps kids from going bad are PARENTS. Kids will always have access to things they should not... I read my father's playboys, I watched R and X rated movies at my friend's houses at sleepover parties and what kid as a damn balisong in junior high?... it is the ingrained morals that keep us from acting on the bad influences in life.

Prohibiting kids from things only makes them want them more, what is needed is good parenting and the instruction in what is right and what is wrong. Things like GTA only affect children in the vaccuum of parental influence... with no other source of example than a video game they will follow the lead of the game... but in the presense of influence by good parents even a small child will know what is right and what is wrong. Constantly treating kids like they can't be trusted with things might give them a complex some day.

[Duke Togo]

I'v read about this thu Game Informer. It doesn't sound all bad on paper, you know like ruining someones plant science project by teacher's request, dunk others kids heads in a toilet, and so on. After all that GTA:SA fiasco, this definatly Rockstar's more "tammer" projects which aims to get a "T" rating last I heard.

317624[/snapback]

What fiasco would that be? They've sold millions of these games. This is alot of "no news is no news" to me.

[Pat Payne]

meh

317389[/snapback]

LOL!

IMHO, this game is probably going to be a non-event. It sounds pretty dumb, although the fact that it shows a student going against bullies does appeal to me a bit (when I was in junior high and high school I was a daily target of very vicious bullying). Of course, I'm sure that the fact that it's set in a high/reform school setting will raise some hackles among parents' groups.

Oh, and Ghadrack: We can do without the ad hominem attacks, thank you very much. If you have proof that the anti-game people beat their wives and watch kiddie snuff films, then, by all means, present it. But please, until then, leave the ad hominem attacks at home. I don't like these guys either, but there's enough to say about them without getting into slander (for instance, I do remamber reading that James Dobson, the leader of Hocus Pocus on the Family once said that it was permisible and noble for Christians to steal and destroy Dungeons and Dragons books ... from freerepublic.com ...

Recent Misinformation in the Christian Media On 1997-APR-7 and 8, the Adventures in program of Focus on the Family broadcast two episodes which attacked what they call "role-playing Fantasy Games" [sic]. 14 Odyssey is a radio play about pre-teens and teens in an American town. In both episodes, Dr. James Dobson presented a short talk directed to the children and youth listening to the program and their parents. He attacked RPGs, because he feels that its players actually become the pretend characters that they have selected. To play the game properly, he said that the players need to practice magic and mysticism. His choice of the terms "magic" and "mysticism" is unfortunate, because both words have multiple, conflicting meanings. In the APR-7 episode, he said that some gamers have reported involvement with demons and Satan worship.

In the radio play, "Jimmy" is visited by a RPG playing cousin, "Len". Len's character in the game is known as "Luther the Magician." The latter introduces Jimmy to a game called Castles and Cauldrons"; he gives Jimmy's character the name of "John Dell, the Apprentice." They play the game together. A battle is fought with some evil enemies; both experience auditory hallucinations in which their plastic swords sound like real weapons. Some of the misconceptions mentioned in the play were:

the gamers actually become the pretend characters, and engage in battles and other adventures. In reality, the gamers remain quite human and simply direct the character that they have chosen to go through the adventure....

(snip for paragraphs of the boys falling into the occult and satanism and manifesting real occult powers and assorted total humbug...anbd now, the punchline...)

At one point, Len tried to draw blood from Jimmy. Gamers don't draw blood. Their pretend characters might be imagined to draw pretend blood, but that is all.

"Whit" Whittaker, the owner of a local store comes across Len and Jimmy playing their game. He immediately destroys one of the tools of the game, called The Board of Talisman. Later, Whit casually mentions that he has stolen and destroyed all of Jimmies' gaming equipment. The implication is that a Christian is well within his rights to destroy another person's possessions if he feels that they are unchristian.

(and freerepublic's source...)

14."Odyssey" episodes broadcast on 1997-APR-7 & 8. Copies are available on tape from Odyssey, Colorado Springs, CO 80995

See what I mean about proof?)

Edited August 5, 2005 by Pat Payne

[Black Valkyrie]

Never cared for these kind of games. Saw the news about it awhile ago, why do they intend to make these kind of games just one word STUPID.

PS: Playing Haro Puyo Puyo on the GBA-SP HARO GENKI HARO GENKI

[Ghadrack]

You are all missing a very important point.

Did the parents even bother to look at the rating?  NO.  It was just complete ignorance on the parents who were probably so clueless of the games content and rating that they probalby still think of gaming as Pac-Man and Mario Bros.

317676[/snapback]

Come on dude, that is just plain retarded. Should Playboy magazine be editted by the government because "Kids will find a way", should rated R movies be banned from theatres because "Kids will find a way", Should all forms of motorized travel be banned because "kids will find a way". Parental ignorance and personal responsibility are key here man, we live in America and while it seems to be "In fashion" right now to flaunt fake moral values and hipocritical religious retoric, the god damn fact of the matter is that we are all responsible for our own actions, as parents people have an obligation to their damn kids to do a good job raising them. Letting the TV and the Playstation be their source of inspiration and moral guidance is flaming foolish.

Than to have the gall to blame the ills of society on entertainment, it just stinks of a total lack of any sense of responsibility. It is a combination of weakness and reprehensible self righteousness driving us in high gear towards facism.

[Pat Payne]

PS: Playing Haro Puyo Puyo on the GBA-SP  HARO GENKI HARO GENKI 

317714[/snapback]

Wai...Char-chan to Seyla-chan wa kawaii!

[Kin]

It should go like: . . . If a violation occurs, the parents of the child will be questioned and assigned for a parentsprogram which helps and monitor to prevent this situation.

317427[/snapback]

Sounds great! So when do we annex Poland!?!

317436[/snapback]

Poland? Annexation?

What's that all about?

[Blaine23]

Never cared for these kind of games.  Saw the news about it awhile ago, why do they intend to make these kind of games just one word STUPID.   

PS: Playing Haro Puyo Puyo on the GBA-SP  HARO GENKI HARO GENKI 

317714[/snapback]

Right. Obviously GTA is stupid or it wouldn't sell very well.

See, if I had to play Haro Genki whateveryoucallit, I'd probably shoot myself.

See, that's the great thing about this country (supposedly), I can play games where I kill people and you can play games where a magical elephant chases evil monkeys in balloons while collecting enough silver buttplugs to free the magical princess.

If you don't like the games Rockstar puts out - don't buy them, folks. The point is that you have a choice.

Nothing bothers me more than when people give up their right to choose things simply because it doesn't affect them. Yet.

You either have the right to buy whatever kind of game you want or you have it chosen for you. Personally, the idea of giving up that freedom to an 80 year old fat white guy serving his 20th term in Congress doesn't really sound like freedom to me.

Edited to ADD:

I mean, honestly - does anybody want to support a group that protests a game that isn't even out... and refers to themselves as the Peaceoholics? If you say, "well I don't like Rockstar games, so I don't care" then you might as well join up.

Peaceoholics Assemble!

Edited August 5, 2005 by Blaine23