Actual City of Juarez Wants Videogame Juarez Banned

[Jumplion]

Amidst all the knee-jerking "Kids aren't supposed to play it, dood!" I just have to think.

The situation is already bad enough over there that they don't need video games glorifying the situation there (because I have absolutely no confidence in the developer to deliver a thoughtful, mature story or gameplay with it) making things even more desensitized there. From what I have read on previous threads on the subject, it seems that there's barely any regulation there, let alone one for video games, so I'd say that it'd be very easy for kids to get their hands on the game.

This, a million times.

I'm usually not too fond of all the VIDYAGAEMS R BAD FOR TEH CHILDRENS bullcrap that politicians and the media spout, but in this case I can kind of see why people would be upset. It's one thing to show violence in the context of fictional scenarios, scenarios from the past or even an actual war in the present, but making a game about the very real current problems of a region strikes me as somewhat irreverent.

It's as if someone made a game about Africa, where you have to survive Malaria and fight for basic human rights.

Eh, that's not exactly what I'm going for. I mean, if we follow your logic, we should also be up in arms with modern conflict games like Call of Duty and the like. A little contradictory there.

There's nothing wrong with making a game about current problems, you just have to show it in a fair light. The problem I see is that this game (despite us knowing little about it) is probably going to have a story worth it's weight in shit and glorify the whole situation into gang fights and shoot outs (lord knows they don't have enough of those already!).

We still don't know much about it, but I wouldn't have any problem with it if they banned the game in that area.

 

[zehydra]

the point of escapism is to escape real life, if you are being perpetually reminded of your real world situation, its just insomnia

That was strangely poetic. Nice.

 

[jawakiller]

this is rediculous, he may as well be saying ALL violent games should be banned.

Well its already been established, bulletstorm does in fact, make you a rapist and is fucking awesome... So this not that different an argument.

This one is not like that, there is an actual valid argument unlike with bulletstorm, and the argument is the fear of it glorifying the cartels and thereby influencing kids to join them, it's a real issue, now they would do this for music too but there's just too much of that and would be impossible to regulate, but this is a big budget AAA game we're talking about so of course since it's just one it would be easier to get rid of it before it comes out.
Besides it's pretty damn disgusting to think of someone having fun doing recreations of a situation that is going on right now and that people ARE DYING on, I mean would you like to see a game about how you're father gets killed? Because for a lot of people over here that is what this is.

Well its more like GTA due to the fact that it portrays criminal in a positive light but you can't ban San Andreas just because someone died in a gang-related fight in Los Angeles (basically the real world equivalent). I know it sounds bad but I can't support someone trying to ban a game, especially a non-U.S. city. If a city somewhere in the States had a problem there might actually be an argument but for a Mexican city to ***** about a U.S. title? I'm sorry but thats just not justifiable.

 

[Kae]

snip

Well its more like GTA due to the fact that it portrays criminal in a positive light but you can't ban San Andreas just because someone died in a gang-related fight in Los Angeles (basically the real world equivalent). I know it sounds bad but I can't support someone trying to ban a game, especially a non-U.S. city. If a city somewhere in the States had a problem there might actually be an argument but for a Mexican city to ***** about a U.S. title? I'm sorry but thats just not justifiable.

But the game is getting an international release, besides I never said it should be banned all I'm saying is that you guys should stop treating this argument as stupid and moronic and should at least give some respect to it, it's not like the game is not offensive with that horrible tag line, so all I'm asking is for you guys to stop treating this people like they are FOX news, as they have some pretty valid reasons to make an argument.
So please just be more respectful of the situation, I've already been highly offended by the comments on this article.

 

[jawakiller]

snip

Well its more like GTA due to the fact that it portrays criminal in a positive light but you can't ban San Andreas just because someone died in a gang-related fight in Los Angeles (basically the real world equivalent). I know it sounds bad but I can't support someone trying to ban a game, especially a non-U.S. city. If a city somewhere in the States had a problem there might actually be an argument but for a Mexican city to ***** about a U.S. title? I'm sorry but thats just not justifiable.

So please just be more respectful of the situation, I've already been highly offended by the comments on this article.

Oh, don't take it personally. I'd rather not offend someone and I'm sorry if I came across that way. Besides, its not that big a deal.

 

[Socken]

Eh, that's not exactly what I'm going for. I mean, if we follow your logic, we should also be up in arms with modern conflict games like Call of Duty and the like. A little contradictory there.

There's nothing wrong with making a game about current problems, you just have to show it in a fair light. The problem I see is that this game (despite us knowing little about it) is probably going to have a story worth it's weight in shit and glorify the whole situation into gang fights and shoot outs (lord knows they don't have enough of those already!).

We still don't know much about it, but I wouldn't have any problem with it if they banned the game in that area.

CoD is something else completely though, I realise that. Maybe I didn't phrase that clearly but we shouldn't be up in arms about CoD and the like because, frankly, they're about war. Not "a war", but war in general. It's based on current conflicts, but it never even goes so far as to name the country it takes place in. Besides, the narrative is far from an integral part of the experience. Whereas this game quite clearly is not only based on current conflicts, but goes out of its way to reference said conflict in the title and use it not only as an inspiration but as a marketing device. Add to that what you said about the game portraying the entire situation as a series of fun little shootouts and having an actual plot and story to hold it all together and you basically get something that's designed to make money off and get entertainment from the people of Juarez' misfortune.
But actually, now that I think of it, if CoD were banned in the middle-east I could totally understand that, too, to some extent.

 

[UnderCoverGuest]

Personally, I've never seen someone loose their hand to a lightsaber blade. A very heavy and sharp object, but never a lightsaber blade. So Star Wars is cool.

I haven't seen any African American slaves during my time overseas and wandering about in towns and cities across the US, but I can understand what times were like when Huck Finn was written.

But having a visual, graphic display of people getting murdered, shot, and killed in a digital town based on the physical town where you live, where people are getting murdered, shot, and killed? Now we've gone from "freedom of artful expression" to, "we live in a place akin to hell at the moment, we'd appreciate it if, here at least, you don't perpetually remind us of that fact." Sensitivity does exist in this world.

"So what if that woman is brutally killed in that video game, it's just art!", you seem to say, while a fellow down south mourns the loss of his mother under very similar circumstances, and has such images brought to his attention in the form of a video game.

If video game companies are willing to delay the release of games for reasons such as 'better quality', then maybe the Mexico release should be delayed until a 'better time'. It's their decision. And this is just my opinion.

 

[mr_rubino]

You're 3 games too late for anyone making decisions using their brain and not their emotions to care. Try making your city not a hell-hole instead of complaining.

 

[mr_rubino]

But having a visual, graphic display of people getting murdered, shot, and killed in a digital town based on the physical town where you live, where people are getting murdered, shot, and killed? Now we've gone from "freedom of artful expression" to, "we live in a place akin to hell at the moment, we'd appreciate it if, here at least, you don't perpetually remind us of that fact." Sensitivity does exist in this world.

GTA. Fictional people, fictional events, fictional city that kindasortamaybe looks like a real one.
Sorry. Just no.
There is a difference between fantasy and reality, and we should not try to blur the line just to pull dishonestly at people's heartstrings.

Sure, delay the Mexican release if that will instantly pull this poor city out of the depths it's reached through sheer negligence (I hope), but don't try to say we shouldn't make these works because someone might be saddened by it. I remember someone on the IMDb cue-cue'ing about the end of Scary Movie 3 and how it could upset people whose children were hit by cars. If the world just bows to every complaint, we'll have none of that "artistic expression" you seem to dislike at all.

EDIT2: And I'm not one of those yokels who run around making racist jokes and then crying into my beer about how "You have no right not to be offended!" when called out in any way. But you know what they say about broken clocks.

 

[Jack Macaque]

Wow over 6000 people killed in 2 years in that town alone, and how many people get killed in the Afghanistan or Iraq in 2 years?

 

[kickyourass]

I can half understand their concerns. While this game probably would not have any effects on kids living in stable areas (like the US), it might have a detrimental effect on children in areas that are highly violent, since many of those children might already have emotional problems due to the violence in the area, and it's possible (even if it is unlikely) that a videogame might push a kid who is already emotionally unstable into doing something stupid.

Not to mention that this particular game is dipicting events that are happenning in Juarez RIGHT NOW, so there's another thing they need to think about.

Besides, the exact quote was that

"Children wind up being easily involved in criminal acts over time, because among other things, during their childhood not enough care has been taken about what they see on television and playing video games"

I think we can all agree that "not enough care being taken to prevent kids from seeing movies and playing games they shouldn't be" is a problem. Of course the care should be taken BY THE PARENTS instead of by the government. The quote isn't saying that games are evil, it's just saying that people should be careful about what their kids see, and I can agree with that, even though I completely disagree with the idea that the government has some kind of legal duty to ban this game. It has no such duty, or right.

While I do agree that the government shouldn't ban the game I think it's perfectly reasonable for them to want to. I mean if a game had the player taking part in say, the actual gang war going on between the Crips and the Bloods and it was set the real city of Los Angeles (Not some Liberty city-style name swap), would it really be unreasonable to not want that game sold there?

 

[Kae]

snip

Oh, don't take it personally. I'd rather not offend someone and I'm sorry if I came across that way. Besides, its not that big a deal.

Ok Ok, sorry I took it out on you, but even though I am not in the situation that the people of Juarez are I do have close family members that are in that situation, and it's not so much the game and what it represents that pissed me off but the reaction of the people here that offended me, you know the comparison to FOX news and all those things people are saying about we mexicans being idiots for letting this happen, you know that pissed me off, it's just that you're comment (that was not even nearly as offensive as some previous one) was the last one I read before posting and that's why I took it out on you, so for that I apologize.

 

[sorpaqq]

This game should be banned for being a crap game, not because of it's level of violence.