Fable 2 Is PETA's Game of the Year

[Keane Ng]

Fable 2 Is PETA's Game of the Year

The Fable 2 [http://www.peta.org/index.asp][/I] with the title of "most animal-friendly game" for 2008.

Anyone who's played Fable 2 will speak to the surprisingly deep connection between the player and his/her dog and would say that would be enough to call it the game of the year for any animal lover, but PETA has other reasons for declaring Fable 2 worthy of animal-rights accolades. "Created by Microsoft Game Studios, Fable 2 is a vegetarian's dream come true," PETA said [http://www.peta.org/feat/proggy/6th/?c=p6apgb08#winnerDetails]. "Why? In this virtual fight between good and evil, characters powered by tofu are just as powerful as their meat-eating counterparts - and are more fit and attractive to boot." So, no, it's not because the game makes you feel something for your canine companion, but because it teaches you that eating celery makes you a good person.

As PETA sees it, Fable 2 has a "strong pro vegetarian theme" because "eating a plant-based diet helps you rack up 'purity' points, wheras eating meat makes your character fat and evil...[Fable 2] is an effective tool that teaches gamers the real-life benefits of a vegetarian diet."

I guess PETA wouldn't be too happy if they took a glance at my Fable 2 save file. My character was grossly overweight and a serial murderer. He ate meat pies by the handful, and killed the grocer who sold the celery. I guess that's where PETA seems to be missing the point in their quest to read a pro-veg narrative into Fable 2's good-evil mechanic. Sure, it teaches people that eating vegetables is good for you. In the end, though, it didn't really matter (outside of the realm of cosmetics) that my character ate meat because being evil wasn't a bad thing to him, and Fable 2 doesn't really punish you for being bad. Or liking steaks.

Permalink

 

[sirdanrhodes]

It's a game, it's not real. Animal cruelty in games or where no animals are harmed is OK, but this is the only exception.

 

[Phyroxis]

Facepalm.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I shoulda seen this coming what with the vegitarian bent the whole game has.

 

[DI7789]

In my opinion, they have no right to tell us what is right for animals, Lord knows they have enough controversy chasing them around, what with them funding terrorist groups and killing animals in their shelters

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Yes! So by their logic when I see a used needle on the ground, I should inject myself with it, because I would obviously gain super powers! Thank you PETA! You guys are so smart.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

Eating celery in that game might make you skinnier and less evil, but they forget that being evil sure is a hell of a lot less boring.

 

[CounteTwingeX]

meh who cares they can rant and rave all they want hell as long as your not beating/starving/evil stuff to your pets then who cares.

 

[CoverYourHead]

They should stay away from games and go back to their Sea Kittens.

 

[Iron Mal]

Well, eating vegetables and fruit in Fable 2 does give you purity but it doesn't affect your morality in the slightest (in fact, there is only one article of food that makes you more evil and it is not too difficult to counteract the corruption brought about by eating meat and fish by working at a job and setting the rent/income on your properties to low).

I had a evil character who was a strict vegan, after all, nothing goes better with the slaughter of innocents than a nice healthy slab of tofu! (WARNING: in extreme cases vegetarianism may result in genocide).

 

[bikeninja]

This is weird, because the first thing I did when I started the game was kick a chicken, then laugh as I got an achievement.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

On the topic of good/evil and vegitarianism... there are a lot of arguements about whether Hitler was a christian or an atheist but one thing is fact...

He was a strict Teatoataler and Vegitarian.

See kids, History is fun!

 

[Avida]

"teaches gamers the real-life benefits of a vegetarian diet".. So if i eat my greens i get a halo and blue skin, fuck yeah!

Also, it needs to be said, theres a distinct difference between infomation and propaganda, and i think reguardless of 'good' intentions this crap has to stop, or at least ease out.

Edit: Does it not bother PETA that

Spoiler

your dog' is shot in the face at the end,

or that violent animals like balverines are evil and should be killed on sight?

 

[Aardvark]

My dog spent the game limping around and whinging for the whole thing, before getting

Spoiler: STONKING GREAT HOLES BLASTED THROUGH HIM

shot

. If they approve of that kind of behavior, shame on them. Murderers.

 

[HobbesMkii]

Well, I think they have a point. The game rewards you (by the standards which we're all judged as "good people" in modern society) by eating vegetarian and not doing anything cruel. So, in their eyes, the game is pro-veggie, and the dog companion helps bring in the pro-animal slant too.

However, they do miss the fact that the programmers weren't trying to make it so being good was the best option. It was only 50% of the options laid out to you. You don't have to listen to society's standards. Oh, and despite punishing your dog, he was pretty much completely loyal. And the player themselves couldn't even kill him, so it wasn't like they allowed you the option of mistreating animals. I don't think Lionhead included the veggie = good slant because they believe that vegetarians are better people than the rest of us, but because society generally views vegetarians as hoighty-toighty (what;s the correct spelling for that?) do-gooders who have increased empathy for the animals we all assume are food.

And, they're choosing Fable 2 because it's a popular game, and PETA desperately wants to be popular. And because action-adventure doesn't really strike the general society as a place where such a message would hide out, and PETA's trying to make us think outside the box.

Again, just to bring it into perspective, could you name another game of 2008 that you thought was more animal-friendly than Fable 2? I mean, hell, I was evil the whole way through, but in the end I saved the dog.

 

[sheic99]

On the topic of good/evil and vegitarianism... there are a lot of arguements about whether Hitler was a christian or an atheist but one thing is fact...

He was a strict Teatoataler and Vegitarian.

See kids, History is fun!

Hitler was neither christian or atheist. He believed in the occult. This is my favorite part: he believed that the "True Aryan" race were descendents of Atlantians who escaped before Atlantis sunk and were living in the Himilayas. He sent many SS troops to search for them, so he could create the ultimate race by breeding Germans with the Atlantians.

You're right history is fun!

 

[Ionami]

Clearly Harvest moon lost its chance when you had to milk the cows.

I lol'd.

I see they mention nothing of eating Sea Kittens in Fable 2, however.

 

[Seydaman]

wasn't there an achievment for killing a bunch of rabbits and cute animals, irony

 

[AceDiamond]

So, in their eyes, the game is pro-veggie, and the dog companion helps bring in the pro-animal slant too.

Actually seeing as how they're against people having pets (because it's animal slavery) I don't see how the dog companion thing comes out as a positive.