Hindus Ask PAX To Drop Smite

[Denamic]

That definitely seems like something Tycho and Gabe would agree to.
Yeah.

 

[Arakasi]

"Religion ... has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever. What it means is, 'Here is an idea or a notion that you're not allowed to say anything bad about; you're just not. Why not? - because you're not!' If somebody votes for a party that you don't agree with, you're free to argue about it as much as you like; everybody will have an argument but nobody feels aggrieved by it. If someone thinks taxes should go up or down you are free to have an argument about it. But on the other hand is somebody says 'I mustn't move a light switch on a Saturday', you say, 'I respect that'.
Why should it be that it's perfectly legitimate to support the Labour party or the Conservative party, Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics versus that, Macintosh instead of Windows - but to have an opinion about how the Universe began, about who created the Universe ... no, that's holy? ... We are used to not challenging religious ideas but it's very interesting how much of a furore Richard (Dawkins) creates when he does it! Everybody gets absolutely frantic about it because you're not allowed to say these things. Yet when you look at it rationally there is no reason why those ideas shouldn't be as open to debate as any other, except that we have agreed somehow between us that they shouldn't be."

I, like Dawkins, will never grow tired of sharing the words of Douglas Adams.

 

[lacktheknack]

Dudes... I'm a Christian who plays The Binding of Isaac. Guess what I think about your feelings being hurt by a game.

 

[lacktheknack]

"Religion ... has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or whatever. What it means is, 'Here is an idea or a notion that you're not allowed to say anything bad about; you're just not. Why not? - because you're not!' If somebody votes for a party that you don't agree with, you're free to argue about it as much as you like; everybody will have an argument but nobody feels aggrieved by it. If someone thinks taxes should go up or down you are free to have an argument about it. But on the other hand is somebody says 'I mustn't move a light switch on a Saturday', you say, 'I respect that'.
Why should it be that it's perfectly legitimate to support the Labour party or the Conservative party, Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics versus that, Macintosh instead of Windows - but to have an opinion about how the Universe began, about who created the Universe ... no, that's holy? ... We are used to not challenging religious ideas but it's very interesting how much of a furore Richard (Dawkins) creates when he does it! Everybody gets absolutely frantic about it because you're not allowed to say these things. Yet when you look at it rationally there is no reason why those ideas shouldn't be as open to debate as any other, except that we have agreed somehow between us that they shouldn't be."

I, like Dawkins, will never grow tired of sharing the words of Douglas Adams.

Respect for the avatar! <high-five>

Also, it's a fair quote. I find that it goes the other way a bit often these days, but it's fair.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

yes we know you are offend but have you heard of just getting over the fact it offends you or ingnoring the game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
from what i can see kali wear more clothes in the game the in the picture of the god

no really she is topless
in the game she is not topless
i don't see this guys problem with her depiction in the game

 

[Mathak]

What they really need to do is balance the books.

Make Jesus a playable character.

Not quite sure how that would work given his philosophy, but they should make it work.

As a Christian myself, I would love to see that and imagine The Man would get a kick out of it.

Rather dying for your ideals than use violence does not exactly constitute a good video game protagonist in a fighting game.

Please, Jesus would totally scrounge up a scourge from somewhere and give those other gods a good whipping. Because that's how he rolls.

 

[XandNobody]

You know, for some reason, I used to think of the Hindu religion as smarter than this, more apt to being above this kind of bull than other religions.

Wish I wasn't wrong, but I clearly was.

 

[KeyMaster45]

They're offended? So what. It's a game. Are they trying to accurately depict your magical being that has no proof of existance? No? Then cry harder, because this is the real world, and those characters have every right to be in this game because not only are they fictional, they're also not owned by anyone, so it's not a problem. Disagreeing with their right to put them in the game just makes you scum who wants to keep speech limited to what you want the ignorant to hear. Sounds familiar... oh yeah:

"Videogame makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people."

...and how is religion different? Have fun teaching young people to continue to be closed minded believers of something whose existance in stted in a book that is in no way different than a fairy tale so they act the way you want them to.

Yikes, tone down the atheist rage dude. Disagreeing with it doesn't make them scum, it just makes them normal. The deities may be fake to you but they very much believe in their existence; by extension feeling they should be held in a place of reverence.

They're not planning a protest, they're not suing the studio, and this is not trying to bully PAX into dropping the company from the convention.(bullying would be trying to get PAX evicted from the convention center unless they dropped the company from the roster) They're trying to put pressure on the company any way they can and one of the well accepted ways of getting a business to change what it's doing is by taking aim at their wallet. Hell the gaming community does it, or at least tries to, all the time.

There is nothing wrong with what they are doing, but it is a little sad when you stop to think about it. They're trying to get people other than themselves to care and there is just not a single fuck left spare. I'd say don't get mad at them, frustrated maybe but not mad. It's certainly loads less stressful on your health than knee jerk rage. (Hinduism is also pretty low on the "evil religions" list since they're kinda mellow in their teachings as it is. So you know, pick something not so benign to be angry over.)

 

[Schadrach]

I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

To be fair, Hi-Rez are being dickheads. I mean, just look at Kali. That's just being a dickhead.

Edit: And the Hindus aren't opposing Free Speech. They're expressing THEIR right to THEIR free speech to say they don't like what Hi-Rez are doing and are politely asking conventions to not support the game. It works both way. Shocking, I'm sure.

Just look at her? Have you seen actual classic depictions of Kali? Just Google her and take a look, they aren't that far off. They'd be closer if she were wearing less clothes and a necklace of heads, though.

 

[Arvind]

I don't support the banning of these characters, but the headline would be better if it said "Hindu Organization Asks PAX To Drop Smite" - this organization does not represent every follower of Hinduism after all.

 

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

Kali is also in a game where you shoot yourself in the head to summon it from your inner being.

edit: But to be fair, they do have a right to be offended. I'm just saying that this isn't the only instance of divine beings being used as game characters.

 

[Stripes]

I love how people think that, because they dont believe in someone's religion, they have a right to mock the people who do. I think they dont need to have the gods in and it was a dum idea to only use hindu gods in the first place out of the main practiced religions, as if hinduism is the only religion you dont have to respect. They arent making any sort of statement, which is fine, however because of that theres no real reason to press ahead with it aside from insensitivity. Also asking that a private corporation not do business with another private corporation because you find it offensive is not attacking free speech.

 

[Woodsey]

I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

still no characters from the Abrahamic religions i see.

why is that exactly ?..

oh yes...they are shitebags.

still /golfcalp in the name of "freedom of speech" eh ?..

especially when its quite clear they won't actually dare offend anyone who might actually be able to mess with them in return.

cowards.

Their job is not to include all the religions you've taken up a personal beef with. You might have noticed that Hindu deities are rather interesting looking, whilst anyone important in Christianity, Judaism and Islam is a bloke with a beard. So yeah, no shit they're not included.

So... like pretty much most mage characters in video games?

It's lazy design if you think that way though. Jesus and the Abrahamic religions have a wealth of Middle Eastern culture and style to create character designs from... and that's not including the Greek and Roman influences on the various depictions of Christian idols (although that particular word is tricky given the ten commandments).

But of course they wouldn't try that, since they'd get into real trouble in the US. Like Plunk says, they're ignoring the complaint because they can, not through any sense of ethics.

Not that I give a crap either way, I'm not going to play that game anyway. 3D DOTA doesn't seem that thrilling to me.

Oh please, how many people think of anything like that when they think of Jesus or the Abrahamic god? You and three other people, the designers probably haven't. And as already mentioned, the others all seem to be religions with pantheons (or at least a few gods, not sure about the Chinese ones).

This is as petty as demanding comedians make Muslim jokes just because people have some perverse sense of "what's fair". You know why comedians don't do them? Because most of them wouldn't know enough about Islam to make the jokes and let's face it, nor would the audience. The only difference here is that the Abrahamic god is far too familiar.

If they DID want to do use the Abrahamic god, then fine - they're all fictional characters, they're all fair game. But they don't, and you've really no decent argument for them to do so. Beyond, again, that perverse sense of "what's fair" and bending over backwards with the design just to get them in there.

I love how people think that, because they dont believe in someone's religion, they have a right to mock the people who do. I think they dont need to have the gods in and it was a dum idea to only use hindu gods in the first place out of the main practiced religions, as if hinduism is the only religion you dont have to respect. They arent making any sort of statement, which is fine, however because of that theres no real reason to press ahead with it aside from insensitivity. Also asking that a private corporation not do business with another private corporation because you find it offensive is not attacking free speech.

Perhaps some people need to realise that just because something's important to them doesn't make it untouchable. No one's taking a shit a temple floor, it's a game. Precisely how much will this affect anything at all? Well, probably about as much as the other times Kali's been featured in games: fuck all.

Designers can do what they want.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

What they really need to do is balance the books.

Make Jesus a playable character.

Not quite sure how that would work given his philosophy, but they should make it work.

As a Christian myself, I would love to see that and imagine The Man would get a kick out of it.

I got it make him a specialist fighter. He would only be able to harrn his opponent by "turning the other cheek", then countering them.

Also Muhammed would be invisible, and Moses.... Well... At least we've got his taunt figured out.

 

[freaper]

Is it me or maybe, just maybe, some Hinduists are losing focus here.
I understand defending your beliefs, however they ought to understand that it is NOT their deity on screen. It's a character with a cool name.

I want to see Jesus in a fighting game. Why not??? Huh?

Totally! Give him a long, black, Van Hellsing-style trenchcoat and a cross as a waraxe/hammer and you've got a badass character.

St. Peter can come too.

 

[GameChanger]

Jesus would probably carry a cross on his shoulders for melee, and his powers would involve healing or setting the cross on fire or such.

On topic: The Oat Meal's "How to tell if you SUCK at your religion comes to mind"

 

[muffinatorXII]

I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

still no characters from the Abrahamic religions i see.

why is that exactly ?..

oh yes...they are shitebags.

still /golfcalp in the name of "freedom of speech" eh ?..

especially when its quite clear they won't actually dare offend anyone who might actually be able to mess with them in return.

cowards.

I'm pretty sure they don't have gods from Abrahamic religions because they are omnipotent gods ,and that will be pretty hard to balance. and also they are quite boring

 

[muffinatorXII]

If they won't remove the Hindu gods, then perhaps they should include Jesus Christ and Mohammad as playable characters?

I'm pretty sure Mohammad isn't divine, he's just a prophet. and isn't Jesus against the whole violence thing?

 

[blackrave]

How many of you thought about South Park while reading this?



I know I did

 

[1337mokro]

PAX told the Hindus to politely stuff it and then made a comic strip that was considerably less polite.

I trust the Penny Arcade guys to stand up to these enemies of free speech.

still no characters from the Abrahamic religions i see.

why is that exactly ?..

oh yes...they are shitebags.

still /golfcalp in the name of "freedom of speech" eh ?..

especially when its quite clear they won't actually dare offend anyone who might actually be able to mess with them in return.

cowards.

Maybe because the only magic prophet was Jesus. The rest of the prophets all were aided by God. So you would literally have Prophets who could do nothing but use hacks seeing as God is supposed to be omnipotent.

However they COULD make it work.

However here is something else about free speech you are missing. You can't FORCE them to include something NOR can you force them to remove something.

You are damaging their free speech just as much DEMANDING that if they add an existing religion they add ALL the existing religions as when you DEMAND they remove something from their game.

They made a game. They decide what they put in it.