Hindus Ask PAX To Drop Smite

infinity_turtles

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beefpelican said:
Agow95 said:
Sleekit said:
Agow95 said:
people stopped taking Kali seriously when Indianna Jones: Temple of Doom came out.
that a hell of a claim to make given its the worlds third largest religion after Christianity and Islam and has over a billion practitioners.
I was joking, I wasn't saying Hindu's were a minority or anything, just pointing out that this isn't really the first time Hindu gods have been portrayed stupidly in games or films.
Indeed. You can sacrifice maidens to Kali in spelunky (or pugs in the XBLA version). And Shiva has been a standard summon in just about every final fantasy game I can think of. To my knowledge they haven't provoked the same outrage.

I guess I can see the Hindu point of view on this one, though I certainly don't think the game should be shut down. Imagine if it wasn't a religious figure, but a very revered historical one, like Martin Luther King Jr. Having a mainstream game where he fights, kills, and gets killed by Rosa Parks or Mother Theresa would be in poor taste. It makes sense that if someone truly believes in a religion they would feel the same way about their gods.
That game you just described? I would buy that. It sounds hilarious. Also reminds me of Gandhi in the civilization games. His AI is bloodthirsty in those.
 

Triforceformer

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The Plunk said:
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.
 

Two-A

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Nieroshai said:
It's all fun and games til it's your own faith being portrayed by an outsider. People need to focus more on themselves within their faiths and less on whether anyone else respects them. Hell, I'm a Christian, I know none of you respect that. And I don't care, I'm here to talk games and nerdy crap.
I respect that, I'm a Christian too.

I feel that people need to learn to not push their beliefs into everything. Hinduism is the 3rd largest religion in the world, it makes sense that people would draw inspiration for it.
 

Orks da best

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well, anyone else think Moviebob going do a big picture epiosde on this, or a game overthinker one? Anyone?
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

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Andy Chalk said:
Hindus Ask PAX To Drop Smite


The Universal Society of Hinduism is asking PAX organizers to keep Smite out of the convention.



Permalink
"Head of a group of Hindus asks PAX to drop Smite" would be a far more accurate title. But that isn't as attention grabbing, is it?
 

Triforceformer

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RedEyesBlackGamer said:
Andy Chalk said:
Hindus Ask PAX To Drop Smite


The Universal Society of Hinduism is asking PAX organizers to keep Smite out of the convention.



Permalink
"Head of a group of Hindus ask PAX to drop Smite" would be a far more accurate title. But that isn't as attention grabbing, is it?
Garm Jurnalizm.
 

ThisNewGuy

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Darkgoosey666 said:
If anyone is offended by the game, they shouldnt buy it. Simples. Trying to deprive others the experience of playing the game aint cool at all.
I don't agree with that argument. Criticism should always be welcomed. Everybody has the right to offer their perspectives. While I may disagree with the critics request, I'm glad that they brought it up. I do agree that what Smite seems to be doing is insensitive and without much care. It seems like a product of "WOULDN'T IT BE COOL IF LIKE JESUS FOUGHT ALAH?" and not much else after that.

Gamers wants to pretend that the modern scapegoating towards games is just like the 1950s scapegoating towards comic books. That's just not true. Comic books of the 1950s featured well thought out heroes with special care given to each persona. The authors and artists had a deep understanding of what they're putting out and why. What sort of impact their heroes will have in society and is that the impact that they intended.

Modern major games on the other hand just slaps a couple of "COOL" things together to make sure that their games are "BIGGER AND BADDER" than their predecessors. It's just sad.
 

BiscuitTrouser

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When they argue for the removal of Thor from all movies and comic books as well for the sake of fairness maybe anyone would listen to them. Until then they are hypocrites.
 

BiscuitTrouser

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ThisNewGuy said:
Comic books of the 1950s featured well thought out heroes with special care given to each persona. The authors and artists had a deep understanding of what they're putting out and why. What sort of impact their heroes will have in society and is that the impact that they intended.
Thor was a hero in a comic book. Isnt that almost the exact same scenario we have here? Just because his believers are mostly dead doesnt he deserve the same rights as "all" gods? What makes one god more entitled than another? It seems to me like the exact same situation except no one stood up for thor to be removed. It seems to me that criticism about how a character is portrayed can be leveled at anything for almost any reason and the people doing it are almost always self serving. As such its hard to give them an answer that isnt "If you dont enjoy this media dont play it"
 

CaptainMarvelous

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Triforceformer said:
The Plunk said:
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.
How are they being dicks o_O all they appear to have done is make Kali look LESS ball shrivellingly terrifying than usual by not giving her a necklace of a butt load of human skulls.

And while I agree they have a right to free speech by saying they don't like the game, I don't think asking someone else (even if it's politely) to not support it as an expression of YOUR free speech is particularly fair. If the PAX guys are likely to agree they'd probably do it of their own volition but coming forward and asking they stop the showing of a game because it offends their sensibilities seems... dumb. Unless they agree it's a bad thing, it's unlikely they'll block them and since their view is "It's only bad because your using OUR gods" (and we apparently never played a Shin Megami Tensei game or Age of Mythology) I doubt PA'll back them.

It'd be like asking supermarkets to stop carrying cows/pigs because it offends their religious sensibilities, most people are unaware and don't care and only find out some religions don't like them because of the ban which they themselves don't agree with. The majority of moderates (as in, everyone who isn't the ONE GUY WHO'S PUSHING FOR ALL THIS) do not give two craps if Kali is fighting other deities because she's sodding Kali. Granted this on my slightly skewed survey of asking 3 hindi friends who all agreed, but still.

So... yeah. I think it's dumb.
 

ThisNewGuy

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BiscuitTrouser said:
ThisNewGuy said:
Comic books of the 1950s featured well thought out heroes with special care given to each persona. The authors and artists had a deep understanding of what they're putting out and why. What sort of impact their heroes will have in society and is that the impact that they intended.
Thor was a hero in a comic book. Isnt that almost the exact same scenario we have here? Just because his believers are mostly dead doesnt he deserve the same rights as "all" gods? What makes one god more entitled than another? It seems to me like the exact same situation except no one stood up for thor to be removed.
I agree with you. All characters from every medium (books, paintings, films, video games, music, etc) should all be treated with respect and care. The creators should create their work with an understanding of what it is they're making and the meaning behind their creation.

But did you really expect the head of a Hindu group to be critical of the inclusion of Thor? I mean, can you imagine the backlash from gamers exploding with "YOU DON'T KNOW **** ABOUT THOR, **** YOU".
 

DonTsetsi

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Having Jehovah and Jesus could be fun. Jehovah can be based on the plagues: a summoning ability, a debuff, maybe some aoe dmg, a very damaging death of firstborn nuke. Jesus would be a support healer with a heal, a buff or two and resurrection.
 

userwhoquitthesite

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Hindus ask PAX to drop Smite
Hindus need to get over it and stop whining

Seriously. It's a game. If it offends you that your gods are in the game, don't buy the game.
If it's just that they are still in worship, and the other gods arent (i don't follow the game, i have no idea what other gods are in it), then big fucking deal. Jesus's powers are too ill-defined to make a good fighting character

and fuck you, escapist, for the captchas. I don't need to add the last part, but I feel like its the right thing to do
 

userwhoquitthesite

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DonTsetsi said:
Having Jehovah and Jesus could be fun. Jehovah can be based on the plagues: a summoning ability, a debuff, maybe some aoe dmg, a very damaging death of firstborn nuke. Jesus would be a support healer with a heal, a buff or two and resurrection.
OOh, and Allah is a broke-balance type of character, he has a similar moveset to Jehovah, but he's entirely inivisible
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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These religious nuts again. I hope PAX doesn't cave to their irrational demands. So what if they're offended? They're adults for fuck sake. They should have learned to get over things like that by now. If you don't like it, don't play it. Simple as that. Why do they have to stick their nose in other peoples business? They don't hold any rights to those gods. They are mythical creatures and as such they belong to all of humanity. In fact, now I want to make a porn with people dressed as Hindu gods. And my porn director name shall be Mohammad Yahveh Christ.
 

joshuaayt

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Nov 15, 2009
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Man, this is amazing free advertising for Smite. Like 3 different times, I've been reminded that it exists, and even mentioned it to a friend, all because of this issue.

EDIT: Well, good for them, I guess. Not gonna change anything, but they have every right to ask- and it got me to research some Hindu gods, so that's neat.
 

wintercoat

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RaikuFA said:
Wait till they see this, they'll flip their shit:

Pfft, that's nothing when you consider the fact that Shiva has been in almost every main series Final Fantasy and several of the spinoffs, and every single time he's a chick.

And that brings up the fact that this is far from being the first game with some of the Hindu gods in it. So why are they picking on this game? My theory? It's because it's a small studio and they think they have a better chance than against the large companies that use them, so this guy's latched on and is taking every chance he can get to hurt them.
 

Dangit2019

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samahain said:
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?
That would be stupid. If Jesus ever got hit in a fighting game, all he would do is just turn the other cheek.
 

MisterSurreal

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If you stop to think about it a bit, you'll realize that Hindus are in a weird place. They're an ancient religion, old as or older than just about every other pantheon portrayed in this game. This, as well as the fact that they are a polytheistic religious tradition means they get lumped in with ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Norse faiths. The problem is that, revival movements aside, Hinduism is still a major world religion. The others are not. There are still millions of practicing Hindus. Hellenismos, Kemetism, Asatru, and other 'neopagan' faiths are still tiny (and, it must be said, fully aware of how their religious figures have been adopted by pop culture. They generally go into the practice expecting this sort of thing.)

Not a lot of people get worked up over portrayals of Thor or Anubis because not many people still hold these figures in reverence. Hindus are going to be as sensitive as Christians and Muslims when it comes to their gods. The devs should probably have asked themselves, 'If we could justify it from a gameplay perspective, would we have put Jesus or Mohammed in the game?' If sensitivity to religion was a factor in the decision not to, they should have applied that same sensitivity to Hinduism.

This isn't to say that I thin PAX should cave, nor should the developers of the game. They are free to make the game they choose, play the game they choose, and let consumers decide whether what they have is worth anything. However, that shouldn't prevent us from attempting to gain some understanding of the people involved. It's possible to sympathize with both sides, no matter who you agree with. I think that Hindus should probably just let this go and go on with their lives. But then again, I'm not a Hindu.