Hindus Want Smite Out of QuakeCon

[Souleks]

They shouldn't pull it because of the Hindus
They should pull it because its mediocre at best.

 

[soulfire130]

No, they should not pull any dieties from Smite.

"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,"

Yeah religion does the same thing and that's not always a good thing. Also, no they shouldn't be more sensitive to faith related subjects. They shouldn't censor themselves on a certain subjects because a group is offended.

One more thing, explain the REAL problem why you want your dieties out of the game. Is it because you will have someone besides you saying anything about your religion.

 

[Burst6]

You know, I'm gonna be the supposed "bad guy," and side with the Hindi. I mean, this is a game that takes a revered goddess, and turns her into a fucking punching bag. It rather blatantly trivializes a huge aspect of Hindi culture, and I'm not surprised that they're upset, nor do I blame them. It's also made even worse when she's surrounded by gods from faiths that are, for better or worse, DEAD! Yes, people still pray to the Norse gods, or the Greco-Roman gods, but to place those faiths in the exact same standing as Hinduism, a national religion that is still practiced by millions, is disingenuous BS.

I agree.

When they made this game they were either going for

1) an inoffensive game that pits barely worshiped gods against each other for fun, which they failed at because they added Kali.

or

2) a shock-value game that included lost of major gods, which they also failed at because they skipped out on anything that might have sounded offensive to the more popular religions.


Personally i think they should either remove kali or go offensive and add more characters. I know you can't exactly add God into the game (OP much?) but there has to be something.

 

[Bobic]

I know a lot of you are complaining which, is honestly, a perfectly reasonable response. I, however, prefer to look at the positive side. Would any of you have heard of the game if it weren't for the angry religious groups? Seriously, this crap's great for business.

Edit: And now, I'm going to be a little pissant and argue pointlessly. . . Sorry, I mean debate. . . pointlessly.

You know, I'm gonna be the supposed "bad guy," and side with the Hindi. I mean, this is a game that takes a revered goddess, and turns her into a fucking punching bag. It rather blatantly trivializes a huge aspect of Hindi culture, and I'm not surprised that they're upset, nor do I blame them. It's also made even worse when she's surrounded by gods from faiths that are, for better or worse, DEAD! Yes, people still pray to the Norse gods, or the Greco-Roman gods, but to place those faiths in the exact same standing as Hinduism, a national religion that is still practiced by millions, is disingenuous BS.

So if only a few people believe a religion it doesn't count, the truth of a religion depends on the amount of followers? Did I wake up on the Discworld or something?

Really, the only problem is that they didn't include God, Jesus and Allah (or, because those don't work, something reasonable from those religions). People's art shouldn't be censored just because it upsets some people. And yes, that even includes stupid art of little artistic merit. We'll be having no double standards here. Should the Life of Brian have been banned? I mean, that was a pretty funny movie, and I can't imagine there were many people that renounced their christiondom over it. Hell, what about every modern setting action movie of the 80's ever, should they be banned for trivializing communism? It's a perfectly respectable philosophy and has many followers. I don't really see how that's different than religion, yet I bet you love Rocky 4, even the scenes with that stupid robot thing.

Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll just end on a closing statement that has no relevance to what I was saying. They should be free to practice their religion, doesn't mean we shouldn't be free to trivialize it, our rights (or the dev's rights, I don't think I'll ever play this game) are just as important as theirs.

Hope you enjoyed my gibberish.

 

[SecondPrize]

I don't think they should have any current gods without also having Muhammed, both to see the size of their balls and betting on whether they get shot or not.

 

[Lunar Templar]

But isn't Kali like the goddess of murder-y death?

i think so .... TO THE WIKI!!!

The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation.[9] This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra,[10] a short praise Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)

so yeah, she is, but .....

The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, who is said to be her spouse, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hooves to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

so she is and isn't a 'god of death' but that dose seem to be the jist of what she's about

 

[1337mokro]

See I told you all. Give these people a single inch of what they want and they will stitch your mouth shut.

Fuck them. Fuck religion in general. Fuck anyone who wants to force someone else NOT to do something because it offends them. They are allowed to do what they want when they want within a creative medium.

It offends me that people want Kali removed. If being offended is a valid reason. Than my offendedness at your offendedness is a reason to not remove it. Fucking idiot.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Want some cheese with that whine?

Seriously, this is ridiculous.

 

[Lunar Templar]

anyway, on to my actual post!!

so they're going to try to appeal to people who are closer in nature to the average gamer to get results .....

does this guy have any idea, at all, the level of shit the average gamer gives about religion?

last i heard the general consensus about Christianity was a resounding 'who cares', Hinduism might as well be a dead religion for all any one at quakecon will care

 

[TheTygre]

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

Guys! C'mon! I went to bat for you! This really is going too far. Now look, they took Kali out of the advertisements, they acquiesced to your complaints, and now you want the whole game gone. The Hell? Just, the Hell, Universal Society of Hinduism. The Hell? Do you know how much work it takes to make a game? How much effort and time goes into it? Especially for a smaller studio? And -now- is when you want this bullshit done? UGH. You're supposed to be one of the quiet ones, Hinduism. One of the good ones. I expect this shit from Christianity and Islam, but not you, man. Not you. And don't have you a country to be taking care of right now? Y'know, little sub-continent. Population somewhere in the hundreds of millions. Going through an energy crisis now so that roughly 50% of the country is living without electricity on top of abject poverty. Ring any bells? Maybe you should be taking care of that?

Just... SHIT. I'm out. I'm done defending this bullshit. I still love Hinduism and respect its practitioners, but if this 'Universal Society of Hinduism' is gonna' sit down with the same paranoid, ignorant lunatics trying to censor television and video games, then they can deal with the same reputation. This is NOT how you prove that Hinduism has a place in the Western world. This is NOT how you prove Hinduism is a legitimate social power. This is NOT how you prove that ANY religion is about tolerance. And this is sure as Hell NOT how you DEFEND Hinduism. It is a religion that is literally as old New Earth Creationists are saying the Earth is young. It does not need to be fighting in the ideological equivalent of a border skirmish.

 

[robert01]

So what exactly are they complaining about here?

The violence? The sexualization of them?

Here is Shiva from FFVIII I didn't see a shitstorm then.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I'm sorry, but when your beliefs are as outdated and ridiculous as Pantheism then you deserve to have your Religion trivialised. I see no outrage over the Greek or Norse pantheons, so Hinduism deserves no better treatment.

Because there aren't tens of millions (hundreds even?) followers of the Norse and Greek religions. That's all the difference that matters. Besides, what makes pantheism any more ridiculous than monotheism? It sure is a lot more fun.

I don't know about Greek revivalists, but there is a growing movement in Norse revivalism. [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_neopaganism]

I personally don't see the problem with this. Many people who have no interest in Hinduism will be exposed to it's culture, at least in a fictional way, and this may lead people to try and learn more about these characters. It certainly won't do any harm

 

[Tracer Kinship]

As mentioned by Raiku on the first page, see also: The demons/Personae from the entire Shin Megami Tensei series. [http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Categoryemons_by_mythology] And if we want to be specific...

Spoiler

As much as I adore this franchise, I'm honestly surprised at how little shitstorming (shut up, it's totally a valid verb) there's been. Would I be correct in assuming that the lack of public outcry given on the series (and Final Fantasy) is because they're Japanese in origin? I mean, it certainly can't be because of popularity in this case - I'm pretty sure waay more people know about ATLUS than Hi-Rez...

 

[RatRace123]

Yeah, no, sorry. You do not get to tell people that they can't do something just because it offends your sensibilities.

They already did more than enough, which was address this little complaint in the first place, and remove images and try to rework the game to make it less offensive.

I respect their rights to believe what they want to believe, everyone deserves that right and no one should tell them any different, but all of those complainers seriously need to get over themselves. Your religion is not special, it is not any more important than any other religions, and you have absolutely no right to censor other people's work on the grounds that it offends you.

If you're so offended, then urge people not to play the damn game, tell people that it's insensitive, but do not expect it not be made just because you think your religion makes you better than everyone else, and exempt from having your religious figures portrayed in a video game.

 

[beniki]

Whilst I'm still against the idea of a still worshipped deity being used in such a trivial way, we're now getting into the realms of using power and influence to enforce beliefs on others, rather than asking for respect.

So with that, I'm done. Still irks me that some 14 year olds will be screaming 'OMG KALI SUKS!!' though...

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Look, religious equality is cool and all, but what the fuck? They act like people playing the game will threaten and destabilise their religion. If it was actively mocking hinduism, sure, but this is just a depiction. They have no right to ask for this to be censored.

 

[weirdee]

I keep telling you people:
Give these religious people an inch and they'll try and take a mile.

darn it, you got here first.

i was going to use a totally insensitive remark about mouses and cookies too...

they obviously won't accept any sort of compromise, so if anything, unless you're willing to give them exactly what they want, there's nothing else you can really do to mollify them short of just changing the character's model to be more covered, or something

still in beta so entirely possible, if not costing more time in development

but it sounds like they are moving towards this solution, which i frankly am okay with because there was no real way to judge how diplomatic they were going to be before this happened

 

[Professor Plum]

Shiva in FFVIII, many Shivas in Tomb Raider 3... they're a bit late here!

 

[Lotet]

it's been a long time since I've looked at the Escapist f, looks like people are a lot more aggressive nowadays. pity that...

now, when people see something that offends them, racism, sexism, a person denouncing their social, political or religious views, just knowing that it's there is an agitator. how can the people on this thread who say that they should ignore the game but are incapable of ignoring what the Hindu group has demanded? well, it's because they wanted to, they felt like it was the right thing to do but other people who are part of a faction they don't respect don't have those rights or are fools for using those rights.

using a Religion God as a playable character? it's not wrong to do so because you know they're not real? neither are fictional characters as a whole but you don't use them because of copyright reasons and I'm sure you've seen some a\people get mad at an obvious rip-off of an existing franchise. if someone copies someone elses game or uses their engine without permission the game will get canned no matter how much work got put into it (or absorbed like Blood Bowl), which is fair because of financial purposes but the fans can get REALLY offended... over a game...