Hindus Want Smite Out of QuakeCon

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Hindus Want Smite Out of QuakeCon


The Universal Society of Hinduism is calling on QuakeCon organizers to withdraw Smite from this year's lineup.

image [https://account.hirezstudios.com/smitegame/] of Kali from its website.

Society President Rajan Zed called the move a "step in the right direction," but since Hi-Rez declined to actually take the Hindu deities out of the game he's now asking the organizers of QuakeCon, which currently has Smite on its roster of playable of games, to drop the whole thing. "Hindus have urged internationally renowned gaming festival QuakeCon 2012, being held at Dallas from August two to five, not to allow play of Smite videogame, which they say trivializes highly revered deities of Hinduism," the group said in a statement.

"Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that such a prominent international computer gaming convention officially sponsored by AT&T and Intel among others, should show responsibility and respect the feelings of upset Hindus," the statement continued. "Hindus are upset at this online video action game Smite in which the players assume the direct control of Hindu deities of Kali, Vamana and Agni. Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, has already urged Alpharetta headquartered developer Hi-Rez Studios to immediately remove the Hindu gods from the game stressing that in a videogame set-up, the player would control the movements of goddess Kali and other Hindu deities, while in reality the devotees put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities."

"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," Zed added.

Joining the Universal Society in its criticism of Smite is the Hindu American Foundation, which likewise requested the removal of Hindu gods from the game. Hi-Rez actually gave the foundation a beta version of the game to play, which didn't do anything to change any minds but did provide some hope that the Hindu deities would be portrayed accurately and respectfully.

"Surprisingly, the majority of the comments on the forums were appreciative in nature of the inclusion of Hindu deities," said Hindu American Foundation Board member Rishi Bhutada. "A number of beta testers remarked that they took time to look up more information about Goddess Kali and Hinduism after testing the game, and we took those comments into account as we worked with [Hi-Rez COO Todd] Harris."

Hi-Rez has promised that a coming update will provide more accurate descriptions of all Hindu deities in the game and also posted links to relevant information about Hinduism on the Smite forums. The studio also agreed to make changes to the "imagery and actions" of Kali and the avatar Vamana.

QuakeCon [http://www.quakecon.org/], by the way, begins tomorrow and runs until August 5.

Sources: Hindu American Foundation [http://www.maxconsole.com/maxcon_forums/showthread.php?190478-Hindus-now-against-QuakeCon]


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80Maxwell08

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Jul 14, 2010
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So did these people just pop up like a year ago or something since I swear I've heard of games that have used the Hindu deities many times before this.
 

GamingAwesome1

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May 22, 2009
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Hahahaha! I highly doubt they'll get what they want. I think it's actually too late to make this a reality, much less whether they'd consider cowtowing to the overly sensitive types.

Smite in general has pleased me just for how many touchy people it's managed to offend, people who seriously get offended over a massive deity punch up need to grow a pair.

I really dislike the "I'm offended over something trivial so they must accommodate me". You're offended? Well, so fucking what, your problem, you deal with it. Why must it always be the devs responsibility. Never mind the fact that most of these "offended" people are probably never going to play the game, so catering to them is inherently useless.

captcha: move over

I couldn't agree more.
 

felbot

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May 11, 2011
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nope-edy nope nope, nope nope.

you cant just censor people because you're upset, thats ridiculous.
hell this didn't work the first 2 times they tried why would being upset work now?
 

Don Savik

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Aug 27, 2011
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"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," Zed added.

^ are you serious? do you think people are stupid enough to believe video games are going to question people's religious beliefs? If they were hindu before, I dont think a game is going to change their mind (they can also, you know, NOT PLAY THE GAME) and if they aren't hindu they probably don't give 2 shits about the faith related content in the first place.

You don't have to be sensitive to faith related content, you have to be sensitive to people who choose to believe. The content is for anyone's use, screw religious censorship.
 

cidbahamut

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Mar 1, 2010
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Be offended.

Then shut the hell up because the game industry doesn't owe you a damn thing.

I'm so tired of these thin-skinned idiots.
 

Fappy

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Jan 4, 2010
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I can't believe I have been following this story for weeks and just now realized the developer is based in Alpharetta. I could drive to their HQ in 10 minutes o_O
 

GiglameshSoulEater

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Jun 30, 2010
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But isn't Kali like the goddess of murder-y death? So her inclusion in a video game seems kind of fitting, not sure why they are complaining.
 

Jared Kotishion

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Aug 1, 2012
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Honestly this is ridiculous i mean really just because it upsets a few people doesn't mean you have to change it for everyone else and i admit this game has made me more interested in these different gods i have read several articles on He Bo after playing so really this is kinda spreading religion so why are they so upset?
 

oldtaku

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Jan 7, 2011
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How about we just not care about everyone's freaky-ass weird religion (and by that I mean all of them, not to pick on Hindus specifically here), especially in relation to fantastical video games. Nod politely, ignore.
 

Shuguard

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Apr 19, 2012
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Fappy said:
I can't believe I have been following this story for weeks and just now realized the developer is based in Alpharetta. I could drive to their HQ in 10 minutes o_O
Haha i could drive there too they are only like 5-10 miles away. :p
but OT: don't cave Quakecon and high-res. Caving is not cool.
 

Mauso88

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Feb 3, 2011
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Faith is simply an idea, and not a legally copyrighted idea, so they have no rights to demand anything.
Besides mythology has always been a free ideas book for game developers.
 

McMullen

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Mar 9, 2010
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They already got a concession. That means they're supposed to back off, doesn't it? That's how compromise works. You can't just keep coming up with more demands after the previous ones have already been granted.

They should put Shiva back up on the webpage just to teach these assholes to be happy with what they got.
 

Kungfu_Teddybear

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Hah, I wouldn't do it. Hell, I wouldn't have even removed the image from the site. I would have just politely told them to bugger off.
 

MrMisfit

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Paragon Fury said:
So uhh.....did these people just completely sleep through Asura's Wrath?
No they didn't. They protested that as well
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116187-Hindus-Upset-Over-Asuras-Wrath
 

Macgyvercas

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Feb 19, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
"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," Zed added.
No. No they shouldn't. Game makers (and all artists) should not have to censor themselves because someone somewhere might get offended. And I have always been of the firm opinion that there is no topic on the face of the earth that can be covered by movies, music, or books, but video games are not allowed to touch.
 

JokerboyJordan

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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.