Muslim Complaints Get Modern Warfare 2 Map Pulled

[ElPatron]

In Call of Duty you kill hundreds of people, sometimes in the most sadistic ways.

I don't remember a lot of sadistic ways you could kill in the CoD franchise.

And people say Muslims are bad. Just look at this thread and the youtube page. You ask your self why religious people get offended when you write all the shit about their God?

Uh, people will insult you whatever you do. If you eat meat, if you eat vegan, if you like blondes, if you're an Atheist.

Also, getting angry because of religion is sort of disrespecting your own religion.

Also, Islam getting a special treatment? And Christianity not? Last time I checked, gay marriage didn't get legalized in a lot of Christian countries because of Christians. Last time I checked, the church didn't have to pay any taxes.

Every religion is getting special treatment. Not just Islam.

The thing is that I could make anti-Christian remarks in movies, books, games, music and no matter how offended, their rage wouldn't accomplish anything. In fact, you can see that many times people love bashing Christianity and make those songs, books and films.

If you make the same thing but for Islam (even if accidentally, like in this case), your publisher will force you to correct your mistake.

 

[ElPatron]

Let me play the Devil's Advocate here. A lot of people are missing the main complaint--that the picture frame is in the bathroom. In the Islamic faith, the act of going to the bathroom is restricted by multiple religious rituals and rules. Won't go into details, but the act is seen as an expelling of evil and sin.

But that can be turned into slippery slope. In some places thumbs up are offensive, in some places eating with your left hand is offensive. If they changed it for the Muslims, why isn't everything being changed so that I can be released worldwide without offending anyone?

Also, it's not an attack on artistic integrity, but I definitely think it's against freedom of expression.

Oh goody. Just when the "______ R Steelin R Vidjagaims!" rants stopped filling the blanks with feminists, the internet has decided to instead replace it with Muslims.

I'm not surprised that the most unreasonable comment so far includes the term "feminist".

You people make this seem like a conspiracy and that everyone is against you. We aren't. Get over it, nobody here needs to be played victim.

 

[Zen Toombs]

P.S. Friendly advice- don't read Koran, unless you are of strong mind, otherwise you'll get indoctrinated. I'm not kidding, even translated version is set in such way that it will change the way you are thinking, unless you keep your guard up.

In the Islamic faith, the act of going to the bathroom is restricted by multiple religious rituals and rules. Won't go into details, but the act is seen as an expelling of evil and sin. The bathroom, therefore, is a place of evil and sin.

This reminds me of a story....

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OT: This is, in short, an overreaction by all sides. Muslum Videomakers: It's not that huge of a deal, and mostly an accident. Activision: if you wish to respond to the complaints just remove the problem, not the whole map. Call of Duty Players: Chill out, it's just a map!

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

Does anyone think that the Muslims may get a degree of special treatment when it comes to things that offend them, due to the riots and such which were sparked off by that stupid video a few weeks back? And I'm not suggesting that Muslims are generally violent, just commenting on what the public perception may be for a while.

To illustrate my point, I can't see Smite getting altered to fit the demands of the Hindus, simply because I doubt there's a perception of the Hindus doing anything but complaining about it (which they have every right to do). However I doubt any publisher would dare create a game depicting Muhammad in the same light as the Hindu deities are in Smite.

Likewise, the tiny mistake of putting that picture in the wrong spot on that map, has prompted Activision to pull the map until the patch is out. Think about it... they haven't just said 'We'll make a patch and remove the texture', they've actually gone to the extent of pulling the map 'till the patch is ready.

It's almost like people are getting scared of offending the Muslims.

Um...duh? The 'religion of peace' is not adverse to threatening harm and actually killing anyone who they perceive as saying that they're violent. No other religion blows up innocent people and start riots because someone made a cartoon of a religious figure. I never heard of Christians rioting when some 'artist' in New York a while back put a crucifix in a pickle jar filled with his own urine. But maybe that's the answer, for every religious and interest group to go nuts the moment anyone says anything, then everything will always be nice and peaceful...right?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

They are so easily offended. It would be cute if it wasn't dangerous. The civilized world shouldn't cave to their demands. The only way to cure them of their sensitivity to religious criticism is to criticize them and offend them until they stop caring.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Hang on a second, what about sacrilegious Christian imagery in games? Doom, Quake, Silent Hill? Images potentially offensive to Christians (Inverted crosses, satanic symbols desecration of churches etc.) has been happening for ages.

Actually, the inverted cross IS a Christian symbol. It's called a Petrine Cross (cross of Saint Peter), and it represents the fact that Peter felt himself unworthy to die in the same way as Jesus, and was crucified upside down.

Source: Wikipedia, and I used to be Catholic.

OT: I fail to see the point of trying not to offend anyone. If you go around watching every word you say, eventually, you won't be saying anything at all.

 

[Legion]

OT: I fail to see the point of trying not to offend anyone. If you go around watching every word you say, eventually, you won't be saying anything at all.

In the UK this is very much becoming an issue. People are getting arrested over twitter comments. Granted these people were being malicious, but it's still absolutely ridiculous, and what's worse is that nobody seems to really care.

 

[Legion]

Why don't any of the big corporations have the spines to tell them to fuck off and act like grown ass men instead of crying when their feelings get hurt.

Two words: Share Holders.

If they say anything that can tarnish the companies reputation in any way then they start to get nervous, and when they get nervous, they start to pull away from the company.

There is also the fact that people in the business of selling are very careful to avoid offending anybody normally. Each person is a potential customer, or somebody who could spread the word that the company has a problem, which could affect potential sales if enough people get annoyed.

In short, they don't have the guts to say it because it might lose them some money. They know the fans will whine, but still play, so they'd rather appease the complainers.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

For a country that champions freedom of speech, Americans seem to have a proficient censorship campaign. And one that picks favourites at that. So Ann Coultor/Bill O'Reilly/Glenn Beck can straight up slander Muslims, but a video game can't have a verbatim quote written on a digital bathroom wall?

 

[FallenMessiah88]

I know that freedom of speech comes with a price and that it's not merely "the right to be an asshole" as some people seem to think, but this is just ridiculous.

No, muslims aren't exactly the only religious group making these kinds of complaints and it's not so much their method of complaint that I'm against, it's the principle itself. By bending to these people's demands, Activision has essentially opened the door for other groups to do the same, which will only hurt the artistic freedom of gaming as a whole.

This was ridiculous when the Church of England made those complaints about Manchester cathedral and it's still ridiculous now.

 

[Dogstreet]

Actually, the inverted cross IS a Christian symbol. It's called a Petrine Cross (cross of Saint Peter), and it represents the fact that Peter felt himself unworthy to die in the same way as Jesus, and was crucified upside down.

Source: Wikipedia, and I used to be Catholic.

I was not aware of this! - Things learnt today: +1

 

[Loud Hawk]

Oh no, offensive picture frame. Better go burn down some embassies.

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

Why couldn't they have done something useful, like abused their power? I mean come on, if I were muslim and knew that I'd be getting special treatment, I'd have demanded they kill off the cod franchice altogether.

And give me a yacht.

 

[Superlative]

OH SHIT!

some customers politely voiced concerns over something offensive and the company went above and beyond to fix it, demonstrating a sincere commitment to not offending their customers. THIS IS A TRAVESTY!

People have no right what so ever to get mad over there faith, its not like its important or anything. its just a major decided factor in making important life choices, nothing big. besides, we here at the escapist with our big, smurt atheist brains know religion has never helped anyone ever or done any good. all the people that have it are stupid and what they think is worthless. it's not like anyone smart ever was religious anyway, otherwise they would have my opinion because i am smurt and all smurt people think alike.

 

[GTwander]

It's a minor error, and one easily attributed to ignorance rather than malice, but Activision has elected to remove the map from rotation until it can be edited via a title update.

Aha.

Step one: Release something *****-worthy in unfinished content.
Step two: Wait for backlash.
Step three: Remove said unfinished content and later release it as DLC.

It's evil genius. Soon all games will be able to ship half-empty and push the blame elsewhere.

 

[NvrPhazed]

Am I the only one in this thread that finds the main annoyance of the article that the developer has the capability of pulling maps that have already been released? That would be like Bethesda putting out a patch that removes Whiterun from Skyrim.

You obviously don't make games for a living. That's your paranoia talking not common sense or logic.

 

[Baron_Rouge]

it makes me sick how religious people can get away with saying "im offended by XYZ" and people will bend over backwards to accommodate them.
you know what offends me those stupid looking ankle boots, but will anyone bend over backwards to accommodate me? no they are still being worn everyday all over the world

I respectfully disagree with your generalisation of "religious people". I'm Christian, and if I complained about disrespectful treatment of my religion in some game, no-one would care. Now I'm not complaining; that's a very good thing. Artistic integrity shouldn't be compromised to avoid offence. I'm just saying it's not all religions which receive this special treatment; it's primarily Islam.

You say that, but what about the whole gay marriage debate. What's worse, Call of Duty players going without a map for a few weeks, or gay people not being able to marry? The arguments against gay marriage seem to be almost purely, it ruins the sanctity of marriage as set out by God. That is a case of Christians complaining and other people's actions being limited, harmless actions I'd hasten to add.

Now, if Activision hadn't pulled the map, and simply said that they planned to edit it, I'd be all for it. Does it really matter what it says on some bathroom wall, I'm guessing 99.99% of Cod players had no idea about it. Just change it to some graffiti saying 'Kilroy was here' and be done with it.

However, in most situations, fuck it if someone gets offended (be they Muslim, Christian, or whatever), that's their problem and they should learn to live with it. But something this small, eh, why not. And that 2 part episode of South Park should be required viewing for everyone involved (you know the one I mean).

But yeah, Christian whining continues to deprive people of marriage (admittedly, I checked your profile and have no idea what the situation is in Australia), so it's not just Muslims. Muslims just seem to get the most sway when it comes to petty, pointless bullshit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for them to change the law to alllow gay marriage, wouldn't there have to be some sort of vote? I mean, I don't know how it works over in America, but surely there'd have to be a vote to change the law like that. If the majority of people voted against it, that's not stopping gay marriage to avoid offence, it's because the majority of people don't want it. That's democracy.

Admittedly, I don't really know how it works over there...in Australia, we have no gay marriage and our Prime Minister is an atheist, so I don't know what you wanna make of that. Personally, I'm all for gay marriage, for the record.

 

[MPerce]

That's.....odd.

It's not a big deal in any way, shape, or form. Probably just a texture mix up or a stupid joke by a programmer.

But it's getting removed, the map will be back, life goes on. It has been handled in the best possible way by both sides.

So why are people on this forum still getting pissed?

 

[Zenn3k]

....wow, just wow on so many levels.

1: That people honestly give a shit
2: That someone actually noticed
3: That they pulled the map

When will people wake up and realize that religion is bullshit? Seriously, I can't take it anymore.

The #1 reason why I refuse to go out and breed, refuse to do basically anything REALLY productive is because of all the stupid people who follow religion in this world. Seriously, whats the point is the vast majority of my species thinks a magic space man in the sky made them and will fix all their problems if they just ask really really hard? Makes me want to go buy a gun and paint the walls in blood.

 

[Bobic]

it makes me sick how religious people can get away with saying "im offended by XYZ" and people will bend over backwards to accommodate them.
you know what offends me those stupid looking ankle boots, but will anyone bend over backwards to accommodate me? no they are still being worn everyday all over the world

I respectfully disagree with your generalisation of "religious people". I'm Christian, and if I complained about disrespectful treatment of my religion in some game, no-one would care. Now I'm not complaining; that's a very good thing. Artistic integrity shouldn't be compromised to avoid offence. I'm just saying it's not all religions which receive this special treatment; it's primarily Islam.

You say that, but what about the whole gay marriage debate. What's worse, Call of Duty players going without a map for a few weeks, or gay people not being able to marry? The arguments against gay marriage seem to be almost purely, it ruins the sanctity of marriage as set out by God. That is a case of Christians complaining and other people's actions being limited, harmless actions I'd hasten to add.

Now, if Activision hadn't pulled the map, and simply said that they planned to edit it, I'd be all for it. Does it really matter what it says on some bathroom wall, I'm guessing 99.99% of Cod players had no idea about it. Just change it to some graffiti saying 'Kilroy was here' and be done with it.

However, in most situations, fuck it if someone gets offended (be they Muslim, Christian, or whatever), that's their problem and they should learn to live with it. But something this small, eh, why not. And that 2 part episode of South Park should be required viewing for everyone involved (you know the one I mean).

But yeah, Christian whining continues to deprive people of marriage (admittedly, I checked your profile and have no idea what the situation is in Australia), so it's not just Muslims. Muslims just seem to get the most sway when it comes to petty, pointless bullshit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for them to change the law to alllow gay marriage, wouldn't there have to be some sort of vote? I mean, I don't know how it works over in America, but surely there'd have to be a vote to change the law like that. If the majority of people voted against it, that's not stopping gay marriage to avoid offence, it's because the majority of people don't want it. That's democracy.

Admittedly, I don't really know how it works over there...in Australia, we have no gay marriage and our Prime Minister is an atheist, so I don't know what you wanna make of that. Personally, I'm all for gay marriage, for the record.

Well, I'm British, not American, but they can make laws without having a vote. I'm pretty sure they just vote over who is in charge. In Britain however, the government were just sorta, 'Homosexuals don't like being discriminated against but the Church of England say gayness is icky and will desanctify marriage, so we'll keep rambling pointlessly until everyone gets bored and moves on. And the country did get bored, and did move on, in fact, I don't even know how the debate ended (which probably means nothing changed and gay people just have 'civil partnerships', in fact, this just occurred to me, and is a bit off topic, but couldn't gay people just ignore what those pesky straight people say and refer to themselves as married, and husband and husband or wife and wife?)

Though on the topic of a nationwide vote (which I'd be all for) they did do a survey of some sort to gauge interest (though, it was only involving a small segment of the population or something daft. Forgive me for my vagueness, it was a while ago and my memory isn't great)

But still, it basically came down to Christians complain, gays had less rights, regardless of their religion.

(oh, and as an aside, I wasn't accusing, nor did I assume, that you, as a Christian, were against it, I know it's not every Christian, just like most Muslims probably don't care about a line from the Qur'an appearing on a bathroom wall in some game released years ago)