Smite Dev Removes "Offensive" Goddess From Website

[TheTygre]

No, but you could try looking looking up many different types of religion before insulting billions of people.

Yeah...and?
See, the thing is...
I'm sure, somewhere out there in space and time, there's an honest lawyer and non-militant, homosexual, 1/4 Jewish, 1/4 Mexican, 1/4 black, 1/4 German, KKK member.

Yes, 'peaceful religions' exist, but there's not NEARLY has a prevalent as the not-so-peaceful types.
Even with the 'peaceful religions'...well, they tend mostly to be that way because they IGNORE most of the horrid crap in their books.

No, there are not-so-peaceful people that stand out for the specific reason their violence. The contrast is noted because of its extremity to desynchronize an otherwise functioning society and ideology. The Hindus want respect? Well we all want respect. It shouldn't be a monumental task to pay a little lip service to the common human condition known as existence.

 

[theultimateend]

To be fair - I can completely understand the Hindu dudes being a bit pissed off about one of their chief goddesses being reduced to T&A for some videogame.

But really the whole game is kind crass in its concept - why start worrying about it now?

Does she wear more clothing in their faith?

I'm only asking because just about every statue I saw in Japan was lightly dressed. Admittedly probably different religions, but I'm not entirely versed in all the different major faiths.

What his post was suggesting is that I never mention my religion. I'm sorry, but it is part of my culture.

I have never told anyone what they should or shouldn't think.

That picture you quoted says to do exactly what you just said you do. It doesn't say what you are implying that it says. Re-read it.

 

[RN7]

This is obviously a ploy. They're trying to placate the religious idiots so they can work on Support/Tank Jesus who's ult allows him or one of his allies to come back to life after they die.

Captcha: Red Herring. The Escapist is in on it!

 

[Tanis]

No, there are not-so-peaceful people that stand out for the specific reason their violence. The contrast is noted because of its extremity to desynchronize an otherwise functioning society and ideology. The Hindus want respect? Well we all want respect. It shouldn't be a monumental task to pay a little lip service to the common human condition known as existence.

Do you really want me to start digging up quotes from the actual BOOKS that folks base their religion on?
Cause, a lot of them have some pretty nasty stuff in there.
From rape, to one-on-one murder, to genocide, to women as property, to slavery...and you get my point.

The 'not-so-peaceful people' stand out, NOWADAYS because secularism has (thankfully) neutered most of the major groups of nutters, at least in 'The West'.

Hinduism itself is FULL of violence.
If you'd bothered to ever READ the Vishas (and other books related to) it's like some (sometimes) kickass, and trippy, sci-fi with wars and flying battle things and lots and lots of BOOM! HEAD-SHOT! type of fun.

Hindus getting mad at a game company using a WAR GOD for, well, war type stuff, is just FUNNY.

 

[FantomOmega]

(most not all) Religious people are in fact "avatars" of their respective gods and have been causing wars in the REAL WORLD for centuries over who's "god" is Superior, why the fuck is it a problem because it's in a NON-REAL video-game setting?

It's because they don't want anyone beating up their God isn't it? People can be so childish... believing in something that probably doesn't exist that seem to appear ALL the time to people in legends but don't do so now in the present, like a imaginary friend.... What am I on to something!?

I bet I can find some form of defilement of ANY religion by merely using Google

 

[TheTygre]

No, there are not-so-peaceful people that stand out for the specific reason their violence. The contrast is noted because of its extremity to desynchronize an otherwise functioning society and ideology. The Hindus want respect? Well we all want respect. It shouldn't be a monumental task to pay a little lip service to the common human condition known as existence.

Do you really want me to start digging up quotes from the actual BOOKS that folks base their religion on?
Cause, a lot of them have some pretty nasty stuff in there.
From rape, to one-on-one murder, to genocide, to women as property, to slavery...and you get my point.

The 'not-so-peaceful people' stand out, NOWADAYS because secularism has (thankfully) neutered most of the major groups of nutters, at least in 'The West'.

Hinduism itself is FULL of violence.
If you'd bothered to ever READ the Vishas (and other books related to) it's like some (sometimes) kickass, and trippy, sci-fi with wars and flying battle things and lots and lots of BOOM! HEAD-SHOT! type of fun.

Hindus getting mad at a game company using a WAR GOD for, well, war type stuff, is just FUNNY.

Yes, and the fact is, those are books. And that's all ever be. Books. They were made by people not simply and solely as religious guides, but as histories, as chronicles of culture and art. You cannot separate the social from the spiritual in such texts because they are remnants of a time when the two were indistinguishable. It falls to the reader to separate what is relevant as spiritual guidance and what is re-countenance of a time and place long past. If those people fail, they fail because they are purely human beings, with all their wants and needs and prejudice and ignorance firmly ingrained in them not from a solitary source, but from every source.

 

[Rutskarn]

I don't get why these guys are complaining. It's not like they're going to play the game after all... It's not like they were interested in the videogame industry at any point during the last 40 years...

Keep
Calm
and
Walk
Away

Look at it from this perspective: Hindus already put up with Westerners not knowing jack shit about their religion. That's not a problem in itself, but the application of misinformation can be problematic.

They don't want peoples' knowledge about their gods and way of life to come from a video game that twists all of it for the sake of violence and titillation.

 

[Spinhorse]

They have a right to complain I guess...

I just want Jesus Christ to be in this game, that would be awesome

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

So far, I'd hardly say Rajan Zed has tread on any rights. He's declared that he and the organization he represents find the inclusion of the Hindu gods in a computer game offensive. His demand is really little more than a fervent request (probably involving strongly-worded correspondence). He'll need to actually take legal action before there are grounds of treading on free speech.

So no. This is no more a stink than the Million Mom March taking offense at one of the gazillions in the Green Lantern Corps being gay.

What surprises me is that the Universal Society of Hinduism would make such a demand assuming that the organization wants itself (and Hinduism as a religion) to be taken seriously. Religions are utilized, drawn from for inspiration, stereotyped and parodied all the time, which is the price of being a integrated into human culture. In fact, when this happens, and when the name of your god is expletorated out of habit, that means your religion has made it into the big leagues. So complaining about your faith being demeaned by fair-use is a strong indication of insecurity. That was the whole point of Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons free speech experiment [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ].[footnote]Hint: The Vatican had little to say about Piss Christ though here in the states many sects were outraged. And the cartoonists involved in the Jyllands-Posten experiment still have to fear for their lives like Salman Rushdie, which speaks poorly of the world's followers of Islam.[/footnote]

On the other hand the Universal Society of Hinduism does not seem like it is regarded as a significant institution, given it acknowledges the Smite controversy at all [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=Universal+Society+of+Hinduism&title=Special%3ASearch], let alone has an opinion on it.

238U

 

[FoolKiller]

Yes... here goes logic.

You want us to take your fictitious character out of our fictitious game. Okay there...

Maybe they would have more luck if they try suing for infringement.

Hmm... maybe I should copyright all of the gods....

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

No, there are not-so-peaceful people that stand out for the specific reason their violence. The contrast is noted because of its extremity to desynchronize an otherwise functioning society and ideology. The Hindus want respect? Well we all want respect. It shouldn't be a monumental task to pay a little lip service to the common human condition known as existence.

I understand the words you've used, but I have no idea how any of that was supposed to make sense. Are you really from the United States? You speak like someone who is highly educated in a language other than English and suck at translating. Like, your argument was run through Google Translate...

 

[Notsomuch]

Step in the right direction. Translated roughly from easily offended watchdog means: "We're going to keep demanding you cannibalize you work until there is nothing left because you gave into a petty demand."

I personally think they should have doubled down, made it incredibly offensive and re-named the game Spite.

 

[justnotcricket]

Well...they made a game that trivializes gods (of necessity, wouldn't be much of a 'game' otherwise, unless it was maybe one of those creepy edu-indoctrination things). It's no surprise that someone objected to that, and I support the studio's decision to try and appease people a little. Naturally they'll have to stop making the game if they want to appease everyone, but that's true of basically everything. I just think it's nice that people can do something other than say 'screw you' to anyone who raises a legitimate (if inconvenient) objection.

 

[TheTygre]

Step in the right direction. Translated roughly from easily offended watchdog means: "We're going to keep demanding you cannibalize you work until there is nothing left because you gave into a petty demand."

I personally think they should have doubled down, made it incredibly offensive and re-named the game Spite.

No, that's not what I'm saying. If anything, I'm looking forward to Smite and wouldn't have minded if they had kept Kali in the first place. Nay, I'd go so far as to say it's appropriate. But what I am saying is that Hinduism deserves respect. That shouldn't be difficult.

 

[Something Amyss]

Keep
Calm
and
Walk
Away

Sounds like 80% of this thread could use the same advice.

Anyway, I don't think they should drop it, but I'm not horribly bothered if they do. Dropping a website image, however, is BEYOND trivial.

 

[jmarquiso]

My view -

It's an F2P game and they don't want to segregate the audience. You don't think that an Indian audience doesn't want to play the game? Or Asian (Buddhist)? More specifically Chinese, Korean, and Japanese at least - all of which have successful and competitive F2P markets? As a business decision I completely understand.

On the "we shouldn't worry about offending religion bit" well imagine if a few of the champions were Yahweh, Jesus, and Muhammad? At least two of those already have religious restrictions on portraying their image.

Unlike ancient Greek and Norse pagan pantheons - most of which are not largely worshipped today and already have tons of pop culture representation. There is an audience you're unlikely to offend. If you're trying to sell something to the world, sometimes the teeth have to be sacrificed.

All that said, the Baghavad'Gita is an awesome, interesting film.

(as a qualifier, I should say I'm an Atheist so you know where I'm coming from)

 

[jmarquiso]

Sure, they have a right to protest. Just as much as I have the right to tell them to piss off. I hope the developer does the same thing.

Are you asking them for money?

 

[jmarquiso]

Well...they made a game that trivializes gods (of necessity, wouldn't be much of a 'game' otherwise, unless it was maybe one of those creepy edu-indoctrination things). It's no surprise that someone objected to that, and I support the studio's decision to try and appease people a little. Naturally they'll have to stop making the game if they want to appease everyone, but that's true of basically everything. I just think it's nice that people can do something other than say 'screw you' to anyone who raises a legitimate (if inconvenient) objection.

Exactly. The thing with Hinduisum is that it's alive and widespread today, and is an audience that they want to market to. The rest of the gods are Norse, Egyptian, Greek, which are largely not practiced today and already have pop culture representation. It sends a message that they don't care about the potential asian audience (a large, competitive F2P audience) that A) the company doesn't care, and B) your religion is dead.