Smite Dev Removes "Offensive" Goddess From Website

[TheTygre]

which dark age? there where several in human history. but i assume you mean the european one. which is funny because most historians have disproved religion being the culprit and average human greed and ass hattery that humans are known for, for being the main culprit. its odd that you say this when, Isaac newton was so religious that today you would consider him a hardcore fundie. the guy who actually discovered evolution believed in ghost and giant demonic spirits. gregor mendel was a fucking monk. many religious institutions actually helped decrease violence by telling knights that killing innocent civilians was wrong and they should reject those that tell them to do so. many religious institutions also taught the common man to read. heck the only reason people learned to read was so they could read the bible. many religious institutions also preserved many important books.

The European dark ages, the Spanish inquisition, take your pick. And call it what you like. Religion being the cause or merely used to inspire such travesties. It played a major part. Priests sanctioned the torture, the burnings and the public gore feast that was justice in those days. They made it official and the church supported it. Thomas More who used to burn people for owning a bible in English was a devout Christian and the Catholic Church made him a saint which he still is today for crying out loud. But religion had nothing to do with it?

But we're not talking about Christianity, are we? We're talking about Hinduism, a religion with a completely different history. Do I say that Hinduism has never done horrible things? No. No religion has. But neither has any ideology. The fact is, we are but mere mortals, such stuff as dreams are made of. We seek to reach inhuman ideals with dirtied human hands, hands stained in blood and gore and lucre, with all our desires for power and all our ignorance and hate clouding our minds. If religions fail at their stated purposes, it is because people fail. The fact is that spirituality is but a symptom of humanity.

 

[hickwarrior]

Well, could people stop making the mistake that HiRez would put in Yahweh, allah and jesus in the game? They are focusing on religions with multiple gods(There is a word for this, just forgot). Not singular ones.

Yes, it's a nitpick, but seriously, stop making that mistake.

As for the topic, I think people cry out because they see a slipper slope ahead. Might do them well not to get on it in the first place.

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

I never said they couldn't complain. I am however saying people should laugh and keep on doing what they are doing while the hen house of clergy and bishops are claiming respect were none is earned.

I agree. People should just laugh and go about their business. It's what I do for the most part. But they aren't me so I shouldn't expect them to act like me. And I think these guys have earned respect. In our world with all these beliefs and non-beliefs that everyone has most people act out in the worst possible way. These people have decided to do something that most wouldn't and have asked in a calm and nice manner to have something that they hold in high regards treated better. That's something that earns respect in my eyes. Most people would pursue legal action, or be bitter and vile about it. These guys just don't want to see their religion bastardized. It's a small thing to ask and I think it would be a classy move on Hi-Rez's part to comply. If Hi-Rez doesn't comply though, I think that is alright as well. I would then hope the Hindus would just let it be and forget about it. But asking to be treated with some respect isn't wrong.

Quoted for the effing truth. This entire bunch of comments would be laughable if it wasn't so depressing. Some people have respectfully requested. The other people have respectfully complied with that request. This is how society is supposed to work with Freedom of Speech - rather than legislate, people are simply not dicks to one another.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

Smells like R&P in here.

So... anybody been enjoying Smite? It's actually a pretty decent game.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

First off it has just been removed from the site not the game and secondly regardless of how stupid it is that they want it removed at least they fucking asked nicely. Is that worth fucking nothing? They had their little protest, controversy and boycott. They said nothing wrong or outrageous on any level especially not the Westboro Baptist Church level and people are still giving them shit. This is the the destruction of freedom or speech and the avatar will probably end up in the game anyway.

This just reminds me of a very obvious parody video of bad arguments for religion that got down voted by people who were too simple to see the sarcasm and satire. In the damn video he says "How can you not say what's in the Bible isn't real I have one right here and it real. Duh." without a zealous word and people still thought it was real. I know people can do and say dumb things(I know I have before) but come on.

 

[Jaythulhu]

Ugh, Don't give in damnit! You have freedom of speech!

Not quite.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean you're free to say whatever you want whenever you want to and hang the consequences. It means the government cannot take away your ability to protest or speak your mind in public.

Like all rights, the right to freedom of speech comes with responsibility. In this case, it's the responsibility to use your words in a way that doesn't promote hate, defame or incite violence against any person(s)/group/whathaveyou. That's why you can be arrested and charged if you go to a public area and start screaming obscenities.

 

[Alma Mare]

If they do anything close to remove Kali from the game I'm uninstalling the freaking thing. Spineless gobs.

 

[keiskay]

which dark age? there where several in human history. but i assume you mean the european one. which is funny because most historians have disproved religion being the culprit and average human greed and ass hattery that humans are known for, for being the main culprit. its odd that you say this when, Isaac newton was so religious that today you would consider him a hardcore fundie. the guy who actually discovered evolution believed in ghost and giant demonic spirits. gregor mendel was a fucking monk. many religious institutions actually helped decrease violence by telling knights that killing innocent civilians was wrong and they should reject those that tell them to do so. many religious institutions also taught the common man to read. heck the only reason people learned to read was so they could read the bible. many religious institutions also preserved many important books.

The European dark ages, the Spanish inquisition, take your pick. And call it what you like. Religion being the cause or merely used to inspire such travesties. It played a major part. Priests sanctioned the torture, the burnings and the public gore feast that was justice in those days. They made it official and the church supported it. Thomas More who used to burn people for owning a bible in English was a devout Christian and the Catholic Church made him a saint which he still is today for crying out loud. But religion had nothing to do with it?

the spanish inquistition oddly only took place in spain, if it was a catholic venture it would of been a larger portion of Europe. funny though many people who where catholic died during the inquisition. it was an excuse for the powerful of the country to remove those they disliked, considering many high ranking officials at the time where present in many of the convictions. a dark age is simply a time with low recorded or no recorded history. the dark age also happened because the roman empire collapsed and all those countries in europe which relied on that sweet, sweet roman money no longer had and became insanely poor. also Thomas Moore while regarded as a saint burned no books of intellectual or historical importance. he prevented lutheran based books from being spread wide. was it a dick move? sure but its hardlyu as bad as your hyperbole tried to make it look.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Smite is one of these concepts that I'm pretty sure someone should have sat down in front of and given it some thought. It's a novel, yes, but also slightly crass idea that assumes everyone in the market is a nice, jaded postmodern irreligious or outright atheistic customer. Smite assumes that the world is a place where sane people do not give a flying fuck about creations associated to religious pantheons, because we're all mature enough to admit that religious archetypes represent some sort of really bare-bones societal development we've evolved past for the last few centuries.

The fact is, we're not. There's a reason why it's said that religion is the opium of the people (yes, before television), and some folks sadly need a Flying Spaghetti Monster or a polytheistic menagerie of various anthropomorphic concepts to give even the vaguest of meanings to their life. Some people are willing to enter serious debates in order to preserve their chosen Flying Spaghetti Monster's integrity, some people are willing to kill for it - and others will just use legal action.

In short, the basic concept is dumb, and Hi-Rez' reaction to the Hindu community's outcry is even dumber. They might as well have released an MMO called "Formless and Aimless Murder Simulator with Lots of Boobs" that they would've attracted someone else's ire. If it's not the religious folks, it's social conservatives that just can't seem to understand that death is the most potent change in state we can, at present, either inflict on the player or show to the player, and that bewbs make it into games because bewbs sell, as sad as it seems.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Or maybe the Hindus could lighten up and not take their religion so seriously. Besides, nobody's forcing them to buy and/or play the game anyway. They should take a que from Jesus' brother Bob:

"Not take their religion so seriously?" Um... do you realise what you're actually saying there

Yes. Ok, maybe it's because I'm an atheist that I'm having difficulty sympathizing here. I don't know about anyone else, but if I believed in any sort of god, I think it'd be pretty damn awesome to have a game where he/she/it/whatever beats the crap out of other gods.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Ugh, Don't give in damnit! You have freedom of speech!

Seconded.

And "trivialized"?

Its not as if this game is actively mocking any of the gods in it. Or is in any way abusing the characters. Now, some PLAYERS might do that, but that isn't the developer's fault.

And really, are all of the religions involved in this really going to tell me that their gods are so insecure that they can't handle being playable characters in a game? Really?

 

[DaRigger420]

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?

Actually, if you look at some of the thousands upon thousands of images, carvings and other depictions of Kali then you will see that this is not a "reduction to T&A" of the goddess.
I have seen a good deal of the images, in the Hindu temples no less, where Kali is depicted just as seductively and wearing absolutly nothing besides her weapons and a stern expression.
This is just an example of the few people higher up taking offence and presenting their arguments as the opinion of the masses.
Personally I am a christian, believe in christ and the holy spirit.
I know that Jesus' image is used in many more condescending and questionable items then this game is using Kali.
Do I whip up a firestorm in the media, the press or the chat rooms?
No, I simply choose not to partake of the show, game or items in question.

To everyone out there taking offence, GROW UP and get on with your lives.
Maybe even ( ...!gasp!... ) try spreading positive information about your religion to those that had never heard of and now know about Kali thanks to a video game!

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Zero thought wins yet again..............

 

[DeathQuaker]

Not the first time this has happened. THe makers of Xena had to pull the episode where Xena turns into Kali off the air for similar issues.

 

[TheKaduflyerSystem]

Uh Oh, religion touchy subject; I'd better leave a comment and run...
Most people, including followers of most 'offended' religions, just won't give a fuck. I live in England, am I annoyed when an Englishman is put in a game, over-simplification sure but it's basically that.

IMO religion makes just as many problems as it solves.

 

[rancher of monsters]

Meh, I really don't know enough about the game or Hinduism to say whether they're right in being offended. So this game just has all the Gods fighting or something? Can't they just use dead pantheons instead of major existing religions?

 

[Flight]

I'm glad they're doing that. While I can understand artistic interpretation, there's a difference between that and reducing a widely-worshipped goddess to T&A for cheap thrills (and as someone who's seen paintings of Kali, there's a difference between those and this - there are completely different meanings there). Perhaps if they had treated the source material with a little respect, there wouldn't be a problem. This isn't a matter of suppressing freedom of speech, it's a matter of showing people of another culture some respect. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Flight]

Don't let the anti-freedom camp win:
FIGHT THIS BATTLE AGAINST RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS!

We can NOT allow religious groups, of any sort, to win battles when it comes to freedom of speech.
This leads us down a dark road of burning books, Shari Law, and female genital mutilation.

You do realize that Sharia law is Islamic (and even then, not all of the muslim faith choose to follow it), not Hindu, do you not? Their cultures are not interchangeable.

 

[Flight]

I still don't see how it "trivializes" their religion by depicting the gods in a video game. If that's the case how come they haven't been trying to boycott Shiva from FF games?

Shiva is a female in those games and yet is a male in the Hindu faith. You'd think that would offend them more, changing the gender of one of their gods.

Actually, "Shiva" sounds like "shiver", which is why the name was used. Also, Shiva is a common name for girls in India, as well. They weren't changing a god, they were simply using a name.

 

[Terramax]

And humanity as a whole marches backwards into the primordial ooze it once came from.

The developer caved into religious uproar, removed it from their site... and now they want more. It's either out of the entire game or it's no good at all. If we start to dance around every single possible person whose feelings might get hurt by something we are never going to make a step forward.

As a response to such a request I would have put the image RIGHT back up there on the site and released the following statement.

"Apparently removing Kali from our webpage did not satisfy them, therefore we have decided to put it back up there. If they are going to be pissed with us until it is completely wiped from our game, why should we remove anything?"

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?

You have seen images of Kali right? She basically is nothing but T&A with four hands in every single image made.

Here's a wikipedia example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kali_lithograph.jpg

Modesty is not Kali's greatest asset.

Yeah, come to think of it, I consider the Wiki picture more offensive considering it consists of, what appears to be, a women 'wearing' a whole bunch of severed heads.