New Bully Video Game Stirs Up Conflict

Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:04PM EDT

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It's not yet available, but Bully, a new video game from Rockstar Games (the U.S. distributor is Take 2, the same folks who brought you Grand Theft Auto) is causing uproar. The animated game, set at the fictitious Bullworth Academy, features a protagonist who is bullied, faces mean teachers, and encounters the nastiness of clubs and cliques. There is no beating them without joining them in this game set in a bully or be bullied world.

GameSpot, a gaming destination, reports that the Britain-based Bullying Online, an organization devoted to ending "bullying" on school grounds in the U.K., is seeking to have the game banned in the country. According to a BBC report, Bully will change the name of the U.K. release to the less offensive Canis Canem Edit (Dog Eat Dog). It is due for release on the PlayStation 2 on October 27.

Here in the U.S., members of the Washington D.C. based youth group Peaceoholics protested outside Rockstar Games' New York offices. And a Florida attorney, Jack Thompson, has sued to have the game removed from stores. In the US, the game has no rating yet because it hasn't shipped, but it's expected to receive an M for mature (over 17) audiences from the ESRB.

I watched the trailer for the game on GameSpot, and clearly it's a game about bullying that's similar in style and action to Grand Theft Auto. But this game is like your worst high school nightmare, with everything from wedgies, mean girls, and teases, to nasty cheerleaders and catty cliques. As the protagonist, you need to get strong fast as you rise through the challenges of girls that hit; mean, spiteful teachers; and gang plots to make your life miserable.

There are those who think that a game that makes "play" out of bullying is despicable. But in fairness it should be pointed out that this is not a shoot ‘em up game, and there are no guns or blood. Some experts believe it can be a healthy outlet for kids to get these sorts of fantasies out of their systems on the screen and not in the real world. On the other hand, the game shows that to survive the bully culture you need to become one.

What do you think? Will kids know that Bully is a game? Can they find it amusing and keep it in stride? Or do they learn that bullying is acceptable, fun, and even cool behavior? Would you let your teens play Bully?

 

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  • 6 Posted by chupacabra311 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    A game is a game and shouldn't be a reflection of how you act. If people are so retarded they can't figure that up their parents need to pay a little more attention to them and show them what values are. I grew up playing Doom and Duke Nukem and never felt that made me want to kill other people.

  • 7 Posted by jesshui_16 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    The reason why Bully scares people is because they are afriad of the influence this game might have on their children.

  • 8 Posted by dx1149 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    People are making such a big deal about this...... 1. They haven't even played it yet so how can they say anything about it. 2. It's a game.....it's not real. 3. There are much worse games on the market and kids play them all the time with no negative influence. This has just gone too far....play it and maybe it will be good. People need to stop taking things too seriously.

  • 9 Posted by kb7rky on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Art imitates life. How much lower can we sink? I think we passed bedrock about the time rap was conceived, and just kept burrowing...

  • 10 Posted by ms_tasha_nicole on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you don't want your kids to have it, don't buy it for them. Simple as that. If your kid is influenced by video games, then they probably lack parental attetion & guidance. Video games don't produce out of control children. Bad parents do.

  • 11 Posted by adidas_man_92 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    Bully is already out on ps2!!! I am playing it right now

  • 12 Posted by autocarpetpros on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    When I grew up thats how things were settled and it was much better then. Maybe we should let our kids fight right and keep the guns locked up. Nothing is wrong with a good fist fight growing up.

  • 13 Posted by andrewtx18 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    Having moved as an early teen, from one cultural area to another and the high school traumas therein, I was fortunate that although school bullies tried to snare the new/different kid, I was not a target that sat still for abuse. I bit back, hard, and gained at least a margin to be left alone by such bullies. Many kids do not have the advantage of the physical &/or emotional edge that I somehow found and used. To this day, I can not stomach or sit idly by if I see people or animals being abuse/bullied.

  • 14 Posted by smallkamikaze on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Who ever typed up this news article is kinda late on the times. The game has a rating T for Teen. Its had it for a about a month now. And theres nothing offencevie in the game that you cant see on T.V. now.

  • 15 Posted by william_alonzo_jr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    What a stupid game, if you want to take away the "fantasies" of your kid wanting to be a bully, than you as a parent REALLY need to spend more time with your kid.

  • 16 Posted by mayfairthrower on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    It's a different game concept, something that's never been done. I like the idea myself. The rating should be M for 17 and older just like Grand Theft Auto. There's so much outrage and it's not even reasonable.

  • 17 Posted by cris_mccully on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:31PM EDT Report Abuse

    This game should be played by other kids like 13 Years and over. This game symbolises Friend Ship, So RockStar Games really Rocks!

  • 18 Posted by yelowcow on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    Honestly, they should be more concerned about allowing kids get mature rated games than one single game. it will deffinitly be rated mature, and that means any one who is of age to play it should be almost out of highschool and those complaints dont really apply.

  • 19 Posted by bruins682001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    I feel that this kind of a game is something that the media loves to bring up and talk about. All that they are really doing is driving up publicity for a game that they claim to despise. I honestly do not see a problem with this game, and I think that it would be extremely entertaining. It should not be played by anyone under the age of 18, but honestly when do these games not fall into the hands of children under the age of 18? They are bought by irresponsible parents that will do anything to not have to spend an evening with their kids. In the end they are doing more harm than good.

  • 20 Posted by onlybegottenson88 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I can dig why people make such games...but I can never understand it.

  • 21 Posted by suzzanlynn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    Kids aren't as dumb as we tend to think they are. Kids don't learn violence from games or T.V. Does it make them less sensetive to it? Sure! Parents have the responsibility to teach their kids how to act towards people. We are failing them. Quit blaming music and video games!!

  • 22 Posted by jk.allred on Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:09AM EDT Report Abuse

    And you wonder why our country has so many school shootings. The sad thing, is that this kind of game instigates this behavior in kids who are already victims to begin with. People are profiting off their suffering.

  • 23 Posted by garuzah on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:06PM EDT Report Abuse

    "the game shows that to survive the bully culture you need to become one." Yup, I learned that lesson in High School.

  • 24 Posted by bdjoe500 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    ya'll need to stop being so scary man come on

  • 25 Posted by gymmonkey64 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:15PM EDT Report Abuse

    a video game is a video game, i'm surprised that things like this are taken so seriously.

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