Does "Muslim Massacre" game show a need for Internet regulation?

[Shining Arcanine]

Do you want a totally censorship-free Internet or one with guidelines and regulations in place? A new Web-only game called Muslim Massacre could help you make your mind up.

As a gamer, I defend the rights of adults to play what the hell they like. Even if it’s a video game that sees the player shooting people for no apparent reason or even hacking them to death, I will defend the fact that it’s merely a videogame and not real life. However, games released on consoles such as the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii are subject to regulations ensuring they aren’t offensive or harmful in any way.

Playable games on the Internet are another matter altogether, with absolutely no limits against what can be put on the Web for anyone and everyone to sample. This issue has been brought back in to the limelight by the release of a Web-only game called Muslim Massacre which, as the title suggests, sees the aim of the game being to wipe out the Muslim population.

The game, which has its own website, puts the player in control of an American soldier on a mission to kill every Muslim on earth. There is debate over whether the game is intended as a hate-filled anti-Islamic effort or merely a parody of American foreign policy, but either way, the game is out there, and available to play by absolutely anyone with an Internet connection.

According to The Guardian, Muslim Massacre sees you assume the role of an American soldier who uses machine guns and rocket launchers to kill Muslim people. These range from civilians to terrorists, and even includes Osama bin Laden, Muhammad, and Allah.

The game was created by a freelance programmer called Sigvatr, who posted a link to the game on the <a href="http://forums.<< filtered for offensive content >>/showthread.php?threadid=2884255" target="_blank">Something Awful</a> forums. He also defended the nature and subject matter of the game:

Which sounds like backtracking to stop the vitriol against the game to me.

This game is only the thin end of the wedge when it comes to the subject of Internet censorship. Laws still govern what can and cannot be put on to the Web, so child pr0n is rightly illegal and the purveyors of it tracked and arrested, but there is a line where laws don’t intervene but something can still be very offensive to many people.

I am an advocate of Internet freedom, which means I have to accept that things such as Muslim Massacre are going to exist and will be lapped up by a certain section of society. It’s just a shame that there is always someone sick enough to produce this type of thing and make it available on the Internet in the first place.

Source: Various Sites

Quite frankly, I don't see the problem with this. No one had any problem with WWII FPS games' relentless reliance on the concept of nazi/fascist killing, or of other video games' extraterrestrial killing. I don't see how this is any different.

By the way, your creating this thread to complain about this video game advertises it, increasing its user base. I saw a screen shot of its graphics earlier and it gave me a feeling of nostalgia, as it reminded me of NES games. I think I might try it because of that.

It should be shutdown ASAP. It is racist and disgusting.

If this game involving the exclusive killing of arabs, it would involve race, but instead, it involves the exclusive killing of muslims, which means instead of calling it "racist and disgusting", you should be calling it "religionist and disgusting".

[chrisj1968]

Quite frankly, I don't see the problem with this. No one had any problem with WWII FPS games' relentless reliance on the concept of nazi/fascist killing. I don't see how this is any different.

By the way, your creating this thread is drawing attention to it. I saw a screen shot of its graphics earlier and it gave me a feeling of nostalgia, as it reminded me of NES games.

If this game targetted arabs, it would involve race. Instead, it targets religion, which means instead of calling it "racist and disgusting", you should be calling it "religionist and disgusting".

oh c'mon guys, the Palestinians have TV child characters who insight hate towards Israelis and the muslims.

link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/16/...reut/index.html

we are so stupid to get all "sensitive" to muslims.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213027,00.html

[duritz]

sometimes i just want to shake yall and wake yall up. it is one website out of an infinite amount and yet here we are contemplating its existence while I am sure there are 500 more websites similar which target other groups.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I was more thinking along the lines of drawn or CGI child porn, which where I am is just as illegal as real child porn.

In America (at least), That's explicitly legal.

The justification is along the lines of "laws don't apply to made up/imaginary characters", you can't exactly charge a drawing with rape.

[xpablo]

What a Sad Apology, why Apologise ?

This guy created a game called "Muslim Massacre" he's got balls, no doubt there is probably at least a hundred Clerics and Mulla's out to put a Jihad on him.

North America is becoming too much like Great Britain, too many Muslims are moving here, demanding we not insult their religion or way of life, when just about eveything in western culture is an insult to Islam.

[Amnesia]

@bob, so that's the way it works? If there is no law to 'respect' each other we don't need to?

*sighs*

@dr, have your freaking free speech, nobody is denying you that. At the end of the day, its up to YOU if you want to be decent and respect.

I shall demonstrate. I have the right to say whatever I want. Great! I will NOT actively try to hurt or insult someone for the sake of free speech.

This is why we end up with laws and censorship, because people can't control themselves.

@don, that's because the whole of the Middle East is the same right?

@the_decryptor, did I say that people HAD to act a certain way? I'm saying that if you want to be a caring individual that's great, if you want to simply not give a f then what goes around comes around.

I myself haven't seen the game since the site was down and I don't really give a toss, however I'm not going to go start a game called Athiest Assault.

@Kralik, you got it.

@egg, yes they were.

@xpablo, um, can you go search the definition of Jihad? You think your way of life is an insult to the WHOLE of Islam? The WHOLE of the Middle East? Come over to the Gulf, you'll be treated with respect and hospitality, or wait, you thought the Middle East was all in one boat right?

@chris, that is against Islam. Muslims are taught to be tolerant and peacefull, that's why all these punks calling themselves Muslims and blowing themselves up in Afghanistan aren't real Muslims at all.

At the end of the day, I still believe that Freedom of Speech is used as an excuse and just goes to further support the chaos theory.

How about we try to promote a tolerant and peaceful society?

[Mamoun]

Being a Muslim I don't care much about this game, because there is a lot of offensive stuff all over the web, I used to care, but not anymore.

Why do people have problems with a Muslim-killing game and not the dozens of Nazi/Communist-killing games?

That's a very smart comment, I can already see the similarities. /sarcasm

[wellofsouls]

Oh well, we do have fun games like "Destroy All Humans!" :D

And as someone from China, I say we shouldn't censor the Internet in any way.

But then now with "Muslim Massacre", we do need a game named "Kill All Americans!" (or "Kill All Catholics!", or "Kill All Christians!", or something :p)

[That Guy Veteran]

Freedom of Speech is to promote your thoughts and voice your opinions in any manner you like as long as it does not voilate the rights of others.

Hate jews? Great. Keep it to yourself.

Blacks suck? Awesome. Keep it to yourself.

Gays on your nerves? Teriffic. Keep it to yourself.

This is known as hate speech as im sure you all are aware of. You can talk about anything that you like, government, politics, finance, family , but the moment you start deviating to the intent of harm (whether it be verbally or physically) you are causing a problem in society. Hate will only be responded with more hate, and this will create a negative atmosphere for everyone. This is exactly why these laws were created. Keep your hate inwards and your positives outwards and society would be a much cleaner place.

Remember, Freedom of Speech is a privledge not a blank check for you to abuse. It has its limitations and its not "full freedom of speech or no freedom of speech".

That was an informative post, thank you (Y).

Edited September 14, 2008 by Sazz181

[hotdog666al]

It would be fair to have a "non-muslim" massacre game for them to play as well.

[zaidgs]

Look at the reaction to the Islamic Cartoons. What will happen over this stupid game. Cyber terrorism?

Just because some people are terrorists and are willing to cause havoc because of some stupid "cartoon", does not mean that the world should bow down to those terrorist threats and give up freedom of speech...

[HawkMan]

What a Sad Apology, why Apologise ?

This guy created a game called "Muslim Massacre" he's got balls, no doubt there is probably at least a hundred Clerics and Mulla's out to put a Jihad on him.

North America is becoming too much like Great Britain, too many Muslims are moving here, demanding we not insult their religion or way of life, when just about eveything in western culture is an insult to Islam.

It's not called a Jihad against one person, at best they would put a Fatwa or whatever it's callled on him, but I doubt it. If anyone of any note did, we would have heard about it.

[wellofsouls]

Child porn is illegal, being a racist is not.

well, the it all comes to laws, and laws are made up by humans, and there are many places where it's illegal to be racist as well as child porn, just like there are many places where child pron is legal as being a racist. So bringing up the "laws" doesn't help your argument, especially considering that game is on the internet, which means people from different countries with different laws can access it.

Freedom of Speech is to promote your thoughts and voice your opinions in any manner you like as long as it does not voilate the rights of others.

Hate jews? Great. Keep it to yourself.

Blacks suck? Awesome. Keep it to yourself.

Gays on your nerves? Teriffic. Keep it to yourself.

This is known as hate speech as im sure you all are aware of. You can talk about anything that you like, government, politics, finance, family , but the moment you start deviating to the intent of harm (whether it be verbally or physically) you are causing a problem in society. Hate will only be responded with more hate, and this will create a negative atmosphere for everyone. This is exactly why these laws were created. Keep your hate inwards and your positives outwards and society would be a much cleaner place.

Remember, Freedom of Speech is a privledge not a blank check for you to abuse. It has its limitations and its not "full freedom of speech or no freedom of speech".

huh, I always thought that kind of argument are just excuses and rationalizations cooked up by the privileged people (ie. governments) so that they can say "we allow freedom of speech but we are not allowing you to say this thing and that thing and etc." Heck, the Chinese government says they allow freedom of speech, but they don't allow speech against the Communist government because that's inciting instability which hurts the rights of others.

actually, the first class in those "politics" course we "study" in our primary schools here tells that "true freedom means freedom without violating other's freedom", and from there, the government bans all kinds of freedom because it's "violating other's freedom" :shiftyninja:

[Shining Arcanine]

oh c'mon guys, the Palestinians have TV child characters who insight hate towards Israelis and the muslims.

link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/16/...reut/index.html

we are so stupid to get all "sensitive" to muslims.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213027,00.html

Why did you say that in reply to my post? Being a perfectionist, I do not care less about how other people feel. Such details are unimportant to me in my quest to think the things that have always correct, regardless of what society thinks is correct.

By the way, the real reason this discussion exists is because some people do bad things and they feel that criticizing others compensates for the bad things they themselves do. This thread was never about right and wrong. It is about a sad attempt by people to make up for their own actions, whatever those might be. Self-righteousness is always catalyzed by guilt over the wrongs people have done and it manifests itself in a wide variety of forms, from those that are correct to those that are absurd. Even when self-righteous individuals find something in need of criticism to use to satisfy their sick psychological needs, they are never right to criticize it, as they do so for the wrong reasons and in the process, they make a mockery of those who would do so for the right reasons.

It is not difficult to pick out the self righteous individuals, as they are willing to cross lines to fulfill their psychological needs. One such example of crossing a line, would be the audacity to suggest regulation to prevent the distribution of an insignificant thing that existed regardless of whether or not it had been "made" as a consequence of the fact that it is in the set of numbers that have the property of being executable on a specific turing complete instruction set architecture and that set is isomorphic to all sets of valid numbers that have the property of being executable on turing complete instruction set architectures, regardless of whether or not microprocessors implementing them have been made.

[Dc'1]

I wouldn't care if this game was taken down or not, there are plenty of other games exactly like this except you kill other people and not just Muslims, like every war game. They exist so this game should as well, even though I do find it pretty racist (mostly the title of the game).

But if you don't like it don't go to the site :) or play the game.

[That Guy Veteran]

Perhaps I'm just putting wrong faces to the wrong names, but it seems to me that most of the Muslims who have posted on this thread are also the ones who care least about silly things like this.

[Kralik]

Freedom of Speech is to promote your thoughts and voice your opinions in any manner you like as long as it does not voilate the rights of others.

Hate jews? Great. Keep it to yourself.

Blacks suck? Awesome. Keep it to yourself.

Gays on your nerves? Teriffic. Keep it to yourself.

This is known as hate speech as im sure you all are aware of. You can talk about anything that you like, government, politics, finance, family , but the moment you start deviating to the intent of harm (whether it be verbally or physically) you are causing a problem in society. Hate will only be responded with more hate, and this will create a negative atmosphere for everyone. This is exactly why these laws were created. Keep your hate inwards and your positives outwards and society would be a much cleaner place.

Remember, Freedom of Speech is a privledge not a blank check for you to abuse. It has its limitations and its not "full freedom of speech or no freedom of speech".

:yes: :yes: :yes: Its just like a driving license.. if u have a license to drive it does not mean u have the license to run over ppl..

Edited September 14, 2008 by Kralik

[Kralik]

@Kralik, you got it.

Thanks))

At the end of the day, I still believe that Freedom of Speech is used as an excuse and just goes to further support the chaos theory.

How about we try to promote a tolerant and peaceful society?

and true... and by tolerant we do not mean that ppl be giving a right to hate speech.. hate speech=racism and racism is bad.. a certain episode of 'Titus' comes to mind.. and i quote..

Christopher Titus: Everybody's a racist. Wouldn't it be easier if people stayed with people like them? 'Cause then you could have the gay people over here

[points in one direction]

Christopher Titus: and the Filipinos over here

[points in another direction]

Christopher Titus: and the Mexican people over here! Then everybody of the same group would be over there,

[points in another direction]

Christopher Titus: and over there

[points in another direction]

Christopher Titus: and over there

[points in another direction]

Christopher Titus: and over there

[points in another direction]

Christopher Titus: and over there

[the pointing becomes a Nazi salute]

Christopher Titus: and over there, and over there, and over there, and over there. You see how this can get out of hand?

[turns off light]

Edited September 14, 2008 by Kralik

[Son of Hook]

If a game called "Christian Massacre" were to come out, Christians would be told to suck it up because it's a form of free speech. There's a double standard of what is and isn't considered free speech. Is the game "Muslim Massacre" offensive? Yes. Should regulations be put in place to halt these types of games, literature, ect? I personally think no.

Government really only cares about two things: power, and how to get more. Allow them to put regulations on something offensive, and you give them the power to ban what they think is offensive. If you give a mouse a cookie...

[Azusa]

yet i find it funny 4chan is still around.

also i have gone 2 weeks without visiting 4chan.

[Scirwode]

yet i find it funny 4chan is still around.

also i have gone 2 weeks without visiting 4chan.

What's 4chan?

Scirwode

[Kushan]

4chan is the kind of place this stuff is created. Essentially, it's the cesspool of the internet.

I do not agree with this kind of crap at all, it sickens me that someone would want to create this kind of thing (for whatever reason), but unfortunately it's the price we have to pay for true freedom.

Even in the great democratic countries like the USA, you're never completely "free", you simply have the right to say and do so much before someone else decides you've gone too far. With the internet, you can pretty much do what you want and although it does mean that stupid things like this appear, it also gives you the right and ability to slam it however you please.

I'm sure it'll offend some people, but those very people have the same rights when it comes to what they can do online, they can create their own game, or write a political piece about it or even send the author a nasty email, at the end of it all they've got that freedom and if you start removing such freedoms, eventually you'll end up unable to even badmouth your own government. It's a slippery slope we cannot afford to go down.

[zeta_immersion]

Why do people have problems with a Muslim-killing game and not the dozens of Nazi/Communist-killing games?

I totally agree with this guy ... you have the COD game where you kill germans, you have the GTA killing americans, now you have this to kill muslims ... oh and almost forgot, and you have ninja to kill asians ....

is just a game man ... if you are offended don't play it .. you hate it then STOP SURFING THE NET ....

oh and i have a right ... FREEDOM TO PLAY< READ< TALK

[STNN]

this is hilarious, justifying hate/disrespect to a group/race with the label of freedom of speech. There should be freedom of actions aswell to give complete human rights. If there cant be freedom of actions, why is there freedom of speech ? just like actions can hurt somebody, speech can aswell. And since we need to ban some of the human actions, we need to ban some of the speech aswell to keep peace.

Besides internet has already been regulated, it has never been a free internet or has freedom of speech. Pr0n/crack/reversing sites are not allowed and we aren't allowed to post about it in most discussion forums aswell but that comes under freedom of speech, doesn't it ?. So to the guys talking so much about freedom of speech, just stfu and keep the hatred for other groups inside you, it wont hurt if racist sites/comments are banned/blocked aswell...will it ?. But it will just keep the internet a peacefull place.

Yeah Muslims are "bad, terrorists, jihadist, killers" because they have oil and they don't want to give it away..

well said!.

Peace

[mujjuman]

Why should we care that much? Is it hurting anybody? Is it denying anybody of their human rights? No. Not at all. It's just a pointless game. It's not going to cause anybody harm and frankly we shouldn't care this much about something so meaningless.

yes it is hurting Muslims! although there are Muslims here that said that they arent hurt and that they dont care, i still find it very offensive that something of this nature is created, whether it be toward Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, Christianity, etc!

But why take offense? Why should anybody be offended by some simple-minded game that was made only to cause disruption? It's pointless. They can make a game about killing Caucasians and I really wouldn't care, because it doesn't affect me in any way, shape, or form.

I don't see why people get so worked up about things that, in the end, don't affect them in any way.

its different... killing Caucasians vs Christians is different. killing all Arabs vs killing all Muslims is different. killing all Indians vs killing all Hindus is different. and finally, killing Caucasians vs killing ALL Caucasians is different. (Note that I dont mean to say that all Christians are Caucasian, nor vice versa, etc)

http://www.muslimmassacre.com/

Game has been taken down by the author, who writes....

"I would like to make a public apology for any offense that I might have caused through releasing this game, and to Muslims in particular. My intentions when releasing this project were to mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion. I would like to make it clear that I have never shared such a belief and my intention was to mock those who actually do believe these things.

It quickly became obvious to me that releasing this game did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people. I believe removing this game and website will do much more to attain my desired effect than leaving it on the internet, so I am doing just that.

I would like to ask for the forgiveness of Muslims around the world and to make it clear that I did not release this game with ill intent. So without further ado, I would like to say that I am truly apologetic for what I have done and will take full responsibility for all offense that has been caused. I can only hope that any further misgivings can be laid to rest."

well thank God. well I forgive him, because he did the right thing. maybe not for the right reasons, but he still did the right thing.

....

@dr, have your freaking free speech, nobody is denying you that. At the end of the day, its up to YOU if you want to be decent and respect.

I shall demonstrate. I have the right to say whatever I want. Great! I will NOT actively try to hurt or insult someone for the sake of free speech.

This is why we end up with laws and censorship, because people can't control themselves.

....

@xpablo, um, can you go search the definition of Jihad? You think your way of life is an insult to the WHOLE of Islam? The WHOLE of the Middle East? Come over to the Gulf, you'll be treated with respect and hospitality, or wait, you thought the Middle East was all in one boat right?

Go to ANY country in the Middle East, go to India/Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines (all of these countries have alot of Muslims) and the people there will treat you with so much respect, and give you some of the best hospitality (especially if youre white, and you say youre from America). well except Iraq, for obvious reasons. Most people have NO IDEA wth theyre talking about when it comes to the M.E. and Islam (not that the entire M.East is Muslim) that they get so surprised when they hear the truth from from actual Muslims. The truth is so baffling to them, that they dont even believe it.

@chris, that is against Islam. Muslims are taught to be tolerant and peacefull, that's why all these punks calling themselves Muslims and blowing themselves up in Afghanistan aren't real Muslims at all.

theyre just using the Islam as an excuse to do the things that theyre doing... ironic thing is that Islam preaches AGAINST what theyre doing.

At the end of the day, I still believe that Freedom of Speech is used as an excuse and just goes to further support the chaos theory.

How about we try to promote a tolerant and peaceful society?

YES PLEASE!!! thats what i try to teach people too. that way, we wont have games like "kill all Muslims" or "kill all Jews" or "kill all Christians" or "kill all Blacks" (ive never seen the last few games btw.)

Basically i agree with your post so i quoted it and inserted my cmments lolz.