Protestors take on Take-Two

By Matt Martin Published 29 August, 2006

Watch them in action.

As the controversy over forthcoming Rockstar title Bully continues, footage of a group of anti-bullying campaigners protesting outside Take-Two's Manhattan offices has appeared online.

In the video, which is available to view via You Tube, members of a group called the Peaceaholics can be heard voicing their disapproval and seen waving placards daubed with slogans such as ‘Say no to Bully’ in the background.

A protester explains: "We think it’s very irresponsible for someone to put a game out like this... If you’re coming from where I come from in (Washington) DC, where children get killed in schools and everything, and see people get picked up off the ground with their brains in the street, then you know we’re not exploiting.

"We’re dealing with real issues, where our children are trained to be animals. Anybody who would do that is just as bad as the terrorists overseas."

The Peaceaholics aren't the first people to take a pop at Bully, of course. Numerous anti-bullying groups have also spoken out against the game, not to mention our old friends Keith Vaz and Jack Thompson. But to no avail, it seems, with Bully due for release in October.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • rhinoxious #1 6 years ago

    Fools.

  • the_dudefather #2 6 years ago

    the bank holiday and weekend sure takes its toll on eurogamer scoops

  • SomaticSense #3 6 years ago

    Fucks sake.

    Do these people actually bother doing ANY research before wasting their time so spectacularly. Kind of ironic that an anti-bullying game is being protested against by anti-bullying protesters. Do even know what they are protesting against? Evidently not.

    Stupid idiots.

  • Blerk #4 6 years ago

    Rockstar's next game will be called 'Jihad', no doubt.

  • TwistidChimp #5 6 years ago

    What a bunch of tools.

    "Lets go picket this game based purely on the title !"

    "But Rockstar already said you'd be fighting the bullies didnt they ?"

    "Shut up you ! Lets roll.."

  • jmctavish #6 6 years ago

    Jihad 2: Path of the Infidel

  • chupachups #7 6 years ago

    I really REALLY think they ought to have waited until they'd played the game. Even if it turns out to contain morally dubious material, actions like this are just going to make Rockstar seem like martyrs, and generate reams and reams of free publicity for the game which it would never get by conventional means.

    Having said that, I hope Rockstar hasn't taken an amoral kill-or-be-killed approach to bullying, some of the early screenshots seemed to suggest it had. But the only right time to criticise them for that is when it's clear that they've actually done it.
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/06 @ 16:42

  • Dr.Mott #8 6 years ago

    "The Peaceaholics"

    Heh.

  • SomaticSense #9 6 years ago

    I've got a great idea for a game. It's called 'Terrorist'. It's about the US armies attempts at fighting terrorism in the Middle Eastern countries. But on the name alone and from screenshots of explosions, stupid people will automatically assume (despite my numerous press conferences stating otherwise) that you actually play the part of a terrorist blowing people up.

    The game will then become a number one bestseller due to the publicity it received, and all these protesters end up looking completely stupid and turn their attentions instead to the next mis-understood game/film/book 'controversy'.

  • jellyhead #10 6 years ago

    I seem to be one of the rapidly diminishing members of the public who can distinguish fantasy from reality and adjust my behaviour accordingly.
    If we're that concerned then don't sell violent games to kids.
    Oh noes! That's even worse as it infringes their to freedom of expression/speech or whatever. I don't know if i'm in an especially bad mood today but i want to go and hold a protest against the protesters.
    "Stop bullying Bully!"
    "Ban their sick filth against Bully!"

  • SomaticSense #11 6 years ago

    I think it's about time Rockstar changed the name of the game to stop all the confusion to 'The Game Where You Try To Prevent Bullying In Your School'. Maybe then they'll get the idea, but I doubt it....

  • rodpad #12 6 years ago

    The game is called bully and the main character looks like a sterotypical bully.

    Simple.

  • chupachups #13 6 years ago

    "I seem to be one of the rapidly diminishing members of the public who can distinguish fantasy from reality and adjust my behaviour accordingly"

    Oh now be fair, would you be totally happy with Rockstar if their next game was a Holocaust simulator where you have to get as many people through the gas chambers as possible? Maybe an add-on where you have to ethnically cleanse the former Yugoslavia?

    Rockstar aren't in a closed world, they're capable of hurting people deeply if they take a cavalier attitude to a real world evil, and people are entitled to let them know just how much hurt they're causing.

    The problem with these protesters is that they're prejudiced, they're pre-judging a game which hasn't been published yet. They have no idea what the message of the game really is, and it might even turn out to be very much an anti-violence one for all they know. There were many protests against A Clockwork Orange for its casual violence, but if you watch the film from start to finish you'll notice it's anti-violence, not pro-violence.

    What would be worrying in Bully is if it implied that the way to deal with bullying is to beat the bully up. That's just not solving anything, it just encourages more violence and ignores the fact that very often bullies themselves are victims of violence too, from violent parents for example, but take it out on other people. Bullies often need just as much help as the people they bully, and the last thing anyone needs is a kicking or a punching. (And I say that as someone who's been beaten up a lot when I was at school.)
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/06 @ 17:01

  • JoTheSpoon #14 6 years ago

    The aim of the game is sticking up for the bullied kids!
    It sounds like a good portion of the game relates to pranks rather than actual violence as well.

  • jellyhead #15 6 years ago

    Maybe people are taking these things too seriously then?
    It's a game after all, i can see where making a game on the holocaust or a similar event would be distasteful but gaming is rapidly going to run out of scenarios if you stop doing a story because it may offend someone or they are too simple to realise it's only a game and it's not to be repeated.
    edit: and what some of the others have said, that by actually showing what happens or a focused extreme version of it then you can actually be villifying the event rather than glorifying it.
    Maybe we should have "Do not try this at home/school or your own Vice City." at the start of the game, like the "Only Users Lose Drugs" messages in the 80's?
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/06 @ 17:05

  • Freki #16 6 years ago

    "Oh now be fair, would you be totally happy with Rockstar if their next game was a Holocaust simulator where you have to get as many people through the gas chambers as possible? Maybe an add-on where you have to ethnically cleanse the former Yugoslavia?"

    I would have no real problems if they did. I would just exercise personal choice and not buy it. Also it would probably be more likely that Maxis would release it and call it SimConcentrationCamp.

  • SomaticSense #17 6 years ago

    Or do you mean "Only losers use drugs"? Or was that another phrase that I missed back then?
    Edited by 1 at 29/08/06 @ 17:13

  • TwistidChimp #18 6 years ago

    Its going to be a while before interactive entertainment is afforded the same freedom as non interactive. I mean shit, remember the film If ! Imagine if someone tried to tackle that in a game.

    The trouble is I think that firstly, when laypeople think games, they think kids. Alot of people dont seem to be able to distinguish between games for kids, and games for adults. Also they seem to be under the impression that participation in a game, rather than, say the passive watching of a film, can have some kind of mind warping effect on people. Which is yet to be proved ofcourse, and is the usual crap people come out with. Books had it, music had it, film had it, Its just the turn of videogames. Hopefully soon they'l be accepted and people will treat them with the same freedom of expression they extend to other forms of media.

  • Riggers #19 6 years ago

    "We’re dealing with real issues, where our children are trained to be animals. Anybody who would do that is just as bad as the terrorists overseas."

    Maybe parents who allow their children access to games/movies designed and made for an adult audience fall into the 'as bad as terrorists' category?

    Of course, we don't actually know if Bully is designed or made for adults, because it hasn't been rated yet. How about we let the nice professionals at the BBFC/PEGI establishments make their decision, before decrying the game as the second coming of Satan?

  • #20 6 years ago

    "i can see where making a game on the holocaust or a similar event would be distasteful"
    World War II (or any war for that matter) close enough for you?

    This is a non-story. Come on EG, you can do better.

  • sonmi451 #21 6 years ago

    behead them all!!!!

  • Bezzy #22 6 years ago

    I want to go to this sort of Rally with medium sized placards saying "This is a tricky grey area", "I can see what you're saying, but..." and "Can we talk about this over a nice cup of tea?"

  • corposant #23 6 years ago

    These protestors are just trying to force people to do what they want them to do irrespective of whether they want to or not. They're bully's!

  • smelly #24 6 years ago

    If they're so against bullying, why are they bullying a company into trying to prevent said company from releasing a game which they know f-all about?

    Sure people are getting shot in the streets, Bully (to my knowledge) doesnt have any weapons in it! Walmart sells guns however.

    Sure, Walmart WAS allowing pre-orders on this game before it was rated. But it does that for ALL its games (including the childrens titles). Oh, and also walmart sell unrated films on its website (i'd imagine "hostel unrated edition" is a tad bit more violent than this game).

    So from listening to the guy being interviewed, his beef should be with walmart, and not against a game he knows f-all about!

  • tenma #25 6 years ago

    "Lets go picket this game based purely on the title !"

    "But Rockstar already said you'd be fighting the bullies didnt they ?"

    "Shut up you ! Lets roll.."

    Heh, and the sad thing is that's probably verbatim.

  • Xerx3s #26 6 years ago

    Jihad 2: Path of the Infidel

    When is it out?

  • jellyhead #27 6 years ago

    @bezzy:
    Like Father Ted.
    "Careful Now!" and "Down with this sort of thing!" :)

  • Rociel #28 6 years ago

    As evidenced from the whole "Australia rating" thing, Bully is probably not that bad and this group should probably have done a little more research into the matter.

    A minor nitpick but the word Peaceaholics annoys me. There is no such thing as peaceahol.

  • Ikari2001 #29 6 years ago

    ok, I was originally very against the idea of this game... although the general idea I'd got of the game was u played the bully... having done some small amount of reseach amounting to actually going to rockstars website and reading their overview of the game, watching a trailer... I've a different attitude to it... doesnt seem like the game the title conveys...

    it's obvious the name doesnt really explain the game itself... but then what's a good name for such a game? ...

    don't judge a game by it's title? :p

  • gre_soul #30 6 years ago

    ignorant people make me smile :)

  • kangarootoo #31 6 years ago

    Christ, were those quotes from spokespeople? They are barely sentences.

    "If you’re coming from where I come from in (Washington) DC, where children get killed in schools and everything, and see people get picked up off the ground with their brains in the street, then you know we’re not exploiting"

    What?! If you can't even make sense how do you expect people to want to listen to what you have to say? I dispair.

  • smelly #32 6 years ago

    LOL!

    Most of his arguments seemed to actually be anti-walmart anyhows.

    So why he was protesting there and not walmart is beyond me.


    I smell I rockstar publicity stunt...

  • numptyboymatt #33 6 years ago

    Nevermind the controversy - Im just bitterly disappointed that a game called "Bully" doesnt star the actually Bully from the fabulous 80s gameshow "Bullseye".... GUTTED

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #34 6 years ago

    Rockstar Presents: Holocaust...




    ...An epic wartime adventure game where you play a Jewish father who must escape the ghetto of Warsaw and smuggle your family across europe to a new life in the USA.


  • Freek #35 6 years ago

    Also in the line up: HITLER

    About Hitlers distant cousan Sam Hitler, a tv repair man who discovers a portal to a magical fantasy land when he's fixing a strange looking television.

  • spongebob #36 6 years ago

    Good titles Mentalist and Freek, good titles!

  • Viktor #37 6 years ago

    Breaking news: Protest on Bully staged by Rockstar PR.

  • penhalion #38 6 years ago

    Even from the trailers of Bully you can see that it isn't anti-bullying. The main hero looks like a skinhead thug for christ sake!

    He seems to take on the bullies by we bullying back. This is what the protests are about (though this one looked like a fake publicity stunt). Rockstar court controversy to sell their games. I lost all respect for them way back in the jack thomson hot coffee days.

    I've seen too many real bullying cases to find any amusement in the subject.

  • Blerk #39 6 years ago

    The main hero looks like a skinhead thug for christ sake!

    Way to stereotype, there. Hundreds of ugly skinheaded kids the country over are crying into their cornflakes because of you.

  • bushwod #40 6 years ago

    I find it interesting that the man interviewed in the video’s main problems is that the game can be pre-ordered online by children despite it not yet being rated.

    Surly then they should be protesting the online retailers then, rather than one individual games company. Or better yet, actually doing their job as parents which means taking off you children games you don’t want them playing rather than looking for scapegoats.

    "Down with this sort of thing!"
    "Careful Now!"

  • jellyhead #41 6 years ago

    Freek, if your game features Mecha-Hitler then i'll buy it.
    Robo-Nazis, i hate those guys. :)

  • smelly #42 6 years ago

    Even from the trailers of Bully you can see that it isn't anti-bullying.

    From the trailers i've seen it's no worse than the stuff you see in the beano!

    Put cherry bomb in toilet
    Aim catapult at someone
    etc etc

  • bauhaus #43 6 years ago

    "Pregnant Teenage Sluts"

    on 360 please

  • Krun #44 6 years ago

    Idiots. play/watch/read before you judge something. Otherwise you look like easily lead morons.

  • Darren #45 6 years ago

    Perhaps Rockstar should consider renaming the game to something more appropriate and less potentially offensive than Bully then, which it appears is easily misinterpreted by those that don't have a clue about what the game is actually about? But then I suspect it's called Bully to make it sound controversial in the first place as "bad" publicity helped sell the GTA games. Beats having to advertise a game, eh?

    Rockstar generally thrive on controversy anyway so it was a surprise when they released the excellent Table Tennis on the 360 but I suppose that was controversial in a different way (i.e. unexpected!).