Take-Two and Rockstar, two gaming companies which have come to be known for the notorious Grand Theft Auto series and Manhunt series of videogames has now come under the scanner once again. This time it’s for their Bully game which has angered educators in Canada about the release of this video game which promotes bullying.
This is not the first time that Bully has been targeted. Previously when the game was launched in other countries, millions of teachers worldwide petitioned and urged stores to stop selling the Bully.
The reason for this seems to be surrounding the in-game story which concerns a teenage boy Jimmy Hopkins, who makes his way through his turbulent life in boarding school by bullying others. This includes dunking heads of other students in toilets and beating them up.
One of the reasons for this uproar by Canadian educators seems to be that the game was produced and manufactured in Canada. However, the main reason seems to be that the game promotes bullying and violent behavior. Further, the game is set inside a school.
The president of the Canadian Teacher’s Federation, Emily Noble was quoted as saying, “This game glorifies bullying, and glorifies violence, and it should be banned,” said Emily Noble. Ms. Nobel is the Canadian Teachers Federation President. “This is a very sad story about a lad who deals with school and other pressure by being violent and bullying other students and other people.”
A spokesman for Rockstar, Rodney Walker commented, “As a matter of principle, we hope everyone starts off by saying, ’Okay, we know this is an entertainment experience.’” He continued on to say that “Video games are not just for children. This game happens to be about high school and it’s a tough kid in a tough environment, but it’s also one of the funniest games you will play.” Mr. Walker finally added that “if you don’t have our sense of humor, we respect that, but we think that fans’… voice has to be at least as important as the detractors.”
This current campaign to keep Bully out of reach of school children is part of a bigger campaign by various educators’ organizations to fight against the major issue of bullying among children.