Teen Rated ‘Bully’ Video Game Features Boys Fighting and Kissing
The Take-Two Interactive video game “Bully” was released with the rating of T for teens. The star character is a 15-year-old boy who navigates through missions which involves fighting preppies, jocks, other stereotypical school aged bullies. Upon completion of kicking the stuffing out of the bullies, this 15 year old kid has the option of approaching either boys or girls with candy and flowers in exchange for making out.
When Jimmy approaches a tall, blond boy with some flowers, the boy replies: “I’m hot. You’re hot. Let’s make out.” Gay video-game enthusiasts have embraced “Bully,” which was was the U.S.’s third top-selling game in the week ending Oct. 27, according to figures from UBS.
In “Bully” the controversial scene was not hidden — but it also was not advertised to consumers. The video game industry rating board considered the boy-kissing-boy scenes in “Bully” before assigning it a “Teen” rating, spokesman Eliot Mizrachi said.
Why does the gaming industry feel the need to provide the opportunity for school age kids to experience a virtual homosexual experience? I’ve seen a clip of this game on youtube, and the sound effects of the boys making out is so pornographic and disgusting. What is the typical age and sex of kids that play these type of fighting video games and with whom and where do they usually play?
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The term “chickenhawk” explains the developers motivation. Teenagers, as they are going through puberty, are their most susceptible point with respect to having their normal sex drives distorted with just such sexual assaults as is this video game…and make no mistake, it is a sexual assault.
The acquiescence of the rest involved most likely is explained by a combination of fear, political correctness, and a desire to be part of misguided social engineering that they interpret as social justice.
Comment by David — October 31, 2006 @ 9:48 am
That’s a little odd. Well, Rockstar games probably felt they had to “one-up” the hooker sex-scenes from the Grand Theft Auto series that made waves a little while ago. I’m not sure I’d say fear had much to do with developing that aspect of the game, but fear was probably a factor for those that could have attempted to remove the feature from the game.
Programmers are horny, no doubt about that (see comment here). I just would not expect them to include this feature (hidden heterosexual scenes seem to be more common in games today). I wonder what the “motivation” was to include this? I guess for the “shock” factor, a tactic used by Southpark and, to a lesser extent, Family Guy. It’s a bit disturbing, and I think even more so since they seemed to have kept it hidden from the public until the game came out.
Comment by Wondertwin — October 31, 2006 @ 12:51 pm
I would think that the actual buying audience is older than just teenage. I read somewhere that the average age of video game players is actually in the 20’s and 30’s. Although games are often marketed to teens (even the more “adult” ones), the ones who have the money and lack of parental guidance are those who have moved out of the house.
Also, controversy sells, so part of it is a marketing ploy (aka Grand Theft Auto series). There is hardly anything such as “bad publicity.” Any publicity is good, and of course it’s the teenagers who are wanting to push the envelope. Part of the excitement from it might be from the visuals, but another part of the excitement would be just doing and seeing something they probably shouldn’t.
So you combine that with the “controversy” that will come of it and that equals $$$$.
That’s the bottom line for corporate America. Make money and do anything it takes to get it.
Comment by Roman Sacristan — October 31, 2006 @ 1:06 pm