The first thing I thought was "what are those, ninjas?" It turns out, there were not ninjas.
When I first heard of Muslim Massacre I figured I'd pass. It was only after Danny sent me a link, in light of his parley with the creator, that I decided to give it a serious look. The game is dank, addicting, well crafted in its Robotronic glee.
If you re-skinned it with the usual aliens instead of terrestrial ones, it would still be a fun play. But this game is not just that.
Anecdote: I once hitched a ride with a Sheik, his hair was crumpled and sleek, I asked him to mind, "what's the role of the your kind?" and he said "to protect against the Muslims." Then I said, "shit man, you'll have to go global." That was years ago now, before I learned that the war on terror is a satirical MMO played on Pentagon mainframes and NewsCorp teleprompters.
The game puts you in the role of G.I. Joe, egged on by crisply haunting voice over from G.W. Bush. The whole thing is obviously satire, and like Super Columbine, was satire not just of the public perception of its featured issue, but also of certain tropes of game development. In this case, it's the fetishization of violence, the stupid power fantasies of over-muscled anglos with both blond and black hair, the plastic guns and beady pullets that plop out with a chirp, suggesting the whole abattoir is nothing more sinister than tea cups at Disneyland. You could say that by satirizing U.S. foreign policy and gung-ho game design in the same stroke, this game is making a broader meta-criticism. By making war into a game we can justify killing over a million Iraqis, lacing their surviving gene pool with depleted uranium, and then stealing their oil reserves. Why not? It's the American motherfucking way.
On the other hand, this game has been received with the most vehemence from the Muslim Community. Does anyone get irony? Perhaps the litmus test for representing a special interest or minority group in any official position is a demonstrated lack of understanding satire, sarcasm, irony, or hell, let's throw pathos in there. The rednecks and neo-Nazis play this game with glee, unaware that they're being lampooned reflexively, and the Muslims get upset about the exaggerated reflection of wrong-doing against their own people. The author had said that he wanted to destroy the stereotypical image of Muslims, like some sort of voodoo doll ritual on a cultural scale, and when the response to that is a genteel, litigious statement, rather than say, a suicide bombing, then the game has literally been successful in displacing the stereotype, if only a little.
Self-fulfilling prophecies and information warfare; look at little deeper and you'll see this game, in it's silly, pedantic, intellectually belligerent, little way, is scalar to the discrete macro-operations of the early 21st century. If Sigvatr really wants to drive the point home he should do a sequel where you play a Blackwater/NORTHCOM merc and slaughter American civilians after martial law is declared in a few weeks.
(But see a different take on the game.)
Apparently neither the link
Apparently neither the link nor the game's site is up right now. However, I did see a media uproar over this, which pisses me off. The first site I checked out had a screenshot with the phrase "Don't be a liberal pussy. Check this game out now." I mean, f--k. Does the satire actually go over their heads? Are games still considered to not have progressed beyond the 80's mindless, arcade stereotype? I guess my only comfort is that when people from my generation enter the "real" world we would have an understanding of one of my favorite mediums of expression.
Changed the link
...to point to Filefront, which has the game. Once this sort of thing is out, you can't really take it down.
I haven't played this game, but...
I have heard about it recently... for more info on where it came from, and it's history, I'd suggest people look at it's ED article: http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Muslim_Massacre
I'll agree, it's not much about gameplay, or even about satire. It's really just a reactionary response. It's like loljesus.com, or people who put up those cartoons depicting Mohammad on their website. It's basically someone saying, "Nothing's sacred. And we'll offend your sensibilities, just to prove it." It's basically a dare. To try to find some deep insight in it is pointless.
Personally, I think it's just another reaction to groups that say certain things should never be shown, for fear of upsetting people, or as an FU to people who think they could scare people with threats of death. It's a juvenile attempt, but in the same vein as those dutch cartoons, or Salmon Rushdie's work, or the protests against Scientology, or South Park, even. Does it have the wit or satire of Swift? No, of course not. It's just some guy being antagonistic. But personally, I think it's an interesting artifact of the politically correct, post-modern nature of society (and especially the internet) that says there are sacred cows, and you have to respect them. It's not a game for a game's sake, it's just there to provoke.
It's interesting, though... I recall coming up with a game idea when I lived in Mexico and was taking a Latin American politics class, and we were discussing the border. I wanted to create a game where you were the Minutemen, and it was an arcade shooter where you killed Mexicans trying to cross the border, and they'd fit every stereotype possible. Just to provoke. And I was born in Mexico, btw.
*Insert teenage angst and
*Insert teenage angst and "you just don't understand" quip here*
Just to clarify: I just downloaded and played through the first boss. While this definitely isn't Vonnegut or Burroughs level satire, I still think that the game shouldn't have gotten so much media attention. It's relatively harmless; the game actually did evoke the sense of 80's arcade games to me. It felt like I was playing a top-down Contra, and this helped the dehumanization motif.
On my initial reaction: I guess the sensationalist media did their job. I got mad as a result of reading their articles. I dunno, I just wish game developers could express themselves more freely.
haha
I didn't hear any uproar about it... the first and only time I heard about it aside from here was from the ED article I linked... it just happened to be on the front page one of the days I looked at it.