Ninjabi is a contraction of "ninja" and "hijabi" -- or, in this case, a short platformer implemented in Shockwave (a tutorial plus three levels).
The protagonist, Layla, per backstory, expresses her defiance of the oppression and violence she faces as a woman in an unidentified Islamic country by, apparently, leaping atop platforms, spray-painting graffiti, and then knifing bearded, cane-wielding members of the Morality Police. Before she can attack them, she must complete all the graffiti tags in the level; each time she sprays one, lighted windows go on and other, secluded women applaud her defiant spirit. Or something like that. This "community support" is evidently what allows her to knife the "bad guys."
This is all, of course, somewhat transgressive, but interesting because it transgresses from within, rather than without; one assumes that Sharkasi is herself a Moslem women, and in any event, the accompanying imagery and audio demonstrates knowledge of and a degree of respect for Moslem culture.
"Defeating enemies" is one of the common tropes of the platformer, but one wonders whether its presence here subverts the ostensible message of the game; defiance in the face of oppression, surely, but I doubt the developers actually advocate violence. But of course the greater problem is attempting to place such a weight of cultural significance on what is, when you get down to it, just another a charming but not terribly creative platformer.
Kind of reminds me of when
Kind of reminds me of when people have spiders put on the back of their hands to help them get over arachnophobia. This is kind of like an excursion in making something normalised. Though yeah, it kind of ends up in the video game 'money shot' mould, where small, incremental changes to the world don't count as an ending, only killing an enemy does. But aren't we all trained to think that, by movies and books - who accepts a small change to the world as being THE end, in a work?
"but I doubt the developers
"but I doubt the developers actually advocate violence."
I wouldn't be so sure of that. Many Marxists, for example, advocate violence openly, but only after a point of class consciousness has been achieved. Isolated acts of violence are discouraged. I think the necessity of the populace's support before being able to attack the Morality Police exemplifies that. Of course, I could be way off the mark, here, but I do think it is wrong to automatically assume that violence is not advocated.
Chiming in
Hi, all. Thanks to costik for posting about the game, and thanks to everyone who's played it and commented on it here. It's great to see people engage with the topic.
Since the issue of intention was raised, specifically regarding violence, I'd like to chime in. I believe I speak for Nahil as well as myself when I say that, although TheBlackMask raises a valid point, we do not advocate violence and do not intend Ninjabi to inspire violence within or toward the Muslim community. Our primary goal was to create a power fantasy for Muslim women.
Power fantasies are common in games (and film, and sequential art, and literature) because they are so emotionally affective. They are grounded in the universal frustration that comes from feeling powerless, and they frequently depict violence because violence can be an excellent metaphor for power (and, subsequently, control over a situation). The game gives the player an opportunity to act out violent fantasies, providing some measure of catharsis, without actually harming anyone.
As I said, violent power fantasies are common. There are relatively few, however, in which the protagonist is female. It may be culturally accepted to think of violent power fantasies as being exclusively an "adolescent male thing", but this is far from true. Many Muslim women today find themselves in a situation where they feel legitimately powerless; many of these women are frustrated by their circumstances; some of them would benefit from an avenue by which to vent their anger - such as a violent power fantasy game. This need, in our estimation, was not being met, and it is toward that end that we produced a game specifically for that audience.
Seems to me discriminatory
It seems to me bad move...
Many women dont have right these days,but it does not mean that one should only try to pin point muslims...
When we talk about muslim community,their is an equal rank given to both males and females...
So i would like to say that if u r talking just about MUSLIM.it seems to me discriminatory!
Thing is one should give equal rights to women,if someone is not giving then he is doing wrong!