Muslim Massacre

By: Derek Yu

On: August 19th, 2008

To continue our theme of controversial topics this week… Sigvatr, who you might recognize as Michal Marcinkowski’s collaborator on Link-Dead and Berserker (both still WIP), has released Muslim Massacre, a NES-style arena shoot ‘em up set in the Middle East. Delicious satire, tasteless shock game, or both? I’ll leave you with a quote from Benzido, which I think does a great job of summing up my own feelings about the game:

The idea of this game certainly makes me uncomfortable. You are skating a very fine line between satire and bad taste. But the game makes a very worthwhile and timely political point, in my view, even if you claim to be apolitical.

I think it’s brave, because it’s the kind of satire that many people will misunderstand, especially in America and in Islamic countries. So you’ll probably offend some muslims and some ‘liberal pussies’, and even worse, you’ll get a bunch of right-wing racists playing it with a boner. If you’re especially lucky, it will appear on the ‘huffington post’ as evidence of how video games send the wrong message to children.

Still, you can’t be misunderstood any worse than the ‘super columbine massacre’ guy.

I am also reminded of Zi-Xiao Liang’s Scientology PWNED (TIGdb), although this is decidedly a more dangerous and ambitious venture.

TIGdb: Entry for Muslim Massacre

Posted in Freeware, Shoot-em-ups, Social Impact, Windows | Tags: Sigvatr

Cobalt

“I am also reminded of Zi-Xiao Liangâ€™s Scientology PWNED (TIGdb), although this is decidedly a more dangerous and ambitious venture.”

Scientologists will sue anyone who messes with them. Muslims probably won’t.
Cranky

I don’t like this sigvatr guy. This game just shows how much of an ignorant that guy is.
The funny thing about him is, if you confront him with something like that he will just say something like “liberal pussy” and think he got it right with his attitude.

Sigvatr also makes the “electric retard” web comics, he might think it is satire, but it is just tasteless and his attitude “I can do whatever I want” is just retarded. The kind of shit he posts in MM’s blog just makes you wonder, how incredibly full of himself someone can be. I guess he thinks he is some kind of “internet punk”.

I am not suprised he made this game, this game isn’t about it being a satire, but sigvatr’s desire to get attention, with a topic like that you can easily distract from the fact that the game isn’t even that much fun to play, just an overly simple smash tv/crimson land clone. You play it once and never run it again.

If he loves to make games, that’s fine. But it just bugs me, that he is such an attention whore and has to put his attitude even into the games he makes
Don Andy

Eh, he can only whore as much attention as he is given.
http://pocketwatchgames.com Andy

If it’s satire, it’s not particularly smart. Do we really need this game to figure out that indiscriminate killings of ethnic groups is bad?
http://s.hryx.net/ SEH

Derek, I’d like to say that you’ve always had a way of putting complex feelings into words concisely and accurately. And since you also seem to have very similar opinions about certain things that I do, reading your articles can be like a release sometimes.

It is so difficult to express things that can be misinterpreted (e.g., regarding games which could be seen as asinine, satirical, or both, or somewhere in between) vocally, let alone on a web page. Hence, the WWW is full of troll-eaten forums. And hence, this game will be taken in many different ways.
nullerator

“Scientologists will sue anyone who messes with them. Muslims probably wonâ€™t.”

Though I would definitely prefer pissing off a bunch of extreme scientologists to pissing off a bunch of extreme muslims. People who do that where I live (for instance by drawing or publishing satirical cartoons) tend to regret having ever heard of Islam.

Andy: Islam is a religion, not an ethnic group.
gong

“Social Impact” is right, though the emphasis seems to be on the impact rather then the social.

One wonders if the satire is not in fact directed at a medium that is so inarticulate that it can only express itself through violence.
Sigvatr

So has anyone played the game yet?
SEH

Just like Super Columbine Massacre, it will become controversial whether or not this game is actually controversial. And then even *that* question will fade…
deadeye

I’ve been reading (and participating in) the release thread at Something Awful since last night. I expected to maybe see a thread on it here in the forums, but lo and behold… front page.

It blows my mind how people can’t see the satire in this game. Is it an uncomfortable subject? Yes. That’s the point. But just because it says “Muslim Massacre” on the face of it doesn’t mean that’s the point of the game. It mocks “patriotic” American ideals quite heavily.

As for the game itself, it’s actually pretty fun. A little on the simple side, but entertaining for a little while.
*_

I’d just like to point out that this was posted on IndieGames blog a while back, but was pulled after ~24hrs or so.
Exoduster

Can we go back to writing about games because they’re good now?
gong

“But just because it says â€œMuslim Massacreâ€ on the face of it doesnâ€™t mean thatâ€™s the point of the game.”

And so everyone felt sorry for themselves, for they realized that just because a game acts like a complete and utter wanker on the outside, on the inside it can hide a heart of gold.
JaJ

No, this is wrong.

The intro does clearly hint at satire, but in the end you are still killing moslims for the fun of it. You play a game for fun, and in this game you kill muslims, for fun. (The gameplay actually is quite fun, by the way.) Thats simply a bad message, even if you mocked the “patriotic” american ideals in the intro. If you want to use the game as a medium for satire, use it correctly.

During the gameplay itself you don’t get the feeling that what you are doing is actually wrong, you are just blowing stuff up just like in any similair game. Only this time, they are muslims. It doesn’t make you think at all during gameplay. If you wanted to send out this message, you could just as well made a poster, a drawing, anything. The power of a game is that it’s interactive, but you are not using that at all for getting the message straight.

Also, the game is simply offending to muslims, satire or not. Do you think there is any muslim who plays this game and thinks: “Hmmm, killing muslims, yes I can see the satire in this.” I personally would not be amused if someone made a “kill all atheists” game, not at all, EVEN if the message behind it is that you shouldn’t hate atheists, or any group just because they see things differently.

It’s also clear to me that racist will love this game a whole lot more than people that actually ‘get it.’

My main message is: Think about HOW you use the medium, don’t make games like these just to shock people, think it trough.
Sigvatr

Who says I was trying to make you feel like what you were doing is wrong?

For me, the idea behind the gameplay was to take otherwise hurtful and politically incorrect stereotypes and transform them into interesting gameplay elements.

The combination of suicide bombers, militants, crowds of angry muslims and mortar crews firing into their own men are all based on stories in the media about the conflicts in the Middle East.

Personally, I thought a lot of the stories we read in the media about what happens over in that part of the world could be interpreted as fun enemies to kill in games.
Nillo

I think a “kill all atheists” game would be pretty funny, actually.

That said, I haven’t tried MM yet so I can’t comment. I think more people should talk about its gameplay so I know if it’s worth my time.
undertech

Um, why don’t you take the 5 minutes and play it? I know (and I assume) your time isn’t worth that much if you have some to be browsing around here.
JaJ

“I think a â€œkill all atheistsâ€ game would be pretty funny, actually.”

That depends on how you present it, I guess.

@ Sigvatr, I would like to react to your last comment but I don’t think that I get you. Are you trying to say that this game is only a representatation of whats happening in the world at this moment? That we shouldn’t learn anything from it? Or are you actually saying that “the combination of suicide bombers, militants, crowds of angry muslims and mortar crews firing into their own men” are “fun enemies to kill in games”
Sigvatr

I think you are digging too deep.
deadeye

“just because a game acts like a complete and utter wanker on the outside, on the inside it can hide a heart of gold.”

Snide spin aside… yeah. Pretty much.
I Like Cake

It seems that Sigvatr’s style, like it or not (personally, I don’t), is violence distilled to its shallowest level, totally without context or meaning or purpose.

I don’t think this is brave, satirical or controversial. I don’t think it’s really anything, in fact. There are guys; you kill them. It’s about as threatening as Contra.
MisterX

Whatever the original intentions were, I don’t see why anyone should even take a game like this so very seriously and even be offended by it. I don’t see this as being any more serious than typical black humour. While I am undecided whether or not it is “good” that it exists and I most likely won’t feel any sympathy towards it, after all it doesn’t harm anyone, as long as a person isn’t directly connected to the theme in some way.

Of course a problem can easily arise if somebody does take it more seriously, so maybe games like this really shouldn’t be made.
But for me it just isn’t anything more and less than a polished little fun game that gets a bit too repetitive after a while.
veritas

I Like Cake: There is context, and you are missing it, and hence find no meaning or purpose.
I Like Cake

Right, I’m just not smart enough to “get it.”

I understand the idea: I get the whole “America is afraid of the Muslims” thing. The approach used here is just so juvenile and emotionally retarded as to render it completely meaningless. It’s too childish to be shocking or controversial, and I honestly don’t think it was intended to be otherwise.
dmx

sigvatr would make a better case for himself if it DID have a ‘deeper’ meaning.

As it is, its kind of infantile. I could certainly see myself feeling a bit threatened by the whole thing if I was a muslim. I know russian friends of mine still to this day feel pretty hurt by the spate of ‘kill the russians!’ games and movies way back when in the 80s.
http://jforcegames.com JForce

Sigvatr is one of my favorite persons. He might be the only person in the world who has a more sick and twisted mind than me.
Paul Eres

OMG It’s JForce games!
Esha

“It mocks â€œpatrioticâ€ American ideals quite heavily.”

Personally, I think Bionic Commando: Rearmed did a much better job of mocking the rocksteady stay-the-course nature of American patriotism and of the whole invincible soldier myth in general.

I love those crazy Swedes.
CMspice

A game like this does not perpetuate any (racial or ethnic) misconceptions since it’s flat out too ridiculous for anyone to be influenced consciously or subconsciously.

It’s pretty tasteless and needlessly brutal and doesn’t insinuate a deeper meaning but the Sigvatr quite evidently not trying to either.

From a player’s standpoint though, a game so reckless is bound to stir, not influence, the conscious.
Zaphos

“sigvatr would make a better case for himself if it DID have a â€˜deeperâ€™ meaning.”

Meaning can exist independent of the creator’s intent.
Movius

Personally I think the game should pause everytime you kill an enemy to display a disclaimer along the lines of:

“WARNING: Satire. Do not actually kill Muslims.”

I think this would make the game much better and enrich the experience by conveying its message in a less confusing manner.
Towerofprostitutes

I have yet to play this, but I just wanted to say electric retard is the stupidest shit ever made.
zagibu

I don’t see how this is worse than all those cowboy games where you shoot redskins. In fact, it’s a lot less bad, because it doesn’t hide behind a glorious myth.
But it’s still an unnecessary and dull game, no matter what it’s thematics are.
Tom Cruise from Top Gun

Hi, I’m Tom Cruise from Top Gun.
Recently the lava creatures at the head of Scientology warned me that computer games are a device created by evil space lizards trying to brainwash us!

Please avoid games like Scientology PWNED and especially this website, tigsource, with its subversive content.

-You have been warned.
-Tom Cruise from Top Gun.
tress

lol whos the 3th boss
Victo

“Can we go back to writing about games because theyâ€™re good now?”

Seconded…
http://jforcegames.com JForce

“I just wanted to say electric retard is the stupidest shit ever made.”

You mean the _funniest_ shit ever made? C’mon, what’s there not to like about a dude cutting off his son’s penis and then cooking it and then ejaculating on it and then eating it while his family is hung?

I just can’t wait for Sig to make Electric Retard: THE GAME.
haowan

Just a heads up. There may be a trojan on your site, Jeremy – you should have it checked out.
Towerofprostitutes

No, I’m pretty sure I meant the stupidest shit ever made. Actually, I know I meant that.
Gutter

Awww someone is trying to be the next Super Columbine Massacre. How cute! And irrelevant.

I’ll be very pissed if the author come out to say that it is art and he wanted to create controversy. This game is just stupid.

Oh, btw, people comparing Muslims to Scientologists should educate themselves and read about Operation Freakout.
cuntface

Oh ZOMG deep and intelligent SATIRE.

Or is it just another pile of fucktarded bollockses?

Oh my my my small mind is OVERWHELMED WITH TEH DISCOURSE I would never would have experienced if not for the CREATIVE IRONING of teh substandard vidjoo game.

But at least its generated another RELEVUNT DISCUSHION OON TEH INTARNETS.

Fuck this, I’m gonna dig out my C64 and play some “Saddam Hussein’s Kinder”.
Cas

I think sigvatr has attempted satire here, but just like so many Americans attempting irony, he has almost completely missed the mark and simply made something in bad taste. It’s not insulting, or derogatory, or evil – it’s just not very funny or thought provoking at all, as there’s no element in there that actually provokes thought. It doesn’t seem to have a point. All it would appear to do is provoke controversy without any statement behind it.

Go and have a look at Banksy.

Cas :)
Cas

ps. don’t actually know if sigvatr is American, or even that all Americans are incapable of irony. But the glove seems to fit.
Xander

It’s awkward. It’s actually a well made nes-style action game, and I like how the guided missles work especially. However, it doesn’t seem like Sig made this with some incredibly clever socio-political satirical way. It almost seems like it’s there as just shock-value ala the competitive killing spree site he used to/still does run, and then people attribute a much more intelligent quality to it that I don’t think it has on its own.

Which I guess is a point in itself. If it’s mindless slaughter, then aren’t most other shoot’em ups that way? Or hell how many people have I killed in Dynasty Warriors? Millions now across years of gameplay? Does the explicity of the violence change the value of life of these sprites and the DW characters?

I think it’s an area ripe for discussion, but I don’t think this game is intending to explore it. It’s just another game. Shame it doesn’t seem to score you on anything more than kills. Where the hell is my combo-meter dammit?
Cas

Yeh – why don’t I just rename Ultratron to KILL ALL JEWS for example, make up some feeble Holocaust storyline and replace the little robots with yiddish sprites and change all the robotty sound effects to rabbis making references to chicken soup and so on? Because it’d just be tasteless and not in the least bit satirical at all. I think that’s what’s happened here.

Maybe MM should just be “rebranded” and “reskinned” and we can just judge the game on its own real merits.
Hooker with a BeViS

cuntface, now that you mentioned it – a lot of (great) C64 games had similar “obnoxious” themes in them..

..And they were brilliant! =D

Man, I definitely gotta put on some loader music to bring back the memories!
BeamSplashX

Xander:
Dynasty Warriors is based on a novel and the motivations behind the characters have nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. Territorial wars and honor are hardly controversial motivators.
http://www.0xdeadc0de.org/ Eclipse

this game sucks as much as Berserker seems to, i only hope Link-Dead will be free of that bad made wannabe-dark-humor.

@Xander: Dynasty Warriors isn’t set during a modern conflict, that’s why there isn’t a WWII Dynasty Warriors game.
haowan

It’s clearly Amiga-style not NES style. You NES revisionists will never rest until all other platforms are stricken from the historical record. Sickening nintendophiles every one of you.
Cas

Link-Dead’s going to be great. It’s gratuitous but mercifully free of religion or politics. Unless you count the church of Maim Thy Neighbour :)