Animal Cruelty in Games, CS Research

Animal Cruelty in Games

Animal Cruelty has always been a sensitive issue in society, with television shows and movies being under strict control by organisations such as the PETA and the RSPCA when shooting films with animals in. There has always been an accusation that one of the causes of animal cruelty is that if it is shown on television or film, that viewers will mimic the actions, thinking they are acceptable. This has been disproved however, as there are more dominating facts for people committing cruelty to animals.

You wouldn’t however, expect video games to be targeted by animal cruelty organisations as promoting cruelty to animals. As video games are not even real, this would be expected to be a part of media where creators can be free to express themselves freely without the constraints of real-life problems such as this one. This isn’t the case as organisation PETA has actively been targeting video games for many years for promoting cruelty to animals in ways such as using their fur, cooking them as well as hunting them and using them to fight. But this topic is an unusual one, as even though there have been lawsuits and protests, games are fictional and computer generated. Just because a player kills a rat in game, this doesn’t mean they will go out into the real world and kill rats.

Research Links

Pokémon

Pokémon was targeted by the PETA as being cruel to Pokémon. They claimed it reinforced using animals as entertainment to fight each other. They even created a game themselves in which players play as the Pokémon and fight against their owners.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57528398-235/peta-wages-war-on-pokemon-for-virtual-animal-cruelty/

http://features.peta.org/pokemon-black-and-white-parody/

http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/10/11/983661/the-real-problem-with-pokemon-and-animal-rights/?mobile=nc

http://www.screwattack.com/news/nintendo-finally-responds-petas-pokemon-parody

http://www.change.org/petitions/peta-take-off-the-pokemon-parody-game-and-publicly-apologize

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft was targeted by the PETA as reinforcing seal clubbing, as players can club seals in game. They protested for players to ‘save’ the seals in the game world.

http://kotaku.com/5201889/peta-protests-baby-seal-clubbing-in-world-of-warcraft

Assassins Creed IV

The most recent protest by the PETA has been against the new Assassins Creed game, the 4^th instalment in the series. The reason for this has been their inclusion of whale hunting in the game, an activity which was prevalent at the time the game has been based. They claim it glorifies whale hunting, showing that it is ‘ok’ to participate in.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/03/peta_starts_whaling_about_assassins_creed_ivs_animal_cruelty

http://www.webpronews.com/peta-decides-to-go-after-historical-whaling-in-a-video-game-2013-03

Call of Duty

A Student protested that Call of Duty was promoting cruelty to dogs, as the player has to kill dogs in the game. The PETA immediately agreed and followed this protest, also claiming that Call of Duty is wrong to glorify the killing of dogs.

http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2009/03/23/Call-of-Dutys-Violence-Against-Dogs-Sparks-Student-Protest.aspx

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_11949013

Super Mario

The new Super Mario 3D Land for the DS has also sparked PETAs attention as in the game Mario wears a Tanooki suit, which gives him special abilities. PETA claim that this shows to players that wearing fur is acceptable, and that the Tanooki is regularly hunted for its fur.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57324457-1/peta-goes-after-mario-and-his-tanooki-suit/

http://features.peta.org/mario-kills-tanooki

Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy was targeted by PETA simply because of its inclusion of meat in its game. PETA made its own version of the game shortly after which was named, Super Tofu Boy.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-02-team-meat-skewers-peta-spoof

http://features.peta.org/super-meat-boy-parody/

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 had a lawsuit on its hands due to its inclusion of rat killing in its games content. In one part of the game, the player must stab a rat and then throw it away. PETA sued EA for encouraging rat killing in their game.

http://bf3blog.com/2011/11/battlefield-3-criticized-by-peta-over-animal-cruelty/

Cooking Mama

Around Thanksgiving, Cooking Mama was targeted by PETA due to its inclusion of cooking a Turkey Dinner. They claimed that it unrealistically portrayed the process of cooking a Turkey, and that it encouraged people to eat meat. Their version of the Cooking Mama game, shows the disgusting truth of cooking a Turkey, and gives a Tofu option of the Thanksgiving meal.

http://www.1up.com/news/peta-protests-turkey-feasts-cooking

http://features.peta.org/cookingmama/

Starcraft II

The PETA protested that players treat the small alien race found in this game as equals, and to not kill them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/12/starcraft-ii-peta-call-fo_n_2859693.html

http://leviathyn.com/games/news/2013/03/12/peta-on-starcraft-zerglings-have-feelings-too/

Anti-Video game protests

There have been many protests over video games and their portrayals of animals, and some people feel that animal cruelty should not be included in games. Others feel that games do not encourage cruelty to animals in real life, and that the PETA have blown it all out of proportion.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/10/10/peta-pokemon-protest-isnt-a-first-4-other-silly-anti-video-game-protests-from-the-animal-rights-group/

http://www.hbhud.com/2013/03/13/top-5-most-ridiculous-peta-vs-video-games-protests/

http://1morecastle.com/2012/06/animal-abuse-nes-games/

http://1morecastle.com/2012/09/animal-abuse-in-nes-games-part-2/

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/14/peta-reacts-strangely-to-overlord-iis-whack-a-seal-minigame/