GUN: Is it just a game or propaganda for genocide?

[Okwes]

Annie, Don't Get Your Gun!
James Falcon
January 26, 2006

Happy-go-lucky entertainment or propaganda for genocide? It's your call.

The Association for American Indian Development recently made a public outcry asking individuals to boycott a new video game, as well as its creator, Activision Incorporated. The game in question is called “Gun”. The mission, you may ask, is to slaughter and scalp as many Apache Indians as possible. “Scalp them all!”, the game encourages the gamer.

While “Gun” is rated “M” for mature audiences, I would personally give Activision the “R” rating -– for racist.

In it’s press release, the AAID reasoned: “If a similar game which advocated the killings of African Americans, Irish, Mexicans, or Jewish would there not be an outcry? Apparently, killing Indians is still fair game.”

Even now in 2006, long after the movies where John Wayne (or “Duke” to his fans) shot chiefs and warriors off their horses, offensive media materials are still being made.

Indians, Native Americans, American Indians, call them what you like, for they smell just as sweet (to take off from William Shakespeare’s quote). In the past century, Native Americans have been fair game for everything, except truth and civil rights. The stealing of land has occurred; they have been mocked by college mascots; but, when the time comes for them to receive what they deserve, all hopes fly out the window.

Is genocide an acceptable form of entertainment? Absolutely not! Is it correct and ethical? No way! Will Activision Incorporated come out with a new video game where the gamer is playing a Nazi soldier with the goal to “kill as many Jews as possible”? (After all, such unbridled enthusiasm would be expected in a ploy to hide a sick meaning in a plot.) I think not, but still Native Americans are still the butt of a joke disguised as a video game, which is disguised as entertainment.

The history of genocide is quite complicated, however the Native American race is one of the highest to be an active victim in genocide. Do we need fictional material to add to these statistics? When will the senseless creation of violent video games, especially those that seem to rival the Holocaust (so to speak), come to an end? Or, will it continue until history repeats itself?


James Falcon is a Co-Editor of the Tanasi Journal, a Native American newspaper based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Falcon is a non-enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and lives in Minot, North Dakota. He can be contacted at: [e-mail]

[Okwes]

Group demands 'Gun' be edited or recalled

By WHAM! Gaming
Wed, February 1, 2006
wham.canoe.ca/news/2006/02/01/1421579.html

Colton revels in his native heritage and fights the U.S. Calvary
in 'Gun'.
An American native indian organization is calling for the boycott of
Activision and Neversoft's 'Gun' over two months after the game was
released.

Representitives of The Association for American Indian Development
are demanding the game be edited and re-released so that it can
accurately depict "the struggle and plight of all people of American
Indian ancestry".

If that cannot be accomplished, AAID wants all copies of the game
recalled. They have launched an online petition (www.boycottgun.com)
for those who wish to back the group's assertion that the game
contains "innaccurate depictions of American Indians". The game's
portrayal of Apache Indians and scalping has infuriated the
organization.

"To create a game where one must slaughter members of a racial group
in order to move forward promotes and condones the near genocide of
Native Americans in this country," commented the AAID in a written
statement accompanying the petition. "This most definitely is not
a 'game' to those still suffering from the repercussions of this
shameful chapter in American history."

In the game, Apaches are portrayed as the enemy threatening a town
and blowing up bridges. As the caucasian hero, Colton White, you can
buy a special knife to scalp your enemies with.

Discovering his own heritage is linked to them later on in his quest,
Colton befriends a group of American Indians and aids them in battle
against members of the U.S. Calvary and other enemies throughout a
large portion of the adventure.

[Okwes]

GUN: NATIVE AMERICANS RESPOND TO ACTIVISION

www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=133705

Native American association accuses Activision of 'ignorance but not
malice' as it responds to big GUN question

14:08 You may remember the other day that Activision faced a boycott
of all its products by Native American Indians following the launch of
an online petition by the Association for American Indian Development
against its Wild West shooter GUN.

Activision swiftly issued a statement and apology in response to the
AAID's petition which said: "Activision does not condone or advocate
any of the atrocities that occurred in the American West during the
1800s. GUN was designed to reflect the harshness of life on the
American frontier at that time... We apologize to any who might have
been offended by the game's depiction of historical events which have
been conveyed not only through video games but through films,
television programming, books and other media."

However the AAID has now issued a follow-up response to Activision's
statement, in a word with our sister site Next-Gen.biz. A
representative from the AAID called Litefoot, told Next Gen, "I would
first like to believe that Activision made this game without malice or
contempt."

"However, irrespective of their intent, it is very possible to do
wrong with good intentions. This seems likely the case here and
ignorance is known to cause those types of scenarios. In this case,
ignorance of the ongoing struggle of Amercan Indian people and the
inaccurate or 'half-the-story when nobody knows the whole story'
recounting of our history, culture and religious beliefs, in the game
Gun. The true struggle has, in our opinion, undoubtedly been overlooked."

The Boycott Gun petition had called for Activision to re-edit GUN to
remove the offending material, or if that were not possible, to pull
the game from shelves altogether.

It seems like a highly unlikely scenario, but the AAID's Litefoot,
when quizzed on how realistic this ambition would be said, "I think it
depends on how passionate people feel about this issue and how serious
Activision feels we are. We are passionate about it. At some point the
hurt has to stop being disbursed and then disguised as 'freedom of
speech' or being 'American'. What will our children be left to deal
with, if this type of insensitive behaviour continues at this rate? I
really think ALL people of colour are tired of this type of
insensitivity."

This one will certainly run and run, but do let us know what you think
in the comments below.

[blackcrowheart]

Litefoot vs GUN (racism)



Litefoot organizes boycott of GUN video game
Monday, March 13, 2006

Cherokee rap artist/producer Litefoot is leading a boycott of a video
game that depicts Indians as savages
Gun, produced by Activision, is a first-player action game that takes
place in the late 1800s. The main character is trying to avenge his
father's death and must complete several tasks along the way, including
attacks on people who are depicted as Apache. In the end, he finds out
he is part Indian.
Litefoot says the portrayal of Indians in the game is negative and
inflammatory. He started an online petition at www.boycottgun.com
to call attention to the issue.
Activision has issued a statement to some web sites apologizing if any
game players have been offended. "'Activision does not condone or
advocate any of the atrocities that occurred in the American West during
the 1800s. GUN was designed to reflect the harshness of life on the
American frontier at that time," the company said.
Get the Story:
GUN video game is the subject of Native boycott (Indian Country Today
3/13)
Relevant Links:
Association for American Indian Development - www.a4aid.org
Litefoot - www.litefoot.com
Activision - www.activision.com

[Okwes]

GUN video game is the subject of Native boycott

GUN video game is the subject of Native boycott Posted: March 13,
2006 by: Matt Ross / Indian Country Today
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412632 SEATTLE -
Surrounded by an onslaught of hatchet-wielding Indians attempting to
blockade a railway trestle, the ''hero'' fearlessly raises his rifle and
begins to fire indiscriminately. The ultimate goal is to kill all
those who stand in the way of the hero's quest. During this particular
mission, it was a band of Apache that was in the gun's crosshairs.
This depiction of the Wild West, whether this scenario ever occurred in
the late 19th century, is being portrayed in thousands of homes across
America in the form of a video game and has drawn the condemnation of an
American Indian group. The Association for American Indian Development
has launched a petition demanding the recall of the game GUN as produced
by Activision Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif. Citing the charge as to
how the game is ''damaging, socially harmful and insensitive,'' the
boycott lists how the myth of the ''savage Indian'' is perpetuated -
including the practice of scalping human heads and killing sacred white
animals. AAID Treasurer Litefoot pointed out how in neither the game nor
the manual instructions provide historical details or references to
attempt to explain the westward expansion of 150 years ago. ''When you
just take a piece of history that no Americans know about and put it
into a video game, when it reverts into a Native American context as in
this game, all you see is the savage Indian that perpetuates the
stereotype against every Indian,'' Litefoot said. Released last
November for game consoles including Xbox and PlayStation, GUN follows
the main character, Colton White, who is on a journey to determine his
family lineage. The subtitle of the game invites players to ''Experience
the Brutality, Lawlessness, Greed and Lust that was the West''; and with
an unlimited supply of ammunition and other armaments available to
Colton, the storyline quickly develops (or deteriorates) into a stream
of extraneous violence. GUN's premise is established in the second
scene of the game when Colton's missionary ancestor was killed by an
Indian. Litefoot believes this cold-blooded murder, which takes place so
early in the game, acts as a stimulus to White's behavior. ''I don't
know that it is those things that we find offensive, but how Native
people are portrayed in this game,'' he said. ''To me that is much
bigger than what the purpose of the game is because it's out of
context.'' While Activision provided a copy of GUN upon request to
Indian Country Today, the company remained unavailable for comment
despite numerous attempts to obtain an interview. However, posted on
several gaming Web sites and blogs, Activision has issued this
statement: ''Activision does not condone or advocate any of the
atrocities that occurred in the American West during the 1800s. GUN was
designed to reflect the harshness of life on the American frontier at
that time ... We apologize to any who might have been offended by the
game's depiction of historical events which have been conveyed not only
through video games but through films, television programming, books and
other media.'' GUN is marketed as a fictional game, with White
participating in different jobs in order to accumulate points and
purchase other weaponry. Yet, the task at hand can easily be lost in the
heat of battle when the game's graphics provide a point-of-view
perspective of staring down the barrel of a Winchester. The intensity
of violence and imagery of blood earned GUN an ''M'' for mature audience
rating, and it's suggested that the game is intended for those older
than 17 years. Such a rating, however, would not keep this video from
getting into the hands of younger kids; even so, Litefoot claimed, most
teenagers wouldn't have the educational background to distinguish some
basic facts from this gaming fantasy. ''Does your average 17-year-old
know or care about what happened to Native people today or in past?
Unfortunately, no.'' The petition requests if GUN cannot be
re-released to ''remove all derogatory, harmful and inaccurate
depictions of American Indians,'' the game be recalled in its entirety.
Nowhere, though, does the petition charge that GUN or Activision Inc. is
racist, in part because White is just as likely to shoot non-Natives who
impede his path. In one particular scene, White even frees numerous
Apache who were trapped in a boxcar and destined for slavery as some
method to repay a karmic debt. Regardless of whether the political
motives of the game's designers are debated, Litefoot said AAID's
petition strikes at how American Indians and their imagery have been
trivialized. He feels that if any other video game portrayed a distinct
ethnicity, such as blacks, Jews or Hispanics, in such a manner there
would have been a much greater uproar by the consuming public. ''When
anything like this comes up in Indian country, it's asked: 'Aren't there
other bigger issues that we need to be focused on?''' Litefoot
rhetorically pointed out. ''How are they going to find anything relevant
in contemporary society when they don't understand the history and that
these are the issues we face every day?'' The petition can be found at
www.boycottgun.com.