Ban Bully Video Game, Activists Say
CBC News
Young anti-bullying activists have asked the federal and provincial governments to ban a video game linked to bullying.
Katie Neu and Robert Frenette, who founded BullyingCanada.ca, wrote to the political leaders on Tuesday, the same day that Bully: Scholarship Edition was released.
They wrote the letters "on behalf of all the victims of bullying," said Neu.
Based on their research, the students believe that violent video games promote bullying at school, she said.
The Canadian Teachers' Federation has joined similar groups in other countries pushing retailers to not sell the game, said president Emily Noble.
The group asked its members to approach retailers, she said.
"As a teacher, anything that glorifies bullying or violence I find abhorrent," she said.
Just like high school
The game, an updated version of Bully released in 2006, features a 15-year-old student at a boarding school who has to make his way in a new environment, where there are cliques and bullies jump students in the halls.
"This is an angst-filled game, a light-hearted simulation of the horrors of high school ... there's no blood, no guns, no boosting of cars," Hilary Goldstein wrote in a review of the game on IGN.com in February.
The player has to deal with the the groups at school, by diplomacy or fighting, and can even win kisses, from girls or boys, Goldstein wrote.
A review of the first Bully said the content was similar to teen TV dramas.
"They'll say it's a game," Noble said, but "it's not funny to hurt people."
Even if retailers decide to stock the game, it would be helpful if they only sold it to buyers over the age of 13, as recommended, she said.
The Canadian federation is following the lead of a British teacher's group, which got some local retailers to not sell the game.
The Bully games were developed by Rockstar Games of Vancouver, which also sells Grand Theft Auto.
