DISCLAIMER: This is purely an opinion piece. My views are not necessarily shared by the other authors here at Gamer Headlines.
Last month, Destructive Creations released the trailer below for their upcoming game, Hatred. Hatred has been billed as an isometric mass murder simulator, and the trailer made a lot of the Internet uncomfortable for what should be obvious reasons. Warning to the faint of heart, this trailer contains graphic violence:
Hatred appears to have been conceived in a vein similar to games like Postal and Manhunt, both products that have been brought up in the seemingly never-ending debate about video games supposedly causing violence. Hatred is hyper-violent for the sake of shock value, and the developers have made it clear throughout their website that this shock value is exactly what they are going for with Hatred. This is clearly a solid way to get your game into the public’s mind, because Destructive Creations, a studio that has no previous titles to speak of, was able to make headlines in several websites with the trailer.
My Take on Hatred
I think that it’s important for me to give my personal position on Hatred before I go into details about the petition against its creation. It is impossible to say what my absolute opinion is on the game, because all that we have to base those thoughts on is a one-and-a-half minute trailer. However, judging by that trailer, Hatred is not my kind of game. I tend to be repulsed by violence purely for the sake of violence, so a game that puts you in the mind of a serial killer is decidedly not my cup of tea. I also believe that the trailer is a cheap way to generate publicity, cashing in on the Internet’s culture of knee-jerk reactions to “offensive” media. All personal feelings aside, what Destructive Creations wants to make is ultimately up to them, and I’ll gladly fight for their right to make that decision. I’m not going to tell anybody that their creation needs to not be made, because that fuels stagnation of the industry and is in direct opposition to the idea that video games are art. There is no line in art where certain things become unacceptable. However, it turns out that not everybody shares these sentiments.
The Petition
Zack Keosaian, an indie developer who is dedicated to “changing the industry,” created a Change.com petition against Hatred back in October, shortly after the trailer was released. However, the petition plateaued between 500 and 750 signatures until the beginning of November when it began to pick up steam. This is also when I heard about the petition. The full content of the petition is available here, but the rest of this article will be a dissection of several of Keosaian’s main points, and an explanation as to why I don’t think they quite hit the mark. For starters:
This game project is a disgusting and unnecessary endeavor. … Not only is this game horrifyingly violent, but it’s extremely offensive depicting the player character brutally executing people of colour and women in an aggravated manner.
I am actually in agreement with Keosaian about Hatred being disgusting, but “disgusting” is kind of exactly what the developers were going for, so it does not seem to be very strong argument. As far as necessity goes, every video game is unnecessary. The way that Keosaian specifically states the killing of “people of colour and women” as especially horrific is a little troubling. First of all, people of what color? “People of color” is a pretty off-putting generalization if it’s intended to mean “not white.” And secondly, why is the killing of “people of color” and women somehow make the game worse? From what we’ve seen of Hatred, it is a game about the indiscriminate killing of the denizens of the player character’s town. Half of the world is women, and human beings happen to have different shades of skin, so yes, Hatred’s main character is going to end up killing people who aren’t white dudes.
My career is dedicated to change and I absolutely refuse to share the industry with this disgusting studio. … I want it boycotted and gone.
There are absolutely changes that could be made in the video game industry. Change is an admirable goal to aspire to, but one man does not get to decide whether he “shares the industry” with a studio or not. One of the appeals of the video game industry is that it’s open to anybody who has the dedication to make a game. This has been made apparent by various independent success stories in the past few years, like Super Meat Boy, Limbo, Bastion, and so many others. Any attempt to close the industry’s metaphorical doors because you’re offended by a studio’s game is not an action I can get behind.
This game is personally offensive to me, as I am of Middle Eastern and Egyptian heritage, and the team went out of their way to include at least three instances in the game trailer showing the white male player character execute people of colour.
The trailer showed the “white male player character” gunning down a pretty large amount of people. I fail to see the significance of race in this situation. The idea that the race of the victims in a game about mass murder is important seems a tad ludicrous to me.
This is a team of racist and hateful people wasting their talent trying to upset their audience and provoke a response.
This is an ad hominem attack. It has essentially nothing to do with the game, and does not support its claims with evidence of Destructive Creations’ supposed racism or hate.
What made you think this was ok? Creating a game like this AND announcing it in light of the recent threat against Anita Sarkeesian when a college student threatened to shoot up her seminar on feminism at the school.
What connection does Anita Sarkeesian have to Hatred? Game announcements are planned far in advance, it is quite unlikely that Destructive Creations released their trailer early specifically because of threats(which the Utah State Police dealt with, saying that there was “no imminent threat”) against Sarkeesian. This seems to be an appeal to fans of Sarkeesian, in hopes that they will join in the boycott of Hatred.
The backers for this petition are YOUR audience.
This sentence is diametrically opposed to the idea behind the petition. The backers of this petition are the exact opposite of Destructive Creations’ audience for Hatred. They are actively pushing against the game’s development. Assuming the game reaches release, they are not going to buy it.
The success of your studio and your careers depends on your response to this petition. … I am a member of many, many groups on Linkedin including those of AAA studios. On top of that, I’m an editor for two large gaming blogs and you better believe you’ll get negative publicity and look like absolute monsters for even thinking up a game concept like this that shows that you are a group of racist, sexist individuals basing your careers on offending people instead of making a worthwhile title.
Here, Keosaian resorts to threatening the developers of Hatred with a loose allusion to some big, scary connections and a promise of bad press from “two large gaming blogs.” This clear demonstration of hostility is a little unsettling. It shows a pure lack of professionalism on Keosaian’s part, and that is worrying coming from somebody who is “dedicated to change.” This line also continues the ad hominem attacks from earlier, calling Destructive Creations “monsters,” and “racist, sexist individuals.” Again, these attacks have no base. The developers have created a game about indiscriminate mass murder. This is, by the definition of “indiscriminate,” not racist or sexist at all. A disturbing concept? Sure, but certainly not bigoted in any way. Now, for the finale:
Video games are evolving as an industry, it’s common knowledge. We are not letting this game set us back.
Video games are evolving, that’s easily something we can all agree with. They’ve been evolving since Pong. As far as this game setting us back, no one game is going to set the entire industry back. There is a lack of clarity in what Keosaian means when he says “set us back,” but it will take more than one distasteful indie game to hurt the multi-billion dollar video game industry.
Final Thoughts
Zack Keosaian and I can agree on one thing: Hatred is quite an unsavory game. The fundamental difference between us is in our reactions to the project. He is trying to stop Hatred from ever making it to the public. It offends him and, in his mind, that’s enough justification to throw away the hard work of the developers at Destructive Creations. On the opposite side of the coin, I think Hatred should be celebrated. Obviously not in the traditional sense, because celebrating mass murder would be more than a little twisted, but celebrated in the sense that it can exist. Not too many years ago, Hatred wouldn’t have even made it past the brainstorming phase. We live in an age of unrivaled media creation freedom, and I’m personally willing to do whatever little I can to preserve that freedom.
This is an issue that could warrant more discussion. How do you feel about Hatred? Do you support the idea that it shouldn’t be made, share the stance of this author, or do you lie somewhere in between? Sound off in the comments!