Nice ethics, lady...

[Ayche]

This is one that was told to me by one of my old managers. Aside from suits, I also work for a video game store. My old store manager told me about this, and we had a laugh, as well as a huge WTF moment.

L: Stupid lady
C: Child of, probably ten years old
P: Manager

L and C walk in, look around, then walk up with a floor case. It just so happens to be Jack Thompson's favorite game, Grand Theft Auto.

P: Ok, miss, just to let you know this game is rated M for Blood, violence, blood, sex, blood, so on and so forth. (It's amazing how many people don't even know about the ratings. I have had many people who, after being told such, go all "Oh no you don't. You aren't old enough for this game. I didn't even know we were buying this, thanks for telling me." while others simply say, "Yeah, it's fine...")
C: It's ok! I played it at so and so's! (Kid's love this line)
L: Oh, it's alright, he has the others. But I do know one game he isn't getting when it comes out.
P: Oh?
L: That Bully game!
P: (He froze for a second) Um...ma'am, Bully is going to be rated T, this is rated M...
L: I know, but in Bully you get to beat up teachers!!!!
P finished the transaction, unable to say anything, and let her out on her way...

So what have we learned kids? It's ok to beat up hookers, kill pimps, shoot cops, take cars from random strangers...but if you hit a teacher, momma's gonna whoop ya!

[Shabo]

I bet she had no idea whatsoever of what was actually in this game. Because if she did, she would clearly have a bigger issue with it.

Or maybe she is a teacher, and that's why she took such offense to a game where teachers are beat up?

[blas]

Not to make it even more obvious I'm not a gamer and am always out of the loop, but why the hell would you make a game called Bully? Is it a game that angry teenagers and former tortured students can virtually re-live their fantasies of what they always wanted to do to their bullies and teachers? Is it a safer way of fighting back, rather than shooting up the school?

Sorry I think that's a dumb idea.

Now, I was definetly tortured in school. Like the Columbine kids. But ya know what's more rewarding than beating up kids, shooting up schools, and beating teachers? (even if it's just a video game)? Just going on with your life, every passing year after high school, seeing the people who used to torture you, seeing them working dead end jobs, seeing them unhappy, seeing them at rock bottom. That's more rewarding than seeing them missing limbs or dead. Because they have to live with what they did to you and other kids. They have to deal with the old "what goes around comes around" and some people take longer than other to get their Karma, but it will happen!

[Ayche]

The basic idea for the game Bully was simply this. You were a bully in your old school, you are now in a new school. There are bigger, nastier bullies in this school, and it is up to you to decide how to handle them. Along the way you meet the usual schoolyard cliques. Nerds and such can be bullied by you, causing them to hate you, or you can stand up to them from the other bullies, causing them to help you with your homework and such. I never played it, so I'm not sure...it just seems strange to me a person would pick Grand theft over something like Bully...

[ForestDragon]

Not quite. I own Bully and your description's not accurate. In Bully, you play Jimmy Hopkins, a kid who's been thrown out of about seven schools and you've just been dumped off at Bullworth Academy while your mother goes off on honeymoon with her flavor of the year. The school is indeed loaded with bullies - in fact, the Bullies are one of the cliques whose respect you have to earn along the way. The cliques are The Bullies, The Nerds, The Jocks, The Greasers and The Preps.

You are not 'permitted' to beat up teachers, doing so will get you into deep, deep trouble - you immediately get dragged off to the office. A few of those and you have detention and need to do things like mow the football field. Same thing if you hit a Prefect (and can't outrun him), a smaller kid or a girl. Stick to pounding other guys and don't let the prefects or teachers see you doing it and you should be all right. You don't have to do this, btw, it's just an option. During the course of the game, you have missions and side missions during which you gain the respect of all the cliques and of the Townies (everyone not at the school, most of whom don't have much use for you) and can even get girls to like you (and a few guys , one from each clique, but they're pretty closeted).

There are no guns or knives; your main weapon is a slingshot. Others include things like marbles (to stop pursuit), stink bombs, firecrackers, itching powder and so on. You get to explore the town, buy things, play minigames, attend (or skip) class - attending is better since you get definite benefits to your skills for doing so. No blood, no gore, not that much bad language, a good deal of violence in the form of fist fighting. The game might be made by the same folks who did GTA, but it's a different beast entirely.

[blas]

I'm sorry I jumped the gun without knowledge of the game. I spoke with a gamer coworker last night and he described the game to me. It still sounds like a really stupid idea for a game, though. Too easy for someone to actually start to assume that type of role because the way it sounds like it's played seems way too realistic.

[Broomjockey]

There are a lot of games that kids shouldn't be getting their hands on, and frankly, Bully is rather tame by the standards of some. The oft-maligned "GTA" series being chief among them, but there are others.
To me, Bully is a bit of a non-issue because in order to do those things, you'd have to be a bully already, so it's not really helping much that way. It's also not terribly realistic.

[Gurndigarn]

Not to make it even more obvious I'm not a gamer and am always out of the loop, but why the hell would you make a game called Bully? Is it a game that angry teenagers and former tortured students can virtually re-live their fantasies of what they always wanted to do to their bullies and teachers? Is it a safer way of fighting back, rather than shooting up the school?

Sorry I think that's a dumb idea.

Dumb ideas and video games have a long and storied history. Pointless violence and video games also has a long and storied and sometimes attempted-to-be-legislated history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race

There was an even more interesting one where you ran people over, then they turned into tombstones that would wreck your car when you hit them, but I couldn't find the name anywhere. This one was also from the 1970s. Fairly early in the 70s, IIRC. (Didn't play it much; I far preferred pinball.)

Big money! Big Prizes! I love it!

[ArenaBoy]

Reading the OP reminded me of an act of Gord. Paraphrasing here.

Gord is greeted by a man and his child. The child wants to buy Grand Theft Auto 3.

Gord: I don't think you'd want to buy this game for your son, there's a lot of violence, swearing, and sexual themes in it.

Father: HOLY SHIT! Good point! We can't let that shit coming into our fucking house!

Gord: On second thought, go ahead and buy it.

[tphillip]

Big money! Big Prizes! I love it!

I don't recall the racing game, but the game that uses this line is Smash TV. You kill hordes of men/robots/call them what you want while at the same time you collect prizes that spawn on the playing field. Fun game, and available for the 360.

GTA and it's clones are *not* for kids, but there's been worse. How about NARC (Cops who kill dealers for their cash and dope)?

[Bloodsoul]

...I suddenly wish I could download a patch into "Bully" that would introduce "Beavis and Butt-head's" Coach Buzzcut into the game. ^_^

Or they could just make a new B&B game. Or Daria.

[MamaMootz]

There was an even more interesting one where you ran people over, then they turned into tombstones that would wreck your car when you hit them, but I couldn't find the name anywhere. This one was also from the 1970s. Fairly early in the 70s, IIRC. (Didn't play it much; I far preferred pinball.)

Big money! Big Prizes! I love it!

Wasn't this came called Deathrace 2000? Or am I confusing it with a different one?

[marty]

One thing that bothers me when people buy games like this for their kids is that they put so much more emphasis on sex than violence.

"I just have to let you know this game is rated M for mature for exploding heads, bloody gory horrible death scenes, eyes being pulled out, etc etc"
"...Well as long as there's no sex!"

Never bothered playing Bully. Can't say I'm a fan of Rockstar games (I don't care about the content, I just don't think they've really made any good games.)

[JustADude]

One thing that bothers me when people buy games like this for their kids is that they put so much more emphasis on sex than violence.

That's always made me go as well. Can someone here please explain to me how an act that is both enjoyable for everyone involved and necessary for the continuation of our species is considered worse than the excessively brutal dismemberment of people who may, or may not, have done something to deserve it?

[Geek King]

Never bothered playing Bully. Can't say I'm a fan of Rockstar games (I don't care about the content, I just don't think they've really made any good games.)

Bully was pretty good. Give it a rent and try it at least.