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Back a million years ago, during the innocent, bucolic days of E3, I reported on some Christian protesters outside the convention center, upset about EA's upcoming Dante's Inferno video game. In my original post, I considered the idea that the protest might be some viral marketing, but dismissed it as a silly idea. After all, religion is, by its nature, sacred, and mocking it to sell a dumb video game seems incredibly tasteless and amateurish, even for a video game marketing company. I was wrong.
Turns out the Christian protesters pointing people to a poorly designed website and giving out flyers reading "Our high score is in Heaven... and we hope you'll join us on the leaderboard" and "Turn in your PlayStation for a PrayStation" were part of a marketing campaign for EA's Dante's Inferno. Note to self: Always believe your most cynical instincts.
But there's another layer to the story: Real Christian bloggers are now angry at EA for using fake Christians to hype its video game.
Margaret Cabaniss of InsideCatholic posts:
"It's been clear for a while now that the entertainment industry views Christians on the whole as priggish, thin-skinned fun-killers. (That swipe about our Web design skills might be most hurtful of all.)
The institutional acknowledgment that these kinds of protests are the best possible publicity for their target is something Christians might want to bear in mind when the next Dan Brown film rolls around."
Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if its, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?
Vake Xeacons, a commenter on GamePolitics, sums up the story thusly:
I turn the other cheek as much as possible, but real protests make us look bad enough. EA's fake one was humiliating. I'm with the bloggers; starting a war, then blaming it on us.
I agree wholeheartedly with all of these reactions to EA's tasteless stunt, and I can't believe I was personally fooled. I should have realized that the protesters were fake, if only because no one outside of the game-obsessed community has actually heard of a video game based on Dante's Inferno, let alone care about it.
As a follower of the Great Elder Gods Cthulhu and Azathoth (the Crawling Chaos), I can relate to Christians' offense at EA. My religion is constantly mocked for being imaginary, but when the stars align and Cthulhu rises from his undersea city and causes the earth to flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom, I'll be the one laughing... until I am eaten by His Great and Terrible Mouth.
Feel free to leave comments below, people. Everyone loves to discuss religion on a Friday!
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Comments
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nenengsandok
so is the fashion and personality of the person which does hold a very strong point in that, we do take care alot of our dresses, shoes but for me people who wear watches with elegance are the most attractive person..
http://www.watchnation.net/r eplica-watches.htm
challo21
One more note to ergraham.
You are obviously a bigot for your comment towards Christians. You obviously desire for Christians to be offend otherwise you wouldn't have called them "sad pathetic children". Well, you got me offended! But then again, isn't that what bigots do? You're no different than a KKK member during the Civil Rights movement.
challo21
I am an Arab Catholic. For starters, I like the people in this thread like Senninkai and metalreaper101 who say that Christians are too sensitive. I notice you two can't simply say: "Christians are too sensitive", you have to throw in an insult. Which simply means, to me, that the only reason you find that Christians are being sensitive is because you truly don't like Christians. So why do you bother judge Christians for being "sensitive"?
In all fairness, your beliefs aren't being offended here (whatever they may be). To be honest, we have to admit, stunts like this are rarely to never pulled concerning other religious groups. Let's be honest. Name one case where this has happened before? I can name several that are offensive to Christian groups but cannot name one that offends other groups. It's almost cowardly because video game companies know they'd never win a lawsuit against a minority religion.
As a Christian Arab, I've always been oppressed for my beliefs. So I'm not surprised that followers of my faith are being called: "Cry babies" because they can't seem to take the incessant mockery at the hands of America's "freedom of speech". I felt more free to practice Christianity in the Middle East!
andnowyourot
you can't boycott EA. you'll miss out on some of the greatest games. and for what? the principle of you getting butthurt over someone creating lols? i rest my case.
NortheastMonk
lol dont point at "Christians" like your Hitler or something. This game "has" to do with hell. How can you sell the game w/o mentioning the Church. It would be lame. Like Doom, if it didnt have those terrifying creatures and mention of demonic possession. I wouldnt buy a single copy, but it does. So I'm more eager to buy. I think that controversy in the Church needs to be directed so something other then "save our priest". lol I am looking forward to DE. But it doesnt stand a chance next to GOW3
Senninkai
All the "Christians" here need to take a step back and quit being so damn self righteous and politically correct. To summarize what i just said grow some hairy ones and move on with your life.
metalreaper101
Blah Blah is all I hear. Bitching and whining from the part of a religious group who..let's face it..are not the most laid back type of ppl. Does everyone forget that the game is based off Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy? It's A POEM about going to HELL! Dante was CATHOLIC! I have to say though this little stunt isn't like the best either, come on guys, couldn't have done something else cooler? Ppl should realize that Everything CAN and WILL be made fun of! I wish we could go back to the day where everyone
wasn't so uptight and DELICATE about every little damn thing! Christians should worry about doing what the Lord says and all that fun stuff instead of worrying about a game that(like all games)gain popularity for a short time..continue to be fun..and then eventually is replaced by another better game! In the end u must ask yourself..What would Jesus Do? I'll tell you what he would do He'd play this game and beat the crap out of the demons rightously
Pressurelock
Also, yes, freedom of speech and all that, ok fine. But it's not a fair argument. Why? because atheists hold nothing sacred, they don't give a damn about anything. You can't say "Well how would you feel if we made fun of 'x'" because they don't care about 'x' with their whole being. Also, next time you run into some idiot on the street who calls your wife a fat bitch, you better not get upset, it's freedom of speech, get over it and shake his hand, he's got guts right?
Pressurelock
It's funny how the people against this fake protest are varied, including Christians, non-Christians, and people who don't care to even give the idea of religion a thought. This is because it's obviously a cheap shot and incredibly immature and inane.
Whereas, people FOR this fake protest include mostly people saying 'LOL CRISSCHUNS ARE BAKWORDS AND THINK THEY SHULD HAVE RITES AND STUF!!!11 LOL!!!1'
I'm all for people's beliefs in what they want and won't criticize them for it, but part of me wants to go back to the day where you weren't mocked simply for believing something. These 'progressives' seem to only make tolerance headway in favor of things THEY want tolerated, and to hell with anyone who believes different. It's a joke.
YoureDumb
It's a game about hell, it's only a matter of time before some stupid parents in kansas try to have the game banned. Everyone shut up and stop being so sensitive. Freedom of speech is a hell of a right and you people are babies for crying about this.
milo1990
I really hate the fact they're making it look like ALL Christians are extremists and have radical ideas about everything. I'm a big time gamer and I am also a Christian but I am not an overly spiritual extremist and no one I associate with is either. These people do exist but I dont believe it is right for EA to exploit religious beliefs in order to hype up a game. I'm not one of those Christians who went on a religious rampage when The DaVinci Code came out and honestly I could care less about that movie or Dante's Inferno. This is just a form of entertainment so just leave it at that and leave religion out of it. EA resorting to something like this makes me wonder if the game is worth anyone's time. If the game was really amazing they wouldnt need to hype it up. It could hype itself up. They couldve just went with booth babes like everyone else.
timhda
Damn, seriously people - who cares, it's just religion. I've seen the anti-smoking lobbyist use dead babies and you all are caught up in someone using religion to market something? What do you think the bible is? It's a marketing tool for all these bogus religions out there like the Catholic religion. Why does everyone have to get so offended by the stupidest crap - just get over it. Is EA using a religion as a marketing tool going to affect your paycheck or your ability to pay your bills? Is their marketing decision going to effect your health - is it going to make your vehicle inoperable? Probably not, so focus on the crap in life that is important.
sneppo
Suck it Christians. Have a cry.
I thought all the comments were going to be LOL! Christians got pwned etc... but instead nearly all of the comments are Christians who are upset. I forgot that Americans are all sheep who can't think for themselves...
linkfan57
It is kinda sad that whenever a group (be it religious or ethical) gets mad just because they are singled out. Look people, Every group is singled out and made fun of at some point. Get over yourselves. Cry a river and give the water to people in a drought....maybe then your self pity can be justified.
quicksand
I don't really know what to think. As a Christian, I was incredibly embarrassed by the protesters, but I was relieved to find out it was a publicity stunt. While I don't really like the fact that Christians not liking certain things actually gets people interested in those things, I find the humor in the marketing scheme.
As for the Dan Brown comment, people take his stuff way too seriously. They're fiction! By protesting them you only make them seem valid. Anyway, Angels and Demons wasn't too anti-religion, so I don't get what the Vatican's problem is.
Xechatigs
It's a GAME people, it's not meant to bash or harm any religion, I don't see why people go out of their way to get worked up over it.
raymondb1981
There's only one reason why EA did this at E3. They wanted a reaction to get people talking about this game without having to spend advertising dollars. Guess what it worked! They knew by portraying Christians as a bunch of non-fun whiners, people would come out of the wood work to complain. Though at the same time this gives them free advertising since your STILL talking about the game. Regardless if your going to buy it or not by talking about it your going to make someone else who hasn't heard of this project interested and check it. If nothing more than for the shock value that EA has caused.
ParanoiDave
Hm, people can come out with religious documentaries that claim God is real, yet when something comes out that has anything to do with "the anti-christ", Christians get all angry and start protesting. I generally don't like trying to get into religious arguements with people, but it's situations like this that piss me off. I used to have a never-ending hatred for EA. But finally, finally they did something that I'm interested in.
Oh, and plus, shouldn't all religious people have so much faith in "god" and all that crap that they should just blow this off anyway? I mean Christains (etc.) would be so happy if there was a pro-religious game that denounced Atheism. I'm not saying every religious person is THIS sensitive, but it seems to me like this nothing more than a low "religious self esteem".
puffdaddyben
I really don't care.
ergraham
but the game looks pretty good and i'm probably going to get it. keep pumping out moderately good games, ea, and people will still buy them
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