ModDB Shuts Down School Shooter Mod

[Xannieros]

I'm glad it was taken down, but not like this. It's gonna inflate Jack Thompsons ego more.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

They had every right to remove the mod, it would have a huge impact on all the other modders on the site, Pawnstick has every right to make his mod, but it doesnt mean that it will be ditributed.

Also his comment "Anyone who wants to be a school shooter, but is too big of a pussy to actually do anything." makes him sound like a sociopath, which looking at his comments, he may just be

 

[mlkjhgfds]

I first brought the School Shooter mod to the attention of the world

Really ? And there I thought Thompsonkind hollier-than-thous did. Oh, could be I still thought right. Nevermind.

On an... unrelated? note, I used to say I'd rather have writers express their opinion in articles so it'd make the ever-underlying intent clear, but this made me wish the journalistic principle of "sticking to the facts" had been respected. Funny how disagreeing with someone's opinion can make one temporarily change their mind on honesty and freedom of speech, eh ? Eh ? Eeeeh ?

 

[punipunipyo]

Mods are cool, people should take their desire to create up on mod making... how ever, this mod is meant to go "bye-bye"... there are lots of games out here that goes for "Shock Value", but this game took it differently, see... In Modern Warfare 2, you were supposed to be "shocked" by the Gun down the surveillance, feel bad after words, or at lease think a bit...AND it had a plot (kinda)... but school shooter mod here, just put you on a killing spree with nothing else but a point system attached... IN A SCHOOL YARD BACK DROP?! and what's worse... in terms of "delivery" it was a very simple mod, that didn't took a lot of work, it feels like a custom map with "hostages" in it! The entire thing (I've only watched a few vids) looked "primitive" as a full convergence mod... I believe (theory) that the Dev of this game wanted to sell this by the shear "shock value"... as an Evolved First-Gen Gamer, this game to me... is just a bad taste, not even worth the ranking next to "Postal 2". At lease Postal 2 had humor, and SOME SORT of plot in it... (parodies)

 

[punipunipyo]

I'm glad it was taken down, but not like this. It's gonna inflate Jack Thompsons ego more.

yeh... I agreed... Jack(ass) should be ignored, We as players should all stood up to bad taste game Dev like School Shooter, and DUMP them as we call it "Degraded Art", and Mod-DB(and other Mod hosts) should reply the matter to us the consumers, and not Jack(ass), and his bitching... his words shouldn't matter. it's US who decides what games are good, and what games are BAD(and we'd all agreed that Jack(Ass)Tom is the Ugly~ Right?).

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Creative freedom is all good and well until you offend someone.

I hope you're being sarcastic.

Not at all.

 

[Faeriian]

...they're full of bs, they're just lying when they say they believe in free speech, if they censor something or remove something, then they don't believe in it, at best they believe in the idea of free speech..

 

[moretimethansense]

Yet more proof that when pushed people will prove themselves to be massive pussie.

He has a right to release this mod.
People have a right to hate this mod and him for making it.
That site's owners have the right to simply not host the mod.
But they didn't, they hosted it, they obviously thought he had the right to release it, but they buckled under pressure thus reinforcing the idea that there's some magical line that should not be crossed.
There's a problem with that line gentlemen, it's in a different place for every person.

 

[SomeUnregPunk]

I'm glad it was taken down, but not like this. It's gonna inflate Jack Thompsons ego more.

yeh... I agreed... Jack(ass) should be ignored, We as players should all stood up to bad taste game Dev like School Shooter, and DUMP them as we call it "Degraded Art", and Mod-DB(and other Mod hosts) should reply the matter to us the consumers, and not Jack(ass), and his bitching... his words shouldn't matter. it's US who decides what games are good, and what games are BAD(and we'd all agreed that Jack(Ass)Tom is the Ugly~ Right?).

Unfortunately it wasn't us gamers that were able to get ModDB to dump this mod but Jack Thompson and his media fans. What does that say about where our moral compass points?

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

that guy is such an evil bastard.

All though im kind of worried he's going to go on a spree now in his rage.

 

[TheGreekDollmaker]

Im gona get a lot of shit for this but anyways here it goes.

Videogames are nothing more than mathematical systems.Pure mathematical computer systems.

I love how we all dumbed on American School Shooter because it touched our sensitive side but we all dont give a shit when we do it with big budget release games like Modern Warfare or Bad Company.As if those games at heart are any different.

What this guy does is essentially cutting all the bullshit down.Most modern "Hardcore games" we play are essentially based on one thing:Killing.

No matter how much better the technology gets or how better the guns are or how better they are based on the human insetive to take away human lives.Nothing less, nothin more.

We hide behind fancy realistic graphics and plots to justify why we kill in those games.
This mod simply chose not to hide what it is.It is essentially human hate, fear and prejustice.Arent most shooter like that.Isnt that what 90% of Xbox live is fueled off?

Now im not gona whine about certain things, like Moddb taking the mod down.Honestly its their site and its their Terms of Service so im not complaining about that.

Also i dont think this makes the mod expemt of critisism.If you honestly oppose something than i engourage that you do show your opposition.Just dont cry that it sets the medium back because the medium its essentially the truth about most modern games.

 

[twiceworn]

finaly some good news, i dont really care about the mod as people who get offended about a game are to be quite frank, worthless and ignorent (no offence if you happen to be one of them but it IS true) but in the interview the guy made it quite clear that he had no respect for games and thought that the game law the high court is hearing was ACTUALY OK!!!! he is clearly doing whatever he can to get that law passed including making a game that writes off all games and gamers as evil jerks a fact i cannot suport so i think this is for the best.

i wish administrators of ModDB hadnt done this however becuse it makes the industry seem like it will cave on any issue if enough people ***** about it, but in this case it is for the best

 

[MorphingDragon]

Creative freedom is all good and well until you offend someone.

I wouldn't say offending is a limit. South Park is offending yet its considered one of the most creative and intelligent shows on TV in a lot of countries.

This is culturally !@#$ed and twisted.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Creative freedom is all good and well until you offend someone.

I wouldn't say offending is a limit. South Park is offending yet its considered one of the most creative and intelligent shows on TV in a lot of countries.

This is culturally !@#$ed and twisted.

Why is it culturally fucked and twisted?

 

[Hexenwolf]

"We believe in the right to free speech, but we're going to go out of our way to stop them from saying this."

Above: Logic.

(For the record, I personally found the game to be interesting, but ultimately tasteless. I in no way was a "supporter" of it, but it still had the right to be made).

More like: "He has the right to make it, and we similarly have the right to not support it."

It's not like it's banned. The guy can still distribute it if he wants, that in no way means ModDB should be required to host it. The fact that they put up, and left up for as long as they did, something they don't agree with actually speaks quite loudly about their perspective on free speech.

 

[moppop]

If the film industry can turn out stuff like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_films and this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampage_%282009_film%29, than the video game industry can as well, and if you don't like that, don't play the game.

But does that mean I have to host it? No, it doesn't.

No you don't, but still it's kind of a wuss move. "Let's put this mod on our site. Oh people are sending us angry letters lets stop". It's the Six Days in Fallujah incident all over again just smaller.

I can't believe you're comparing this to Six Days in Fallujah. I mean, really? First of all, I can tell you actually aren't familiar with ModDB at all in how it works.

Here's a simple breakdown why they aren't the same:
Six Days in Fallujah
A) Officially sponsored and paid for by a Publisher/Producer
B) Serious effort to tell the stories of those soldiers
C) Had the support of several members of that platoon and other military advisers
D) When Konami pulled out, they left a developer that needs to be paid high and dry...a developer they PAID FOR TO DEVELOP THE GAME
E) Both members of the development team AND Konami were willing to go on camera and defend the game's aims; that is until it go too hot for Konami.

School Shooter
A) Automatically approved as long as most sections are filled out and several images are uploaded; it is up to the users to let admins know if any content is violating TOS and copyright laws
B) ModDB specifically did not ASK to host the mod; nor did they PAY Pawnstick to develop it
C) Was not a serious effort...it was a massive troll.
D) When ModDB pulled hosting, they DID NOT leave the developer high and dry (the dev has their own website, yaknow). ModDB had no affiliation with the mod in the first place
E) NO ONE in connection with this mod is willing to put a REAL identity behind this project because they know it's nothing more than a massive troll. You're not going to see Pawnstick or any of his "anonymous" cronies on camera in order to support and defend this mod.

Now seriously, read these points (over and over again if you have to), and then try to tell me it's the same thing as Six Days in Fallujah. Just try.

Also, it's not "Let's put this mod on our site.."; it's more like, user fills out all sections, uploads a few images, and submits it. As long as it passes a quick spot-check (maybe) for porn images, it gets approved. No one at ModDB recruits mods to join..it's all user-submitted which means the bad comes with the good. The bad is dealt with by users and can be removed...pending on severity of ToS violations.

 

[Hijax]

I stick to what i said in the previous thread, that the game itself is A: Not very different from, say, GTA, and B: Totally okay, if very controversial and slightly revolting.
However, the creator(Pawnstick) A: Is apparently a sociopath or otherwise deranged, or atleast a massive douche/troll, and B: Has EVERY RIGHT to make whatever game he wants.

Now, MDB does not have to host his game. They can host whatever they like to, and refusing to host games that you find offensive is not a violation of free speech in any way, IMHO. It's their site.

What is, IMO, a bad move from their side, is that after they did host it, thus admitting that they saw no problem with hosting the game, they buckled from pressure. This is a problem, because A: it shows that They took the game down not because they found it offensive, but because people told them to, and B: It game Jack Thompson the delusional idea that he was right and that people listened to him, which is the last thing we need.

 

[moppop]

i wish administrators of ModDB hadnt done this however becuse it makes the industry seem like it will cave on any issue if enough people ***** about it, but in this case it is for the best

Since when is ModDB the game industry? ModDB didn't cave...they just chose to not get involved any further when they were dragged into it against their will. If ModDB wanted to stand for the game industry, they will do it on their terms and not the terms of a troll.

 

[moppop]

What is, IMO, a bad move from their side, is that after they did host it, thus admitting that they saw no problem with hosting the game, they buckled from pressure. This is a problem, because A: it shows that They took the game down not because they found it offensive, but because people told them to, and B: It game Jack Thompson the delusional idea that he was right and that people listened to him, which is the last thing we need.

That's not how ModDB works. As long as you fill out all of the sections and upload some images when you submit the mod, it get's approved. It's up to the users to look for copyright and TOS violations. You think INtense! actually read the synopsis of over 12,000 mods?