I'm currently working on a game I plan to release on iOS. The game is set almost entirely in Egypt, and I was wanting to have various symbols that people typically relate with Egypt dotted around the environment. This reminded me of the controversy that happened with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. For those who don't know, Nintendo removed a Crescent moon symbol from the game (amongst other things) due to complaints from the Islamic community.
I don't understand why it offended people, but apparently it did, so I'm weary of including such symbols in my game. Of course, my game is tiny and will likely stay under the radar, unless I promote it well enough, but still it'll never cause a stir like that with a massively recognised game like Zelda.
So my questions is, should I be concerned about including such symbols in my game? In 1922 the Egyptian flag was green, with a crescent moon and three stars - Would it be unwise for me to include that, for example? (Honestly I was just thinking about the crescent moon and various hieroglyphics carved into walls etc)
If I had to care about such things, just maybe because Apple might care if I were in your shoes, I would simply not use islamic imagery, seeing that they're in the stage of being an intolerant religion in this epoch. Besides, and this goes without the intent to offend, why are you interested in using their symbology? Is it just a regionalism of your game? Islam is probably the least interesting religion of the abrahamic bunch, and Mohammed didn't reconfigure the West as Jesus or Luther did.
I don't think you should worry at all. Major game developers try to stay away from religious imagery because they got the idea in their head that if they have a star of David in their game, no Christian will play it. This whole taboo of religious imagery in video games is ridiculous in my eyes. You should be fine. In fact, you might want to make the imagery super apparent just to flick the nose of the public, if you're into that kind of stuff
If you put a million monkeys at a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java program.
The rest of them will write Perl programs.
I wanted to include these things purely for aesthetic reasons, I'm not religious myself and don't understand much about any religions in the world. I'm not sure how many people think like me, but there are just certain visual elements that really stand out in certain environments and add to the character of the world.
I'm talking from a completely artistic view here. I think it's a real shame that these things can offend so easily, as I just feel like it limits the creative visions of artists. Though if I'm talking about "creativity" maybe I should be inventing my own symbols...
I agree, I'm just trying to say that the media overreacts and jumps to conclusions :/ It's a shame honestly, but you really shouldn't worry about putting anything in your game.
If you put a million monkeys at a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java program.
The rest of them will write Perl programs.
I agree, I'm just trying to say that the media overreacts and jumps to conclusions :/ It's a shame honestly, but you really shouldn't worry about putting anything in your game.
If you put a million monkeys at a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java program.
The rest of them will write Perl programs.
I agree, I'm just trying to say that the media overreacts and jumps to conclusions :/ It's a shame honestly, but you really shouldn't worry about putting anything in your game.
If you put a million monkeys at a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java program.
The rest of them will write Perl programs.
I agree, I'm just trying to say that the media overreacts and jumps to conclusions :/ It's a shame honestly, but you really shouldn't worry about putting anything in your game.
If you put a million monkeys at a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java program.
The rest of them will write Perl programs.
I agree, I'm just trying to say that the media overreacts and jumps to conclusions :/ It's a shame honestly, but you really shouldn't worry about putting anything in your game.
edit: Well that was an accident. How did I manage to quintuple post?
Edited by monkeytherat
If you put a million monkeys at a million keyboards, one of them will eventually write a Java program.
The rest of them will write Perl programs.
And thanks for the thoughts, both of you. It's not a question I really wanted to ask, but thought I wanted to hear what some of the creative types around these parts though about it really.
I may be thinking a bit too much about this topic, but it's been a long week and I'm in need of some way to unwind. I apologize if this is a bit too long...
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Generally speaking, group members become upset with the depiction of their group and use of its symbols if they are portrayed in a "negative" light. Sounds fairly obvious, and common sense. Most folks follow the old maxim of "never discuss religion or politics" with strangers. However, with Egyptian imagery, I think you're in a good spot. Let me explain using mummies, a classic Egyptian trope...
You know how that, whenever a mummy comes along and wreaks havoc in the movies, it's due to one of two things:
something has raised the mummy from the dead to just run around and kill folks. This is a purely malicious motivation for the mummy. In these cases, you very rarely see overt Egyptian imagery; you'll see heiroglyphs, you'll see pyramids and the sphinx, but you won't see the Egyptian flag.
OR
someone has desecrated the tomb of a long dead Egyptian monarch. The mummy rises to destroy and/or curse the interlopers. In these situations, you not only see hieroglyphs, pyramids, the sphinx, etc. You'll also see contemporary Egyptian images and people. Maybe Egyptians would solve the problem by using positive or beneficial things about the Egyptian culture: Egyptian police or military, old priests or artifacts dedicated to Ra, Isis, or one of the "friendlier" Egyptian gods, that sort of thing.
In the first case, the mummy is just a gimmick; it's a scary image that must be confronted; think about the mummies that folks from Scooby Doo had to run away from in every other episode. These don't need any cultural connection in order to be a threat. You might see some sort of mystical connection (a cult thought to be extinct, vilified because they did naughty things like kidnap children, drink blood, and fornicate with goats), but usually these are connections to universally bad stuff (cannibalism, devil worship, et. al.), and not anything to do with contemporary Egyptian culture, politics, and so on.
In the second case, it's an example of Egyptian culture on the defense. In other words, the mummy only comes out because someone desecrated the temple, stole the crown jewels, or whatever. They took from the Egyptians what was "rightfully theirs." In other words, the mummy is how the thief will "get what they deserve." Likely in the form of a horrible, grisly death scene that totally grosses you out.
Regardless of the group, faction, etc. they'll be upset if you have them do bad stuff first. If it's in defense of their culture or beliefs, then it'll be okay. In the case of your game, I'd recommend that any kind of Egyptian imagery (especially contemporary, like the flag) be connected to Egypt being on the defense. If there's a mummy and it's simply a monster that needs to be defeated or avoided, I'd say limit the Egyptian imagery.
Man, my Friday afternoons are the most long-winded!
I understand what you're saying, and I think I may limit the use of strong representative symbols for my project. My game is pretty light-hearted but I'd like to play it safe, just in case.
I feel like there is something much deeper hidden away that can be discussed, such as why in a lot of military games, Russians are portrayed as the baddies. Forgive my example if it's incorrect, I don't actually play any military games at all - I'm just going from what I seem to recall. Also the Crescent moon in Zelda - I still don't understand what was offensive about that. It was simply an icon on a shield, block and signpost. I don't recall any of them indicating any sort of negative energy towards any specific race or religious beliefs.
Edit: I was just pondering about Zelda - I think the symbols may have been too closely linked to the thieves that lived in the desert. I guess that is probably reason enough to cause a stir.
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Edited by monkeytherat
something has raised the mummy from the dead to just run around and kill folks. This is a purely malicious motivation for the mummy. In these cases, you very rarely see overt Egyptian imagery; you'll see heiroglyphs, you'll see pyramids and the sphinx, but you won't see the Egyptian flag.
