Native American Lobbyists Launch Boycott of GUN; Activision Responds
- February 01, 2006 17:18 PM PST
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Activision's GUN is coming under fire from the Association for American Indian Development (the AAID).
Well, it was bound to happen.
The violent, Grand Theft Auto-inspired GUN may have met its match--the Association for American Indian Development (the AAID). The AAID has launched an online boycott of the game, saying that GUN depicts "disturbing racist and genocidal elements toward Native Americans." The group points specifically to depictions of scalping and the "slaughtering of the 'renegade' Apaches," claiming the game shows "misinformation of Indian traditions."
Activision's response is short and to the point, saying that the publisher "does not condone or advocate any of the atrocities that occurred in the American West during the 1800s. GUN was designed to reflect the harshness of life on the American frontier at that time.
Activision conceds that GUN "depicts scalping and killing," but that the brutalities "are not direction exclusively toward any race or gender."
Activision apologizes for offending any players, but notes that GUN's "depiction of historical events [have] been conveyed not only through video games, but through films, television programming, books and other media."
But, as GamePro editor Johnny K remarked, "[the AAID] should probably be more offended by the fact that the Native Americans in the game have terrible A.I."
