Bully Trailer Hits the Web

GGLucas writes "Contrary to the rumours that have spread about the Rockstar game, Bully, and it's storyline, the game's trailer as released by IGN today spins in a completely different direction, anti-game critics will not be happy. From the article: 'Bully puts players in control of 15 year-old Jimmy Hopkins — a boy who has just begun his first year in the New England-based Bullworth Academy, and a guy who's charged with the mission of ridding the school of a number of its undesirable elements.'"

Comments

Doesn't seem too bad

[vinividivici]

How bad can a game about a kid countering a bully possibly be?

Re:Doesn't seem too bad

[Daniel Dvorkin]

How bad can a game about a kid countering a bully possibly be?

Oh, very, very bad.

You see, kids who fight back against bullies are just like Harris and Klebold! They wear black and listen to scary music and have guns, lots of guns! And they kill people with them! Lots and lots of people!

In fact, any kid who fights back against a bully might just be ...

A TERRORIST! LOOK! LOOK, OVER THERE! SCARY, SCARY TERRORISTS!

TERRORISTS! 9/11! ROCKSTAR GAMES! 9/11! AL-QAEDA! 9/11! COLUMBINE! 9/11! TERRORISTS! RED LAKE! 9/11! THEY'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER! WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHIIIIIIIIIILDREN!

There. I hope this clears things up for you.

Re:Doesn't seem too bad

[ToasterofDOOM]

you just won the presidential vote for Utah in 2008

Re:Doesn't seem too bad

[darkitecture]

How bad can a game about a kid countering a bully possibly be?

I can't tell whether that was meant to be a rhetorical question or not. There might have been sarcasm or you might be being fatuous, I'm not sure. But just in case you were being serious, let me highlight something:

It could be said that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (responsible for the Columbine massacre) were 'countering' the bullies that harrassed them at school. An extreme example for sure, but never underestimate human flaws when it comes to such powerful emotional forces as retribution.

With that said, I've bought several of Rockstar's games which have been considered 'violent' and probably plan on buying this game too if it seems any good. I'd like to think of myself as a successful late-20-something who has played countless violent and disturbing video games, watched graphic depiction of violence in numerous movies and tv shows and also was the victim of bullying in school (weren't we all?). Yet I'm still a well-adjusted member of society, an upstanding citizen, have never committed a crime, vote, am involved in charitable works, have a good sense of morality and have no qualms with allowing my children to play violent games with morally dubious goals and watch violent movies - as long as I've deemed they're mature enough for such things. I find it is my duty to keep a constant vigil on my childrens' moral/ethical maturity and to screen/judge their input accordingly. I appreciate there being an ratings board for games and the like, but I think this should be considered simply a guide and that parents should take some god damn responsibility and take charge.

I played some brutal games and watched some horribly graphic movies while I was a kid but I had good enough parents that they knew that although those games and movies weren't the most palatable inputs, they weren't having some sort of detrimental inpact on my growth, my education or my general health/wellbeing. They understood that *I* understood the difference between movies/video games and reality. They understood that although I might be ripping someone's spine out in Mortal Kombat, I was still writing A+ history reports and still knew my sines from my cosines. I might have been going on a Redneck Rampage with my shotgun but I still volunteered at the local Salvation Army thrift store on the occasional weekend and took out the trash and brushed my teeth before bedtime.

Ratings boards should never be considered a substitute for good parenting.

Anti-game critics will not be happy

[Anonymous Coward]

It does appear that Bully is indeed a game and not a spreadsheet so I suspect the anti-game people will be mad.

Re:Bad marketting

[zerocommazero]

I guess it's the fact that NO ONE remembered (especially the editor) that the original game synopsis WAS that you were a kid who basically got fed up and fought back against bullies, bad teachers, etc.

Come on, Slashdot, you're supposed to be better than the regular news spin!

Well I heard...

[vloktboky]

Word on the street says former President Theodore Roosevelt strongly recommends this game! I'm not at liberty to disclose my sources. Sorry!

Re:The last time I checked...

[kjart]

I can think of a number of places where Black and White might be considered the most obscene game ever. Heck, the game lets you pretend to be god - what's shooting someone in the head compared to that?

1999: My Life *was* hell; then Columbine

[Un-Thesis]

I am a 5' 4" male nerd who wears corrective lenses. I was habitually psychophysically tortured by bullies throughout my life; today women shun me because I am still to this day psychologically scarred by their antics in my youth (although I'm getting better).

I used to be ridiculed, beat up, harrassed, and generally driven to depression *daily* by a *wide*range* of youth at my school; not just traditional bullies. Columbine happened when I was a Junior (or virtually finished with my primary education).

All of a sudden, my harrassment stopped! Literally that very same day! I was called into the Principle's office a full three times. The reason? I met a lot of the characteristics of the massacrists; sans a close friend (at that time I had none). All of a sudden, people would actually come up to me and spontaneously *apologize* for how they treated me; even 8 years later people are still *apologizing* to me as I sporadically meet them in town :O

I used to go to the Principle's office to report being punched in the face, jumped in the parking lot or being spat on by groups of girls (seriously :(, just to be told to "fight back" or "suck it up" or something. Now, my 15 yr-old nephew got guys *expelled* or transferred to other schools merely because they made fun of him and the school now has a zero harrassment policy!

After nearly 2 decades of near persistent parent-teacher meetings, moving to different schools, etc, to try to assuage the torture my peers inflicted upon the obvious physical grunt of the pack (but i have an IQ of 150), schools are finally taking things seriously.

So excuse me if it took a horrible massacre to make ordinary people realize how horribly detrimental their actions are. God turning something bad good, I guess. I will always remember the day of Columbine as the day my life started becoming enjoyable for the first time ever.

Re:1999: My Life *was* hell; then Columbine

[Alaria Phrozen]

When I first found out about Columbine.. my first thought was: I wonder how those poor kids were treated to drive them to such ends.

Sure, with all the recent media releases with how darkly into hatred the Columbine kids were, perhaps there should be no sympathy for them. But I've always wondered... did they choose their victims, or was it really just random shooting with all that planning behind it? If the victims were chosen, for what reasons ... how were they treated?

I remember very clearly in seventh grade, many years ago, a fellow student was picked on mercilessly everyday until he would cry and have a total fit. Every single day. The bullies were very, very good at doing it covertly. The victims fits were off course a total fight/flight reaction, and I'm sure it could have even been seen as comical-hence why they did it. This kid was usually the one who got in trouble too, as teachers would ignore the smalltalk from the bullies and would only notice when he would burst into tears or slap/punch somebody. He was an incredibly nice kid and of course smart.

What is popular is not always right. What is right is not always popular.

It makes me want to do something about it now. Seventh graders suck at communicating their feelings. It really would have been nice if they gave us surveys so we could express in a directed manner how we and our peers were being treated. Of course there would be jokesters, but I'm sure it is possible to build control mechanisms within surveys?

I know this is impractical but... there has to be something.

Re:1999: My Life *was* hell; then Columbine

[twistedsymphony]

You just have to level the playing field. I was picked on quite a bit for being a nerd when I was young. Picked last in gym class, called names, had people steal my books, notes, backpack, etc run down the hall and throw them the nasty cafeteria garbage. Interesting enough it was a New England Prep School.

One day my father suggested I start going to the gym with him to work out, it was a powerlifters gym, if you wanted aerobics you ran outside, everything inside was freeweights. I started lifting and advanced FAST, applying my studying habbits to learn proper techniques and eating habbits. I gained about 40lb of muscle over the course of my sophomore year. I had to get a new custom made school uniform because my sholders were so wide.

I was still a nerd, I still played card games with the other 2 or 3 nerdy kids in the cafe during our study halls, I was still a member of the chess club and the math team but after school I would go and lift weights. I even entered a few powerlifting competitions and took 1st place a couple of times. It really turned my life at school around. My junior year I remember early on one of the football players started picking on me and my friends so I stood up and he got in my face... soon realizing that while shorter I was much wider in the shoulders then he was. I told him I'd arm wrestle him and if I won he would have to appologize to my friends and leave us alone for the rest of the year. I put him down so fast he brused his knuckles when they hit the table. Needless to say none of us ever had any problems with the bullies in the school ever again. Despite the fact that I still enojyed doing all of my nerdy things I had earned a lot of respect from a whole lot of the people who used to pick on me.

Nerds are smart enough, get them on a training program, martial arts, weight lifting etc. Bullies pick on your weak spots and typically the week spot of a nerd is their lack of physical prowess... you fix that and the bullies will pick on someone else... or find something better to do.

ATTN, Jack Thompson

[DragonTHC]

NOT ALL GAMES ARE FOR KIDS!

I agree with game ratings and enforcement of those ratings.

I don't think 15 year old kids should be playing bully.

but I'm 30 years old, and I want to play it.

Jocks! A real world game.

[edwardpickman]

In this game Jocks beat up on nerds and the nerds get sent to the principals office and branded trouble makers. The upside is if you play the game as a nerd you can graduate school and become a highly paid programmer where as the the best the jock can hope for is janitor at the local Dairy Queen.