Bully Banned by Some British Retailers

stormhair writes "The BBC is reporting that shops in the DSG Group (Currys and PC World) are banning Bully from their shelves. A spokesman says: 'We took a view that because it touches on a sensitive issue — violence in school — that it is not a product we would stock.' DSG has withdrawn other games from their shelves in the past — Hitman and Manhunt."

Comments

No biggie

[Pharmboy]

Sounds like they are trying to be responsible retailers, according to their own reasonable definitions. Every store should have the right (and does in most places) to stock what games or products it wants, and if they think a title is not good for their customers, they don't stock it. Not sure why this is news.

I am sure some will scream "censorship!", which is of course silly, and only the government can censor. I call this "setting standards for what products you carry". If you really want Bully, I am sure there are plenty of other places that sell it.

Re:No biggie

[squiggleslash]

The fact that someone has the right to make a stupid, mis-informed, panders-to-ignorant decision does not make it any less stupid, any less mis-informed, or any less pandering to ignorant. Just as they have the right to make that decision, people have the right to complain about it. In a context where people are making the most outrageous and clearly untrue allegations about the game, a retailer who refuses to stock it on the basis of largely, apparently, bogus allegations deserves criticism, whether it's their right to refuse to stock it or not.

Every time there's a story about some institution promoting this kind of ignorance, there's always someone who comes up with the whole "It's their right!" bullshit. But nobody is saying it's not their right.

Quit it with the straw men and address the issues here. Stop acting as if everytime someone has the legal right to make a decision, it's somehow beyond criticism. Dixon's decision is very much open to criticism, far more so than Rockstar's decision to make the game in the first place.

Re:No biggie

[m0rph3us0]

Maybe Families find that killing people is something they value, while beating up kids at school is not. Many people are OK with the concept of prisions, but not kidnapping / unlawful confinement. It's their store, if you want to make a store that stocks only gore games, go right ahead, and when the city council won't grant you a business permit we will rally right behind you. Freedom is the ability to do what you want, not make others do what you want.

Re:No biggie

[thatguywhoiam]

Every store should have the right (and does in most places) to stock what games or products it wants, and if they think a title is not good for their customers, they don't stock it. Not sure why this is news.

Of course they can carry what they like. The 'news' part is, they've done this without having actually seen the game (banned before it went on sale). So in this sense they can ban all they like, but we know for a fact that this was indeed a kneejerk reaction; they simply decided the controversy would cost more than selling the game. On that one I think they are probably wrong - but this is not a major games chain primarily, so its just WalMart all over again.

In other news...

[Xest]

...Scientists discover that the amount of Dixons stores in the UK is inverseley proportional to the amount of games they ban.

Keep on digging Dixons, those high street stores are dropping like flies, this kind of stunt isn't going to save you!

On a more serious note it's a shame that our stores seem to so freely endorse censorship but then I've never understoond this country, sometimes we seem to be fairly free in what we can do and say and Americans envy this and other times we seem to be so pro censorship on certain issues yet no one seems to bat an eyelid. Things certainly seem to be done differently here, in the US there's lawsuits to ban bully but shops sound like they're willing to stock it, here individual stores randomly decide to put themselves at a competitive disadvantage by banning it off their own back, I'll never understand that one, I guess they just feel that it strengthens their family friendly brand which I guess is understandable, it is only your run of the mill know nothing about IT families that do shop at Dixons/PC World.

Banned? Too strong a word.

[Half-pint HAL]

Do specialist Heavy-Metal music shops "ban" classical music? No, they just choose not to stock it.

Why? Because they don't think their intended audience want to see it in the shop.

That's all DSG are doing: choosing their stock to suit their market.

HAL

In some countries this might BE censorship

[davidwr]

If you lived in a country with only one major retailer, or a single consortium of retailers who as a whole decided to not carry the game, then this would be a good SlashDot Censorship story.

Even then, you could still buy it online or from abroad, or from a minor "independent" retailer. But that's a lot more work than going to your nearby Super Mega Mart or even your corner Kwikee-Mart.

Banned? How sensational.

[PFI_Optix]

The stores didn't ban it. They chose not to sell it. They made a business decision and that's their right. This isn't a ban; they won't be preventing others from selling it or kicking in your door to take it from you.

But don't let the facts get in the way of your Slashbotism.