Apple Yanks "Sweatshop Themed" Game From App Store

First time accepted submitter danhuby writes "Apple have removed sweatshop-themed game Sweatshop HD by UK developers LittleLoud from their app store citing clause 16.1 — 'Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.' According to the PocketGamer article, Littleloud's head of games, Simon Parkin, told Pocket Gamer that 'Apple removed Sweatshop from the App Store last month stating that it was uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop.'"

Comments

Re:Game Dev Story

[Nerdfest]

It was probably fine until someone noticed that it was very much like a Foxconn facility. The "objectionable" in their approval terms is pretty loose and doesn't mention who the app has to be "objectionable" to.

The definition of PC

[LordKaT]

If it makes you feel uncomfortable, force people to stop talking about it. The definition of political correctness!

Re:The definition of PC

[i kan reed]

It's not really though. The original intent of political correctness was to provide a way for people to be self-critical about the subtle biases that they engage in when they speak.

When you say "black" as a description of someone, for example, your description carries with it connotations that aren't necessarily true, especially since in western culture the word black is historically associated with evil(i.e. black magic, black death, black mark, blacklist, etc.). Political correctness has never been legally forced on anyone, and it's a straw-man to call it "forcing" people to do things. The social judgement people get for failing to be politically correct is no different than the judgement that people get for being rude.

I won't say political correctness has never been about people being offended, because many people invoking the concept have as poor an understanding of it as you do, but that's not the point.

Re:The definition of PC

[garett_spencley]

Any time you have a movement or an ideology that affects people who don't share that ideology you see outrage. That outrage often comes with straw-man tactics used in discourse.

I can think of many examples of so-called "right wing" or "conservative" ideologies that are on the receiving end. The "pro-life" movement is one example. To most who are "pro-life" the issue that is that life begins at conception and so an abortion is literally murder. But many on the "pro-choice" side have accused the "pro-life" crowd of hating women and wanting to enslave them. That's a very blatant straw-man argument from my point of view. And FWIW, I'm probably more "pro-choice" than most.

Fiscal conservatism receives straw-man arguments all the time. Whenever people accuse a fiscal conservative of being "on the side of the wealthy" or "greedy", whenever someone claims that libertarianism is "anarchy for rich people" those are straw-men arguments.

Seattle Rex said it best

[Anonymous Coward]

"Increasingly, Apple is not for doâ(TM)ers. It is not for power users. It is not for creators. It is not for people who think different. It is for posers. It is for hipsters. It is for metrosexuals. It is for wannabes and pretenders."

Re:Apple

[_xeno_]

What, so only APPLE is allowed to run a sweatshop?

No, no, no. Apple doesn't run any sweatshops.

They contract that out. That way, they can be shocked - shocked! - to learn that their third party contractors are running sweatshops and hiring children. Plus they can "drop" the manufacturers who hire children, just to rehire them under a different name when people stop paying attention.

Plus, Apple's contractors have the best suicide-prevention nets in the industry! Who needs "livable working conditions" when you have suicide prevention nets?

Typical

[Anonymous Coward]

Kill hundreds of thousands of virtual people in videogames? No prob! Force them to work in a sweatshop? That makes me a little uncomfortable.

Walled Garden

[stevegee58]

Welcome to the walled garden where everything is beautiful inside and you're protected from the ugly outside world (by the gardener's definition).

Too close to home.

[Culture20]

Seriously, a game called "5 minutes to kill yourself" (and the wedding day edition) is okay, but a game where you run a sweatshop isn't? I'm guessing the top tier goal of the sweatshop game had the workers building iGlasses for an unnamed American corporation.

Confidential guidelines

[tepples]

A leaked version of the App Store Review Guidelines already contains a ban on realistic violence.

But the real problem with the App Store Review Guidelines is that they're confidential, intended only for current developers, not for prospective developers. Say someone has been developing applications for PCs and Android devices as a hobby, and he wants to try developing a few applications for the iPhone or iPad. Before he spends over $1,000 on a Mac, an iPad, and a developer license, how can he be sure that Apple won't reject his applications' concepts?

Streisand Effect

[CanHasDIY]

Never heard of Sweatshop HD before this...

Now I MUST PLAY IT!!!!

Good work, Apple, the dev couldn't pay for this kind of publicity.

Re:Game Dev Story

[pushing-robot]

Dear sir;

In the future, please refrain from comparing 80 hours a week spent hacking out a video game to 80 hours a week spent standing and endlessly performing the same repetitive task in a factory filled with noise, toxic chemicals and dangerous industrial equipment.

Cordially yours,

The Real World