Valve Refunds Bioshocked Christian
BioShock: Infinite causes concern to Christian - warning contains a weak-assed spoiler
Apparently you can get your money back if a video game offends one of your particular mystical beliefs, at least Valve has refunded on Christian gent following his astonishment at a scene of outright baptism in BioShock Infinite.
An early line in the game is spoken by a religious fellow to our protagonist, "Brother, the only way to Columbia is through rebirth in the sweet waters of baptism. Will you be cleansed, brother?" Asks the priest. And that's enough to have a gamer called Breen Malmberg to want his cash back from Steam.
Kotaku reports Malmberg stating, "As baptism of the Holy spirit is at the centre of Christianity - of which I am a devout believer - I am basically being forced to make a choice between committing extreme blasphemy by my actions in choosing to accept this 'choice' or forced to quit playing the game before it even really starts.
"Of course I cannot hold true to my beliefs and also commit this act, so I am therefor[e] forced to not play the game."
Yes, apparently the mere depiction of a baptism is blasphemous now. So, Malmberg wrote to Valve and, among other things, stated: "The player is forced to make a choice which amounts to extreme blasphemy in my religion (Christianity) in order to proceed any further - and am therefor forced (in good conscience) to quit playing and not able to experience approx. 99% of the content in the game.
"There is no option to turn this particular content off or to bypass or skip it in any way. In Modern Warfare 2, they at least allowed you to skip a particularly offensive leve... This is the same sort of thing for me, but there is no way to skip it in this case."
He demands, "a full refund or store credit in the amount of the price of the game (Bioshock Infinite) as I had no idea that I would not be able to play this game before I bought it."
Before he reinforces a point, "If you need further convincing, I will use the analogy that if you were a muslem, it would be like forcing the player into an in-game action of "press x to spit on the face of allah" in order to proceed any further with the game and with no choice or way around doing so."
We're leaving Malmberg to his "muslems" and "allahs" and strange beliefs... but we are warning everybody involved in the games you can see here.
An early line in the game is spoken by a religious fellow to our protagonist, "Brother, the only way to Columbia is through rebirth in the sweet waters of baptism. Will you be cleansed, brother?" Asks the priest. And that's enough to have a gamer called Breen Malmberg to want his cash back from Steam.
Kotaku reports Malmberg stating, "As baptism of the Holy spirit is at the centre of Christianity - of which I am a devout believer - I am basically being forced to make a choice between committing extreme blasphemy by my actions in choosing to accept this 'choice' or forced to quit playing the game before it even really starts.
"Of course I cannot hold true to my beliefs and also commit this act, so I am therefor[e] forced to not play the game."
Yes, apparently the mere depiction of a baptism is blasphemous now. So, Malmberg wrote to Valve and, among other things, stated: "The player is forced to make a choice which amounts to extreme blasphemy in my religion (Christianity) in order to proceed any further - and am therefor forced (in good conscience) to quit playing and not able to experience approx. 99% of the content in the game.
"There is no option to turn this particular content off or to bypass or skip it in any way. In Modern Warfare 2, they at least allowed you to skip a particularly offensive leve... This is the same sort of thing for me, but there is no way to skip it in this case."
He demands, "a full refund or store credit in the amount of the price of the game (Bioshock Infinite) as I had no idea that I would not be able to play this game before I bought it."
Before he reinforces a point, "If you need further convincing, I will use the analogy that if you were a muslem, it would be like forcing the player into an in-game action of "press x to spit on the face of allah" in order to proceed any further with the game and with no choice or way around doing so."
We're leaving Malmberg to his "muslems" and "allahs" and strange beliefs... but we are warning everybody involved in the games you can see here.
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Comments
ergo 17 Apr 2013 22:45
1/1
Why do I think Spong would have a slightly less...condescending take should this episode involve, I dunno, some part of the socialist holy trinity?
Like, I dunno, you want an abortion but are, gasp!, prevented from obtaining one!
(Don't worry, tho: the game biz is so hopelessly lost in a haze of leftover 60s bong smoke and self-righteousness you'll never have to contemplate such utter horror in electronic form.)
Like, I dunno, you want an abortion but are, gasp!, prevented from obtaining one!
(Don't worry, tho: the game biz is so hopelessly lost in a haze of leftover 60s bong smoke and self-righteousness you'll never have to contemplate such utter horror in electronic form.)