Another bad video game

Mohawk Mayhem:  Offensive video game pulledA new game that is available for download on the Internet definitely raised concern across Turtle Island. The game titled Mohawk Mayhem--Indian Invasion When Apaches Attack is on Old West-themed game, where the player is part of a group of cowboys who are being attacked by a group of “Indians because you stole their ancestors’ ‘dust.’” The game was designed by students in a game design course at gsCEPT in Skellefteå, Sweden. The game was developed as part of a school project this past spring over a ten-week period. The game was made availably on the group’s blog (mohawkmayhem.blogspot.com). One post stated “you are proud of a game that makes it fun to kill people? A real people who are still here? Wonder how many Mohawks or Apaches will buy your game? Not this one, that’s for sure.” After The Eastern Door contacted the game developers, developer Peter Bomark said they never intended any harm by the development of their game. The latest post entitled “We’re sorry” on the games blog explains it. “This is a response to a multitude of emails that I have received in the past few days,” Bomark wrote. “The emails are all criticizing the theme and name of a game (Mohawk Mayhem) that we have developed during the spring of 2006. “When choosing the theme and name of our game we never meant any offense to the Mohawks or any other Native American Tribe,” Bomark continued. “Our inspiration was mostly old TV shows and comics, and our intention was not to promote hatred and/or racism. “We apologize to everyone that feels offended by our game or its name,” Bomark continued. “The game was never intended to be published in any form, we made a choice to publish it on this blog, to promote the nebula engine and ourselves. That was a regrettable mistake. Out of respect to the Mohawks and other Native American Tribes, we are removing the downloadable files from this blog.”Comment:  The creators of this game were inspired by "old TV shows and comics." Well, of course they were. Stereotypes inspire prejudice and racism, even if it's unconscious.