Even though the game has yet to be released, the efforts to protest Rockstar's upcoming school themed action game Bully continued today with this press release from Jayne Hitchcock, the president of a watchdog group called Halt Online Abuse. Here is a snip:

“It’s one thing to make a video game that is a ‘fantasy’ or unrealistic situation with adults as the main characters,” Hitchcock states, “but it’s another to glorify a daily, real-life situation like bullying and making the main characters teens. This targets the video game to kids and teens, who are impressionable and might come to believe they could be just like Jimmy Hopkins and beat the daylights out of their real-life bullies. That is not the message that should be sent out.”

FiringSquad decided to contact Ms Hitchcock to get more info about her stance, especially since new info about Bully was revealed in this month's Game Informer magazine that portrays the game as not as sinister as some of its critics claim. Our inital offer of a brief phone interview was rejected by Ms Hitchcock, claiming her lawyers advised against it due to the fear of being "ambushed" by the interviewer. A brief email interview was granted, however:

FiringSquad: First, have you played Bully at all? If not why be critical of the game before you have played it, much like it would not be fair to be critical of a movie or TV show that you have not seen or a book you have not read?

Jayne Hitchcock: No one has played it, so that's a silly question to ask. But I have viewed all the trailers, gone through the web site thoroughly and stand by my quotes in the release you read.

FiringSquad: In this month's Game Informer magazine they have an extensive preview of Bully where they describe it as not nearly as violent as some have made it out to be, with no guns, knives or blood or even bad language. Malicious behevior in the game is punshished with the character going to the principal and having items taken away or even being told to mow the law or similar actions. Indeed the article said the main character actually leads a fight against the bullies in the school..Based on that information why have you decided to be so critical of the game's contents?

Jayne Hitchcock: Because bullying is so prevalent today and is a real life problem that many kids and teens face. Some victims of bullies have committed suicide and I would hate to see that increase or the victims retaliate against their bullies because of this game. But since the game is coming out, I stated quite clearly in the release that I hope it gets the M rating, which would definitely help.

FiringSquad: The same article quoted a Rockstar exec as saying that the school setting has been used in many movies, TV shows and books that have more mature and adult themes. Again, why would a video game that has the same themes as other art forms be worse?

Jayne Hitchcock: The Rockstar exec is grasping at straws.Rockstar likes to pick controversial subjects for their games and they are getting a lot of publicity for this one as well. I really thought long and hard about sending out a release because I had a feeling it would increase publicity for their game. But we work with kids and teens every day who are bullied online and offline and I couldn't let this go.

It's too bad they don't look at the real world and see how this game could impact impressionable young adults who are really being bullied every day. Again, I stated the facts about bullying, that this game glorifies it and that I am not happy with it, but hope it gets the M rating.

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