Tabloid outcry over Underworld drug-dealing iPhone game
Controversial MMO causes clichéd knee jerk
The only real mistake here is to assume Underworld (formerly known as Drug Lords) wouldn't cause any kind of public protest. To be honest, we'd worry more if Britain had got to such a state of degeneracy that an obviously controversial game like this wasn't accompanied by a chorus of disapproval.
But we can sit back and relax knowing that Underworld is indeed causing an outcry. The Sun is leading the assault.
The game features a drug dealing scenario that uses the iPhone's GPS capability to actually allow you to play it on a street corner, and includes various, nefarious MMO aspects so iDealers and iJunkies can interact within the same doped-up universe.
Of course, you'd think by now that conscientious objectors would realise that all we're doing here is promoting Underworld. The game is being accused of trivialising drug use and the criminal lifestyle associated with it, which is fair comment, but how many soap operas (which, in this writer's opinion, are a cancerous entertainment epidemic far more guilty of desensitising people to issues of basic morality than a video game or film could ever manage) these days don't do likewise – only to a much wider audience and do it three times a night, five times a week?
Anyone who dislikes games and is looking to be offended, feel free to download and play Underworld – that's if it's made available on the App Store in the first place. That's the other crucial point here: the game isn't even available yet.
But don't let that stop a good story, eh?