Christians decry fake Dante protest

[wraggster]

EA is being attacked by Christian bloggers for staging a fake religious protest against Dante's Inferno during E3 week.

A viral marketing agency hired 20 people to picket the game outside the Los Angeles Convention Center, bearing signs reading "Hell is not a game" and "Trade in your PlayStation for a PrayStation". They even blamed a rare day of rain in LA on the godlessness of EA's game, based on Dante Aligheri's Divine Comedy.

Although the LA Times fell for it, Associated Press later exposed the stunt.

Now Christian, specifically Catholic, bloggers are taking exception to EA's marketing tactics, reports GamePolitics.

"It's been clear for a while now that the entertainment industry views Christians on the whole as priggish, thin-skinned fun-killers," said Maragret Cabaniss of InsideCatholic. "Has anybody at EA actually read the Inferno?"

Catholic Video Gamers was more direct: "Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if it's, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?"

Touché. Dante's Inferno is out next year for PC, 360, PS3 and PSP.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ch...-dante-protest

[fpcreator2000]

Catholic Video Gamers was more direct: "Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if it's, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?"

Ouch! Would not want to be wearing EA's shoes right now. I was both a Roman Catholic (I no longer am), and I've read the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. I though the fake protesters were funny, but I could probably be considered a religious heretic for that.

This game takes the first book of the story called Inferno (Hell in Italian for those who don't know), uses that as base (that and God of War), and add a creates a narrative loosely based on the first book Inferno (and I mean loosely. In the book Dante is a weakling guided by the much stronger Virgil. Dante is also not searching for his wife, but is on a journey through the three realms of the afterlife according to Catholic dogma, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven (Italian: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso).

Search Divine Comedy in Wikipedia for more information.
For those who wish to read this book, be forewarned, this book is not a light read, but it is a good read none of the less.
If you buy the book, purchase it with illustrations by Gustave Dore as his pictures add a lot to the story.

[rageteam1000]

okay let the flames come (or not) but these religous groups ar getting a little out of hand. Opinion or not, I think they should go back to reading their bibles some more.

Disclaimer: this message is not out to offend anyone.:thumbup:

[osgeld]

"It's been clear for a while now that the entertainment industry views Christians on the whole as priggish, thin-skinned fun-killers,"

And thank you madam for continuing the fine tradition

[armyStrong]

This was tasteless and ignorant...but harmless.

It's not like the Inferno itself is dogmatic...it's a part of an epic poem based loosely on Catholic teachings during the Middle Ages. So what exactly would the protesters have had to be angry about anyway? It's not like they're making a God of War clone based on the New Testament...

I think these bloggers have every right to be offended. The protest was completely mean-spirited. I don't believe I will be buying the game...not because I'm offended though; if they had done a shred of research while designing the damn thing, they would have understood the Divine Comedy's true place in Christian literature.

[Eviltaco64]

It looks like EA tried to boost the popularity of their upcoming title by making it seem like the lot of Christians are offended by it.

I agree with Catholic Video Gamers. Maybe EA could get the same amount of attention (or more) by making a game with excellent reviews rather than staging some publicity stunt.

[PoorKingz]

What!? EA is making it seem like Christians protest everything! Let's protest this!

[sorceror]

It looks like EA tried to boost the popularity of their upcoming title by making it seem like the lot of Christians are offended by it.

Either that or they are being diabolically (sorry) clever! They stage the fake protest... and now nobody can stage a real protest on religious grounds, or they'll look foolish!

In the end, tough, I have to dock EA points. It was morally wrong to stage a deceptive protest, and counterproductive. In other words: "Funny, but wrong."

Can't say as I have any interest in the game, either.

[Darksaviour69]

I think its a morally wrong marketing stunt. Christian bashing is fashionable right now (ok some Christians bring it on themselves) but I doubt they would have done it if it was any other religion. But I wonder how much EA knew about the stunt as it was a viral marketing agency that came up with the idea.