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Among the first wave of console games to strike online gold, tactical shoot 'em ups SOCOM and SOCOM II were huge hits on Sony's</a> PlayStation 2 system. The games, developed by Zipper Interactive, cast players in the role of Navy SEALS, battling terrorism at squad level in authentic global settings with realistic weapons and equipment.
For the government of Bangladesh, however, the SOCOM series is a little too realistic. An article posted on News From Bangladesh reveals how the government in Dhaka objected to the impoverished nation's inclusion as a setting for missions in the upcoming SOCOM III. An unnamed spokesman for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs threatened to sue Sony Computer Entertainment America if Bangladesh was not removed from SOCOM III. The official is quoted as saying:
"Sony has no doubt intended to malign Bangladesh. We expect that the company will drop the name of Bangladesh before the launch of the game."
The president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of Bangladesh, Akteruzzaman Manju, further denounced SOCOM III as "tech-terrorism...Sony should seek apology as it will never be able to prove that Bangladesh is, or was, a terrorist country."
In the wake of the dust-up, Sony has caved in to the pressure from Bangladesh. A GameSpot report confirms that all Bangladesh references will be removed from the final version of the game. SOCOM 3, originally scheduled for August release, will apparently be delayed until the Fall in order to make the necessary changes.
Ironically, while SCEA folded like a Wal-Mart tent under modest pressure from a third-world nation, 
the South Asia Terrorism Portal reports that as late as 2003 Bangladesh was a safe haven for Al Qaeda operatives. The SATP also referenced a report in Time Magazine indicating that Islamist extremists in Bangladesh might be attempting to make a radioactive "dirty" bomb. Moreover, a 2004 Time report reads in part:
"Making the violence more toxic is the spread of a brand of intolerant Islamic fundamentalism in a country with a history of religious tolerance..."
Time also reports that Bangladesh has suffered at least 21 major bombings since 1999, claiming 158 lives, and that some in Bangladesh are committed to establishing a Taliban-style government. In fact, the U.S. State Department has issued a safety and security warning that remains current, citing concern over threats to American citizens from "extremists."
The obvious question for SCEA and other game publishers is, where will this all end? What if Morocco and Poland, two other nations depicted in SOCOM 3 decide they don't like being associated with terrorist missions, either? What if the city of New York objected to being the setting for Max Payne because it made the Big Apple look too crime-ridden? Or if Tokyo decided speeding through its streets in Ridge Racer might make people think twice about driving on Japanese highways? Or San Francisco objected to players recreating its famous earthquake in Sim City 4?
SCEA and other publishers need to be sensitive, of course. But in this case, there is certainly enough evidence to make a terrorist setting in Bangladesh plausible. Game companies need to make a stand, support the research and creative vision of their developers, and not cave in to ridiculous bouts of political correctness. Think about it. If the entire nation of Bangladesh boycotted the PlayStation 2, would that have a noticeable impact on Sony's bottom line?
April 26 2005, 04:33:41 UTC 7 years ago
It's nothing but jawboning; they have no grounds to sue
I'm not even a lawyer and I know how ridiculous this claim is. It's just jawboning by some big mouthed bureaucrat who thinks he can scare a multi-billion dollar corporation with talk-talk, thinking it's some starving, uneducated, impoverished peon in his own country.
Unless "Sony Computer Entertainment America" operates in Bangladesh, they can't sue them because the courts in Bangladesh can't get jurisdiction over them. If they make some bogus claim they can, go into court there, and say they get a default judgment, if they attempt to enforce it in the U.S. the courts here will tell them to get lost as they did not have jurisdiction over the defendant.
If the government of Bangladesh chooses to sue SCEA in the U.S., there is no grounds for suit because a foreign government cannot be libeled; it is not a 'person' as it is neither a natural person nor a corporation and thus has no standing to sue for libel. Otherwise the Republic of South Africa could have sued the producers of "Lethal Weapon III" for the story elements that its consular officials were running a drug smuggling operation and conspiring to murder police officers and others.
It has been a standard of entertainment to claim things happen in various actual countries and most simply ignore it. You have to be a really stupid official to try because noticing it or trying to stop it only makes the item you object to more popular. One example being the piece of crud, unreadable book "The Satanic Verses" would have been a nothing, forgotten bit of doggerel, except it became a massive best seller once Iran decided to declare the book heresy and publicly post a death sentence against Salman Rushdie.
About all Bangladesh can do - if anything - is ban the game from sale in that country. As Bangladesh is an extremely poor country the chances are most copies that would be there would be pirated anyway, so it's no loss.
Paul Robinson <paul@paul-robinson.us>
"The lessons of history teach us - if they teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us."
Anonymous
April 29 2005, 01:40:35 UTC 7 years ago
miscontruing facts
" But in this case, there is certainly enough evidence to make a terrorist setting in Bangladesh plausible" - No there isn't. Sony got their research wrong, so they felt obliged to pull out. If you do your research, you will see the killings/bombings are political, not Al-Qaeda related, and all the speculation on terrorist camps is baloney.April 29 2005, 01:56:52 UTC 7 years ago
Re: miscontruing facts
Well, if you Google "Al Qaeda" and "Bangladesh" you will get quite a few hits, including Time Asia. Here's another one:"Bangladesh is conscious of the fact that its territory is being used by Pakistan’s ISI, Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups for anti-India activities."
source: http://www.saag.org/papers6/paper582.ht
Anonymous
April 29 2005, 04:29:16 UTC 7 years ago
A perspective.
The issue is much more than just “political correctness” and commercial interests.I am not a lawyer either, but there is the International Court and the United Nations where something like this can be brought to the attention of the international community, at the very least.
I think it was very honorable and courageous for a company like Sony to be sensitive towards the sentiment being felt here. Sony did not “cave in”. They behaved as a true friend would have. Kudos to Sony, may their quality products continue to thrive and prosper in our “impoverished” little country.
Perhaps countries like Morocco, Poland, U.S., and South Africa have not reacted that strongly to similar situations because everyone “knows” that the game portrayals are simply not true. The media images those countries enjoy internationally are too positive and well known for people in general to think that the game portrayals are anywhere close to the truth.
In the case of Bangladesh, we have to deal with probably one of the worst images in the world as a nation.
Obviously, things are bad here, no doubt. Our people are many, largely poor and uneducated. There are natural disasters that occur.
Unfortunately, in most cases, these facts and events are propagated, amplified and popularized by many vested interests so that aid pipe lines continue to channel much appreciated and much needed financial and other assistance from donor countries and the world in general.
It is true that we need help, and gratefully accept it, most of the time. We are lucky to have Governments which allow development and aid organizations to bring in this kind of assistance. There are many poor countries all over the world that do not allow this, even though they may have similar natural disasters and relatively poor economies.
There has been some doubtful reporting in some international media of the “presence” of Al-Qaeda, etc. and so on. Maybe we do have Al-Qaeda and other terrorist elements “lurking” amongst us, who knows? Which country doesn't? But, are they really that many to be labeled as a terrorist nation? Surely our security conscious friends can take care of them in “their own ways”? These days, it seems like every country has them, except maybe for Afghanistan which we all know was completely sanitized, well, except maybe for their head hombre, but that is another story.
As a nation, don't we have enough bad rap about us already? We already get enough sympathy and looks of disdain by the international aid community to make our stomachs turn. We are treated differently and our passports are readily looked at with disgust by many illustrious immigration authorities all over the world when we travel (which we need to do sometimes, by the way).
By putting us in a popular “realistic” game, that will most likely be used by young and impressionable minds, will only reinforce and further accentuate an already bad image among yet another section of the world society. It will be believable, because we are, it seems, already the “drudge” of mankind and living in a disaster zone. Do our children really need to face this from their peers, wherever they meet them?
The question is, do we really need this additional label of being a terrorist state now, among the world community?
April 29 2005, 09:44:28 UTC 7 years ago
Re: A perspective.
That was obviously a sincere and well-reasoned perspective. I appreciate that you have taken the time to express it here.However, I think there is another misconception floating about. Did the game SOCOM 3 label Bangladesh as a "terrorist state," or was it simply a location where some terrorists were lurking and had to be dealt with?
Are Morocco and Poland terrorist states simply because they may unknowingly harbor some terrorists? By that definition, perhaps the U.S. is too, since we know that the 9/11 attackers lived among us. No doubt there are other Al Qaeda operatives secretly in the U.S. But we're not a terrorist state, and woudn't be concerned if there was a game with the objective of eliminating a terror cell hiding in the U.S. In fact, I'm sure there have been games like this. However, it is not quite 6:00 A.M. here and my coffee hasn't kicked in, so I can't think of any just now... :-) ...oops, just thought of Vivendi's SWAT 3, which had some anti-terror mission in Los Angeles.
My concern regarding some of the comments coming from Bangladesh is that they reflect a degree of paranoia regarding SCEA's intentions - things like "Sony has no doubt intended to malign Bangladesh." Why would Sony choose to malign Bangladesh? What's more, developer Zipper Interactive designed the game, not Sony.
And whether it was Al Qaeda or not behind the 21 major bombings in Bangladesh since 1999 is of little import. There are terrorists other than Al Qaeda. Bombing is a terrorist act by its nature.