Nintendo Okie

I’m not a fan of PETA. I think the organization means well, but goes about things in the completely wrong way. Their latest crusade is against Ubisoft and the depiction of whaling in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. In a statement earlier this week the animal rights organization went after the company about the idea that players would be able to hunt and kill whales during game play.

“Whaling—that is, shooting whales with harpoons and leaving them to struggle for an hour or more before they die or are hacked apart while they are still alive—may seem like something out of the history books, but this bloody industry still goes on today in the face of international condemnation, and it’s disgraceful for any game to glorify it. PETA encourages video game companies to create games that celebrate animals—not games that promote hurting and killing them.”

I, like I’m sure most people on the planet, don’t condone the killing of animals for fun. I love a juicy steak every now and then, and lord knows I’ve eaten more than my fair share of chicken in my life time. Ubisoft also agrees that they’re depiction of whaling, which was a major part of world history, isn’t going to lead to a generation of people bent on the destruction of every whale on the planet. The company released a statement responding to PETA’s complaints that I think sums things up quite nicely.

“History is our playground in Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the Golden Era of Pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don’t condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships, and over-the-legal-limit drunken debauchery.

And even if the game does glorify whaling — as it certainly glorifies the life of a pirate — I don’t think it will lead to a generation of gamers who head to the Caribbean to hunt down humpbacks. Just as I don’t think anyone who played the previous Assassin’s Creed games have found employment as a murderer for hire.”

I don’t know about you, but after five games I haven’t donned a hidden blade on my forearm and gone on a murderous rampage, or even been contracted to kill someone. I’m certainly not going to spend the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars it would require to go whaling for “scientific reasons”, which is the only way that whaling is legal today.

PETA is all about publicity for themselves and would probably go after their own member’s mothers for putting a bow in their dog’s hair. I’m glad to see someone actually calling them on it and not backing down.