| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Microsoft launches probe as Turkey mulls Minecraft ban |
| 2015-03-12 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] Minecraft owner Microsoft is investigating the reports suggesting that the Turkish government is preparing to ban the game, the BBC reported March 11. Turkish media had earlier reported that the Family and Social Policies Ministry recently took the first step to initiate the legal process to ban Minecraft in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on the grounds that it encourages children to resort to violence. According to Fatih Öke, a front man for the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC, a ban was "out of the question." Speaking to Christian Science Monitor, Öke stressed that only a court can block the game and "the function of this ministry is to raise awareness." The BBC also reported that a front man for Mojang, which makes Minecraft under the Microsoft umbrella after the latter bought the game for $2.5bn in September 2014, would not comment directly on the reports. Minecraft is a videogame that allows the player to make designs with cubes in 2D or 3D. The game has several modes and in some of the modes, the player needs to survive in order to proceed. "Although the game can be seen as encouraging creativity in children by letting them build houses, farmlands and bridges, mobs [hostile creatures] must be killed in order to protect these structures. In short, the game is based on violence," Turkish daily Haberturk quoted the ministry's report as saying on March 10. On Turkish social media, the report triggered an outcry, as well as conspiracy theories. Noting that the ministry had originally launched the probe for violence targeting women in the game last month, but ended up with focusing on children instead, a number of tweeps claimed that Turkey's conservative government has an ulterior motive of banning Minecraft for prominently displaying pigs and pork, which is banned in Islamic food consumption. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 If it's fun to play the game you know they're gonna ban it because fun is unIslamic. Heck, they might get so involved in it that they forget to bang their heads on the floor five times a day. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2015-03-12 12:11 |
| #6 Gee Turkey, imagine spending all that time to make a beautiful cathedral only to have to defend it from roaming hoards. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2015-03-12 12:05 |
| #5 Oh -- the real reason Islamists hate Minecraft? It encourages you to build and grow things rather than just live off jizya. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2015-03-12 08:49 |
| #4 I love how the original excuse was violence against women -- you have to mod the game for anyone or thing to be recognizably female. Even the animals are androgynous -- most reproduce with any two of the animals involved, and the "chickens" don't even need that, if you don't mind collecting and smashing lots of eggs. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2015-03-12 08:33 |
| #3 Grom junior been enthusing about Minecraft for couple of months. I hate it! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-03-12 04:05 |
| #2 Bull it is being banned because it encourages people to defend themselves from zombies and other monsters. Including the creeper who is silent as it creeps up on you and explodes itself ( sound familuar?) in order to kill you. Plus one of the primary food source is the pig - which can also be ridden. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2015-03-12 02:00 |
| #1 Who will be the first to dare crank out a plastic Mo from their maker-bot? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-03-12 00:32 |