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Little Big Planet Delay-From a Muslim Perspective
Devout Muslim
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Peace be upon all of you.
Ok first off I would like to start off with that I am a huge penny arcade fan and a huge gamer. I have read Penny Arcade for years and I am personally confused about the nature of the delay for Little Big Planet, and somewhat appalled. The two verses in question are:
"Every soul shall have the taste of death" 29:57
This verse is in reference to everyone will die.
"All that is on earth will perish" 55:26
One day everything will be gone.
Now how is that offensive? As an American born and raised and a Muslim I am in no way offended by this. In fact it could be a good thing. Maybe someone might hear the song, get curious and look up information about Islam. Maybe it might lead them to even learn, and clear up misconceptions about Islam. Who knows? I am sure the majority of people would hear it and not think twice about it. We are all more concerned about the game itself. I think if anything this song containing such verses would be a good thing for Islam. I wish people would stop being so ignorant and quick to protest anything different, without fully exploring and understanding all the aspects. Which is something the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him taught and encouraged.
Ok first off I would like to start off with that I am a huge penny arcade fan and a huge gamer. I have read Penny Arcade for years and I am personally confused about the nature of the delay for Little Big Planet, and somewhat appalled. The two verses in question are:
"Every soul shall have the taste of death" 29:57
This verse is in reference to everyone will die.
"All that is on earth will perish" 55:26
One day everything will be gone.
Now how is that offensive? As an American born and raised and a Muslim I am in no way offended by this. In fact it could be a good thing. Maybe someone might hear the song, get curious and look up information about Islam. Maybe it might lead them to even learn, and clear up misconceptions about Islam. Who knows? I am sure the majority of people would hear it and not think twice about it. We are all more concerned about the game itself. I think if anything this song containing such verses would be a good thing for Islam. I wish people would stop being so ignorant and quick to protest anything different, without fully exploring and understanding all the aspects. Which is something the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him taught and encouraged.
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People are crazy, and no one wants to offend crazy people.
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
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Capt Howdy: Oh come on now! Only one guy complained, and he asked for a patch, not a recall. This has nothing to do with terrorism, it's just business practices.
Reminds me of the Ocarina of Time ordeal.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
At its core it must be, but there are various levels of muslims just like there are abortion-clinic-bombing christians and liberal pro-choice christians. Not everyone will find it sacrilegious or even offensive.
It was about smooth media coverage of a high profile game. The fact that Sony recalled it has much less to do with their policy towards Islam, but more to do with the importance of LBP from a financial standpoint for them this holiday season. They need the launch to be smooth as fuck. Nothing but high praise for a genuinely incredible experience.
Recalling the game deals with this issue now, quickly and quietly. Post launch annoyance and continued talk of a replacement deal prolongs an issue they will happily pay a lot of money to get rid of now, rather than later.
Good to see people getting in on the discussion though op, but there is an LBP thread and I think this discussion is done and dusted.
Can't we just all enjoy the game and get on with it? It's already out in many places, is coming out in a few days everywhere else. It's just a video game.
Only one guy complained; before the game came out. I remember all the hub bub over Allah being drawn in a comic strip; one would have that someone wiped their ass with his face - his real face.
Personally, I don't care. And I really hate seeing businesses act like they care about someone's feelings. If it's money, just admitt it. If you're afraid of a radical nut (Muslim or Christian) blowing you up, just admit it.
Or better yet, just release it, and see where the chips fall. (Which would probably be in a large sum of money)
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
All sides in this 'issue' have been nothing but quick and resolute to deal with it.
The media wants this to become a big issue. I know, I work in the media. my paper tried to run a story on page 5 about it, but there was no material. Radio 1 had a bunch of reports on it and had no substance. no quotes, nothing.
It's a non issue. We want it to be a big issue for whatever reason, but it isn't.
Let's just enjoy the game here?
Agreed.
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
I think Sony should be more worried about offending Ninjas, the whole ninja zone could be seen as offensive to them and they are much more dangerous.
I never asked for this!
and it only gets worse as time goes on.
Gone are the days when Walter Cronkite sat in front of the TV and gave you the news, as it was, without personal opinions, rhetoric or hyperbole
Today, its about hype and ratings, which is why I don't even watch the national or local new shows anymore. They take something completely inane or innocent, Like the Nintendo DS's ability to pictochat, and turn it into Pedophiles in your kids bed at night directing them to kill their parents so they can go live in the land of candy and molestation.
Another more recent example is that missing Florida kid , Which has received almost 24 hour coverage since it first hit the news, and they don't even have anything to report, They just keep regurgitating the same information 250 times a day.
</rant>
Short version; There's a song in LittleBigPlanet. It contains quotes from the Muslim holy book.
A, these quotes are about how everything dies.
B, it's evilbadwrong to put quotes from said book to music according to the religion, since music could pull your attention away from the actual quotes.
C, Sony's pulling out and getting the song the fuck off the game before sending it out, meaning a delay of a few days.
But.. Why is there a song like that to begin with?
I never asked for this!
A: It sounds great
B: Isn't in Arabic
C: Noone at Media Molecule, a company with like two dozen employees total, spotted it.
Because a songwriter who happened to be Muslim used the quotes in one of his songs.
Sony didn't pull the song because of those specific phrases. They pulled the song because they received a single complaint that stated it's a violation of Islamic beliefs to put the words of their scripture to music.
But the thing is, I have yet to find independent confirmation of the validity of this complaint. I've asked two practicing Muslims who I work with, and neither of them has heard of such a thing. The creator of the song, who is himself a Muslim, has never heard of such a thing.
Have you yourself heard of such a thing?
I'm starting to suspect that Sony got trolled, and they reacted without so much as even attempting to validate whether or not the basis of the complaint they received was factual.
I mean right on the face of it there is doubt cast on the veracity of that complaint - the Islamic tradition that during prayer men stand atop minarets and sing verses from the Koran. That alone makes me wonder if the complaint was simply a prank gone too far.
No when they make the call for prayer and stand on top of the minaret they are not singing verses from the Quran.
When it come to using Quran in music, it is a question of how it is used, and the intentions. In this case, in this song, I personally believe that it is acceptable. I do not think it is in anyway inappropriate in fact I enjoyed listening to the song.
I think Sony fell prey to the Jack Thompson of the Muslim faith.
Even if it was a prank gone too far, which I doubt a lot, Sony still would have pulled it. I'm sure they didn't pull it at all because it was against muslim beliefs to put music to the Quran. They pulled it because if Fox news picks up on the fact that Sony's big family game has a bunch of quotes from the Quran (face it, we in the west have a prejudice against that religion right now) in it, and that they, specifically, talk about death (a very un"family" subject for this type of game), their image and marketing is screwed. They want this to be big with everyone. It won't be if this leaked out to a major news source.
Honestly I wonder what was in that complaint that scared them so much. That must have been one articulate writer or very convincingly threatening.
Really I think they were just worried it would become a huge ordeal, as tends to happen with religious (any religion) controversy and video game controversy. Combine the two and oh man do you have quite a few people angry at you.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
They are not in reference to the game at all. The song sounds very happy and upbeat, its just in a foreign language and no one picked up on it until it was too late. Listen to the song on youtube its called Tapha Niang. You would never suspect. I speak Arabic and if i didn't know what the song was referring to I would have never known or understood it myself.
Sony should replace all sack like things in the game with a replacement.
Spaghetti and meatball people, be touched by their noodley apendages
I'm just saying.
That's what I'm asking. If you were told to write some music for a game, and they told you, "Hey, this is a happy game about little sack people hopping and bopping around. Make some happy music filled to the brim with sunshine and flowers!"
If that were the case, why would you be all... "Ok, the music is done. But you know what would really be icing on the cake? If I put in some lyrics in another language about death and earth perishing."
It just seems like such a weird thing. If you were going to put in lyrics even in another language, why choose something that not only has nothing to do with the game at all, but something thematically the exact opposite of the game?
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
http://www.audioentropy.com/
He didn't write the music for the game, it was licensed for the game.
EDIT:*mouth out of sync* Curse you and your Mach 5, Speed Racer! Haha!
That's it, but the problem was that one Muslim insinuated that it was a core Muslim belief that this was offensive and acted as if his personal culture was shared by all Muslims. That's like saying that all Christians are against rock music, alcohol, or long hair just because some are customarily offended (some churches add it to their denominational doctrine).
I always knew to take off my ball cap in church or during the national anthem/pledge of allegiance, but I never knew that some Americans consider it offensive to wear a hat indoors/in homes until I was 17 and got chewed out by my sister-in-law just a few states away. Who knew? Their schools left it up to the individual teachers and about half did not allow it in their classes (all allowed it in my state). I remember from movies that cowboys always take their hats off when entering but that is because it is utilitarian, bulky, an impediment when not used to actively block sunlight, and certainly not a fashion statement (though romanticism has changed that). I, like nearly anyone else with a baseball cap when not playing ball, wore my cap out of laziness and fashion; I'd rather not get a fashionable haircut or even bother with my hair sometimes. THAT'S why I wore it. It's the same reason many Brits wear hoodies and emo's wear beanies when they can't upkeep an emo hair-style on a given day. Some people misinterpreted the reasoning for removing it indoors long ago, it became "customary," and then it became offensive to not recognize regional customs.
Ooooooh. Ok. That's what I needed to know, that's the piece of the puzzle that I was missing. You see, I didn't realize the song was licensed.
That makes much more sense now.
I just wanted some clarification as to how/why these particular lines ended up in the game. And it's because the licensed song, musically, fits the game/level, and it's just that people didn't realize what the other-language words meant or whatever.
Gotcha. Thanks for the info.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
There is a word for such a thing in arabic, when something that is non-obligatory or customary becomes assimilated and made into a rule. It is "Bida'a". This is warned against and is forbidden.
I am impressed by how many understanding people there are on this forum.