U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is calling for Valve to pull the controversial game Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has players acting as a Palestinian resistance fighter, from gaming platform Steam.

The game, created by Brazilian developer Nidal Nijm, has already been removed from Steam in several countries, including the United Kingdom, following a request for removal from the U.K. Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, 404 Media reported. Nijm also said that the game is blocked across the European Union due to EU violations flagged by the French government’s cybercrime unit. In an email from Valve that Nijm showed to Polygon, the violation is of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2021/784, which addresses the “dissemination of terrorist content online.”

I think the funniest thing here is that this game was made by a Brazilian and it went relatively unknown until some skrub said it was anti semetic after Oct 7, despite having been published since 2022.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Ohh no fake anti semetism claims being raised again!

At what point do people take notice lol

[–] [email protected] 82 points 5 days ago (31 children)

The wording of the complaints has me wondering if the game actually does anything "wrong" by the normal standards of video gaming. Like, does it actually glorify violence specifically against Jews? Is there some mission objective to butcher a bunch of civilians? I glance at the Steam page and it looks like the political statement its creator claims it is.

I'm pretty sick of this "anything that isn't hardcore pro-Israel is antisemitic terrorism" horsecrap. Either care about human life or don't, don't BS me and everyone else like the acts and atrocities committed in video games suddenly matter when characters who happen to be (presumed) Jews are involved.

[–] ghurab 51 points 4 days ago (1 children)

People missing the point. Politicians care more about fictional Israeli and jewish lives than real life Muslims and Arabs.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago

I see the matters as connected: I figure people who flip out about "antisemitism" at anything even mildly unfriendly to Israel are serving (deliberately or not) to defend, justify, or even glorify its vile actions. That is, I think it's not "zomg those poor pixel Jews!" but rather "Shhh, don't talk like people are fighting against the IDF for a reason! (Let's just accept that they're all horrible evil sub-humans who must to be exterminated for the good of our wonderful, beloved friends and allies!)"

[–] Maggoty 6 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Making a game about a specific attack that, at best, was purposefully indiscriminate, and at worst, directly targeted civilians is a bit more than the normal fare though. COD probably came closest with their false flag airport mission and that was a fictitious event.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Making a game about a specific attack that, at best, was purposefully indiscriminate,

I mean it also targeted the Israeli military so it definitely belongs in a game where you play as a Palestinian resistance fighter. Also the game was made in 2022 and only has a level about October 7.

[–] Maggoty 9 points 4 days ago

Yeah that's a good point, we play Vietnam games with zero recognition of what probably happened to the villagers. I think it probably comes down to what someone thinks the main purpose of the attack was.

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[–] [email protected] 89 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Oh we getting rid of terrorist games now?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/203290/Americas_Army_Proving_Grounds/

[–] not_that_guy05 20 points 5 days ago

100% agree. Should be ban due to recruiting future terrorist to the US military.

[–] x00z 5 points 4 days ago

We'll be changing Counter Strike to be Counter Terrorists against other Counter Terrorists.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I don't even like this genre of game but I bought it (after downloading the demo to make sure it would run under Proton) because fuck this censorship.

(Edit) Just saw a post on Bsky claiming that "if you shoot soldiers who are surrendering, you lose". Much evil, very terrorism.

[+] Neon -7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It has been removed in the EU on behalf of french anti-terrorist authorities. So this is an actual terrorism-concern and not just censorship.
hey, a fellow linux user. Long-time or recent?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It has been removed in the EU on behalf of french anti-terrorist authorities. So this is an actual terrorism-concern and not just censorship.

Any support for Palestine is being called "terrorist" these days, so I'd rather make the judgment call for myself.

hey, a fellow linux user. Long-time or recent?

Been using Linux for 20 years.

[–] maplebar -1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Any support for Palestine is being called “terrorist” these days, so I’d rather make the judgment call for myself.

So what is your judgment call? Was the October 7th attack terrorism or not?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Do you think Palestine sprung into existence on October 7? Why does every discussion of Israel being genocidal colonizers come down to an incident that happened decades after their oppression of Palestine began?

[–] maplebar 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Do you think Palestine sprung into existence on October 7?

No. I think most people know that Israel and Palestine were both established by the League of Nations back in the 40s post the fall of the Ottoman Empire, after which they proceeded to start fighting each other for fucking decades of pointless holy wars.

I'm not sure how that's relevant to the discussion at hand, however.

Why does every discussion of Israel being genocidal colonizers come down to an incident that happened decades after their oppression of Palestine began?

Uh, are we not currently in a thread specifically talking about an October 7th game or...?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Uh, are we not currently in a thread specifically talking about an October 7th game or…?

From the linked article:

Fursan al-Aqsa was released in 2022

Calling it "an October 7th game" is a neat little piece of propaganda though. Good job falling for it.

(Edit) Yeah, actually after taking a look at your profile, you're not the kind of person I want taking up my mental energy.

[–] maplebar 0 points 2 days ago

Fursan al-Aqsa was released in 2022

You're clearly not very well informed, because the source of the controversy here is an October 7th themed update that came out in late 2023.

Yeah, actually after taking a look at your profile, you’re not the kind of person I want taking up my mental energy.

What kind of person would that be?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

You shouldn't be surprised seeing linux users on lemmy.

[–] x00z 25 points 4 days ago

US rep asking for their shadow state to be respected

kek

[–] Thcdenton 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

New TTT looks lit

[–] maplebar 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

TTT was so fucking great back in the day.

[–] Thcdenton 2 points 3 days ago

The vr pavlov version is so fun

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