Existing as proof positive that time is not such a great healer when dealing with certain events, a pair of online videogames spawned from the attacks against New York on September 11, 2001, are presently causing somewhat of a ruckus.
Two videogames based on the 9/11 attacks in New York are drawing intense criticism. Credit: Vegas-Dreaming.com.
Although the two games in question (New York Defender and New York Defender II – where the doomed World Trade Centre towers represent the "II") are already some five years old, their continued presence and availability is leaving a nasty taste in the mouths of those unfortunate enough to stumble upon them.
In the more recent New York Defender II, players are tasked with identifying and shooting down hijacked jetliners piloted by terrorists before they are able to plummet down into some of the city’s beloved landmark locations.
Failing to blow the correct terrorist planes out of the sky (killing said suicidal pilots and all on board), while leaving non-terrorist planes free to land at local airports, results in the likes of the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and the United Nations all being wiped from existence.
Lee Ielpi, who lost his son at ground zero during the actual attack on the World Trade Centre, said in a WKYC report that the New York Defender games were "very disturbing." He also commented that their content is "just tasteless" insofar as it uses 9/11 as a gimmick to make money.
While many visitors to the site hosting the videogames (we will not provide a link) may fall foul of the blatant lure of exercising some form of angry patriotism, the sad fact remains that the games are preying on the memories of those lost in order to pull traffic. Indeed, the tagline on the original New York Defender is: "Use your mouse to fight the feeling of impotence."
Whether the games remain available online is yet to be seen, but public pressure could see them hauled off the Net should enough people demand they're removed. For example, a similarly chided videogame built around the assassination of John. F. Kennedy has already been removed from an online host due to the weight of public outcry that formed against it.
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