Paolo is a hypocrite. He seems to be wearing modern, manufactured clothing in that photo and I'm sure it is nearly impossible to develop a game without using any kind of "blood technology".

If this guy really feels so bad about exploiting the rotten side of human nature he should be living in the woods off the grid eating slugs and sticks, not making ironic "video games".

Paolo I hope you get mauled by a bear.

And look at all the technophiles throw a tantrum when their little toys are threatened! Desperation is a lot closer than we think. This dude knows how to push all the right buttons.
 
Awesome to see somebody with some serious cojones. 

@Napalm:

Sorry that I divulge pertinent information.

@Demoskinos: My mistake, you initially said "I feel bad" and now you are saying that you "refuse to feel bad". Sorry for thinking you are empathetic!

It's the fact he didn't follow rule of 21.1 that makes me think he is a douche. I have to pay him first for the "game" that will talk down to me for buying the app and using the device I use, in order to donate to a charity through it.

@Sander: So what are you, a self-hating technophile?

@Napalm said:

@Discoman said:

None of this comes as a surprise. All Apple ever had was a good ad campaign. I remember people soiling themselves back in 2006, waiting for Apple to talk about a video IPod. If they looked on the market they'd see that it's been done, but no that doesn't matter because APPLE hasn't graced us with it yet. Horse shit. People are such drones when it comes to apple products. Frankly, I've never seen such a product go through so many iterations in such a short amount of time, each with such minuscule differences.

As for all this people exploitation: welcome to capitalism; it is about the quick and easy buck. You don't like it? Tough, cause there's no way around it. Why is the US of A involved in the Mideast to everyone's disdain? Oil, it makes the world go round. This is no different.

This isn't a place for your soapbox.

There's nothing wrong with making a well put together statement about the news article.

@Sander: You want to have a Matrix quote battle about this?

"I know Kung-Fu."

"Whoa"

Great job, Patrick. Very interesting read.

Whoever approved an app with factory workers jumping to their death should probably be fired anyway, regardless of whatever else that app happened to contain.

@AngryRedPlumber: No, I have plenty of empathy for the people in the situations they are in but I also refuse to feel bad when someone makes an "ironic" game like this trying to push how horrible all these situations are all while using this so called "Blood" technology to make it. Thats called being a hypocrite.

@Sander: The only "button" he is pushing is the Hypocrite button. I'm going to teach people about how evil all of this blood technology is by making a game with the said technology! Please. This guy couldn't be more of a hypocrite if he tried.

Great article, Patrick. I would like to buy this game but I only have a dumb phone.

@Demoskinos said:

@Sander: The only "button" he is pushing is the Hypocrite button. I'm going to teach people about how evil all of this blood technology is by making a game with the said technology! Please. This guy couldn't be more of a hypocrite if he tried.

That doesn't make him a hypocrite in any way. The point is of the game not to criticise consumers but to make them aware and put pressure on the manufacturers.

@InternetDetective said:

Paolo is a hypocrite. He seems to be wearing modern, manufactured clothing in that photo and I'm sure it is nearly impossible to develop a game without using any kind of "blood technology".

If this guy really feels so bad about exploiting the rotten side of human nature he should be living in the woods off the grid eating slugs and sticks, not making ironic "video games".

Paolo I hope you get mauled by a bear.

Yeah! He deserves to die a painful death for making a statement with a videogame!

@Demoskinos: I can understand how one might feel this way. However, I would assume that the developer of this App likes technology such as iPhones, but merely wants to expose the fact they there are inhumane business practices behind the devices' creation. So, creating a smartphone App is a perfect way to target the very consumers who indirectly support those practices. Also, if you check out the Phone Story website, you can see the developer's plans to redistribute his income from the game to organizations that try to correct such bad business practices. It also looks like they are going to be rather transparant about showing where those funds go. But, I guess if you feel differently, we simply disagree. I appreciate that this discourse has been civil.

@Sander: The only "button" he is pushing is the Hypocrite button. I'm going to teach people about how evil all of this blood technology is by making a game with the said technology! Please. This guy couldn't be more of a hypocrite if he tried.

The very best part about this, is that this app was intended to make a statement, get people thinking about the true cost of our consumer driven economy. It being banned has given it far more press exposure than it being for sale on the App Store ever did.

But what can we do differently? If we just stopped buying electronics, these same people working for pennies a day would probably starve. Apple could respond to this in a better way. Use some of those billions to improve the conditions and provide education...it would be a PR and marketing gold mine, and they could build an ad campaign about something positive, instead of simply slandering Microsoft for laughs. Why not try Thinking Different, Apple?

mmmmm

@InternetDetective said:

Paolo is a hypocrite. He seems to be wearing modern, manufactured clothing in that photo and I'm sure it is nearly impossible to develop a game without using any kind of "blood technology".

If this guy really feels so bad about exploiting the rotten side of human nature he should be living in the woods off the grid eating slugs and sticks, not making ironic "video games".

Paolo I hope you get mauled by a bear.

By that logic nobody should ever write anything critical of anyone because everyone in a developed country is a hypocrite. That's some pretty aggressively fucked up logic.

I downloaded Phone Story on the Android marketplace because of this article. Happy to donate $1, but the experience itself left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess there is a fine line between thoughtful and off putting when it comes to "message" games, and this certainly fell into the latter.

The idea is great but execution falls flat, I felt like an angry forum post from Yahoo News was being dictated at me by a know-it-all. And when you fail a minigame for not knowing what they want you to do, you are scolded for "pretending you're not complicit." It lasts about 5 minutes too. Of course this should be on the App Store, I'm wary of censorship in any form, but it's just not a groundbreaking or interesting enough title to warrant any kind of controversy.

The problem I have with a statement made through the medium of an iPhone app is that the people who can really make a difference won't play it, probably wont hear about it, and even if they did, they wont care. The factories like foxconn are driven by numbers, they don't give a shit about some little minigame collection. Besides, cheap labour is pretty much what keeps large parts of the developing worlds employed.

Meeh.. I'm not jonesing for this game anyway..

@SSully said:

DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM!

But in all seriousness it makes sense why this was taken down. It doesnt matter how stylized the graphics are, it depicts people killing themselves, illegal child labor and the most obvious thing it does is openly insult the company who owns the device he is trying to put the game on.

With all that said do I support apples decision? No, I am all for open systems, but if I ran apples app store I personally wouldn't let this shit on there.

Also I would like to try this, but this guy has another thing coming if he thinks I am going to pay a dollar to experience this "game"

For the record, the child labor is not illegal in most countries where it is practiced, and many of the things provided to consumer culture are made through child labor. I think the point was more to generate discussion than to sell you a particular game. I don't think his end goal was "make money".

@EverydayOdyssey said:

Great job, Patrick. Very interesting read.

Indeed. I find it very very disturbing to know out there there is a company, that is soooo bad in terms of their work environment and abusive nature, that they have installed suicide nets ! WTF!

I'd trade Patrick for Kessler in a heartbeat, but I have to admit Patrick finds some great articles. Keep him off camera and you're golden.

man.... other countries are a big bummer... bigger than the one i live in.... :/ why cant we all be like.... happy.... and not dying...

fuck the system, bro.

this isnt even 100% sarcasm.... which is what i was trying to write.... damn it.

create a game that violates a ToS or set of rules and it'll get pulled?

who knew....

seriously...this isn't news worthy...

The problem with a statement made through the medium of an iPhone app is that the people who play it can really make a difference, but probably don't know how, and even after they have played, they still won't care. The factories like Foxconn are driven by sales, they get shit on by big controversies in their market countries. Although, cheap goods is pretty much what keeps large parts of the developed world satisfied.

The game itself, Phone Story sounds clumsy and heavy handed. I believe the artist/designer wanted to be barred so that people would read about it. Controversy is the cheapest publicity. I don't have any sympathy for him. The whole project lacks creativity. Still, even bad art deserves to be free of censorship. Fortunately for him, there are other options available to distribute his game.

It's good to see some genuinely intelligent discussion going on in this comments section, but some of these posts just make me sad. This was a great article from Patrick and you can call Paolo a hypocrite all you like, I fail to see how he's supposed to be a worse person than everyone else when he's actually trying to raise awareness about these kinds of business practises, while everyone else just turns a blind eye.

To get the best experience from this game, you would have to play it on a device that is not made in part by blood diamonds, suicidal factory workers, and the like. Good luck finding that device.