Police organisation seeks ban on Eidos game

Software publisher Eidos has been further dragged into the ongoing furore over violence in videogames after members of The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund launched a campaign to prevent forthcoming console title 25 to Life from going on sale.

The organisation, established to raise support for law enforcement officers and make their jobs safer, is protesting the sale of the console title and urging retail outlets not to stock the game, which allows players to assume the role of a police officer, or gang member fighting the law.

Craig W. Floyd, chairman of the organisation, stated: "It is absolutely unconscionable that game makers are enabling young people - or anyone - to dramatise shooting and killing as a form of entertainment, while officers and innocent people are dying in real-life on our streets every day. We're encouraging parents, caregivers and everyone who is concerned about both law enforcement officers and children to ensure this game never makes it into the homes or hands of impressionable young people."

A petition has been started on the NLEOMF website for anyone in support of the cause to sign. It is the organisation's intention to gain 17,500 signatures - one for each of the officers whose name will be engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which opens at the end of the year.

"While it's true that players are given a choice between wearing a badge or the colours of a gang, the ultimate message carried by the game is that some players are justified in endangering the lives of police officers," Floyd continues in a statement on the website. "Regardless of your views on free speech or marketplace dynamics, there is really nothing good that can be said about this game. The images are wrong. The messages are wrong. And stocking it in US stores is wrong."

Whilst the current focus is centred on a single console title, the NLEOMF is keen to add that there are wider issues of concern, and the petition to prevent the sale of this particular title is only a small part of a much wider, ongoing campaign.

"We're focused on this game right now because children and communities are facing the greatest threat from it right now, but our broader goal is to encourage all parents and caregivers to be more aware of what their children are exposed to or encouraged to emulate," added Floyd. "Any type of media that glorifies violence against law enforcement or civilians should be scrutinized very carefully."

At the time of writing, Eidos representatives were unavailable for comment on the situation.