Bully: Scholarship Edition — Are You Worried?

New post on GGL about teachers protesting Rockstar’s Bully.

Remember six months ago, when Rockstar released Bully, its comedic and mildly violent horrors-of-high-school simulator? Remember how some people were upset, believing the game would somehow glorify or promote bullying in school? You know, as if playing a video game could completely change a person’s personality?

Yeah, neither do I.

But the Canadian Teachers Federation, which bizarrely includes teachers in the United States, Britain, South Korea, Australia and the Caribbean, wants you to remember. They’re calling for retailers to refuse to sell the Bully: Scholarship Edition, a rerelease of the game with additional content.

We rented Bully to see what the fuss was about, and I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t a horror that rewards players for bullying and beating the weak, but it also wasn’t a fun and ironic high school game. Kind of second-rate all around, with missions that weren’t horrific but also weren’t much fun.

I did find the drunk, homeless vet character disturbing… much more disturbing than teenage boys getting into fights.