Seal Clubbing? There's Not an App for That

Ever been sitting around bored with your fancy new iPad, and think to yourself, "Boy, I could really go for some simulated clubbing of baby seals"?

Of course you haven't. It's ridiculous and horrifying. Fortunately, Apple agrees with us, which is why they're putting the kibosh on "iSealClub," a game which lets players take a virtual club to virtual seals. (You lose points for clubbing the baby seals, which the developer seems to think makes it A-OK.) Apple rightfully rejected iSealClub from appearing in their App Store, so if you're the type who's always harbored fantasies of being a seal hunter, I suppose you'll have to get your ya-yas out elsewhere.

But hold on, there's a little bit more to this story. First, if you haven't read Stephanie's piece on animal cruelty in video games from last week, please do. Sign the petition while you're at it.

You see, Matt Smyth, the developer of iSealClub, thinks that Apple is being a little less than consistent in their policies, and he's got a point. On his blog, Smyth points out that you can still buy a number of games that make sport of killing animals, including Deer Hunter 3D, Trophy Hunt, iMobsters (it has guard dogs, just like in Mafia Wars), and Big Buck Hunter, to name a few.

Here's the big question. Why is a pixelated digital seal not Apple-worthy, while a pixelated digital turkey or deer is just fine for the App Store? It's one of the tough things about sticking up for animals; it's easy to defend the cute ones, and usually gin up a decent amount of public support while you're sticking up for them. But getting mainstream society to give the same amount of concern to a wild turkey, buck, or for that matter, a factory-farmed pig, is more of an uphill climb.

Apple, being in business to make money (and there's nothing wrong with that), is most concerned with offending the fewest people possible, while providing products the largest possible number of people will want to buy. Put another way, there are a lot more turkey and deer hunters out there than there are seal hunters. It doesn't make Apple's position less inconsistent, and it doesn't make it right, either.

While Smyth may have a point about Apple's inconsistency, let's not rush to beatify him. Remember, he developed a game that lets you go after cartoon seals with a cartoon club.

So, props to Apple for deep-sixing iSealClub (whatever their motives, it's one less depiction of animal violence), but they get points off for inconsistency.

Photo credit: Hugo |-|