Left Behind Games: Stop Lying About “Eternal Forces” Or We’ll Sue

Last December, things were relatively quiet here at Quad’s Corner (then called “World 7″). I had just set up the blog a couple of months earlier, and wasn’t really sure what to do with it. On a whim, I decided to write a short little piece on Left Behind Games and their ever-so-controversial RTS game, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces”. I don’t think I offered much of an opinion or peppered the post with my usual sarcastic spite; I was merely repeating what I’d heard elsewhere.

Shortly after making the post, I received a response in the comments section. It was from a ‘representative’ of Left Behind Games (a.k.a. a spambot) and said the following:

This statement is posted from an employee of Left Behind Games on behalf of Troy Lyndon, our Chief Executive Officer.

There has been in incredible amount of MISINFORMATION published in the media and in online blogs here and elsewhere.

Pacifist Christians and other groups are taking the game material out of context to support their own causes. There is NO “killing in the name of God” and NO “convert or die”. There are NO “negative portrayals of Muslims” and there are NO “points for killing”.

Please play the game demo for yourself (to at least level 5 of 40) to get an accurate perspective, or listen to what CREDIBLE unbiased experts are saying after reviewing the game at www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.com

Then, we’d love to hear your feedback as an informed player.

The reality is that we’re receiving reports everyday of how this game is positively affecting lives by all who play it.

Thank you for taking the time to be a responsible blogger.

At first I was all excited, because hey, Left Behind Games considered ME and my fledgling blog important enough to leave a response! It wasn’t until later that I found out the exact same message had been sent to everybody else who happened to have written an “Eternal Forces” related post. Type any portion of that into Google and you’ll find several examples of it. LBG had merely been using a bot to crawl around the web and fire off a rebuttal. Why a game company would feel the need to do that– even if the rumors going around made them look bad– still strikes me as out of the ordinary.

I never downloaded that demo, by the way. Trying to read the crappy books in high school was bad enough, and there are a lot of other games I’d rather finish. (“Silent Hill 4″, woohoo!) I’ll never know for certain whether or not there is “convert or die” or “killing in the name of God” in the game, but I have heard reports from people who DID play it- and according to them, those elements are in fact present in”Eternal Forces.” Or they aren’t. And you get penalized for killing… or you don’t. It’s all very confusing. Since I don’t care enough about the game to find out for myself, I’ll have to remain in the dark.

According to a story posted on Gamepolitics this morning (which had links to other sources) LBG is still going out of their way to convince bloggers that “EF” is being misrepresented… only this time, they’re backing it with legal force. Several people have been hit up with angry letters demanding that false information be deleted, lest they face consequences.

Here’s a snippet of a LBG legal threat, from Gameology:

… Unfortunately, there are many statements on your website which appear to be false and misleading. This type of misinformation may cause significant and irreparable harm to Left Behind Games Inc. and must be removed.Left Behind Games Inc. generally supports free speech in the media and understands how important it is to have various opinions presented for public consumption. It will not, however, tolerate the publication of information regarding its products that is false or misleading.

Left Behind Games Inc. is demanding that you immediately remove any and all information contained on your site about the above stated game that is false and/or misleading, including any such statements or commentary and the responses thereto. This includes posted comments made by others in the context of reading the incorrect or misleading statements.

If you do not comply immediately, the company will be forced to pursue additional legal action which will include claims for damages, costs of suit and attorney’s fees. This may subject you and your organization to significant legal and financial damages…

First of all, it’s always been my belief that anybody who ever says “I’m for freedom of speech, BUT…” is clearly NOT for freedom of speech. Second, if LBG honestly considers comments on some random dude’s page a serious threat to their company, really, how significant are they? If word of mouth is enough to put them out of business, that doesn’t put them in a very positive light. Right now I’m looking at them and seeing the local high school library lunch break D&D club, not a group of guys with scary lawyers at their beck and call.

What kind of game company would have the gall to do this? That’s not a rhetorical question, I’m seriously asking. Nintendo has never threatened people for saying that Mario is an Italian stereotype. Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive didn’t sue modders or subpoena game websites when the ‘Hot Coffee’ controversy broke out. Capcom isn’t telling bloggers they’ll be financially ruined for saying “Resident Evil 5″ looks racist, and Microsoft didn’t bully the guy who pointed out that “Halo 3″ doesn’t actually display in HD. Bethesda Softworks LLC was nice to me after I said “Where’s Waldo?” was the worst game ever. This is something that, as far as I know, no one else has ever done, and it’s staggeringly ridiculous.

Furthermore, what LBG doesn’t seem to realize is that controversy usually promotes sales. People who keep hearing about a game and the awful things it allegedly contains are naturally going to want to buy it out of curiosity. Perhaps the lackluster success of “Eternal Forces” is due to it being a lousy product, not any allegations of glorifying extremism as the company claims.

Resorting to legal intimidation because an individual or group is speaking out against a product, even if their words aren’t necessarily based on reality, is a sign of weakness and desperation. I’m going to make the following statement to Left Behind Games now, at the risk of it being labeled “false”or “misleading”:

You are all pussies.