I saw this story on Polygon and it kinda bothered me. This is no different than people blaming video games for people committing violent acts in society, I seriously doubt anyone who watched the trailer or will play the game will feel any urge to go whaling.

I didn't even notice anything to do with whaling when I watched the trailer. I don't think they're trying to promote or glorify whaling or animal abuse at all, it's historically accurate to that time period. There is a whaling museum dedicated to the history of that industry in New Bedford, MA that probably glorifies it much more than a couple seconds in a video game trailer.

I turned my mind off as soon as I read PETA.

Nobody takes PETA seriously, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Fuck PETA.

Ubisoft should retort in Team Meat fashion.

I'm a member of PETA and I am not offended. (People Eating Tasty Animals)

lol

It seems to me that PETA are the ones that need to stop with the wailing.... Oh God I feel sick.

what, are they against clean burning lamp oil?

PETA is right-hunting whales for their fur is just wrong.

I love animals and I still know PETA is a joke. There are other organizations that are far less extreme and do far more good for animals.

@JustinMcElroy: If PETA is concerned about the attack on virtual whales in a game that won't come out for months, I'm gonna assume every real animal is FINE

best response

fuck PETA. they give giving a shit about animals a bad name.

Scientology and PETA, two organizations that make me laugh every time I read a news story about them.

PETA can S a D. It still astounds me that they're not officially classified as a terrorist organization.

I will cut anyone who makes a "terrier" pun.

Boy, what will PETA say when they learn about Far Cry 3?

The idea of someone playing Assassin's Creed then getting on a boat and harpooning some fucking whales is hilarious.

I am against Whaling for sure, no need to hunt those giants of the deep But c'mon PETA you are just armchair Greenpeace, direct your effort at Japan and their whaling ships pillaging the oceans.

Not a video game... Is Carlo Collodi and Herman Melville pro-whaling as well.

No one cares about PETA.

Hopefully they make a hilarious flash game about this!

This

PETA are a joke. They are one step away from being the crazy old man standing on the side of the road proclaiming the end of the world.

ARG! Maybe you aren't meant to ride the high seas me matey!

The Ubisoft response was pretty good

@mercutio123 said:

link us baby link us

Something exist in a game; GLORIFICATION!

In a statement to Polygon, Chin said:

“History is our playground in Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the golden era of pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don’t condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships, and over-the legal-limit drunken debauchery.”

VG24/7: Ubisoft responds to PETA’s anger over whaling in Assassin’s Creed 4

Ooh PETA done got assassinated.

More surprised on this as they really didn't do much to tell about AC4 for anyone to be upset about it. Those that are upset either don't understand video games as works of fiction or that the harm done is to pixels just like when you shoot at space invaders.

Maybe because back then it WAS. Glorified.

Hopefully this will result in more women posing naked to make a point, I love that shit.

The kind of ladies they'd get to pose nude to promote protecting whales are not the kind of ladies you'd be in to.

@bourbon_warrior said:

Look, I think going after AC4 for this is just the type of over-the-top activity that PETA is known for. And they were obviously wrong in the case of Super Meat Boy, because Meat Boy is a boy without skin rather than meat shaped into a boy. But don't invoke Herman Melville. Moby Dick is a deeply environmentalist, almost animist text, and I somehow doubt Assassin's Creed 4 has even the slightest interest in depicting nature as an untamable force of chaos. More likely than not it'll just depict whales as another fucking collectible, another hoop for you to frictionlessly jump through as you play your little action movie. Honestly, in this case, I can completely understand where PETA is coming from, and if I had had any interest in playing AssCreed 4 before they brought up whaling in that reveal article, the inclusion of whaling would have killed it for me.

God damn it I hate video games.

As someone who did want to go whaling after reading Moby Dick, I'd love to do it in digital form. This has me more interested in the game now.

Now I wish instead of boats you can ride a whale that jumps out of the water and stealth kills a whole ship.

For someone who hates video games you sure seem to spend a heck lot of time on a website about video games.

people are upset at peta being peta?

people are upset at peta being peta?

Assassin's Creed V should allow you to club baby seals just to piss PETA off.

@blu3v3nom07 said:

I would add "but we absolutely condone stabbing dudes all "uh uh uh uh uh uh"-like".

Whaling doesn't need glorifying, because it's fucking awesome.

That's because I also love video games. It's a big medium, I think I'm justified in feeling different ways about its different sectors.

Sure, that makes sense, but you didn't say that you hate "a sector" of the video game industry, hence my comment.

Your obviously unaware that PETA are bat shit insane extremists, including when it comes to boycotting game stuff. Like this.

I repeat, these people are some sort of insane cultists who boycott anything that doesn't involve us living in the wild foraging for scraps of food to bring our fury animal overlords.

I don't feel bad about this at all BECAUSE it's a complaint by PETA.

It's the equivalent of feeling bad after being chastised by al-qaeda over a parking ticket.