海角大神

The nation of Turkey will be asking Microsoft, makers of the game Minecraft, to remove zombies, creepers, and all violent elements from the game when selling to users there. This comes after published reports in the Turkish media that the country was considering a ban on the cube-based game.

A report released this week by the Turkish Family and Social Policy Ministry聽expressed concerns that the game, which last year was purchased by Microsoft for $2.5 billion from Mojang, may cause "social isolation," and that its online multiplayer component might lead to Internet bullying.

Turkish websites聽H眉rriyet Daily News聽and聽LeaderGamer聽report that the country's Family and Social Policies Ministry wants to ban Minecraft for being "too violent."

"Although the game can be seen as encouraging creativity in children by letting them build houses, farmlands and bridges, mobs [hostile creatures] must be killed in order to protect these structures. In short, the game is based on violence," the report stated (via H眉rriyet Daily News).

However, according to Turkish Embassy Press Counsellor Fatih Oke, in Washington, D.C., the Turkish Press and Information Ministry based in Ankara, Turkey, has now issued a statement in response to a聽海角大神 Science Monitor聽inquiry on the possibility of a ban.

鈥淎 ban is quite out of the question. There will be no ban,鈥� Mr. Oke says in an interview. 鈥淭he game is not banned and is not going to be banned, the Family and Social Policy Ministry does not have that kind of authority to ban any product. I understand that this is what has been said in the Turkish media, but it is incorrect.鈥�

Oke explains that the ministry is comprised of a panel of experts on education, psychology, child psychology and special needs education (including experts on autism) which responds to complaints and not as the result of the direction of the government.

鈥淭he ministry can only work with complaints. In this case I am told there were numerous complaints from parents about Minecraft and its influence on children,鈥� Oke says. 鈥淭he function of this ministry is to raise awareness.鈥�

Minecraft has been touted on the website for the Autism Speaks organization as a聽positive influence聽on children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, particularly when supervised by an adult.

Asked how the ministry will now proceed after the report鈥檚 completion, Oke says, 鈥淭he reports showed that Minecraft has some negative items which can influence a child鈥檚 psychology in some ways, in just some parts of the game. The ministry will now contact the production company of the game [Microsoft] and ask that those negative items be removed from the game.鈥�

鈥淚f there is a mode in which it can just be used to work peacefully and creatively then that will be the only version they would want,鈥� he says.

Eric Klopfer, director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology says in an interview, 鈥淪o we have one step forward and one step back.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to understand all of this since one of the great features of Minecraft that made it popular around the world is a user鈥檚 ability to customize the game,鈥� Mr. Klopfer says. 鈥淭his reminds me of action figures. A child can use them to create a peaceful, beautiful and meaningful play event or they can use them to hit each other. For me this is more of a parenting issue, perhaps, than remaking a game.鈥�

However, if Microsoft were to choose to 鈥渞emake鈥� Minecraft, Klopfer says it might not be all that hard to manage 鈥減rovided Microsoft is willing to make the changes.鈥�

鈥淭here is precedent for video games being sold in different versions in different countries,鈥� he says. 鈥淢icrosoft could create a mode that鈥檚 built-in with parameters fixed and unchangeable so things they don鈥檛 want aren鈥檛 spawned.鈥�

But since Minecraft is already split into two modes, 鈥淐reative鈥� (a peaceful building mode)聽聽and 鈥淪urvival鈥� (where mobs and violent elements abound) there may be an easier way for Microsoft to keep its Turkish customer base.

Microsoft spokesman聽Sean McCarthy suggests that changing the game's setting may be a potential solution:

According to Klopfer, step one would be for Turkey to convince Microsoft to make the change. Step two, would be to create a different version for Turkey, and to make sure people in Turkey only purchase that version.

The harder route Turkey could choose would be to limit the licenses users are allowed to purchase and the multiplayer servers they could connect to. For example, he says, it would be hard to tell users they can only play on Turkish IP addresses and not typical servers based in America.

Asked if the Turkish government intends to abstain from working with United Nations groups that use Minecraft in the process of urban planning, Oke says, 鈥淎s far as I have been told by Ankara, Turkey has full support for the United Nations bodies using this program. This is a very specific issue involving children鈥檚 use only and that is as a direct result of the concerns of parents who have complained.鈥�