Dogfighting phone app called 'cruel,' 'sickening' by LAPD union chief [Updated]

The head of the Los Angeles police union said Monday that a dogfighting game application for cellphones should be yanked from the market because it glorifies illegal activity and promotes "cruel and immoral" behavior.

Paul M. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said he was particularly concerned that the Dog Wars game created by Kage Games would be embraced by local gang members and encourage them to engage in dogfighting.

"It's sickening, absolutely sickening," Weber said. "They should take it down immediately. These animals are defenseless. It's absolutely the wrong message to send to our children."

The Dog Wars app for the Android smart phone operating system encourages players to "Raise your dog to beat the best" and allows players to train a virtual pit bull to fight other virtual dogs and build street cred that "puts money in your pocket and lets you earn more in fights."

The company's website notes that the game player has a "gun for police raids and can inject the dog with steroids."

The Humane Society of the United States also released a statement urging Android to drop Dog Wars from its applications and calling the game "a step backward."

The humane society and other animal rights groups have been trying to educate the public about the dangers of professional and street dogfighting in the wake of the federal conviction of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in connection with a dogfighting ring at his former Virginia residence. 

"Because Dog Wars actually instructs players on how to condition a dog using methods that are true to organized dogfighting, this game may be a training ground for young people to try the activity in the real world, encouraging cruelty to dogs and leading young people down a dead-end path," said Wayne Pacelle, the humane society's chief executive.

[Updated 1:30 p.m.: Michael Vick issued a statement Monday critical of Dog Wars. “I’ve come to learn the hard way that dog-fighting is a dead-end street,” Vick said in the statement. “Now, I am on the right side of this issue, and I think it’s important to send the smart message to kids, and not glorify this form of animal cruelty, even in an Android app.”]

An email to Kage Games was not immediately returned, but the creators have responded to criticism in an online statement, saying it is not illegal and other games on the video market include crime or killing as part of the gaming experience.

"Just because something is illegal in real life in certain countries, does not mean it is illegal to make a song, movie, or video game about it," company officials said in the statement.

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-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[Jon H.]

Oh no, won't somebody please think of the children? This horrifying game is coming from the telephone and murdering our poor innocent children and their doggies! I'm old and uneducated and scared of everything and frankly, I don't deserve to live in a country that values freedom!

[rob]

Another bunch of loser geeks who never had any positive reaction from women in their life (hookers withstanding) that only care about money and greed and have no self esteem. America at its finest

[Scott Bee]

This is why I own many Android devices and will never buy an iOS device. It's my phone, it's my choice, flip off!

[Gray]

When will people learn just ignore it and it has a chance of going away. From what I understand the game isn't very good anyways. When you put it out on national news you are just generating downloads for them. Like the one they just got from me..

[DeaDGoD]

I've been playing this game for a month, when you fight you only see a mugshot of the dog and a health bar, not two dogs tearing each other up... Man, I sure feel like putting together a dogfight... Just like that time after playing GTA when I stole a car, ran over six hookers, and threw grenades at the cops that tried to arrest me...

[DeaDGoD]

Alex:

Please provide us with the data to back up your claims that high numbers of people playing these games repeat any criminal activities in reality

[Ben]

Here you go Alex. This is from a 60 Minutes

"David Walsh, a child psychologist who�s co-authored a study connecting violent video games to physical aggression, says the link can be explained in part by pioneering brain research recently done at the National Institutes of Health -- which shows that the teenage brain is not fully developed.

Does repeated exposure to violent video games have more of an impact on a teenager than it does on an adult?

"It does. And that's largely because the teenage brain is different from the adult brain. The impulse control center of the brain, the part of the brain that enables us to think ahead, consider consequences, manage urges -- that's the part of the brain right behind our forehead called the prefrontal cortex," says Walsh. "That's under construction during the teenage years. In fact, the wiring of that is not completed until the early 20s."

Walsh says this diminished impulse control becomes heightened in a person who has additional risk factors for criminal behavior. Moore had a profoundly troubled upbringing, bouncing back and forth between a broken home and a handful of foster families.

"And so when a young man with a developing brain, already angry, spends hours and hours and hours rehearsing violent acts, and then, and he's put in this situation of emotional stress, there's a likelihood that he will literally go to that familiar pattern that's been wired repeatedly, perhaps thousands and thousands of times," says Walsh.

[Alex]

BEN. You are amazing. Thanks.

[DeaDGoD]

I should have asked for an objective study, not one slanted to achieve the results wanted by anti-video games folks

[J_Walker]

No Big Deal. They're not real dogs. Vick, on the other hand, delighted in the sight of real blood. If Vick weren't caught and he was still torturing and killing dogs, he would be the first in line for this game. The game simply reflects the violence and brutality all around us, whether we choose to see it or not.

Change the world instead, and thank the developers for portraying the uncomfortable truth.

[Peter]

I find it strange that the app has been removed because the makers of a similar facebook app didn't like their apps name being used. At first glance they seem to be the same game. In one you are a human who trains dogs to attack dogs. In the other you are a dog who trains himself to attacks dogs. What makes one ok and the other not?

http://www.facebook.com/dogwarsgame

[Patrick]

As a long time advocate and rescuer of Pit Bulls, this game must be pulled. The argument that "it's just a game" is not valid. There is no excuse for marketing this trash. The company who put it out should have more integrity.

[DeaDGoD]

Patrick, it IS JUST A GAME! If you're so worried about this causing people to go start dog fighting rings, maybe you should spend your time educating those you think are that stupid instead of making it look like you can't tell the difference between pixels on a screen and real life.

I'm sure this doesn't matter to any of the detractors out there, but the makers of the game /did/ put a disclaimer on this game that these activites should never be attempted in reality because it's illegal and wrong

[Erb]

It is a video game. Just as killing ducks with a pistol on Nintendos Duck Hunt never made me do it IRL, this game isnt going to make me fight dogs for real either. Thanks for the tip I was looking for a new game.