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Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

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Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#11

Post by jnorthrop »

sayhello wrote: post #5
jnorthrop wrote: post #4

That image shows a guy getting shot in the back of the head. That is a disturbing image (at least to me). Maybe you are numb to that level of violence, but apparently Apple is not.

In the context of the comic, the guy is a "bad guy" and is holding the gun shooter's daughter hostage, threatening to kill her with a gun himself, and is about to shoot. Its a case of self-defense in a hostage situation. While I do not deny that there is a certain level of violence depicted, is it grounds for rejection? Specially since games like Wolfenstein 3D are on the app store.

I'm not trying to defend Apple and you do have a valid point about Wolfenstein (I'm not arguing that). You asked "what you were missing." I found the imagine somewhat disturbing, so I pointed that out. And the fact that it's the bad guy getting shot does not change my opinion on the image.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#12

Post by weaksauce »

makecheck wrote: post #3

I can see how they might consider a particular comic offensive, but... Regardless of their terms, I think Apple is out of line to dictate how paying customers use their devices. Part of the problem, I think, is that until Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 "pay for content" feature is available, the application and the content are merged. I can only hope that once content can be purchased separately, Apple will loosen its restric…

The are going to have parental controls in 3.0. So we might get looser restrictions soon.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#13

Post by asimjalis »

ScottWhigham wrote: post #8

Wait - what's the question that I'm voting on: the one in the title or the one immediately preceding the voting? I assume it's the one in the title but it is ambiguous.

But since the answer to both will be the same -- does it matter? If the image is offensive then the poster is missing something, since he disagrees. If the image is not offensive then the poster is not missing anything -- since he/she feels the same way.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#14

Post by maryrosecook »

Two anecdotes.

Perfect Dark, the N64 game released around the year 2000, got given an 18 certificate in the UK because of the fact that blood can splatter from shot enemies onto walls.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the film released in 1981, nearly got refused a PG [edit: thanks, bena] certificate because it showed exploding heads.

The picture you linked depicts both of these acts of violence, whereas Wolfenstein 3D does not. Maybe Apple have similarly esoteric criteria for unacceptable acts of violence as the film and video game rating boards.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#16

Post by floozyspeak »

Can you compare comics to games? I sure we'd all say yeah but having dealt with paranoid copyright peeps before I could see where they'd make a case against the comic. The comic lacks a varied degree of "what's happening there", the intent of the graphic is clear, dude shot in the back of the head. Its consistent every time you look at it, head shoot. A game is varied content, sometimes you see something offense, sometimes not, that degree of randomness saves the game from the harsh eyes of scrunity, the comic can't escape.

The other thing that could be the factor is the international flavor of graphic material. I recall doing packaging for an animation company and the USA cover image of a gun pointing out at the view, aka the james bond like effect was cool and ok in the states but banned in UK! Thats insane but the BBC demanded their own version of the cover with the gun pointed to the side and not straight at a person picking up the video tape. Likewise content in a film is also subject to weird rules, BBC approves sleeping with your mother but whatever you do dont show anyone getting whipped on camera that dooms your film to XXX land.

Theres a chance that comics may suffer the same WTF reasoning on the iphone due to international exposure. Who knows.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#17

Post by sayhello »

jnorthrop wrote: post #11
sayhello wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the context of the comic, the guy is a "bad guy" and is holding the gun shooter's daughter hostage, threatening to kill her with a gun himself, and is about to shoot. Its a case of self-defense in a hostage situation. While I do not deny that there is a certain level of violence depicted, is it grounds for rejection? Specially since games like Wolfenstein 3D are on the app store.

I'm not trying to defend Apple and you do have a valid point about Wolfenstein (I'm not arguing that). You asked "what you were missing." I found the imagine somewhat disturbing, so I pointed that out. And the fact that it's the bad guy getting shot does not change my opinion on the image.

point taken. thanks for your comment.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#18

Post by chris11 »

I don't think it is so violent that it should be rejected. But since it has been rejected, do you need to have that comic bundled with the app?

It looks like you are marketing your app as a comic reader, not a service that provides comics, so I'd think that even giving out a free comic would not be integral to your product.

So I'm sure this must be frustrating, but I'd just take it out, or just replace it with something undeniably tame.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#19

Post by sayhello »

si2 wrote: post #15

Are you sure it was just because of that one photo and not the story line or anything else?

I'd like to know! I only received the boilerplate.

The previous time the app got rejected was because the content contained swear words. The description of the grounds for rejection in the email was clear. This time, there was no description.

Though I doubt it would be the story, comments from the reviewer would have been nicer.

Re: Poll: App rejected. Is this offensive? Seriously Apple?

#20

Post by jfornear »

sayhello wrote: post #2

Looking for some feedback, and also food for thought: If you think its offensive enough to get rejected, what makes it so? * Its cartoon violence, and in my opinion not that violent. * The blood is not red.

I think it's offensive, but not enough to get rejected. Couldn't they have just asked you to remove that page of the comic or something instead of rejecting your entire app?
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