The Real Face of Dog Fighting

by Matt Miner

UPDATE 4/30/11 DOG WARS IS NOW CALLED KG DOGFIGHTING

Call to Action: We encourage people to continue their efforts to convince Google to drop this game from the Android Market.  Android is an open source operating system, which means Kage Games can still peddle their filth elsewhere, but taking this application off the Android Market will have financial consequences for Kage Games, the scum who look to profit from this evil.

• Flag this application and both add-on packs as inappropriate here.  The application’s name is “KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars”, the 2 add-on applications are named “Dog Bucks”, and the developer is Kage Games LLC
• If you’re an Android device user, search “KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars” and “Dog Bucks” in the Android Market application.  Flag all of them from your device as well.
• Email Google at press@google.com and ask they remove KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars and both Dog Bucks packs from the Android Market.  As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words, so feel free to attach a photo of a victim of dog fighting
• Sign the petition to Google and Android demanding KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars and related Dog Bucks apps be banned from the Market
• Email Kage Games at pitboss@kagegames.com and ask them how they sleep at night.  Their application demonizes dogs, perpetuates breedist and racist stereotypes, and inspires future dog fighters.

REPEATEDLY FLAG AND EMAIL UNTIL GOOGLE AND ANDROID START TO LISTEN.

With all the recent uproar over the Android dog fighting application Dog Wars, we here at BSL News would like to address some common misconceptions about the public’s outrage, and unequivocally thoroughly denounce Kage Games’ pathetic lies and self-serving response to the situation.

KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars is, in a nutshell, an application released by Kage Games LLC on the Android mobile platform that is a dog fighting role playing game/simulator. On your fancy new Android phone or tablet you can download this dog fighting RPG and work your way up the ranks, fighting and killing the virtual dogs of other players, while learning some tricks of the trade that could be applied to real-life situations.  Players learn how to monitor feeding schedules, how to aggressively train their dogs to brutalize other animals, and they pick up pointers on administering steroids, shooting animals up with adrenaline and other drugs, and of course violently dealing with law enforcement.

People are, naturally, upset. The fact is that dog fighting is animal cruelty on a barbaric and truly evil level and a lot of people are just plain mad that there’s a game out there available to download from the Android Market that glorifies this sadistic bloodsport. We here at BSL news are upset for this reason, too, but our outrage runs deeper.

Pit Bull dogs have been demonized by the press in recent years, making the public perceive these often loving and friendly dogs as vicious killers – bloodthirsty dogs raised for nothing more than violence. Because of this unfair negative stereotyping, breed specific legislation targets these dogs for death, insurance companies won’t offer policies to pit bull owners, and apartments won’t rent to families with a pit bull companion dog, no matter how heroic and loving the dog may be.  A single “pit bull attack” will generate hundreds of news stories while stories other breeds involved in biting attacks will barely get a mention in the press and stories of heroic pit bulls only sometimes get a tiny blurb in the local newspaper.  The press knows that the public fears these dogs and the press uses that fear to sell newspapers and generate clicks to their websites.

This irresponsible and false stereotype is out there and hangs like a dark and sinister cloud over every pit bull parent’s head. We walk our dogs and parents frantically scoot their children to the other side of the street. We are berated with nasty comments from strangers who blurt out ignorant and cruel condemnations of our canine family members. We constantly worry that BSL is going to strike in our town, and the police will show up at our doors and demand custody of our beloved dogs.

This horrendously inaccurate stereotype of the “killer pit bull” is directly responsible for the deaths of so many loving family pets and if you think dog fighting, and the glorification of dog fighting, doesn’t play a major role in the public’s perception of this misunderstood breed then you are truly naive.

So, yes, people are rightly upset at this game’s existence and Google’s seeming acceptance of the game and its premise, through their silence and the continued offering of                 KG Dogfighting/ Dog Wars in the Android Market. Google didn’t release the game, but they’ve kept quiet and continued making KG Dogfighting/Dog Wars available on the Android Market and this inaction speaks volumes. Does Google really want the Android name synonymous with unspeakably cruel animal abuse? As of now it would seem they might.

Do opponents of this application really think “monkey see, monkey do?” No, not really. Or, at least, we hope not. We hope nobody actually believes that every person who downloads this application is going to take the game’s guidance, buy steroids and exercise equipment, and start fighting dogs and shooting cops.

Do we believe that this Android application is further poisoning public perception of these dogs while possibly inspiring a handful of weak minded wannabe dog fighters? Yes, absolutely, as evidenced by comments at the Android Market like this one:

great game now I know the rush mike vick use to feel!!!
by dejay– April 25, 2011

It seems that since BSL News broke this story there has been story after story written about this horrendous application and the damage it could cause. Correctly pointing out the racist and breedist stereotypes being regurgitated by the application, we have seen condemnation all the way down the line from the LAPD Union Chief to TIME Magazine. We’re thrilled to see such a compassionate response against this application and we hope that Google and Android get the message soon that allowing this application to remain on the Android Market makes them just as guilty as Kage Games themselves.