Legal Niches

Zynga Listens to PETA, Removes Pit Bulls from Mafia Wars

By pete_gallagher

Responding to PETA's disdain over the use of Pit Bulls as a 'fully fledged combat item class' in its Mafia Wars social game, developer Zynga has responded and removed the dog as a fighting tool.

PETA noted that 'Countless social gamers stopped plowing their FarmVille fields long enough to voice their objections to Zynga about the game's negative depiction of this most used-and-abused breed, and the company quickly responded in just the right way.'

"Mafia Wars is obviously only a game, but the suffering endured by thousands of pit bulls who are treated as if they were nothing more than burglar alarms or fighting machines is very real," stated PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "By removing Mafia Wars' virtual pit bull, Zynga is no longer perpetuating the mindset that it's acceptable to chain, neglect, and abuse real dogs."

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on May 07, 2010 (boomark / email).