Important notice for parents on "Bully" video game

The following letter was sent home in June 2006 to all students, grades K - 12, by the Guilderland Task Force on Bullying and Harassment.

Guilderland Central School District has a Task Force on Bullying and Harassment made up of teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and students. Our goal is to recommend procedures, staff development, and activities designed to make our schools safe learning communities for all staff and students. We are writing to share our concern over a video game, BULLY.

In August, Rockstar Vancouver and its parent company, Take2 Games, will jointly release a new interactive video game called, BULLY. We are urging all Guilderland parents and guardians not to allow this game into your PS2 or Xbox video game libraries.

BULLY joins a growing list of violent video games marketed toward young people. Some who have played the demonstration version of the game have called it a “school shooting simulator.” Just as a flight simulator teaches airline pilots to fly, this game teaches the player how to be a bully or how to practice revenge tactics against a bully, and how to stage a school shooting.

In conjunction with this notice, a letter is being sent to all merchants in the Town of Guilderland (including chain stores) asking that they not sell this BULLY video game to children under the age of 18 because of its violent content. The game is yet to be rated.

We believe that parents, guardians, and the community must band together in order to send a clear message to the children of Guilderland that such a game serves no positive purpose and could, in fact, encourage real-life school violence.

In both the Columbine High School and Red Lake High School shootings, the killers practiced on violent video games beforehand. Psychologists have repeatedly warned of the danger of exposing children to such violent video games and the aggressive behaviors which can follow.

Our action is not the first regarding this video game. Miami-Dade School District in Florida became the first major school district in the United States to ask local merchants not to sell this game to minors and is urging parents not to buy it. In Great Britain, they are considering a country-wide ban on the sale of this BULLY game. There, just like here in Guilderland, one in five students is victimized by bullying.

We developed a comprehensive district-wide bullying prevention policy and education program three years ago in Guilderland to send a strong message to everyone that bullying is not OK. We believe this letter urging you to ban this video game from your home is consistent with our bully-free position.

Back to Bullying Prevention home page