Stop the Release of the Video game "Bully"

Sam Houser


President


Rockstar Games








Dear Sir,





We the undersigned would like for you to understand the ramifications of your soon to be released video game titled Bully. The game depicts scenes of violence in a school setting directed at students, teachers and staff. The premise of the game is that the child that has been bullied gets his/her revenge. Bullying is a very serious issue, which should not be taken lightly. Here are the statistics on bullying:





77\% of students are bullied mentally, verbally, & physically.


282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month


At least 16 children annually commit suicide because of bullying (the true total is much higher)


Playground statistics - every 7 minutes a child is bullied.


Adult intervention - 4\%. Peer intervention - 11\%. No intervention - 85\%





My daughter Corinne is one of those 16, on October 6th, 2004 my daughter committed suicide after being bullied. The pain of losing my daughter is immeasurable, how can we as adults take the risk that we may lose one more child. Therefore we ask of you as an adult, as a member of this society to stop the release of this game. If one child sees the violence portrayed in your game as an avenue to end his/her plight with bullying, will all of the money you have made be worth it? How much is a childs life worth to you?





Currently we have an epidemic of schools shooting by victims of bullying. We as adults dont need to give them violent solutions; we need to STOP THE BULLYING through education and awareness.


Your game will minimize mine and so many other organizations efforts to stop this atmosphere of violence and intimidation in our school systems.





Finally sir, as a parent of child lost to bullycide, as a grandparent, I implore you to reconsider the release of this game.





Sincerely,


Rochelle Sides


Texas Director Bully Police


www.corinnewilson.com