Farting Permitted, Politics Prohibited? Does Apple Have a Problem with Political Games?

Sometime this week, Apple will have achieved the impressive milestone of one billion application downloads for their iPhone/iPod touch App Store. Apple pioneered digital delivery of music with iTunes. With the App Store, they have set off the long-awaited digital delivery trend for games, entertainment, and utility applications. Google, Nokia, RIM (Blackberry), Nintendo, and even Microsoft are taking the cue and launching their own online storefronts.

Apple still reigns supreme in the world of online application storefronts. Google launched its "Application Market" for paid apps on their Android phones on Feb. 14, but the lack of consumer acceptance for the "Google Checkout" billing solution has limited the sales of best-selling paid titles to several thousand. Apple doesn't have this problem. Stories abound of some developer working from his couch and becoming if not a millionaire, at least a hundred-thousand-aire, quitting his day job, etc...

Stories also abound of the "diversity" of apps. The famous iFart app sold almost $30k on Christmas Day and was number one for quite some time. Games dominate the charts, with every conceivable genre and subject matter being represented, even a game called iSperm. In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the 1930's, Apple's IPhone is the New World, attracting developers hoping to strike it rich -- or, at least, pay the bills in these difficult times.

Apple's App Store does have rules. Apple doesn't want pornographic titles or other objectionable content. Apple initially blocked the aptly named "Pull My Finger" app back in Sept. 2008, then changed their mind about bodily functions as entertainment in Dec., unleashing a wave of sonic hilarity.

The web is filled with games that cover political issues. When an Iraqi threw his shoes at then President Bush, a flood of shoe-throwing games showed up on the web. Apple rejected a similar game for the iPhone, titled MyShoe, citing concerns over content that ridicules public figures. "Obama Trampoline," a game featuring cartoon caricatures of around 20 Democrat and Republican politicians was rejected in February. Apple has delayed the approval of other political games.

Here's my experience with this. Wanting to channel the frustration over the Bailout abuses by AIG and others, I thought a Bailout game would be a good idea. Borrowing from the classic video games of the 1980's, we created a game called Bailout Bonanza where a "Greedy Guy" is throwing bags of cash off of the stock exchange which the player has to catch. If you miss one, "Greedy Guy" makes some comment about a new Porsche or a corporate jet and you lose a basket. One of the programmers also added shoe throwing to the mix, something for the player to avoid.

We did some research on an appropriate charity and picked The Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.. Why not give 5 percent of the proceeds to the down-and-out in Apple's back yard? (Recently, we increased this contribution to 25 percent of sales.)

Based on our experience with ten apps in the store, we expected maybe 3 or 4 days for approval. We previewed the game to several journalists and got favorable press by late February.

Then we got the dreaded "review delayed" message. App Limbo. Apple has delayed apps for months, sometimes never approving them, because they violate some internal rule. The idea being if the app breaks a rule that is not in the agreement, the best thing to do is simply never approve it.

Meanwhile other, less satirical bailout games started to appear, approved and in the store. I don't know if it was the "Greedy Guy's" messages or the shoe throwing, but we started to seriously worry that Bailout Bonanza was going to be a bust.

Twitter to the rescue. For three days solid I used TweetDeck and replied to EVERY message I saw about the Bailout and keep pounding away that Bailout Bonanza (our iPhone game) was delayed, perhaps due to concerns about it's satirical nature. That message was then re-twitted by major bloggers to 10's of 1000's of followers. Bailout Bonanza was approved by the end of the three day twitter-blitz. Could be coincidence? Who knows?

Sadly the weeks of delay as well as some quirks in the release process, due to the older date of submission, the game never appeared in the first few pages of new apps in the action or arcade game categories. It has some nice user reviews in the App Store, but I don't expect we'll be feeding many people in Silicon Valley.

The real issue here is simply this: Is there an issue with political titles?

If an app with a political edge gets delayed, it can be as bad as being rejected. On the web games pop up based on current events in days. It would be a shame if that wasn't possible on the iPhone. The Video Game industry now rivals the Movie business in size. Games should be legitimate avenues for expressing a political opinion, no matter how satirical.

Apple changed their rules on potty humor. I hope they do the same for political satire.

Comments

[William Volk - Huffpost Blogger]

I wouldn't have a problem with any silly app, after all I came up with the concept for "Pigs a Pop'n." Besides, the number one app for weeks was iFart. It doesn't get sillier than that.

Seriously, why shouldn't the Tea Party folks have the opportunity to express themselves with a game?

[InternationalObserver]

But how would you feel about a Tea Bag app?

Obama is in the Whitehouse throwing out 'Oppressive Legislation' that you have to swat away with Tea Bags?

the problem with Political Apps is they run the risk of getting silly ...

[William Volk - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't have a problem with 'silly,' after all I came up with the concept for "Pigs a Pop'n" on the iPhone and in my distant past worked on "The Return to Zork."

Want some rye?

Anyway, it's hard to complain about 'silly' on a platform where the leading app for weeks was a fart sound simulator.

[nyamago]

It's not about politics, it's about the *correct* politics :)

I can guarantee you that you have all the political freedom of speech (and of gaming) if you ridicule the 'bad guys'. Make a game with the North Korean dictator, the Iranian president or even Putin - you can be most extreme, use expletives, chop their head off, anything!

And 'politically neutral' Apple will have no problem, I bet - will publish it and place it in 'Featured'­...

Reminds me of an old joke from the days of Brezhnev:

An American and a Russian are debating in a bar about freedom of speech and to illustrate the advantages of democracy, the yank says:

"I can stand in front of the White House and shout 'Reagan is an idiot' - and nothing will happen to me, nobody will come to arrest me."

"We have the same freedom", says Ivan - "I can also stand in the Red Square and can also shout 'Reagan is an idiot' ... "

Now it seems the world has turned 180 degrees and the political climate may have swapped. Here in the UK they already arrested an oposition MP for exposing Government incompetence. Next thing we know, there will be a Western version of Gulag somewhere.­..

But Apple are safe: they tow the party line (or tip-toe the line, whichever THE party happens to be). The Revolution has been pod-casted­...

[William Volk - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for this information. I guess we just didn't think it would get approved.

[Brian Stormont]

It's probably too late now for your app, but whenever you have an app approved, you need to immediately change the release date to the date of your approval email.

Assuming you do this the day you app is approved, this will cause your app to show up at the top of the recently released apps list. If you don't do this, you app will be listed with the date it was submitted, which means it will be buried several pages back in the lists from at least a week ago (as you mentioned in your article).