Porn vs Drugs: The Daily Star Weighs In On Underworld

Noted moral guardian/pornographer, the Daily Star, has weighed in on the the controversy surrounding the iPhone’s downloadable game Underworld. Always one to look for the most balanced opinion available, the Daily Star went to Thelma Packard, the mother of a girl who tragically slipped into a heroin induced coma 7 years ago. 

I’ll leave it to gamepolitics to discuss Thelma’s views and the effects such stories could have on the industry as a whole and concentrate instead on the hypocrisy at play here. For those who take an interest in such things, it’s worth noting the actions of the Star’s sister publication OK! magazine. OK! routinely publishes stories on the lives of drug addled celebrities who, regardless of their wealth and fame, are still as much victims of drug abuse as Thelma’s daughter Amy.

I’m no great fan of the concept behind Underworld but I think we can all agree that making money from the fictional depiction of the drugs trade isn’t quite as bad as exploiting its real-life effects. Underworld has caused quite a stir amongst the gaming community and to see this controversy bleed out into the mainstream press was hardly shocking. The fact that the game’s most vocal opponent has been its most hypocritical shouldn’t be either.