10 games political groups have had bizarre issues with

Video games have been the target for religious and political groups for years. Many know of the big ones, like Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto, and how people repeatedly try to link violent video games with violent behavior. There have also been more recent issues with other content, such as homosexuality, in video games. 

There are even more strange issues with certain seemingly harmless games, including Pokemon, Mario, and Dungeons and Dragons. This slideshow will highlight 10 of the most bizarre issues and controversies surrounding certain video games.

Pokemon

PETA has a lot of problems with a lot video games, but Pokemon stands out. They even made a game called Pokemon Black and Blue. This parody emphasizes the phrase, "Gotta free 'em all," which tries to teach people how Pokemon games promote animal violence.

This game is more violent than the real games and PETA totally misses the mark. Pokemon actually promotes treating animals equals, and taking good care of them. That's actually a massive part of the series.

Mario

Pokemon isn't the only game PETA has problems with, Mario has also been the subject of their ridicule. According to PETA, Mario is an animal killer and takes the skins of raccoons for his Tanooki suits.

I'm not sure how they came to this conclusion, but the suits Mario wears do not look ripped from dead animals.

Dungeons and Dragons

Patricia Pulling founded a group called B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) after her son committed suicide. This group blamed Dungeons and Dragons for encouraging devil worship and suicide.

Pulling used inaccurate statistics to try to legitimize her accusations. Even though the group began getting religious support, all cases she fought for were lost. The organization eventually disbanded after her death. 

Wii and Manhunt 2

This one focuses more on the bizarre reasoning behind wanted to cancel a Wendy's campaign and not a game itself.

MAVAV (Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence) sided with Jack Thompson when he wrote a letter asking to cancel the Wii Kids Meal promotion at Wendy's. A game called Manhunt 2 was coming to the Wii at the time and this is why they believed all association with the console should be canceled.

The promotion had nothing to do with Manhunt 2 and gave out toys featuring classics like as Mario. Of course, according to PETA, maybe that's just as bad.

Call of Duty

PETA had a problem with Call of Duty because the games were violent towards dogs. This comes from the fact that there are dogs you can kill and send to attack others.

This time, they decided to send care baskets to CoD developers with copies of Nintendogs. Not even making this up:

"To help the folks at Activision Blizzard learn about the ethical treatment of animals (something we’re sorta experts on) we’re offering to let them take PETA’s“Developing Empathy for Animals” seminar free of charge, and we’re sending a package of dog-friendly Nintendogs games to their office."

- PETA

Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars The Old Republic

This slide gets 2 games because they come from the same company and shared the same issue.

In 2012, EA received thousands of emails and letters complaining about the options for same-sex relationships in Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars The Old Republic. According to many of these emails and letters, they were forced by the LGBT community to include these choices.

In reality, BioWare just wanted to include more diversity, not to mention it was asked for by many players, but they were not "forced" to do this. These protesters feared that 'gay propaganda' would be pushed upon children by offering these inclusive choices. These are choices, but maybe that's all it takes to convert people?

Super Meat Boy

PETA is on a roll. Apparently the word meat is evil because a parody game, Super Tofu Boy, was made that made Meat Boy the villain. It promotes being vegan.

I don't think they even have a problem with the game, but it does give more material to promote their cause.

Everquest

Everquest, and video games in general, came under attack after Everquest player, Shawn Woolley committed suicide. His mother, Elizabeth, said he was addicted to the game and started On-Line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA). This is a 12-Step Program to overcome video game addiction.

They view games in general as addicting and a problem to be dealt with. However, just like violence in video games, not everyone that plays becomes addicted and neglect everything else in their life.

Battlefield 3

If there is a digital animal being harmed, PETA is there to save the day. This time, a German branch had issues with Battlefield 3 because you stab a rat in one of the missions.

According to them, this is treating animals in a sadistic manner and may influence kids to do this to real rats or animals. Nevermind that the game is rated M and kids should not be playing it in the first place.

Mass Effect (again)

The first Mass Effect is a great example of how the outside views gaming. Fox News had completely inaccurate information about how much nudity was in Mass Effect. They even said you could control the action during the sex scenes and very clearly no one had played the game

Beyond that, they seemed to fear that even though it is an M-rated game, once it gets in the house, children may play it, an argument that struggles to hold water. That's a personal problem that parents have with their kids and should not affect how a game is viewed or talked about.

That's it for the Top 10 Games Political Groups Have Bizarre Issues With. Let me know if you have any other stories that didn't make the list.