'Racist' download under fire

A screen grab from the iPhones game Pocket God. Photo / Supplied

An iPhone application where the aim is to kill off islanders has been criticised as racist by members of the Pacific Island community.

Pocket God opens with a "meet the islanders" screen, before brown-skinned men wearing hula skirts are shown on an island with a volcano in the background.

To score points, the player kills off each islander by drowning them in the sea, shooting them with lightning or burning them in the volcano.

A blogger on Spasifikmag.com said: "This game is very racist, yes. But what I can't get over is people finding joy out of killing people ... It's really scary to think that people - and most likely young people - can use the game to torture and kill."

Karlo Mila-Schaaf, a Tongan currently studying for a PhD in sociology, said the game was offensive and degrading. "Virtual torture of Pacific Islanders is where I draw the line.

The makers of the product say that it doesn't represent any race or nationality.

"But it is fairly clear that these supposedly non-human islanders with their brown skin, grass skirts and Easter Island statues in the background are not aliens from outer space."

Created by Bolt Creative - based in California, San Francisco - the application costs US$0.99 cents and has proved popular.

The application description reads: "On a remote island, you are the all-powerful God that rules over the primitive islanders ... Exercise your powers on the islanders. Lift them in to the air, propel them into the horizon, show them who's boss!"

Ms Mila-Schaaf said it was highly inappropriate to make money out of "sadistic torture" of Pacific Islanders - no matter if it was virtual.

"There is no doubt that if the application tortured virtual Jews or African slaves there would be some kind of uproar. Here in New Zealand, where we have the biggest Pacific population, I do think we should be taking the lead saying this kind of game is not acceptable."

Another iPhone application - dubbed Baby Shaker - was last week removed after parents and child advocacy groups complained about its inappropriateness.

A picture of a baby is shown, crying.

The player is then invited to stop the child crying, by shaking their iPhone vigorously, before two red crosses appear over the baby's eyes - dead.

Online video game Faith Fighter - where caricatures of Buddha, Muhammad and Jesus fight God and the Hindu God Ganesh - has also been removed from the internet, after an Islamic group complained, saying it was offensive.

Bolt Creative did not answer the Herald's request for a comment, while an Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.