10 Iconic Video Games Banned For Ridiculous Reasons
3. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow - Indonesia - A Personal Attack
Many video game bans happen under the pretence of protecting the innocence or societal standards of a nation. When it comes to games that are forbade from crossing country lines, portraying a different political school of thought or outlawed religious iconography are pretty sad but common reasons that no longer surprise.
Very few bans happen so blatantly based on the needs and whims of one man.
In Sam Fisher's second outing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, players go up against an anti-separatist Indonesian terrorist group that called themselves Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer", in English). In case it needs specifying, this is a totally fictional group in a fictional story.
However, there was one person who took particular concern about this and that was the Indonesian Prime Minister himself.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had taken office just that year, saw the story as a personal attack on himself and banned the game from his country.
Perhaps he was worried that the group were real and were afraid to glorify them in anyway? Or maybe he saw it as a way to quell any potential inspiration of guerrilla warfare? If anything, surely reacting so strongly to a video game just shows that your opposition that you're already scared?