The hunt for a quick buck resorts to animal cruelty

Firstly, profuse apologies for not having written sooner; however what with Xmas/ New Year and my rather heavy workload I've had neither the time nor anything of significant interest to write about. However my recent excursion to the Oxford in North Adelaide has given me inspiration to put finger to keyboard for the greater good of society once again.

The issue of poker machines/computer games and Western society's inability to use them responsibly has been regularly recycled by the major sources of respectable current affairs such as Today Tonight and A Current Affair. So it is that given the longevity and degree of social conscience of my blog, that I will too examine the issue drawing primarily on my own recent experience.

Those readers who have ever attended an Adelaide United home fixture will no doubt agree with me that it is no occasion for the faint hearted. Although the ability to throw away the game all within the instance of one ill conceived and mis-directed Carl Veart foray into attack has in recent weeks been cast into doubt given the Reds' prolific form, it remains legendary. And so the recent fixture against Queensland was no different, despite the apparently comfortable 4-2 win glimmers of the inadequacy of old were there to tease the faithful. All left the ground relieved in light of the win, yet safe in the knowledge that should the need ever arise, the side for all South Australians will willingly deliver a complete implosion.

Such drama and tension tends to build up one's hunger and garner quite a thirst. It was then with light relief that my trusty side kick and I retired to the Oxford for a bite and a few pints of the amber fluid. I gorged happily on one of the mammoth schnitzels- I'm no schnitzel aficionado, but in my experience it was pretty good and I'd be grateful for a second opinion. Sufficiently stuffed I cast a curious eye over my surroundings, in such a manner that one does when one is contemplating muttering something profound: I burped. A few likely lads were huddled at the bar, over the far side a DJ plied his trade despite the apparent lack of recognition from the gathering crowd and the usual smattering of chicky babes mingled amongst increasing male glances. Finally I swung my gaze across the bar and to the near wall where a pinball machine stood idly alongside a clearly more popular 'game'.

This second 'game', surrounded by a happy crowd was the curiously named Big Buck Hunter: Call Of The Wild. Naturally enough, or perhaps in my naivety to all things vaguely technology orientated I thought initially that the game entailed the quite innocent hunting down of as many Buckys as possible and then clubbing them to death with cans and various other wares from Woolworths (I'd like to beat Bucky with a cucumber). I was, however horrified to discover that the basic aim of the game is to decimate the native fauna from a variety of areas of North American wilderness. Wielding an attached electronic shotgun, inebriated patrons are pitted against helpless deer and various other fauna (including ducks and chickens in one stage) in an effort to kill or maim as many of the poor dears (pun intended) as possible.

My revulsion was palpable, in a time when the content of such games is being widely debated and environmental issues concerning endangered species are (or should be) at the top of most Western national agendas, I was disgusted to find such a game that clearly some insensitive fool is profiting out of. This is I feel only one, and at that a very small, example of business profiting out of the continued environmental destruction of our planet. Of course it is happening all the time and I don't profess to be totally innocent (after all I drive a car that spews god-knows-what into the atmosphere), however if we are to make even a miniscule attempt to start clearing up the mess we've already made then I would urge all readers to boycott the Big Buck Hunter game at the Oxford in an attempt to save North American ecosystems.

Nb. If you can't contain your primitive cravings to inflict pain on some poor creature then pay Bucky a visit.