Jan 2, 2008 8:55 pm US/Eastern
Families, Victims Outraged By 9/11 Online Game
French-Made 'New York Defender' Recreates Terror Attacks
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
On the surface, it's just a game. For many Americans however, it's a game that is not only offensive, but also opens up old and painful wounds.
Remembered as one of the worst days in American history, countless millions believe Sept. 11, 2001, should never be duplicated, not even in a video game.
Apparently, a group of French Internet video game makers never got the message, and now families of victims from that horrid day are enraged with the notion that children get to replay the tragedy over and over again.
"It's horrible what happened. People shouldn't see it again and kids should not be playing games like that. It's just not funny," said Lauren Zaifart, a Battery Park resident.
The goal of the French made Internet game, "New York Defender," according to the designer, is for players to shoot down planes before they strike the towers and cause them to come crumbling down.
Jim Riches is all too familiar with the events of that day as he lost his firefighter son inside the North Tower.
"For somebody to exploit a tragedy, where so many people died that day … it's sick, it's a sick mind," Riches said.
For those personally effected by the terrorist attacks, the game not only makes them feel disgust, but also brings back painful memories of that day's events.
"It's hurtful to all the families. It just brings up that pain again of seven years ago," Riches said.
"This video does nothing more than promote hatred, again, again and again," said 9/11 family member Lee Ielpi.
Ielpi is the co-founder of the Tribute World Trade Center 9/11 Visitor Center. His son, Jonathan, a firefighter in Squad 288 out of Queens, died trying to save lives that day.
"What we're doing is promoting peace trying to get people to understand what hatred can do, as opposed to a video that promotes hatred," Ielpi said.
In a 2002 Denver Post article, the French game designer said there is no way to win the game. The sole purpose is to illustrate the ultimate impossibility of fighting terrorism – a fight the United States is still waging in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere throughout the world.
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