VANCOUVER – Translink is demanding that the maker of the video game, Main Street Massacre, take it down or they will pursue legal action.

The game lets players shoot at fellow SkyTrain passengers.

“While we cannot control the subject matter that individuals choose to use in the making of video games, we do have legal rights with respect to our intellectual property,” said TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis in a release.

“Out of safety concerns for our passengers, our employees, and the public at large, TransLink cannot be seen as endorsing or condoning such violent content.

“Any time the safety or sense of safety of our employees and customers is undermined – that gives me cause for concern. That’s why we are vigorously pursuing our legal options for having the video game removed from the public sphere.”

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In the release, Jarvis said some front-line Translink employees have expressed concerns about the game and some were “particularly upset.”

“Imagine working as a SkyTrain attendant and watching widely publicized gory images of a video game that features a disgruntled passenger venting his frustration with system delays by using an automatic weapon to murder staff and passengers,” said Jarvis.

“Our buses and trains are boarded 1.2 million times a day. And our employees are dedicated to helping people get where they need to go – safely and efficiently,” he added. “If someone made a video game like that about any other well-known provider of goods or services that touched so many lives daily – be it City Hall, an airport, a library, or a hospital – I’m sure that the employees of that company would feel the same as our people feel after learning about that video through the media.”

Alexi Wildman of Wildman Industries Production created the game.

“When you roll up to Main Street Station half the thing’s closed down, it’s packed with people, and all I want to do is just get out of there and go home,” said Wildman who is a construction worker by day.

“It’s just to be provocative,” he added. “It’s just to get at it and be like ‘hey, you know?’ I mean, the way we’re doing things, the way we’re living in cities, the way our resources are being managed, it’s ticking people off.”

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