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Seems that software developers aren’t the only ones having trouble getting their content into the app store, although I can’t image most are being rejected for the same reason as Infurious. Their digital comic Murderdrome has been “banned” from the iTunes App Store for “... breaking Apple’s content guidelines.” Infurious explains that, “This is due to the part of the sdk that suggests content must NOT offend anyone in ‘apple’s reasonable’ opinion.” Apparently, Apple feels the stabbing people in the face with a machete, hacking off their head and throwing into a hole in the wall for sport might offend someone. Go figure.

When I hear stories like this, my first thought is always, “Well, what did you expect?” To their credit, though, Infurious aren’t calling for a boycot of Apple or asking us to flood them with requests to allow the comic in the App Store, they want us to rally behind their idea that Apple should implement a content ratings system for the App Store. But, would that really work?

Murder, Satan, and gore! Gore! GORE! after the break.

The problem with all of this is that Murderdrome is just a comic built into a comic reader app, which I think is just called Comic Reader (codename “Kirby”). The Infurious site is doing a terrible job of splitting the two, so it’s not really even clear what has been banned, the app or the comic. In their press release, Infurious explains they offer a service where you can submit your comic to them, and they’ll apply it to “Kirby” and go through the process of getting it into the App Store. Or, you can license the code to publish your own comics, but they really don’t explain this process on their site.

The video below shows “Kirby” in action.

Regardless, their first attempt at this process was blocked by Apple, apparently because of the violent imagery used in Murderdrome (although I haven’t seen any comment from Apple confirming this to be the reason). Infurious points out that violent, R rated movies are available through iTunes, and there’s certainly no shortage of music with violent themes. The only difference between those and the Murderdrome comic is that they’ve received ratings; parents are warned of the content ahead of time. It would make sense, then, for Apple to just rate the comic, right? Wrong. Apple is not in the business of rating content. Movies are rated by MPAA, games by the ESRB, and music by…uh…Tipper Gore? I can’t remember. It’s asking Apple quite a bit to set up a ratings committee to evaluate everything that goes through the Apple Store. It’s much easier (and cheaper) to tell a developer, “Sorry, it offends, be gone,” via their ambiguous rules than to defend those rules against angry parents, teams of lawyers, churches, slighted developers, etc. after said content hits the market.

So, Apple is just playing it cautiously for now, I’m guessing. The App Store is in its infancy; as it develops, the company will learn how to handle content such as Murderdrome and figure out a way to get that content in without offending (or frightening off) a larger number of customers. Will demanding that Apple implement a ratings system push this along? Of course not. Infurious is not going to get enough people behind their cause to make an impression, and it’s not as if Apple is hurting for content to place in the App Store. Even if Murderdrome’s banning from the App Store were to make headlines in the major media, it would generally be conceived as good press for Apple. “See? Apple loves our children! They’re protecting them from the ghastly cartoons that would surely lead to lives of crime and villainy and the marijuana!”

Instead, if Murderdrome fans really want to see a ratings system in the App Store, find some content already in there that could be questionable and protest it. I don’t know where to look, though…maybe Magic Orakul’s use of mystical (and likely Satanic) powers? Wine Snob’s promotion of alcoholism and elitism (amongst Satanists)? Big Bang Sudoku’s attack on Intelligent Design and rampant use of Satanism (the numbers 666 can appear on the board at any time)?

Get the right people fired up about apps like that, and you’ll have your ratings system in no time. Unitl then, comic book fans will just have to look elsewhere to get their fix of violent sports, decapitations, and biting social satire on our current judicial system. Say…a bookstore, perhaps, where over-the-top violence is good and acceptable because it’s “literature”?

Oh, and I also suggest you check out the reader comments about the Murderdrom ban on the Infurious Blog. The “soap-boxing” there is downright hilarious. Ah, the ideals of youth. How quickly they’ll learn…

Via [Infurious Comics]