Popular trivia gaming app Stop is being slammed by activists for saying HIV kills.
The number 11 game in the trivia charts on the iOS app store is being described as ‘dangerous’ for its ‘outdated views’ on the virus.
The developers of the app have denied the game, and the creative team, are prejudiced. However, they said they will not change the game.
Stop’s concept is you are given five categories and are given a random letter. Players must then name something that fits into those categories beginning with that letter. Users of the app play against friends or a random opponent against a time limit.
In one category, ‘things that can kill you’, a viable answer is HIV.
Trivia app slammed by activists for saying HIV ‘kills you’
Activists have raised this category answer with Fanatee, the development team.
‘HIV is no longer a death sentence, and those who are diagnosed early and on effective treatment can expect to live healthy lives for as long as anyone else. Trivializing HIV in this way is dangerous and reinforces stigma and myths that still surround the virus,’ Matt Horwood, the Head of Media and PR at HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, told Gay Star News.
‘We have reached out to the makers of this app and hope to see them disable “HIV” as a correct answer for any questions that trivialize it in this way.’
When contacted by GSN, Fanatee have claimed their logic fits in with their wish to be as ‘inclusive as possible’.
A Fanatee spokesperson ‘apologized if [people] feel this answer is offensive to people who are HIV positive’.
Gaming company insists HIV is ‘potentially lethal’
They denied the answer implies people who are HIV positive cannot lead happy, healthy lives.
They told GSN: ‘We’d like to assure… that neither our company nor this game aims at taking any stands, political, medical or otherwise.
‘We are a gaming company that aims at entertaining and reaching the largest possible number of people, which means that our word bank also reflects our wish to be as inclusive as possible. Fanatee doesn’t discriminate people based on race, color, sexual orientation, religion, gender or any other characteristic.
‘We’d also like to emphasize that the name of the category is “Things that can kill you”, which means that what is listed in this category is potentially lethal, but not necessarily so. Viruses might cause diseases, which may be lethal, but in order to contract such diseases, there is a virus involved (as there can be no AIDS without HIV).’
HIV positive people are living increasingly long lives
HIV ribbon
Matthew Hodson, the executive director of HIV charity NAM, said the trivia app’s description of HIV was ‘outdated’.
He told GSN: ‘HIV-positive people are living increasingly long lives.
‘People living with HIV, who are diagnosed promptly and have access to treatment, can expect to live as long as people who do not have HIV.
‘Using HIV as an example of “things that can kill you” is outdated. It only serves to support the prejudice and insensitivity that people with HIV face, often on a daily basis.
‘I’m fed up of HIV or AIDS being the punchline to any joke that requires something to be “the worst thing ever”.
‘For many of us with HIV, the hardest part is dealing with the ignorance and fear of others.’
