New AI Zombie Shooter Game Set In SF Neighborhood Sparks Backlash: Report – Patch

New AI Zombie Shooter Game Set In SF Neighborhood Sparks Backlash: Report  Patch

"Tenderloin: Night Shift" was called "gross" by city leaders, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report. SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A recently released AI-generated zombie shooter game set in San Francisco's Tenderloin has sparked backlash for its depiction of the embattled region. The free-to-play browser game, "Tenderloin: Night Shift," has already been played by a few thousand people and ignited debate over its representation of the Tenderloin, an impacted community in San Francisco suffering from public health crises and socioeconomic disparities, including a drug epidemic and homelessness. Critics say the game, created by developer Pierre-Louis Biojout, resembles homeless residents in the area and people with addiction, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Biojout told the San Francisco Chronicle the game was meant to make San Francisco into a zombie map like Call of Duty did with Alcatraz. "The game was not intended to provoke or to depict shooting real people," Biojout, who says he walks through the area daily on the way to his office, told the Chronicle. "Its characters draw on a broad cross-section of San Francisco, across different backgrounds and walks of life, including people who work in tech." But city leaders disagree, including Supervisor and Tenderloin representative Bilal Mahmood, who called the game "deeply disturbing and unacceptable." Former Tenderloin Supervisor Dean Preston described the game as "vigilantism