San Francisco’s Zombie Shooter: A Controversial Coding Experiment

Code, Shoot, and Critique

Hey there, fellow gamers and meme enthusiasts! Gather around because we have a juicy tale from the tech world that’s equal parts cringe and eye-roll worthy. Last weekend, Pierre-Louis Biojout, CEO of an AI startup called NanoCorp, decided to blend coding with a little too much cheekiness by developing a web-based shooter game set in… wait for it… the notorious Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This area, famed for its struggles with homelessness and rampant drug use, doesn’t exactly scream ‘fun and games.’

In a now-deleted post on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter), Biojout proclaimed, “San Francisco couldn’t fix the Tenderloin, so I monetized it as a Call of Duty-style zombie shooter on the real SF streets!” Did someone say insensitive? Oh, but it gets better! In the process, he reportedly raked in a cool $300 from in-game ads! Who needs compassion when you can cash in on a neighborhood’s darkest moments, right?

Vibes VS Reality

Enter “Tenderloin Night Shift,” the game where players can blast away at what Biojout dubbed as “zombies.” But hold on—these aren’t just any run-of-the-mill undead; they’re inspired by real-life issues, featuring characters like a “folded” fentanyl addict and even a Black security guard. Yes, yes, because nothing screams ‘fun’ like shooting fictional representations of vulnerable people!

Jennifer Friedenbach, the big boss at the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, wasn’t having it either, commenting on this peculiar *vibe* coding project by calling it an exploitation fest. She noted that Biojout was “monetizing the dehumanization and pretend killing for fun of mostly Black and Brown residents of the poorest neighborhood in San Francisco.” Ouch. Burn!
Not one to back down, Biojout tried to clarify his intentions. He claimed he didn’t mean to provoke or imply that we should go around shooting real people, adding that, surprisingly, the game even features tech workers as characters too! Because nothing says a successful workplace culture like a game where you shoot your colleagues, right?

Despite the controversy, Tenderloin Night Shift seems to have vanished from NanoCorp’s website—talk about a corporate ghosting! And while Biojout tried to delete his post, the digital conversation continues to echo around the internets, with voices from both sides weighing in.

Some users criticized the game ferociously, labeling it as an insensitive portrayal of addiction, while others weirdly endorsed the very message Biojout was attempting to shake off. One user remarked, “They are currently NOT human beings,” and another said they’d “train in bro’s game” to prepare for a visit to San Francisco. Talk about misaligned priorities!

So, as we sit back and chuckle (and cringe) at this bizarre coding caper, let’s remember: sometimes, gaming should reflect a slice of reality, not parody it. Or better yet, let’s just keep the zombies where they belong—far away from any real-life struggles! What’s your take on the whole ordeal? Time to get our gaming goggles on and aim for a better message!