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| “ | Bitches will die! No social justice in gaming! | „ |
| ~ A K.O.B.S member in a video they made to the N.Y.P.D. |
Kill Or Be Slaughtered (abbreviated as K.O.B.S) are the main antagonists of the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Intimidation Game". They’re a gang who believe that women have no place in the gaming community and use cyberterrorist tactics to pressure them into quitting.
History[]
The group was comprised of three men named Anthony Rossi, Ryan (aka "Acid Rain") and Pierce and named after their favorite shooter game "Kill or Be Slaughtered". It was formed to menace female game developer Raina Punjabi after the announcement of her game "Amazonian Warriors: Protectors of the Rain Forest". With the help of an unnamed accomplice disguised as a security guard, K.O.B.S was able to kidnap Raina during the presentation at her game launch. Through the Jumbotron outside the convention center where the event was being hosted, the three broadcast themselves bounding and gagging Raina after loading her inside a van. The lead member of K.O.B.S then announces "Game on, N.Y.P.D."
Taking Raina to a warehouse, K.O.B.S film a video of themselves slapping Raina around that ends with the words "Level Completed" popping up onscreen. SVU are able to track them to the warehouse by finding the van they used to kidnap Raina, but by the time they get there K.O.B.S have already left and taken Raina with them, leaving behind a sheet with their logo on it.
K.O.B.S torturing Raina.
At the next location, K.O.B.S begin a livestream of themselves taking turns raping Raina. They then force Raina to give a message, that gaming is no place for women and all the other "bitches" in the industry aren't safe and aren't wanted. They also make her say she never loved Steven and only married him so he'd back her game.
However, the livestream was geotagged to the home of Marissa Rossi in Staten Island. SVU travels to the house and searches the basement, deducing that it is the place where K.O.B.S filmed Raina. They also find that guns are missing from the house's gun safe.
Meanwhile, Raina managed to escape the kidnappers and steal one of their phones, allowing her to contact SVU. She tells SVU that K.O.B.S are holding her in a parking garage and begs them to come and save her, stating she thinks they are going to kill her. However, she was secretly being made to make the call by K.O.B.S, who hoped to lure the N.Y.P.D. into a trap.
At the garage, SVU finds Raina tied up and duck-taped to a rifle aimed at the door. They soon find two members of K.O.B.S on the roof and incapacitate them. It is then that one of them, Anthony Rossi, reveals he intentionally geotagged the video to his mom's house so they would find them and that his co-kidnappers, Ryan and Pierce, are "out of control".
As Anthony is taken into custody, the SVU is shot at by Pierce, but the kidnapper is soon taken out with a shot to the shoulder from SVU member Carisi. Ryan then comes in and points a gun at the SVU, telling them "prepare to be slaughtered". However, SVU member Fin comes up from behind him and tells him to drop the gun or he'll blow his head off. Ryan refuses and turns around to attempt to shoot him, but is shot dead three times before he can. Pierce is also taken into custody after that.
Some time afterwards, Raina gives up and quits the gaming industry due to the whole experience.
Trivia[]
- This episode of Law & Order: SVU gained controversy due to its depictions of the gaming industry as a sexist and misogynistic place, which received backlash from a number of people within the industry, as well as many female game developers. The episode was also criticized by other gaming figures particularly on YouTube, who stated that the episode misrepresented and exaggerated the events it was supposedly based on.
- However, the episode also received a more positive, yet mocking reception from many others, who saw it as "so bad it's good" entertainment, finding the extreme exaggerations, unrealistic events and the irony that the villains succeeded in their goal unintentionally hilarious.
- The episode also spawned a number of memes on the Internet based on it and its exaggerations and depictions of gamers as sexist terrorists.
- K.O.B.S. bears a striking resemblance to the real-life terrorist group ISIS, from their masks right down to the color palette of their flag.
