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Nov 5th, 2008 at 12:25:19 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
In this game log, I would like to look back over all the elements of SCMRPG, and analyze its violent aspect from an ethical perspective. I have already discussed that SCMRPG is not the typical violent computer game. Far from it, the game tries to explore the psychology and emotions of the Columbine murderers and translate directly to players through the game.
Violence in the game, from a player view, is not very graphically depicted, much like Pokemon and the FF series. It does not make the killing any less realistic however, you could view many dead corpses on the ground that you as a player have personally created. That is some serious exposition to the world of the murderer. If through all the original well-developed cut scenes and story, players still cannot grasp the point to the killings of innocent bystanders, then SCMRPG probably have failed from an ethical stand point. Why? Because as said previously, the artful exploration of how the murderers feel, their reasons and hatred, their surroundings, their environment, all of this contributes to what separates this RPG from so many other violent game.
Killing in this game is not necessarily a means to an end, but an end in itself. In so many other games, we are given missions, and quests to do, many of which involve killing. Although as a player, we do not feel any hatred towards the NPCs, we do those missions to advance further. Not quite so in SCMRPG. You could choose to kill the helpless bystanders, if you truly feel the hatred that those murderers were feeling, which were so elaborately depicted in game, through cut scenes and stories. Or you can simply walk past them and concentrate on completing the game, upon which the game becomes a rather meaningless act: you're not really playing it, you just want to complete the game and get it over with.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Nov 5th, 2008 at 12:25:47.
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Nov 5th, 2008 at 11:09:52 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
My last gaming session got me to the part where Eric has to plant the bombs within the cafeteria. What terrible camera explanations, it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to get through the whole hallway into the cafeteria, even then I made the mistake of forgetting to take the bomb from the car trunk, and having to get back to the parking lot.
Why can't the bomb just be placed in our inventory slot at the beginning anyway? Maybe the act of taking the bomb out of the car trunk is rather meaningful to the game designer? Possibly. I find that hard to believe however after all the bombs got planted, and the game moved into its slaughter stage. Every single person can be slaughtered (or as the game so cleverly put it: "knocked out"), while I as a player felt no sense of revenge or satisfactions in killing them. The whole experience was not meaningful in anyway, just a kill-fest.
Based on such meaningless kill-fest, we can question the morality of the game. Though it is likely that we criticize the game for being highly immoral, illustrating the act of murders, yet so many other games out there do almost the same thing and can get away with it. Super Columbine Massacre RPG is just under more criticism simply for its theme.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Nov 5th, 2008 at 11:33:34.
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Nov 5th, 2008 at 10:17:20 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
My very first impression of this game is, wow, it certainly is not your typical game. The game theme itself is provocative and controversial, being about the Columbine shooting. Starting the game, I'm even more startled that I will get to play as one of the murderer. It was very interesting right at the start to see how things would continue from there.
The first 30 minutes, there weren't much actions going on. But I was thankful for that (I wasn't yet ready for all the shootings to come). The game in fact lay a pretty elaborate storyline that attempts to explain the psychology of the murderers. The cut scene and the angst songs all add to the experience of being an oppressed teenager who's soon to blow up. At this stage, this game is really a work of art in its powerful ability to invoke emotions upon players.
I have to wonder however if all this psychological exploration is simply our one-way hypothesis in trying to explain the Columbine massacre. If that is so, is it at all ethical to base the whole story and reasoning up front upon this not-so-clear explanation of the massacre. Is society really to blame for the massacre?
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Nov 5th, 2008 at 10:52:40.
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Oct 6th, 2008 at 14:59:55 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PC) |
Once again I come back to GTA to resume the mission. This time, my first mission is "Sweet's Girl". Sweet and his girlfriend is surrounded by the Seville, and I have to control CJ to get him out of trouble. Fair enough, I thought it was simply a fetch and run type of mission.
I couldn't be more wrong. The game does not allow Sweet to come out until all the Seville who are surrounding his place are eliminated. I was faced with a choice between killing several people from another gang, saving Sweet and his girlfriend, and ignoring the mission and spare the lives of those people. Obviously, to continue with the mission, I was forced to go with the first choice.
Had it be a real choice in the real world though, I'm puzzled as to what would be the ethical answer. Do you kill several people to save your brother and his girlfriend, or do you value multiple lives over one life?
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vantran has been with GameLog for 15 years, 6 months, and 21 days |
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