Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1055https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798After reading other posts, I actually was able to do the recording where the boys said their "goodbyes". Now I know they did have some remorse in them...they were able to love. The apologized to their families, they put it out there that no one knew and no one should be blamed but themselves. They seemed to believe this was their only way "out" or to seek revenge on those who hurt them. I didn't get to the scene with Brenda, however, I did look it up on you tube. I wonder if he did call up that girl and tell her he lover her? Finally, it is confusing how some people didn't get that this game is not to ridicule but to make them understand or know more. In noe way was this overly gruesome or explicit with language or over the top. (okay maybe the hell scene) but ultimately you are supposed to get that this game was a statement to see both sides of the story. If the developer wanted to exploit this tradgedy it would have been obvious. Play the game a few more times, you'll find the meaning ... especially when you get to the montage of pictures...at the end.Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:12:43 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798&iddiary=7162https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798The third session: I played this game several times completing the whole thing over and over (up to the hell scene in which I can never get past...I read that after that scene is a memorial for the students at Columbine though I am not sure how to make it to that point) This game was unnecessarily repetitive and became boring. But what never seemed to bore me was paying close attention to the text. I only knew the story of Columbine for the bare minimum that 2 boys shot up a school. That is it. After researching so that I could understand the game I realized alot more went on then just that. People wanted to easily point the blame on the media: the PC game Doom, Marilyn Manson, the movies Matrix and Natural Born Killers, etc. But the police, school administration and the boys parents should have done something to stop this. They had signs...obvious signs that these boys were serious trouble. I do not blame them but they should have been more responsible. This game was not meant to ridicule or slander but to easily comprehend this tradgedy. I wonder why we played Eric through the massacre? Maybe because it does seem that Dylan was the leader of this event. Without the support from each other would they have had the capacity to do this on their own? There's no option to save someone once you battle with them...Only 4 people were allowed to leave..Brooks in the parking lot, a girl in the gym, a boy getting beat up in the bathroom and a boy in the library. I think this shows that the boys could have compassion though obviously lacking much of it. They could have been saved themselves I'm sure. The pictures of their dead bodies will forever be imprinted into my mind. They are seen as murderers and we forget to remind ourselves that they are sons and that they felt victimized. I can not help but feel truly sorry for them and their families. The message and the emotional reaction from the player is the poitn of this game. We are not meant to pick on the crappy graphics or the ease of the game. None of that mattered. The flashbacks and the text mattered. People found this game offensive. My first impression before playing was how could I play this knowning that this game was made to spike controversy and in no way adds value to anything. Little did I know the true ethics would come from the battle within myself. Who's right? Who's wrong? Who's good? Who's bad? Who did wrong...everyone? Can I prevent something like this? The victims: everyone To blame: everyoneSun, 16 Aug 2009 14:03:38 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798&iddiary=7144https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798My second session of playing Super Columbine Massacre, I decided to take a different approach and so I took notes throughout the game. There were so many references I wanted to make sure to write them plus I could not understand until I actually looked some of them up. • The introduction to the game begins with a surrealists infamous quote: the purest surrealist act would be to go into a crowd and fire at random" It was the setting of what every knows to be as the most publicized school shooting of all time. It is referenced by media over and over. • After looking up Sascha Konietzko I realized this was a member of the band KMFDM which is an industrial group that was talked about a few times during the game. • Some more recognizable mentions were of the PC game Doom and Marilyn Manson. • The anitdepressant Luvox was given as a "prize" someone. Eric had some in his room as well as a select few of other groups. This was primarily used to treat those with obsessive compulsive disorder. • I looked up the name ‘reb’ as Dylan calls Eric and it said it was a nickname from the game Doom and that Vodka was a name to 'impress' people because he drinks. • NBK was referenced a lot which I found was Natural Born Killers • Anarchist Cookbook-contains ‘recipes’ on how to manufacture explosives • Kein Mitleid- no pity for the masses; Ich Bin Gott- I am God • Kip Kinkle- killed his parents before committing a school shooting in an Oregon High School • Finally, in the game, they let “BROOKS” go home, this reference is made to a friend of the boys who ultimately stumbled upon threats that Eric was making in regards to the school This game is so emotionally draining. You try to figure out what the designers of the game want you to feel but you can not help but feel sorry for Eric and Dylan. Sometimes kids can be so cruel, and it does hurt and it does make you think wrong things and feel like you want to hurt them too. They were so emotionally and psychologically damaged that they developed a skewed vision of right and wrong. Nothing can justify murder. The end scene of the montage of photos of students crying makes you then feel like “What was I thinking? Siding with ‘the bad guy’?” But it’s like are they bad guys? They had ambitions, they went to school, they had a job, they had few friends, they seemed to love each other and value each other…were they pushed to the edge? Of course, I think having each other was not enough. If more people sympathized with them I think they would have been able to get through or at least know that they were mentally unstable. This game simply tears you apart. Can we sympathize with the shooters and those who lost their lives? Can we? or is it hypocritical? Were they all not victims? Can we be mad at those who hurt them and set them off into this never ending circle of violence?Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:28:35 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798&iddiary=7138https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798Tonight, I wanted to possibly take a glimpse at what the next assignment would entail. It took me forever to download this gmae. Once I began, I knew that it was going to be a possibly interpretation of what the teenage shooters perspectives were. There were scenes added that might have been real photos (that I am going to look into). Bascially, my first try at this game...I kinda had to cheat. I went on youtube and saw a person playing the whole game. My issue was forgetting to get the bombs from the back of the truck. (That could have used a little better direction). At first, my feelings were not too happy that I would have to enact the most infamous school shootings. It is hard to understand what they were thinking and what they were going through. Honestly, some people can truly be cruel to others for whatever reason and a person can only take so much before they seem to lose it. (That is not to condone these actions but merely to empathize with the boys as is the purpose of this game). I completed the game my first day but I would like to go through it again to review the references that were made because most of them I was not familiar with expect I heard Kurt Cobain and Smashing Pumpkins in there...but more in terms of the visual text that was given. I would try to take notes next time and look up what these things are connected to. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:32:23.)Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:32:05 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3798&iddiary=7119https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3793First Play- Jul 26th 7:13 am I bought a brand new PS2 as well as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas so that I could get the full experience of playing this game as well as two more from the list provided. You are forewarned of my inability to play games that are not rated E for everyone. (I could barely make my character walk in a straight line.) Before playing my brand new game I opened the box and read the inside manual. There were almost like ads in a newspaper that included: Hannibal Liquor “Supporting your habits for over 15 years.” Ammu-Nation “No Records No Worries” and Munky Juice “Freshly Squeezed Taste of Parasites”. Along with the manual came a huge poster; one side was a map and the other was a huge picture of the front cover of the game. Without all the media attention that this game has drawn to itself, you would still be able to decipher what this game is about. The cover has a police helicopter, what looks to be some gang bangers, a ho (to be politically correct), and some poker chips and cards. I am not the best video game playing person. I could always play games that involved a fluffy character but not what I call “real people game”, in other words the sports kind of games or shooting games, etc. My first play consisted of me trying to figure out how to make my character move and what buttons did what and what would earn me money and so forth. I quickly learned that running into people would only result in them saying something stereotypical. For instance, a tall black female states “Ooo, no you didn’t” but what really threw off the game is a white female and male who was Australian I suppose. (fro their accents) I never heard of that in “the hood”. Ultimately, through my first hour of game play I realized that this game was obviously meant to be played by adults. However, these adults are probably really immature and enjoy the constant swearing and criminal activity that could do without actually being caught in real life and also by mature game players who really feel this game is a classic and involves skill. Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:31:02 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3793&iddiary=7112https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3793Third Play-July 27th 11 am Today, I learned how to change the radio station (which does not seem to add any value to the game just atmosphere). Today, I also learned that if I beat someone up enough I will earn money. So a simple hit will not earn me anything I would need to completely beat someone almost to their death. I find it hard to chose who to beat up. I try to avoid females, the elderly and groups of people. I am not sure if that is my conscience kicking in, but I do not see how a player can go for those people “for fun”. I would rather “pick on someone my own size”. I find it hard to believe that someone would go after them, but for educational purposes I beat up an older woman…which ultimately gave me no money…so maybe there is no point to beating them up anyway. I think this game is meant for amusement. People do find it funny when others suffer misfortune. They are amped by rewards thus will avoid laws to reap those rewards. Kids really should not play this because it will in fact influence them and they may feel that society has put a game like this out as a model of how people should and do act. Adults should be aware that of course society needs order. I felt that my conscience did get to me in regards to what I was doing even if I was just playing a game. I don’t think too many people have this problem but from my experience it is. That was probably the biggest surprise out of this experience.Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:30:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3793&iddiary=7111https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3793Second Play-July 26th 11 pm I realized that by pressing a certain button I am able to steal cars from anyone. I could steal taxis and trucks and even police cars. Some people claim that this has an effect on others and their attitude and opinions on criminal activity and that this could evoke someone to live out the outrageous thing that this game requires you to do. I really do not believe someone who is of sound mind could believe that they could it would be acceptable to behave like this outside of the gaming realm. It is clearly not acceptable to steal nor is it acceptable to just speak to anyone in any manner that you feel. There’s respect and tact and if we do not utilize them then that is what creates such a chaotic world. Of course, you may find areas even in Chicago where it is really tough but never to the extent of this particular game. Something else I noticed…when I die (from either gunshot wounds or my car blows up) my death is simply and humorously referred to as “wasted”. Sometimes the cops say “See you in Hell” with no remorse. It definitely was thought provoking. It made me think of how maybe we do not really respect the gift of life, rather we see a criminal die and we rejoice. Maybe people are not happy someone dies maybe they feel justice in some way is served. But murder/death/killing….none of those actually proves that justice prevails.Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:29:38 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3793&iddiary=7110