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blackraven36's Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC)
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| [October 28, 2010 10:32:45 AM]
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The last time I played the game, I decided to go beyond the shooting to see if I could beat the game. I found myself in hell fighting monsters. It turns out that they finally get to play out their favorite videogame, Doom. At this point, I think I truly realize the intentions of the makers. I went ahead and did some research into the actual shooting. Even though the game depicts a comical depiction, the creators where not just simply creating random, unconnected events. One of the two shooters was working on the ‘tier’ mod that is said to be a recreation of the Columbine school. While the creators took a very comical approach, a major theme of the game is the affects of videogames. Is it ethical for us to play violent videogames? A lot of the blame on videogames is commonly exaggerated, but in my opinion it may have been a factor in the decision to shoot up a high school. What if someone’s dream becomes to play out a videogame? Maybe that is why the shootings happened?
There are a lot of details that can be overlooked in the game, which show a different side of the game. While the game itself is quite dull and pointless, if you play out the different parts for long enough, there are some interesting details that will come about. For instance, while playing I went into the men’s bathroom looking for the key to the janitor’s door. I stumbled into a number of bullies who are harassing another school boy. I don’t have to kill them in order to continue the story and if I tried, I could lose the game. Fortunately I had leveled up enough that they were not a challenge. However, this shows that the developers intended to show a slightly different side of the two shooters. Columbine was heavily criticized for allowing bullying. In reality the two left the people in the bathroom alone, but the game goes go depict a slightly different version. Bullying was listed as one of the causes of the shooting. The interesting thing is that you can decide not to kill the bullies and leave them alone. I chose to kill them in order to save the kid. There is also at one point where you can’t kill one of the people in the school and your character lets them go. I think it is ethical how this is depicted, because no one is completely a monster and they, just like everyone, have reasons for what they did. The game gives the reason of hating the way society is, is that true is hard to say, but there are many teenagers out there who feel the same way.
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| [October 27, 2010 02:27:48 PM]
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What I find so amazing about Super Columbine Massacre RPG is that it is so badly made, that it cannot be taken seriously. I think if it was to be far more graphic and seriously made, it would have a much better educational value. As I stated in the last log, the game has educational value because it gives a person the ability play (even though much of the events are made up), one of the people who shot up Columbine.
I decided to get a little further in the game by getting to the shooting. What struck me, is that while the game focuses on details like the bombs not going off, it fails to portray the feelings and violence that happened during the events. I got as far as running around in the cafeteria hallway and outside killing everyone I can run into. What stunned me, is that insead of holding down a button to shoot, I had to run into a person in order to kill them. I would have much rather have to run around with a gun and shooting bullets then having a battle screen. After a while I got bored and couldn’t get myself to die, so I simply quite the game.
In the beginning, it seemed to give a loose recount for the events (Such as planting the bomb) However, as the game progresses, it turns almost into a mockery of the events. Before the shooting begins, the two characters are standing and look at the view of the city, having a very lame conversation. When the shooting begins, the game becomes even less realistic. When I run into another person, the game switches views into a more Pokémon like battle system. Not only do I take damage, but it also takes a few attempts to “damage” the other student.
I would say that this approach to the game is unethical. Rather than being educational to the events that happened during the events of the Columbine Shooting, I feel as if the creators turned the events into a comedy almost. I am sure that the students that were shot did not take 112 damage and did not attack me for 20 damage.
If I was to play a game about the columbine shooting, I want to see realistic reactions of people trying to hide and get away from the shooters. I don’t want to see a point system which indicates how much I have damaged them as if they are just a videogame character. The issue, is not that this is a school shooting game, but that it revolves around actual events. If the creators wanted to infer that the two individuals felt as if they are in a videogame, then they could have taken a different approach.
This of course, is my own moral subjectivism. Every person copes differently in different situations. It is possible, that the creators created the game as part of their coping. However, it is possible that they where trying to be insulting. I think its unethical the way they decided to create the game, because they knew that it would be insulting to many people. If they were to cope with the events in this way, then they should have kept the game unpublished.
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| [October 25, 2010 04:17:15 PM]
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I didn’t get very far during the first time I played the game. I got as far as the cafeteria. However, I want to focus more on the ethical side of playing one of the characters that is responsible for the Combine high school shooting. In my opinion, it is ethical that the player gets to control (a depiction) of one of the people who shot up the school. I think it is ethical because I feel as if it is an educational experience. It is interesting to see, how the two characters are very calm about what they are about to do. From the side, this would be very hard to depict. The game is trying to make a statement about how their actions where almost like a videogame experience, where they came to the school one day and simply shot a lot of students. It was like a game to them that they have been waiting to play for a very longtime. It is ethical, in my mind, because it does not make me want to go shoot up a school, but rather frightens me to play such a role. I think it is because I know the these events (not assuming the everything is accurate) actually happened. If I played GTA 4 and know that my actions where performed in real life by the character I am playing, I wouldn’t want to play that game either.
I can see this game seriously offending some people, but it also offers a different side to the story. Contrary to what some might believe, it does not try to justify the actions of the two individuals. It rather puts it into a context, in which players question the parallel between the two individuals actions and a video game. Did they feel like they were in a virtual world where nothing matters, just like the players who play their impersonations in Super Columbine Massacre RPG!?
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