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Feb 22nd, 2010 at 22:13:28 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
Navigating through hell all alone was difficult. I have noting but a pistol and there is noting to heal myself with. The only thing I wanted to do was find Eric or get my weapons back so I would stand a better chance against the enemies. The Trench Coat Mafia didn’t feel complete with out it’s other member or with out guns. It took me several attempts around different twists and turns, but I finally found Eric. I was so happy to be reunited with my only friend mostly because it gave me more firepower.
I continued to explore the twisting maze of hell. Enemies were easy to avoid but ever now and then I would run into a demon imp and they would quickly kill me off. I didn’t stand a chance until I found a shotgun in a treasure chest. I finally had a weapon that gave me a fighting chance and I wanted to find others. From here on out the game became all about killing demons which didn’t feel as bad as killing school students. My motivation didn’t need to explained or justified anymore.
I continued looking around and uncovered a plasma rifle and a chain gun. Enemies also started to drop more medkits that I could use to restore my health with. The battles weren’t as challenging anymore but the resource management provided meaningful game play.
This game is based on a national tragedy, but in the game it just serves as a means to advance the story. In the beginning the game puts you in the perspective of the gun men. The game questions the influence of video games and music on Eric and Dylan and perhaps it did have some effect on them. While you play the game you are constantly reminded of this as you kill characters from Doom and listen to music by Manson. But these just serve as a backdrop to there own twisted reasoning and urge to kill everything.
The game itself was a challenging for its simple design. I do not believe I could relate or connect with the motives of the characters but the challenges I look for as a gamer were similar to goals of the characters. In the game the characters wanted to kill everything. As a gamer I wondered if I would have the resources to kill everything. The reason for playing this game for me came from wanting to see where the character’s reasoning would bring them and from the challenging of defeating as many enemies as I could.
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Feb 21st, 2010 at 02:44:21 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
I have been wondering around the school for awhile trying to find out where to go next. When my killing spree first began I would enter a class room and kill everyone. The battles themselves were not very challenging. The satisfaction I gained from this game was body count. I wondered if I could kill everyone. I wondered if anything special would happen if I did.
Each battle was with some stereotypical enemy. I would fight cheerleaders, jocks, pretty girls, and preps. In a way this is what people do to each other in high school. Everyone was put into groups and judged based on the labels people put on them. However there is more to people then the label you give them. But this game doesn’t let you look past the labels given to the characters and in a way this make killing them all a little easier.
There was one case where I entered a bathroom and a boy was being bullied by several jocks. After slaughtering them all the boy thanked Eric and Dylan and ran off. I felt a little heroic but the feeling didn’t stay. I quickly abandoned my goal of trying to kill everyone because the battles weren’t challenging, just repetitive. The character’s motives weren’t enough to keep me going and I was just tired of pressing the space bar over and over.
I finally walked past the window in the library and started a shoot out with the cops. I thought to my self I finally found how move on with the game. As expected Eric and Dylan both shot themselves and then a strange thing happened. I was shown their final thoughts.
What if? What if they found an island where they could be isolated from everything? Or what if they hijacked a plane and crashed it into a skyscraper? This 9/11 reference felt totally out of place. Both Columbine and 9/11 where national tragedies, but do the reasons for them tie together? Then news footage and pictures of the shootings showed on screen. I watched them for awhile and wondered. Should I really care? They showed the grave of both the shooters and the reaction of the victims. I didn’t know if I should feel bad for all the people I just killed or if I should feel bad for Eric and Dylan. I couldn’t decide in the end.
Then I found myself in hell. I descended down a long stairwell into the fiery pits of the underworld crawling with monsters. The game suddenly had a huge challenge. I didn’t know where to go and the enemies actually put up a fight. I wondered around in circles fighting one monster after another. But they did damage that could take down my health by one third with each hit. I died several times trying to find my way around. Before I got frustrated I wished I had killed more people in the school to level up.
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Feb 21st, 2010 at 02:00:03 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started to play this game. The design of the game resembled other RPGs I have played before like Final Fantasy VI and Pokemon. But this game would most certainly have values different from any other game I have played. Like in every RPG, I went around examining everything. I found the Doom video game and the Marilyn Manson CD. Questions were asked in the game if the content of Marilyn Manson and Doom could have made a person commit a killing spree. When these questions came my impression of this game was that it was going to be a satire on the media blame that came in the wake of Columbine shootings. I started to wonder if Manson’s music could really a major factor in motivating the Columbine shootings. I didn’t think so but equipping the CD did raise your stats a bit.
While I continued to exploring the basement Eric and Dylan talked about their motives during their flashback and their last recording. Then in the car ride to the school they continued to talk about why they wanted everyone to die. The reason for their motive was simple, they heated everyone and everything. But they also didn’t want to bring any pain or blame to their friends or family. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Later, after arriving at the school my next mission was to plant the bombs. At this point I wasn’t concerned too much about the character’s motives behind their actions. Even though this game was based on a real event it still felt the game was just trying to establishing a reason for playing it.
Before entering the school I was warned me to avoid security cameras but it didn’t say anything about talking to other people. In other RPGs it is common to go around talking to people, even if your characters are in enemy territory. When I first entered the school I thought it would be ok to talk with the first person I saw. But this was the wrong action. It was a hall monitor, everyone was a hall monitor. I couldn’t speak to anyone with out being sent back and forced start over again. I couldn’t be seen by anyone.
It took me several tries to make it past the security cameras and avoid the hall monitors. I planted the bombs and waited for them to detonate. But they failed to go off. Eric and Dylan just decided to carry on with the killing spree. In the parking lot everyone was a target, an enemy, someone who could be killed. However there was one boy, a friend of theirs I guess, that Eric and Dylan warned to run away. There was one person that the two boys spared. I don’t know how closely the values in this game reflect those of the Columbine shooters. Eric and Dylan both hated everyone but they still wanted to spare their friends and family from any consequences of their actions. These characters do express a little sympathy but everyone else is at the mercy of the player.
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Jan 18th, 2010 at 11:10:52 - Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas (XBX) |
It is strange how this game encourages different behaviors. Your character in this game initially starts out with a white t-shirt and jeans. But your fellow gang members criticize your for not ‘representing’ the gang and wearing green. I went to the clothing store and even though I had my choice of selecting kind of clothing I wanted, I choose a green hoody and baggy jeans. The first thought that came to mind when I stepped out of the dressing room was “now I really look gangsta”. I had my choice of any color and style of clothing but at this point in the game I wanted to look like the other characters who I had been spending most of my time with.
Before I took on the next mission of the game I decided to build up my character a bit. I spent some time wondering the streets, beating down people for money and collecting weapons. I didn’t think twice about my actions. I was doing stuff gang members are expected to do and such actions are rewarded in the context of this game.
After I built up a nice arsenal of weapons and collected some cash I decide to take on the next mission. I had to go into rival gang territory and shoot them up in several drive bys. I failed at this mission several times. The first attempt my car blew up because not only did I take damage from my reckless driving but also from gunfire. The next attempt I learned the closer I drove to the rival gang members, the faster I could gun them down. But after I made my runs I had a wanted level of two starts and the police cars then began to chase me. At this point my car was on fire and the police would drive their cars into mine. It wasn’t long until I was overwhelmed and my car blew up.
I was then brought back to the hospital with half my money gone and all my weapons taken away. I was furious. Not only did I fail the mission but all the people I killed was for noting. On top of that I still had to complete the mission. So what did I do? I went back out onto the streets to kill more people for money and weapons.
This game not only encourages what would be considered illegal activity, but you can’t advance in the game with out. The characters in the game are based off of stereotypes so you come to expect how they would react when you interact with them. You become desensitized to violence as you massacre and entire city to collect money and weapons. Any negative consequences from these actions don’t act as a deterrent or show why these actions would be considered wrong outside the context of the game. Instead they provide the challenge of the game. That becomes the very reason you will either enjoy the game or be feed up and disgusted by it.
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