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John Oremus
Professor Zagal
Ethics in Video Games/Cinema
4/10/13
Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
This was the strangest gaming experience I have ever gone through in my fifteen-odd years of playing video games. I wanted to approach playing it with an open mind, the same way that I make my mindset when I go to a movie about a part of history I am familiar with (like Apollo 13, I know what happens but I do my best to keep the rush). Super Columbine RPG! is a bizarre concept to even think about as a video game, let alone a video game that was actually made. The game design was reminiscent of the old Pokémon games, 16-bit inspiration and overhead character control, et cetera.
The depiction of the infamous teens, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, was interesting to me. I am not very familiar with the situation surrounding the Columbine Massacre other than the basics that one inevitably learns about as a consumer of media. They were socially alienated and bullied kids who went to their high school and shot a number of their classmates, causing a media outcry about gun violence. One part of the game that I thought was “well done” or at least successful was the depiction of the duo’s totally depleted mindset going into the actual event. The theme of what I call “the wounded soul of the teenager” was one that I found very prevalent, and playing it in a video game was bizarre. Establishing their state of mind is extremely important because without it I do not think there could be any historical accuracy. The context given here is elemental to the process of the game because so much of the debate about the aftermath of the massacre was about the products that the two consumed and the ways they lived their lives in the time preceding the event.
I intentionally took my time playing it because I wanted to get the details in full, so I did not get to the actual massacre. I imagine that I will get there during my second log. Whether or not I found this first sitting a positive experience will come through with time. Hopefully this game will enlighten me rather than make me more wary of gun violence, this was a solid first step towards a meaningful ending.
Rating (out of 5): |
