Thursday, May 18, 2006

Super Columbine Massacre RPG

Yes, this is actually the name of a video game and it's causing quite a stir in our community! I found out about this game in the Rocky Mountain News in this article on Tuesday. Apparently the creator wants to create "real dialogue" on the subject of school shootings!

WHAT?

This is how the game begins, "Welcome to Super Columbine Massacre RPG! You play as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on that fateful day in the Denver suburb of Littleton. How many people they kill is ultimately up to you."

You've got to be kidding me?

I find it fascinating that creating real dialogue has to come as a result of playing a video game by being Klebold and Harris. Last time I checked, dialogue, included another person. What saddens me about the creation of this game is that somehow getting into the minds of Harris and Klebold and playing this game is supposed to help me deal with my pain.

I can't wait for my kids to grow up in this culture. I can just see the video games coming - "Walk through your parents divorce and the fate of your family is ultimately up to you!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

From that Water Cooler website:

Water Cooler Games is a site about videogames with an agenda. It is about games that go beyond entertainment. Water Cooler Games explores the emerging field of games want to do more than simply being fun: they want to make a point, share knowledge, change opinions. This includes new genres such as advergaming, newsgaming, political games, simulations and edutainment. If you think that video games have a strong potential for communication, persuasion and education, come and join our discussion by the Water Cooler.


Video Games with an agenda????? Are we serious? Let me try this one tonight - Aleisha, why don't we cozy up next to the PS2 and play a little Grand Theft Auto and consider the deeper implications of sticking a gat in an innocent man's face and blowing his brains all over the windshield - Romantic and Thought Provoking!

He does have a point though - after I finished off Bowser on Mario 8 I went through a very reflective stage in my life.

Sorry to be so flip about this, but people are not looking for video games to teach them deeper issues - and trying to play this game off as having an "agenda" is weak...

Anonymous said...

Brian, I have to take axepchon to what you is sayin. I ax myself wat I hav lerned from by PS2, and I have made a livin son on what I have lerned. me and my boys are experts at eludin, skilled at all kinds of equipment such as gloks and uzis, and boy have we had fun, all thanxs to Grand Theft Auto. Who needs edukachon we got a videonachon son!
ye-oh

Dan Luebcke said...

Brian - play CTR on my playstation was like going to a counselor for me when i was in Seminary. Not to mention Ms. Pacman when my parents got divorced.

Anonymous - did you graduate from a Jeffco school?

Philip Hodges said...

Dan and Brian,
Let me throw another one out there, Left Behind the Game, not as outrageous or personal as Columbine Massacre, but it opens the question of what we are saying with what we allow our children to play. The game allows the player to be the tribulation force in NYC and to battle the forces of the antichrist. What is interesting is that the charachters are able and do kill the enemy, the more they kill without prayer and healing the more suseptable they are to being recruited by the global comunity.
Back to columbine, I would like to talk to someone who is purchasing this "game" and ask them why they feel that this is an acceptable game for anyone other than the sick perverts who get thrills from seeing pain on others and creating pain in others. This is a publicity stunt that will fail. No one who has any self respect would really buy this, I hope. And yes, Dan, I did go to a Jeffco Skool.
Hodges

Dan Luebcke said...

Phil, nice work on the spelling errors in your anonymous post. There is a left behind game?

I can't imagine a post-tribualtion video game...Give me a 7!

Alice Robbins said...

Money, money and more money! Hey while were at it, let's make a Aushwitz game and gas as a burn as many people as we can! Let's then make a Iraq game and see how many we put into a meat grinder and figure out what they are really feeling! Yeah! And let's reconstruct the rape rooms! Hey after that then we can go to our homes and devlope a game to figure out how to kill family members when they tick us off! (We are just trying to figure our psychy out, and that means that there is NO limitaions in what is right and wrong in doing that!) Hey this all sounds great! Profit! Profit! Profit! It is all only for money anyway, no harm is meant! Get a sense of humor! It's just a video game, no one really gets hurt!

Yeah, ask that to the victims of Columbine.

What a bunch of sickos! This does not surprise me, but it DOES sicken me! Teaching deeper issues is NOT a game. It will be all fun and games until another school gets shot up and then after five years or so another video will be made. Do we learn from history or just mock it?