Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1271https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4295Third and the last time of playing SCMRPG! I honestly am kind of bored of this game. As I have mentioned last time, everything is so "automatic" that I just have to press buttons and enjoy music playing in the background. I played the entire game last time so I just decided to play an hour tonight. While I was playing, I thought about two stories that my high school AP Psychology teacher told us: 1. A guy from my hometown (suburbs of DC) was so into the game the Matrix that he once thought he was actually in the game and shot his parents. This was about ten years ago and now he's in jail for the rest of his life. 2. There was a guy who was unable to enjoy his sports life after a major injury, and his church pastor father bought him a game console for him to play so he does not stay home and do nothing. The son then later got into "violent" games (gun shooting, people punching/killing) games that he snuck out to get the new Halo game when it came out. His parents soon found out; however, the son did not really care. One day, the son walked in the living room where his parents were watching TV, and the son shot his dad after saying "Hey dad, I have a surprise for you". I wonder if there is anyone who was so influenced by SCMRPG! that (s)he started shooting people. The power of media is scary (as I have mentioned before), and I feel like there just HAS to be someone who has been influenced by this game, both mentally and physically. I mean, this game shows teenagers planting bombs in the cafeteria and shooting students around the school campus. I am sure some people have thought about "what if"'s of this - just like what I thought about GTA: SA, did parents sue the game developers for this? I should probably do a research on this..Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:25:47 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4295&iddiary=8021https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4295Second time playing SCMRPG! I still cannot get over the fact this is not first person shooter game. That is what I was expecting to see before I started playing it, and just looking at how it looks so similar to Pokémon on Gameboy makes me want to chuckle a little bit. I decided to focus on a little more on the characters today - Eric and Dylan. What caused them to do such things to his peers? Then I realized the power of media - one artist's song can really alter one's mind. For example, Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho was known to listen to Shinedown excessively. 45 by Shinedown is known to be about an unborn child who is looking for hope, yet many people interpret the song to be about suicide. Same with Eric and Dylan. The songs they listened to (or at last by listening to the songs that are played on SCMRPG!, many are about destruction and suicide. However, their song meaning could be opposite of what they have thought it would be. I am sill unable to grasp the sole purpose of this game. Also, I do not like the fact that all the shootings are so automatic - you choose the character, and which weapon he is going to use. What I found quite disturbing from today's play was that after letting a girl live and shooting someone right after, one of the characters said "God that felt good". I mean, really? Killing innocent people feels good? Eric was took Zoloft for depression a long before the Columbine massacre occurred. Knowing that Eric was suffering from depression and anger, what were his parents doing? Did Eric have a bad relationship with his parents that he was unable to talk about his life? All in all, the power of media truly is scary. A song can put someone's mood in something totally different, and even a movie can change someone's perspective on the society. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:26:18.)Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:54:59 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4295&iddiary=8006https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4295Before I even downloaded Super Columbine Massacre RPG (SCMRPG), I was excited by the name of the game itself. Although this may sound unethical, I am highly interested in grotesque things such as the Manson family murder stories, and the fact I get to play a game about the Columbine massacre caught my attention. Before I started playing SCMRPG, I mapped the game out in my head. I imagined the game to start with two high school students talking about their plans at home, and getting prepared to go to school. Using my experience with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I expected to see highly computer graphic imaged teenage boys running around in their school yard and shooting innocent students. I was not living in the U.S. when the shooting occurred, but I have heard a lot of things about it and seen multiple TV show episodes regarding the incident (Too Young to Kill, for example), so my initial goal (or hope) of playing this game was to figure out how the massacre went in details. I was quite shocked when I started playing SCMRPG. Not only did the game started out with someone knocking on Eric’s door saying he has to get up since he is “going to be late for bowling class”, but it reminded me of Pokémon that is played on a Gameboy. I was not expecting to see such a pixilated game where the character moves around like he is on ice. Trying not to laugh at how the game looks, I paid attention to the phone conversation he had with Dylan to see how they are setting up their mission. I was immediately disturbed when Dylan said, “what fun is life without a little death?” As a psychology major, I wanted to do a research on him to figure out if he had a troubled childhood that might have caused him to view death as something “fun”. I mean, maybe it is Marilyn Manson’s music that might have affected him? Just joking. Except not really. Nirvana playing in the background? Okay! Then I got really disturbed by the idea of SCMRPG. What kind of person would program a game that reminds people of such a catastrophic event? I mean, I wonder if someone out there is secretly working on Super Virginia Tech Massacre RPG! I can understand that this game is to raise awareness of gun violence, especially in young adults, but seeing that this game is available for free online, the age group that plays SCMRPG can be hard to get statistics of. It could be males in their late 20's, and it also could be females in their teenage years. I believe SCMRPG is unethical because it could give people an idea of "How to destroy [insert a place name here]" by showing them that a certain weapons can be used. Also, the placement of bombs and the fact that you are able to control the time of it could tell people that it is one alternative way of adding a nice little cherry on top of your "big day". (This entry has been edited3 times. It was last edited on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:52:07.)Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:50:06 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4295&iddiary=7994https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4282I didn't save the game from yesterday so I started all over again. Gaah! I decided to give the first mission (of spray painting) another chance. Since I only did two and got arrested soon after yesterday, I used my joy of stealing cars (unethical? Yes) by driving around and finding different places where the graffitis hid. I discovered eight of them until I got busted by stealing a fire truck. I had a small mission for myself during the game today - see what prostitutes can do to the protagonist. I attacked them yesterday and stole some money and guns from prostitutes, but I decided to be "nice" to them. Maybe I am not friendly enough for them - I ended up punching some of them and got punched back a few times. I thought I would look at some walkthroughs and cheats online to get further in the game, but I was unable to follow them. Darn, what am I supposed to do?! After playing GTA:SA for the third time, I couldn't help but wonder if people ever sued video game developers because all the violent actions and words that are in games. Do parents sue companies because how immoral the games are and how they are affecting their children's mental health? Being one overly curious person, I decided to search "violence video game lawsuit" on Google and I ended up finding some good articles and videos to answer my question. Yes, parents DO sue companies and it led to the point where Washington state prohibited cop-killing video games. With all the things about the violence and strong language involved in this video game, I believe GTA: SA is highly unethical. ..Yet so addicting. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:48:17.)Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:47:48 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4282&iddiary=7983https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4282Today was my second time playing GTA: SA and it was a little easier to use the controller. I started all over from the beginning by riding the bike and learning how to save the game; however, I failed the mission of covering of graffitis by getting arrested after my fourth one. Then I found the joy(?) of punching people and stealing cars. I somehow managed to steal a fire truck and got a mission of taking care of a burning car. But by the time I got off the truck, the car blew up and I was unable to make any money. My friend was watching me play (and struggle) and the first thing he said was "This game is so bad" because of its language and what other characters say to the protagonist. This goes along with my race talk from yesterday - how this game is very stereotypical of a "bad" neighborhood with people shooting each other and prostitutes walking on streets trying to score someone. Also, another thing I noticed about this game is that when I punch and kill a white person, I get a lot of money. But when I kill a different race, I only get $20 or so. Weird. Then I thought about what we talked about in class - the grey area: is this acceptable because it's a video game, or is this what's actually happening in real life (therefore the game is "realistic"? Is it ethical to punch and step on someone and steal their money/weapons? While I was playing SA today, I thought of this one article I read in psychology - it was about a guy from my neighborhood from home who was into the game Matrix and once thought he was actually in the game that he shot his parents. This made me think if the same thing would happen to people who play GTA: SA on a regular basis (..or in a way that's unhealthy for them). Can games like this really alter one's mental health and cause that person to do harm? I have yet to do any cool missions like flying a plane, but let's hope I get to do something cool the next time I play it.Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:17:32 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4282&iddiary=7970https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4282My friends always tell me that there is no such thing as 'childhood' to me because it took me 19 years and half to try Taco Bell, and I still haven't been to a lot of fast food chains. But I was encountered with Play Station 2 to play GTA: San Andreas today, and I think this is one big part of my childhood that I have missed. I thought this game would include a lot of cars just running into each other and drivers beating each other up because their cars got hurt and whatnot. But it wasn't - Lego Star Wars being the only video game I have ever played (on XBOX), I was worried about the amount of time I would have to put into this game in order to tell myself, "I have successfully played GTA: SA (SA) today and I will continue this tomorrow". Also, as a psychology major, I assumed the protagonist (CJ)'s personality and the story line of the game based on two things: his mother recently passed away, and he gets arrested soon after that. Such major events in one's life is likely to cause the person to behave in ways that he or she has never had in the past. However, I must say I was quite wrong. I believe race is one major issue in SA. Graffitis can be seen very easily throughout the game, and the characters wear baggy clothes that some people might call "typical" of a specific race. The characters reminded me of a bunch of gangs living in one big community - they are all very built, wear similar clothes, and do similar activities on daily basis. Now, with the fowl language being mixed together with characters, I find SA to be quite racist and stereotypical. What if this game took place in a typical White neighborhood? Chinatown? Different country/continent? The game itself was challenging for me because I have never played anything on PS2 before so it took me a lot of time to figure out which button does what and stuff. But I thoroughly enjoyed the game as I started to recognize different symbols of the controller and I hope I get to experience it some more the next time I play it.Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:02:59 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4282&iddiary=7964