Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1465https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4800On day three of playing Columbine Massacre, I completed the game and the ending had quite an impact on me. Before I get to that I wanted to point out what I did on this final play through. First, I blew up the cafeteria and went to the library to make Eric and Dylan commit suicide. Then I played though Hell and killed every enemy in sight while finding all kinds of things. Those things ranged from weapons to abilities to a large Easter egg. After I found everything I possibly could, I went on to fight Satan and I won. Then I watched the final scene and it brought up topics such as, bullying, gun laws, violent entertainment, and religion. As I played through Hell and went to the large Easter Egg, I found it interesting and entertaining to see who the game developers put in Hell. As I interacted with these characters, I realized that no matter what they believed in they ended up in such a dreadful place. Then I began to ask myself : "Could I suffer these same consequences by not knowing what to expect from the afterlife?" Not really knowing I pondered this question, I continued the game and watched the final scene. As the priest came up to the podium, I was thinking of what Eric and Dylan went through in Hell, and it made the Priest's speech seem as if it was a joke. From the game's perspective, it already had a clear understanding of what the afterlife was like and this made the living characters' views of life seem pointless. This point made me ethically reflect on the question: Is there really a point to religion? When I thought of this I started to feel morally conflicted. I'm not very religious in the first place, but I know that it promotes virtues for people to follow, however; I felt that there was really no point to it because of how the game perceived the afterlife. Overall, the way Eric and Dylan walked all over Hell made me have an ethical reflection and question if religion is truly necessary or not. I'd like to know if anyone else has felt the same way as they played this part of the game or I'd like to know what they think of my reaction that the game inspired. Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:37:15 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4800&iddiary=8915https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4800On Day two of my play through of Columbine Massacre RPG, I went through the entire school and explored every room possible expect the cafeteria. I went through each area and discovered all kinds of stuff. In certain areas I triggered flashbacks, started a cut scene, learned new abilities for Eric and Dylan, and fought special enemies. It was a long and rigorous effort, but I manage to defeat everyone I possibly could and I managed to get my characters up to level 24 and the experience from the flashbacks really helped me get them there. In my opinion, I liked some of the music that played when I triggered some of the flashbacks and that got me into the game a little more than usual. Overall, I learned what the game had to offer and what I could do before I triggered any special events. On my second play through, I wanted to focus on the game's realism. First, I wanted to point out how the school had Jocks, Nerds, Preppy Kids, Religious Kids, Popular Kids, Janitors, and special characters: such as Prom Queens and Catholic Advisors. When I fought these enemies they would show realistic characteristics for example: when I would fight Nerds they wouldn't fight back, but they would have a high defense indicating a nerd can take a beating because they get beat up all the time. Another example is when I would encounter a Jock, they would be backed up by another Jock and two Preppy Boys indicating that these type of people usually hang out. Secondly, when I went into certain rooms I noticed stereotypical and realistic everyday things. Such as when I would enter the boys' bathroom, a bunch of jocks would be picking on a nerd, and in the girls' bathroom, a bunch of girls would be gossiping to each other. Also, when I went into the Library I noticed a bunch of nerds in the area. Lastly, when Bill Clinton's message popped up it showed me how real the fear and terror was on that day and that the shootings were a very horrible and tragic event. Knowing how the game looks on life gave me the idea of how society views certain people and how those people view others based on who they are. Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:33:02 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4800&iddiary=8890https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4800In my first session of playing Columbine Massacre RPG, I played through the prologue of the shootings and got to see what it was like through the developer's view of how Eric and Dylan prepared for their "Big Day", which is the Columbine Massacre. When the game began it started with Eric waking up and getting ready for the "Big Day". Eric's room was pretty much the usual rebellious looking room. He had a copy of 'Doom' to play on the PC, a box of Luvox(drugs), and when I played the radio an 8-bit version of Nirvana's song 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' played. Then I went to the basement to prepare for the "Big Day". There Eric picks up two duffle bags and a two propane bombs. From there he walks out with Dylan and heads out to Rebel High School to initiate the plans of the Columbine shootings. First off, this game is a typical RPG and has all the elements of an RPG such as: turn-based style battles, searching places for random items, and 8- bit character models. Then the enemies that Eric and Dylan would kill would range from jocks and popular kids to janitors and teachers. The violence in those battles was very bland and it had a sense of unrealistic violence. Even though the game was lacking some improvements, I thought the characters' backgrounds were really well done. I learned that Dylan was the more crazy of the two when he said, "It's interesting: when I'm in my human form, knowing I'm going to die, everything has a touch of triviality to it..." Then I learned that Eric had more remorse when he said in his final recording, "I just wanted to apologize to you guys for any crap. To everyone I love, I'm really sorry about all this." Regardless, they're both determined to rage a two-man war against everyone and show them their pessimistic values. Finally, I wanted to focus on the violence. The violence in this game is very extreme as it follows the actual events of the Columbine shootings. The use of guns, knives, and explosives to kill ordinary students and school staff showed how Eric and Dylan used violence to state what they believed in. They may have used violence to show the school that society's way of life is a joke and that it needs to be changed. To me the violence was ridiculous at the same time because it showed the characters that were killed were all scribbled in red, but the meaning and interpretations weren't a joke because this really happened and many people were affected by this. This shows that the game can be viewed from many different perspectives, but the game developers wanted the players to view that day in the eyes of Dylan and especially Eric, to understand what that day might have been like for two of them. (This entry has been edited2 times. It was last edited on Sun, 09 Oct 2011 21:47:00.)Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:04:55 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4800&iddiary=8865https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4760 On my third day of playing GTA San Adreas, I completed two more missions which are called Cesar Vialpando and OG LOC. These two missions introduced two new characters in the story that CJ interacts with and helps. From these missions, I learned that the game has a strong use of stereotypes in the game. in the mission Cesar Vialpando, CJ has to follow Kendl and make sure her boyfriend isn't using her. In order to do this, CJ has to customize a low-rider with hydraulics and get a new paint job for the vehicle. This is where the game uses a stereotype that all Hispanic gangsters have a low-rider and that they have a passion for customizing their vehicles. When CJ finds her sister, he competes in a hydraulic competition that required me to press buttons that appeared on the screen to win the challenge. Then the game further showed its use of stereotypes when it introduced Kendl's boyfriend, Cesar. Cesar was a stereotypical Hispanic gangster who wore a white-t shirt, baggy shorts, high socks, had tattoos, and he had the typical Hispanic accent. This shows that the game has a strong use of stereotypes, however; I feel that the game does this to enrich the story to show how different places have different people within the game. The game continues to use stereotypes in the mission, OG LOC. In this mission, CJ goes along with Big Smoke and Sweet to pick up Jeffery (a.k.a. OG LOC) from jail. When Jeffery is introduced, he has the stereotype of a wannabe who pretends to be a gangster, who thinks he's tough, who wants to rap, and who wears baggy apparel. This shows that the game builds most of their characters off of stereotypes for the player to interact with. With this fundamental aspect of the game realized, the game bases their stereotypes off of race and ethnicity to create a character in the game. Players can learn stereotypes from the game and associate with people in the real world. The game doesn't intend players to do this, but it incorporates these stereotypes with a character to enrich their background. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:22:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4760&iddiary=8820https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4760 In my second day of GTA San Andreas I did two missions and they were Nines and Ak's and Drive-By. From these two missions I must say they included a lot of violence within them to complete the missions and earn respect. The game makes the player use violence to complete these missions showing to me that this game associates violence as a way to solve a conflict and that the game associates violence with rewards. The game used violence to solve a situation when CJ had to save Sweet from a shoot out from their own gang members. In this situation, I had to get there as fast as possible and on top of that I didn't have a weapon to fight with, so Sweet told me to go to an arms dealer to get one. From there I killed the gang member with a 9mm and saved Sweet from death. This shows that the game wanted me to use violence to solve the situation. In the mission, Nines and Ak's, CJ went to an arms dealer and got his first gun. From there he learned how to fire his gun and even blow up a vehicle! This game wanted me to learn how to fight in this game so I could use my own strategies and ways to eliminate the enemy. This shows that the game wants me to rely on extreme violence to solve my problems if there are too many enemies to eliminate. Without violence, I don' think any of these missions would have conflict, but only a minor argument. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:39:43.)Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:40:02 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4760&iddiary=8783https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4760In my first game day of GTA: San Andreas, I learned CJ was recently flown in from Liberty City to San Andreas. Before he is able to get home, the police pull him over and arrest him to drop him off in Ballas territory which is a sign to get him home to Grove St. From there on, CJ started to show that he was more compassionate and sympathetic than any of the other characters in the game. For example, in the first cut scene in the mission, Big Smoke, he reunited with Sweet and Kendl. As soon as he arrived, Sweet responded aggressively to CJ because he missed their mother's funeral. Without hesitation CJ pleaded his case to change his impression of him, but to no avail. Then his sister, Kendl, tried to calm Sweet down which initiated an argument between the two. All CJ wanted was to be with his family from the start, but instead he was introduced to an emotional brother and sister. With no respect from Sweet, he forces himself to join the gang so he can gain his trust and so their relationship with one another could be as it once was. This shows that in order for him to regain a family member he has to put himself within a negative environment so he can show his compassion and trust for his brother. From the game's perspective, it shows that being in a gang is like being in a family. It doesn't influence this idea, but presents the player of how it would be to be put into this situation of being in a gang. Furthermore, when the player completes a mission, the player earns respect which grants CJ more opportunities to prove himself to Grove St. Since most of these missions involve violence, it associates that doing an immoral act brings CJ closer to his gang. From what, CJ goes through I feel that he is forced in the gang to show who he really is. Other situations that I took note on was, when I killed the Pizza Stack Employee I was rewarded with a shotgun which granted me the power to quickly eliminate any NPC that was in my way. To me this showed that an act of violence rewards the player, which thus grants that player more power to earn further rewards later on. Another aspect of the game that I took note on was, that the game puts the player in a very pessimistic world. The environment is very run-down and the NPCs responded very negatively to CJ as I walked him down the streets. For example, as I was making CJ ride the bike, I almost hit a women and she said, "You must be on crack." Furthermore, when I looked at a box of cereal in the game, it read, "Cok-O-Pops". To me this game outputs a very neglected environment which has a bunch of wrong connotations. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:40:01.)Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:40:53 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=4760&iddiary=8768