Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=871https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3441At the end of my last half hour of playing Super Columbine Massacre, I reached the section that was supposed to represent hell. I suppose that was appropriate and is the only comforting part of the game seeing the two killers end up in hell where they most likely should end up anyways. Overall, the game was not as disturbing and scary as it could have been because the graphics were not extremely detailed or realistic. If this game had been paired with the graphics and realistic illustrations of Grand Theft Auto, it would have been significantly more frightening. Despite the lack of realistic graphics, the game still managed to have an upsetting effect because of the general content. The conversations between Dylan and Eric more than make up for any lack of realism involving the graphics. On top of this, throughout the game, pictures and slideshows appeared of pictures from the actual Columbine shooting. The graphics may not have been extremely realistic, but pictures from the actual shootings of terrified and dead students more than make up for the lacking graphics. Overall, it is not the visual aspects of the game that make it so disturbing but more what is being reenacted. The detail not paid attention to in the actual actions of your character is placed in the conversations between Dylan and Eric and the pictures shown throughout the game. Without these pictures and conversations, the game would not be the same and would probably be much more bearable to play.Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:08:18 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3441&iddiary=6459https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3441Towards the middle of my second half hour of Super Columbine Massacre, I was finally able to figure out how to plant the bombs under a table in the cafeteria. This was only to find out that the bombs fail to go off, and my struggles were basically for nothing. Needless to say, I was not too disappointed in this failure because it took a little of the horror away from playing this game and reenacting what is basically a mass murder. It is very difficult to play this game as it is intended to be played, with the intent to kill as many as possible, when I know what those killings are reenacting: a national tragedy. Super Columbine Massacre definitely reiterates the stereotypes that Eric and Dylan targeted, labeling characters as preppy girl, preppy boy, innocent girl, jock and/or popular girl, among others. It is easy to label this game as unethical, but it is hard to determine whether it will encourage similar behavior in serious players of the game. To me, it would take a person already on the verge of insanity to take the game to that extreme rather than just make them sick to their stomach. I found it interesting, and disturbing, that among the options when you picked a weapon to kill a student there was an option to “taunt.” This emphasizes the lack of humanity in the two characters, and ultimately in you as you are the characters, because you have an option to take joy and find “fun” in the killings of so many fellow students and human beings. I am not looking forward to my last half hour of this game tomorrow as the lack of basic human civility or even sanity towards students they have spent their entire school career is thoroughly unsettling.Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:26:30 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3441&iddiary=6443https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3441Well, after playing for the first half hour, I did not manage to get anywhere past the cafeteria. The game kept sending me back because I got “busted” for some unknown reason. Despite this lack of success, I feel I was still able to gain an understanding of the game from an ethical perspective. Honestly, the dialogue between the Eric and Dylan made me want to throw up. They had a scary lack of emotion and very diabolical personalities. Most likely, this is a very realistic portrayal of how the boys actually acted and felt, but it is very difficult to have it so gruesomely portrayed, and even more difficult as you basically “are” one of these demented killers. I understand that the First Amendment exists for a reason, that everyone has the freedom to say and create what he or she likes, but I feel like this game is completely immoral. I think this differs from other games not in that it involves killing, since there are so many games out there that involve plenty of that, but because it is making a game out of a nationwide tragedy. This is not a game; it was an actual event that killed several innocent people. In this sense, despite First Amendment rights, this game is in no way right in any moral sense.Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:35:14 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3441&iddiary=6431https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3380I am extremely relieved that my duties of playing Grand Theft Auto are finally over. Even after playing the game for only about a total of two hours, I have already tired of the excessive, unnecessary violence. Not only the violence, but the stereotypical nature of the game has reaffirmed my dislike for violent video games in general. In a way, the game exemplifies life that is basically without any sense of right or wrong. Under the social contract theory, every citizen enters into an unspoken agreement that there are a set of moral rules to be followed in society, and that a government will exist to enforce these laws. This is not the case in Grand Theft Auto. Yes, there is the police force so when CJ wreaks too much havoc the officers of the law do come after him, but it is possible to escape them. There are no automatic repercussions for just shooting all the police officers down, and even being an inexperienced player, I could still escape the police officers. The police officers represent some form of government meant to enforce moral law, but, in the game, are not reliable to provide justice in the city. Basically, Cj’s gang and their rival gangs provide the only source of “”government” to the city, which is really no government at all, leaving everything in partial anarchy. Overall, in my opinion here is no way to look at this game in a moral light, only an immoral one. There are very few positives in the game. I could find no way to actually act in a moral manner, and if I did so by not murdering and stealing there would basically be no point to the entire game because I would be unable to earn points and win.Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:57:25 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3380&iddiary=6333https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3380The second round of Grand Theft Auto was not quite as much of a struggle as the first, simply because I finally started to get the hang of the controls. Even though the shooting and stealing came easier, I still could not understand how there is really anything to discuss in regards to the morality of this game. To me, it seems pretty point blank that this game has minimal to no moral set of laws nor does it encourage any sort of moral thinking. When looking at Grand Theft Auto from a view regarding the moral theory of Kantianism, the theory simply cannot apply. Kantianism is based on a universal set of moral laws, and in this game there seems to be no laws, at least not any that you could call moral. Killing other people by beating them to a bloody nothing or shooting them several times can in no way encourage healthy decisions for players of this game. In GTA everything goes, there are no rules. CJ does not have a conscience guiding him towards the right and away from the wrong. In fact, his points definitely push him towards the wrong and immoral. One cannot win without stealing, murdering, and just overall corruption. I have yet to see any moral side to Grand Theft Auto and have to say I am glad that I only have one half hour left of playing to complete the assignment.Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:15:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3380&iddiary=6301https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3380I would not call myself a “gamer.” Actually, that is an understatement. I have played video games for probably a total of 5 hours in my entire life, the majority of those hours spent on Nintendo 64 Mario Kart and Donkey Kong in my childhood years. Neither of those games are particularly violent except for maybe occasionally jumping on the occasional “evil” character or overturning another player’s car in a race. Needless to say, when I began to play Grand Theft Auto the violence, language, objectives, and just graphics in general came as a shock. I spent this first half hour away from the missions, since driving around the car I stole was struggle enough, much less having to worry about reaching a goal in a set amount of time. Playing with some more experienced friends, I soon learned it was the most “fun” to drive around, steal cars, and just shoot people. From the music to the actions to the objectives in the missions, everything about this game seems to promote the stereotype of African American gang life. You gain “respect” by shooting people, including opposing gang members, police officers, and innocent bystanders wandering the streets. If these actions are viewed from a real world, utilitarian perspective, this game is ranked extremely low on the moral totem pole. In the real world, shooting someone or stealing a person’s car would overall negatively affect other human beings. Seeing as much of the killing done in Grand Theft Auto is for no particular reason other than purely for entertainment, there is no way to look at the actions in a positive light. Looking at it purely from the perspective of the game, where CJ earns points for killing the innocent and guilty alike, I suppose he would get positive “points” because those killed are not negatively affected they just kind of disappear. In a sense, the game dehumanizes victims. They can maybe say a few words but other than that we know nothing about them other than that we get positive points for stealing their cars and/or killing them. It is still killing, but to a player it is equivalent to killing oh, maybe a spider, in a real-life situation simply because the victims are nothing to the game but possible points to be earned.Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:12:20 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3380&iddiary=6289