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May 14th, 2013 at 22:30:25 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
Coming to an end of my time with this game, I have come to realize what the game is really about. Although the actions of these boys are morally repulsive and I do not condone their actions in any way, the game seems to be making a commentary on the reaction of the media to these events. While media outlets and the news were quick to label these boys as monsters and pure evil, little attention seems to have been paid to mental and emotional health of these boys. Although we decry their actions as evil, we do not also see that they believed their actions to be just punishment for the people who reportedly bullied and ostracized them for years. It's really a more humane way of looking at it to see them as people in need of help rather than villains to be scorned. By placing this message in the guise of a game is an inspired decision as well, since it places the player in the shoes of the shooters, rather than just having them view the action from an outsiders perspective. Although I think I understand the game now, I still believe it to be a rather cruddy game, though I believe that to be a blessing in disguise.
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May 13th, 2013 at 21:11:17 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
Well, I've been stuck in the game for a while now. From a design standpoint this game isn't very well structured. For instance, I had no clue for about 30 minutes that after killing people I was supposed to manually set off the bombs in the cafeteria. Objectives like this should be made much clearer to the player. Aside from that, I still feel uncomfortable playing this game since I have spent the last 30 minutes killing dozens of people who had no way to fight back. It's kind of hard for me to discern what exactly the developer was trying to get across in this game. Is he making the case that school shootings are bad by making the player feel uncomfortable? If so, he has been quite successful. I am unsure if I should be feeling responsible for the killings or if the game is taking the weight of the responsibility for me. However, I have just killed myself in the game and woken up in hell, so I will see where this game takes me tomorrow.
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May 7th, 2013 at 19:07:27 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC) |
Aside from the questionable ethics of this game, my first impression was that it wasn't a very good one. The game was very pokemon-esque and it was very confusing trying to understand what the game wanted you to do. However, all design aspects aside, the game can be construed as highly offensive in light of the Columbine shootings. The biggest issue for me is that, unlike San Andreas, the player doesn't have the option to be a good citizen. The game forces the player to commit unjustified murder, which rubbed me the wrong way. This raises the question of whether or not the player is immoral because of his/her actions in the game, since the player is not given a choice in whether or not to commit the murders. I've just reached the point in the game where the player must commit suicide, but my first impressions are not favorable.
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Apr 23rd, 2013 at 21:18:52 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS3) |
What I noticed during my last session with GTA San Andreas today was that there is a very conspicuous lack of guilt in the game. Many games attempt to make choices about immoral things, such as killing innocent bystanders, a difficult decision for the player to make. For instance, Bioshock attempts to make harvesting the little sisters a difficult choice for the player since they look and act like frightened young girls, which provokes a guilty response in the player if they go through with it. Likewise, shooting from the hip in the Mass Effect series can lead to key characters dying and affecting the outcome of the story. This causes the players to feel guilty since they have grown attached to those characters over the course of the game.
San Andreas, on the other hand, doesn’t provoke these same feelings of uncertainty in the face of immoral action. Killing a prostitute in San Andreas barely causes players to bat an eye. Some thing as horrible as running over countless bystanders in a tank is simply par for the course. What is it about San Andreas that fails to provoke the same emotional responses? It could be because of a lack of characterization in the NPCs. In those other games, the victims in question seemed human and capable of emotion, whereas the denizens of San Andreas do not. They are depicted as being closer to set dressings than actual people within the game. It’s as if the developers were trying to create a moral blank slate for the players to interact with as they wish.
Also, since the protagonist of the San Andreas is depicted as being a thug who is at home around intense violence, it may be that the player doesn’t feel as if it is them committing the action, rather the virtual avatar that they are controlling. Overall, GTA San Andreas is a time wasting-ly fun, if morally questionable game, that is perfect for exploring the moral actions of a player in a sandbox universe.
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| JSLATER2's GameLogs |
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JSLATER2 has been with GameLog for 11 years, 6 months, and 29 days |
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