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carmadaum's Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC)
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| [August 9, 2010 11:46:01 AM]
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In my last entry I touched upon the idea that the developer of the game made it to make a point. After more playing I’m not sure I’m any further along with sorting out the developers point however. Yet I did come away with something of my own I think that might be related to the developers point. Most video games involve violence. The vast majority of the most successful video games have massive amounts of violence such as call of duty or mass effect 2. Yet here the developer used RPG maker. A program that thousands have used to create their own games that’s game play is the traditional style of RPG. I’ll take a game that is a little more advanced than SCMRPG! but its concept is the same. Final Fantasy VII was and still is a remarkably well known played and loved game by thousands. Its set up is the same as SCMRPG! you get into a battle, the foe is before you and you have the option to attack, shoot(materia), items, and so forth. In both games the character follows your orders in a turned based style dependent on the characters attributes. The conclusion that I got from playing this is that violence in games isn’t fun just for the sake of violence. What makes violence fun in games is the context of the violence. Being a soldier in Iraq in a video game can be fun. Being Commander Sheppard fighting the Reapers across the galaxy is fun. Playing as Cloud hacking away at Ultimate Weapons is fun. But being Eric and Dylan running around Columbine high school shooting unarmed kids is not All of the games involve massive amounts of violence but what makes each individually fun to play is the context that violence is happening in. SCMRPG! is not fun because it’s context is breaking the universal law that it is unethical to glorify a true even in history that was a criminal act towards minors. So like I said in the previous entry I hardly even see SCMRPG! as a game. For games are suppose to be fun and challenging and SCMRPG! is neither. I now wipe my hands of this game and try to store away it’s exsperaince deep in some secluded point in m psyche.
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| [August 8, 2010 11:22:57 PM]
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My second time playing Super Columbine Massacre RPG! wasn't any better than my first. I feel guilty even playing this game. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Which brings me back to the conclusion I came up with last entry. That I think that it is unethical to glorify an actual historical event that was a criminal act towards minors. I'm not arguing that the game shouldn't exists however, just because something is unethical doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.
The game play in this game is very simple and completely stacked in Eric's and Dylan's favor. As you are roaming the you can engage random students running around the school. Putting aside my own mortified emotions over murdering these students I found that, most students are one shot kills and even when one gets the opportunity to attack they end up doing very minimal damage to Eric or Dylan. Which I think was done on purpose. The more I play this game the more I'm coming to pick out bits and pieces of what the developers of the game are actually trying to say with this game. In fact I don't think this is not really a "game" at all since the game isn't much of a challenge. Which I think reflexes on actual events since Eric and Dylan really where wolves among sheep armed to the teeth as they were. It is becoming obvious that the whole production is more of a comment on the situation. What that comment is... I'm not sure yet. I still got more of the game to play.
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| [August 7, 2010 11:35:03 PM]
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Right off the bat with reading the title of this game without seeing or playing any of the game the obvious ethical issue is whether the existence of such a game is ethical. A year ago when I was at UCA I took an English comp class in which the whole semester was devoted to researching the Columbine shootings. It was a very long and depressing semester going over and over the events discussing who's to blame yadda yadda. I have to admit that just reading the title stirs emotion within me. I played the game for about an hour, the whole experience has been very eerie for me. Actually controlling Eric going into the basement and recording their last message, their language, even the computerized music of Nirvana was eerie knowing that Kurt Cobain shot his himself in the head with a shotgun in 94. I played as far as placing the bombs in the caf and then coming back outside, the hallway gave me problems especially since I didn't realize there were two separate places where there were two vending machines.
I believe that the existence of this game is unethical. I believed that even before I played the game. I just needed to find out why and make come up with an effective ethical argument. After much thought I found myself thinking in Kant terms which is unlike me. But I feel so strongly about this that I believe that Kant is needed to make a concrete distinction that has no wiggle room. I see Super Columbine Massacre RPG! as unethical because I think that there is a universal law that it is morally wrong to glorify a true event in history that was a criminal act towards minors. This is why I believe it to be unethical and the reason that me and I'm sure many others feel awkward playing this game.
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