Sunday 22 February, 2009

Ok well I figured out how to plant the bombs, I had to grab them from the trunk of the car before entering the school. Oh well. Now I continued to go and plant the bombs, which was rather simple and quick, seeing as how I had already covered the entire available area multiple times. So, after that I go back to the car, get the guns, and go to the park to equip everything. The boys have some more disturbing, but irrelevant dialogue about how much they hate Denver and people in general. Then the "fun" starts. The game tells you to go sit at this one spot and watch the bombs explode, however, the bombs don't detonate. So, of course, you get to go around and start killing anyone you can find. Now, in most cases, this would not bother me, since I am an avid gamer and love shooters and RGP's, so I have killed my fair share of people and aliens. However, due to the context this game is set in, I couldn't help but feel really awkward and kind of uncomfortable during this whole thing. I mean I was acting out a mass murder that actually happened. That would be like playing a game where your goal is to fly a plane into the World Trade Center, and, if it was like this game, you would get more points for killing more people. That just does not sit well with me. It's one thing to be playing a war or fantasy game and kill other people, but not as a kid going around a school and killing his fellow students. I'm sorry but this game is fucking stupid and I am really not enjoying playing it...and of course I have to play it again for this damn assignment.

" I mean I was acting out a mass murder that actually happened. "

Have you felt he same sensation when playing videogames based on real historical events? Say, World War II?

Thats a good point. But the point I was trying to make, but never made it clear enough, was that you expect to be killing people in war games. Even in many RPG's you plan on having to kill people, but they context they are in is always fantasy, so it never really plays an emotional role. Furthermore, in those games the people you are fighting have at least a fighting chance of possibly killing you, instead of killing helpless school students and faculty members.

You could argue, however, that SCMRPG is essentially a fantasy-version of a real world event (after all, the whole second half of the game is completely made up). You do raise a point though in that in most "historical" games you are arguably fighting against enemy soldiers, rather than gunning down innocent and unarmed victims.