Sunday 16 August, 2009

My second time playing the game. I actually got to enjoy more of the RPG elements of the game today. I equipped Dylan and Eric with the gear I had acquired. My stats went up with every piece of gear I equipped. The Marlyn Manson CD and Doom cd both gave stats. None of the bombs I planted earlier in the game exploded, the only thing left to do was to go inside the building itself and gain exp from killing students. The students were grouped by clicks such as jocks, awkward, and pretty people. Killing the students rewarded me with items and exp. Every time I would pick up an item, the game would say: "its all yours brave boys!". I felt as if I was being rewarded for violence. I went into my first class room, I killed the various students and one teacher. I gathered luvox and cheeseburgers. I went into the boys bathroom and found some jock types beating up a little kid. Eric yells at them and initiates a fight with 4 enemies. Saving the kid rewarded me with four med kits, Eric did not kill the kid. In one class room I found "Ecco Homo" by Nietzsche. In another room I downloaded the ability to make and use a napalm bomb with Dylan. It blinds and disorients the targets. I found a locked door, Eric mentioned how we needed a key. Just then a janitor walked by. I killed the Janitor and took the key. Inside the locked room, I found the controls for lighting. The controls cut to a scene that depicted Dylan handling the lighting for a play at their school. The cut scene granted Dylan a level.

This time playing I got to experience more of the game elements of Super Columbine. I liked that there were a lot of secret things to discover. Every little thing I found gave a clue as to the things that caused the massacre. I noticed that Eric and Dylan both felt helpless and hopeless.They themselves referred to people with clique terminology. The two boys must have felt that the social contract had betrayed them and thus they were right to avenge themselves. I don't feel any different when playing this game. It seems like I am playing any other violent RPG. Maybe I am desensitized to violence, or maybe this game isn't as violent as other video games. Playing the game was like simulating the life of someone living completely outside the social contract. It was a game through the eyes of someone who only sees cliques.

"It was a game through the eyes of someone who only sees cliques."

In some sense the game proposes the idea that the shooters had de-humanized their classmates seeing them only as stereotypes and cliques and that this was perhaps one explanation for how they were able to deal with what they did. What do you think?