Wednesday 28 October, 2009

The final act of rampage in real life was in the Library and much of the carnage happened. The game is no different as you are faced with many instances that happened in the real attack. For example, Dylan runs into one of his friends and tells him to go home and play games because he is killing around the school. Also, he asks a girl, "Do you believe in God?" to which she replies with no finite answer and is then killed. It is very frightening to me that such acts happened in real life and when they are exemplified in the fantasy world, it makes it even more scary.
When I got by the windows of the library, I decided that I wanted to end the game there. The player, after seeing the two fight off the police outside, is faced with the choice of committing suicide there and ending the killing, or continue the rampage on the school. I chose to commit suicide in what I thought would end the game. Boy was I wrong! The picture montage and continued thoughts of the boys was an upsetting 5 minutes for myself, especially the pictures of the two shooters dead and bloodied. When the texted talked about attacking New York and then showed pictures of 9/11, it felt like the makers of the game were trying to imply that the boys were the masterminds of 9/11 and that the Taliban just carried out the attacks. Then the worst part of all is that the game continues as you play as Dylan in Hell.
In Hell, you only have 2 weapons , a gun and brass knuckles. You have to attack demon soldiers, imps, and other various creatures of Hell as you try to get revenge for being in this situation. At this point, I had had enough of the game and did not want to play anymore. I was troubled by the implications the game made even though it was fake and did not appreciate the certain photographs of 9/11 and the dead shooters. From the last levels of the game, it is evident of how mentally unstable Eric and Dylan really were. These boys faced a lot of problems in their lives and approached a solution in the worst possible way with a rampage. The fact that this game was made however glorifies what they did and is exactly what they didn't want in publicity and fame. They were making a statement for all the wrongs they faced and got it across.
Playing Super Columbine Massacre RPG! was quite an experience. Although I do not approve of the implications it makes (especially towards the end of the game) as well as glorifying the acts of the shooters, the game shows the shooting from the perspective of the shooter's and reasons for why they did what they did. The game delivers the content of Columbine to the player in a way that the news never could and never will. In this aspect, the game is successful, but overall the game felt like a 1990s Game Boy game and was not an overall enjoyable experience.

I'm not sure I understand how it glorifies the acts of the shooters?

Did you know that Harris and Klebold kept journals where, among other things, they discussed hijacking an airplane and crashing it into a building in NYC?