Monday 22 February, 2010

"Super Columbine Massacre RPG" -- The name itself just screams controversy.

In SCMRPG, you take the role of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as they attack their High School. So far, the game has been played from their perspective, perhaps one the author felt had been overlooked. It's filled with flashbacks, dialog between the two, and a frustrating amount of poetry and allusions.

At the start of the game, the player controls Eric as he and Dylan get their gear together for the shooting. During this time, that player can explore some of their background by interacting with various objects. For example, when you find a Marilyn Manson CD, Eric talks about how the music will be blamed for his actions, even though it wasn't the true reason.

I found myself having a hard time feeling like I was making an ethical choice when my characters killed the other students. Not only did the terrible graphics and RPGMaker-esque atmosphere prevent any level of immersion, but I didn't feel like I was making any real choice. Except for the first few people, rarely did I ever intentionally run into someone. Most of the time I would just be trying to weave my way through the corridors, when a random NPC would jump in front of me.

I played until shortly after Dylan finds himself in Hell, and some interesting ethical situations did appear. For example, Eric decides to spare two people (one who was apparently an old friend, and one who was a little kid being bullied in the bathroom). I found this interesting because, from their dialog, it seemed as though the two of them were absolutely convinced there was not a single person on the planet that did not deserve to die, including themselves. It was this premise that they used to justify arbitrarily killing people they didn't know. And yet, their (or at least Eric's) own actions contradict that belief. Clearly they knew at a least a few people who they thought deserved to live (those they spared, their friends and family who they apologized to for what they were about to do, ect) which refutes their premise.

I suppose one important distinction to make is that any judgment I do is purely on the characters in SCMRPG; I do not know what dialogue was non-fiction, and what the creator decided to ad-lib. Hopefully they didn't use as many allusions as the game would lead me to believe (nothing annoys me more than those who think that quoting smart people makes them, by proxy, smart)

Regardless, there is no justification for what they did. Even an "eye for an eye" ethical theory would question the equivalency of a few years of bullying with a full scale murderous rampage.

Oh well, now Dylan is stuck in Hell, and I keep getting him killed before I can get through the area. To be honest, Eric seemed like an alright guy, with Dylan being the cliche "bad influence". I wonder if that's why he isn't in Hell with Dylan.

Next time I play, I think I'm going to restart from the beginning and see if I can get to the library and have them seppuku without killing any students. I'm curious if the game will recognize it, or if I'll just end up back in Hell, but this time at level 1. Either way, I'm sure I will be very frustrated by the end of it ("Stop bumping into me, darn it! Get out of the mad-gunman's way!")

"Clearly they knew at a least a few people who they thought deserved to live (those they spared, their friends and family who they apologized to for what they were about to do, ect) which refutes their premise"

Interesting point, and curiously one that is actually authentic to the shooters mindset. They were quite contradictory in that sense too.