Tuesday 2 August, 2011

As Erick went further in the game (Columbine RPG), Erick continues with the mission of entering the cafeteria without the hall monitor or the cameras detecting him. He is able to enter the cafeteria and emplace two explosives next to the vending machines. The lack of having a map caused issues in locating the vending machines. After he emplaced the bombs under the tables, he is instructed to depart. After multiple attempts of trying to flee with being detected, Erick goes to the trunk of the car that he has arrived in and set up a timer for another bomb to detonate the car. Then he went to the park to watch the “fireworks”. After waiting for a while, the bomb fails to explode.
He is faced with a dilemma. What do we do from here? Does the character have a choice to cancel the mission? There is no option to leave. The mission is now to kill as many students as possible. That’s what the plan was. The moral decision to continue with the mission was totally unethical. The character does not have any morality in the social theory contract on the rights of the students. He also ignores the contract of not to kill another person. After a long gruesome campaign on trying to kill as many as possible, Erick reminisces the memories of sitting in the lunchroom all alone and no one to even make a conversation with him. Erick goes into the lighting room and remembers when they were in the play Frankenstein. Each word in the play was a depiction on how their life was and how they will have their revenge against everyone. As the course of the game continues on, Erick second guesses himself and thinks that if it was better to move to an island like New Zealand, with Dylan. It is evident that Erick is obsessed over Dylan. His frame of mind shifts dramatically from this point and just wants to continue with his rampage. Another area in which he has to decide is when he reaches the library window and notices the police outside. He has to decide whether he wants to just end it all, or continue to kill more people. He decides to end it all and is killed by suicide by cop.
Erick showed that he had no value for any one’s life, to include his own. His constant thought to continue the killing spree shows that he is incapable of remorse. He believed that his killings were justified because of the lack of attention by others to socialize with him. He thought about moving to an island where they can live in a more Natural State, without any rules/laws. His thought pattern is totally unethical in a Social Contract Theory, Utilitarianistic, and Kantianistic way. He shows no morality in the common law of not killing another human being.

"The mission is now to kill as many students as possible. That’s what the plan was. The moral decision to continue with the mission was totally unethical. "

Should you, as en ethical player, try to proceed in the game causing the least amount of (virtual) harm possible? Or should you try to do what you think the killers were actually trying to do?