Monday 8 August, 2011

What I thought was odd was that the first person approached during this rampage was a friend to Eric and Dylan. They told the kid to run off, instead of killing him instantly. This bothered me more than anything. These two characters thought this action was moral because they spared someone they liked. In the men’s bathroom, they also decided to spare the child being bullied. However, they also decided it was okay to gun down random people whom they did not know. This leads me to believe that the massacre was purely driven by emotions, and the characters were completely void from any sense of morality. The game hints that bullying was the biggest motivator for Eric and Dylan. These two characters were overcome by their emotional rage. They felt that there was no way for them to escape their situation. They abandoned any rational thought and decided to end everything, instead of seeking an alternative.

This game was so far out of proportion that there is no way the media could seriously criticize it. Dylan and Eric were fueled by a Marilyn Manson CD (it is an accessory that upgrades a character), which mocks the fact that the media attempted to blame the massacre on that music. The player was also expected to kill hundreds of civilians if they expected to complete the game, but in reality, only 13 people were actually killed during the shootings. The game mocks the idea that video games were inspiration for these atrocities, as DOOM posters and music was played throughout the game (During the hell mission, the enemies and music were straight from DOOM). By blowing the stereotypes about the massacre out of proportions, I understand why the developers would create such a game. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the game because I did not level enough during the massacre, so I was repeatedly killed by the enemies in hell.

"What I thought was odd was that the first person approached during this rampage was a friend to Eric and Dylan. They told the kid to run off, instead of killing him instantly. This bothered me more than anything. These two characters thought this action was moral because they spared someone they liked"

Interestingly, this was something that actually happened in the real-life shooting. Does that change your understanding of the game?