Monday 28 May, 2012

Session Two

Most of the writing from my previous session mainly focused on what was actually happening within the game, and not much of an ethical analysis, so for this session I am going to start by reflecting a bit more on the previous session. While playing Super Columbine Massacre RPG, my girlfriend saw the title screen and asked "Why the fuck are you playing that? That's disgusting.". I found this a bit strange since it is not as if I normally only play My Little Pony games. Why is it so offensive to think someone made a game about this sad event from history? People would say the Nazi movement from WWII was a far more horrific historical event, yet many games are made which explore this time in history.

From the games I have played which cover the WWII Nazi era, I have never personally played a game which tells the story from the perspective of the Nazi's. Many games allow multiplayer matches which have a German team, but the main single player story does not focus on telling the German perspective of the story, at least from what I have experienced. It seems as if these types of games which explore these historical events may only be acceptable if they are not told from the perspective of the "bad guy". Perhaps people are comfortable with destroying these figures of evil, but when it comes to role-playing as a figure of a pure evil, one becomes a bit a more uncomfortable.

Continuation of playing:

I pick up playing from yesterday. I have currently just arrived at school with a car full of explosives and Manson's song Sweat Dreams looming over the scene. I am still stuck trying to make it through the hall, not sure why I keep getting caught. Success! After about 20-30 attempts, I have finally made it to the cafeteria, apparently there are security cameras which you have to avoid. With bombs planted in the cafeteria, I return to the car to grab duffle bags filled with ammunitions. With duffle bags in hand, I meet up with Dylan at a nearby park. As I enter the park, Creep by Radiohead plays in the background, a song about not fitting in. Dylan and Eric exchange a few words showing disdain for society. With bombs planted, we head off to watch the explosions. The bombs fail to go off, so the two decide to take matters into their own hands and head to the school to finish off the people with their guns.

This is where the game seems to turn into mindless killing. There are various types of people walking around and your job is to basically kill everyone in sight. I think I have managed to kill off about 1/4 of the people at the school so far, but I am not really sure what the "goal" is.

"my girlfriend saw the title screen and asked "Why the fuck are you playing that? That's disgusting.". I found this a bit strange since it is not as if I normally only play My Little Pony games. Why is it so offensive to think someone made a game about this sad event from history? People would say the Nazi movement from WWII was a far more horrific historical event, yet many games are made which explore this time in history."

Great point. A lot of people object to the game simply because it's based on a real-life event, but are happy to ignore equally tragic events that are also available in "playable" form. As you note, there are many WWII shooter games...