The Emperor’s New Clothes is a Trench Coat:
Here is another gaming review on the video game abomination that is Super Columbine Massacre RPG…
After spending some time with this crudely made game, all I can say is: do not waste your time. Please. Forget that it uses 16-bit graphics, making it look like it was created at the dawn of the video game age. What is more disconcerting is that it reenacts – step by bloody step – the tragic events of the shooting. The creator has managed to mish mash actual crime scene photos, a hodgepodge of newspaper clippings and actual quotes taken from Harris’ diary in a way that almost glorifies what Harris and Klebold did.
But I’m not here to review a game or add to this disturbed individual’s fifteen minutes of fame. I’m here to point out the error of his ways and deconstruct his so-called arguments for making this piece of filth. To give him a good ole fashioned “bitch slapping” if you will. After all, I have as much right to speak my mind as he does.
According to The Man Who Wishes to Remain Anonymous, all he wanted to do was create something “unique and confrontational” that would “promote a real dialogue on the subject of school shootings.” He claims to have been in a Colorado high school at the time, and similarly bullied by “a culture of elitism as espoused by our school’s athletes.” He goes on to say that while it was terrifying to see the event unfold, “it was empowering to see two oppressed, marginalized kids rise up.” Empowering? Does this sound like a logical response to you? Based on these wildly unstable comments, and the fact that he intentionally and repeatedly refers to Harris and Klebold in the game as “brave boys,” suggest that he revered them then, and is honoring them now. But it doesn’t stop there, Columbin adds that “Behind all the pixels is the fact that people really died, including two angry boys who were, at times, very thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent young men.” Sensitive? They didn’t show it when they were planning, and then carrying out, their execution of thirteen people.
To further show that the reality in which Columbin lives in is vastly different from the real world around him shows in this: “Also there’s something innately comedic about making a violent school shooting into a game with tiny, cartoonish sprites and text-based menus that make firing a TEC-9 feel like casting a magic spell.” I’m sorry, but there is nothing comedic about this scenario. Recreating a monstrous real life event that involves stalking and then gunning someone down should not be trivialized and made to feel like you’re simply “casting a magic spell.” There’s nothing comedic about making a game that includes the following hints in the game’s README file (verbatim):
* Save often and reload between battles so you’re not fumbling for ammo during combat.
* Watch your health, too! Several items replenish health and are very important to nourish Eric and Dylan during a hard day of killing.
* GOOD LUCK! “Kick some, take some, and get some” says Vodka. (which is what an eye witness reportedly heard Klebold say to Harris during the massacre)
This second tip is the most disturbing, and says a lot about how Columbin truly feels about the killers. He says he wants people to learn more about the shootings and to walk away feeling disturbed, or at the very least introspective. If that were true, none of these “hints” to improve your score would be included! To me, this smacks of simply wanting notoriety (ala some deranged hacker), and to honor Harris and Kleybold.
And that’s only a portion of the article. I urge you to read the entire review.
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