News gaming

I haven't had a chance to catch up on my Hungry Beast viewing until now, so I was just watching the episode "Play" when they put on a rather scary segment that prompted me to run to the computer and start writing this post.

The segment is about something called "Newsgames", which let you "play" a news scenario after it's been reported. For example, Kuma War takes real events from the 'War on Terror' and makes them into first-person single and multiplayer shooter games. Episode (#107) lets you take part in the raid on Osama Bin Ladin's compound so that you can kill the notorious terrorist. Footage from satellites, military records, reports from the Department of Defence and interviews with soldiers are all used to reconstruct the war scenes as accurately as possible.

Now, this didn't actually shock me too much. I've played first-person shooter games that are based around wars - such as Medal of Honor (WWII) and Medal of Honor - Vietnam (the Vietnam War). What did scare me was the game Super Columbine Massacre RPG (SCMRPG). Yes, they've made a game that, according to the website 'delves into the morning of April 20th, 1999 and asks players to relive that day through the eyes of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, those responsible for the deadliest school shooting in American history.'

To be completely honest, I'm not sure how to react to this game. I'm still shocked and horrified by it, but now I've had time to think about it some questions have arisen:

1. What is the difference between this RPG and the first-person shooters for war games like Medal of Honor? Both of those let the player kill other people for different reasons, but the Columbine shootings were clearly against young civilians, making it a clear-cut good guy vs bad guy situation. But innocent civilians are killed in war too.

2. The SCMRPG's creator Danny Ledonne makes the point that people who play the game can get into the minds of the guys behind the shooting and therefore understand what they're going through (you can apparently choose whether or not to shoot, hurt or kill someone). Would this encourage people to do more or less violence?

3. Lots of books have been written on Columbine, and a movie has been made too. Does the interactivity of the game take it one step too far? Is it because we play games for entertainment purposes that entertaining people with this type of RPG makes it less horrifying?

Despite looking at these logical questions, the thought of these games still makes me feel sick inside.

Source: Hungry Beast – Episode 30 2011, television program, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney. News As Games? report by Marc Fennell, 25 May 2011. 
Image source: Kuma War - Osama
Image source: SCMRPG - Cafeteria