Is it too soon? Is it too far?

I was made aware of a controversial video game recently through this Popmatters article. The video game I am talking about is called Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

The game is an RPG that is centered around the events at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999. Players of the game play as either Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris and carry out the events themselves as they happened on that day.

To give you a little more perspective, here is the trailer for the game:

The Popmatters article addresses the issue of whether or not this game is appropriate and whether this tragic event can be examined seriously as a historic event by a video game.

Of course this event has been covered in many media outlets since, but a video game? I haven’t played the game but as far as I can tell from reviews and such the game seeks to put the players inside the minds of Klebold and Harris. It attempts to analyze why they did what they did and what were the real causes of what happened on that day.

The game’s website offers an account of some one who played the game:

“For me, this was one of the hardest games I’ve ever played. After 20 years of gaming, it’s almost natural at this point to try and immerse myself in what I play, but doing so in this case was impossible. If anything, the constant cycle of playing the game versus thinking about playing the game – the association, then dissociation – helped to sharpen the line between game and reality, not blur it. The striking grimness of the contained events, combined with the memory of their transgression, created a very real pathos towards the victims, their killers, and having to deal with consequences for those of us left in the wake. It was certainly not the self-indulgent killfest that many have deemed it.” – Dustin, SCMRPG player.

This game definitely raises a lot of questions and controversy naturally, but I really do think this was made for a positive cause of studying the psychological issues involved in that day.

The main question that we all have to ask ourselves I think is (from the website):

“Why is playing Columbine so controversial when watching or reading about it has become commonplace?”

Here’s a trailer for the documentary made about the game: