I sometimes come across very interesting news items in my work, items that are totally unrelated to my research firm's work. Today, I came across this article from News.com which invariably led me to the Columbine game, an RPG based on the Columbine shootings which puts the player in the role of one of the shooters.

(I briefly considered posting the Google video trailer to the RPG, but I didn't want that on my LJ. However, if you're curious about seeing it, it's on the Columbine game's site.)

I'm still deeply disturbed by the VTech shootings, so when I saw this Columbine game, my initial reaction was--not surprisingly--shock and disgust. Maybe even a little angry. But overall, I was curious. Why did the creator make this game? Could he have really been a sick, twisted freak as people were saying?

From the artist's statements, it seems like the game was meant to provide further insight about Columbine. This makes sense to me in some level, because from a purely game-oriented perspective, the RPG doesn't look like it's entertaining as a shooter game. As to what kind of deeper psychological insights the game hopes to provide, I'm not sure. One could say that by putting the player in the role of the shooters, one would better understand how the shooters themselves were victims as well. Or maybe it's the hours invested in playing the game that makes you think about the event more, making you cognitively sensitive about Columbine. Or maybe it's by basing the game on a real-life tragedy that we reconsider the impact of video games. I don't really know. You could take this in a lot of different directions, but I don't think I'd want to play the game myself to find out.

The artist argues that had he chosen to make a film instead a game, reactions would've been different, more permissive. He defends his chosen medium saying that the interactivity of the medium engages the player more deeply into the subject matter. But I think this only applies to a certain kind of audience, maybe a player who's already trying to understand more about Columbine. Any social message would be lost on someone who was playing for the sake of the game.