Video game reopens Columbine wounds

[Reverie]

An Internet-based computer game that puts players in the army boots and black trench coats of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as they kill Columbine High School classmates is attracting attention and sparking controversy.

Called Super Columbine Massacre RPG, the game mixes cartoonish scenes with photographs of Harris and Klebold, pictures taken from newspapers and television stations and excerpts from their writings.

The game's creator, who refused to identify himself to the Rocky Mountain News, did agree to an online interview. He said he wanted to create something profoundly unique and confrontational that would "promote a real dialogue on the subject of school shootings."

Several Columbine families, after being told about the game, had plenty to say.

"It's wrong," said Joe Kechter, whose son, Matt, was murdered in the Columbine library.

"We live in a culture of death," said Brian Rohrbough, whose son, Dan, was gunned down on a sidewalk outside the school, "so it doesn't surprise me that this stuff has become so commonplace. It disgusts me. You trivialize the actions of two murderers and the lives of the innocent."

And Judy Brown, who has been immersed in the Columbine controversy along with her husband, Randy, called it a "sad and sick thing to make a video game out of a tragedy where 13 innocent people were murdered."

Harris and Klebold killed a dozen students and a teacher and wounded more than 20 others on April 20, 1999, in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

The game's creator said in an e-mail that he wanted to show 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."

Super Columbine Massacre RPG was posted on a Web site on last year's sixth anniversary of the rampage, but it wasn't until recently that the game was rediscovered by a number of popular gaming news sites. The game makes use of Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigative material, including images of Klebold and Harris after their suicide.

The tiny characters look like something from an old Nintendo game. The game also uses real photos taken from inside and around the school as a backdrop for some scenes, including images from the cafeteria and the bloody pictures of Harris and Klebold dead on the floor of the school library. None of the photos features victims of the attack.

Some of the photographs included in the game were taken from the Rocky Mountain News and were used without the paper's permission. John Temple, the paper's editor, president and publisher, said the News is taking steps to prevent their unauthorized use.

'Up to you'

A player who begins the game is met with directions and the following statement: "Welcome to Super Columbine Massacre RPG! You play as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on that fateful day in the Denver suburb of Littleton. How many people they kill is ultimately up to you."

The game begins in Harris' bedroom. The player is represented by Harris throughout the game.

The player navigates a series of scenes that require Harris to plant bombs in the school cafeteria, meet Klebold on a hill outside the school and attack students inside Columbine.

In each confrontation, the player has the option to play on "auto" mode, in which the game chooses the weapon, or on "manual," in which the player decides whether to use a gun or a bomb.

Each time Harris and Klebold kill someone in the game, a dialogue box pops up on the screen with the words, "Another victory for the Trench Coat Mafia."

The game uses a mix of statements attributed to Harris and Klebold and dialogue that appears to be based on reality. For example, it uses a quote taken from Harris' writings: "Don't follow your dreams or goals or any of that (expletive), follow your (expletive) animal instincts: If it moves kill it, if it doesn't, burn it. Kein Mitleid!"

The last phrase is German for "no mercy."

After spotting police from the library window, the game version of Klebold and Harris take their own lives. When they die, the screen rolls through a photo montage that includes the crime scene photos of the dead shooters and images of students running, crying and consoling one another taken from newspapers and television stations. Then images of Klebold and Harris from early childhood to high school pop up on the screen.

Finally, the game starts back up with the two in hell fighting off demons that look like the bad guys from the computer game Doom.

After the two find Friedrich -Nietzsche and return a copy of his posthumously published book Ecce Homo to him, the game shows a game version of a news conference in front of the school.

The game's creator said he used Jefferson County sheriff's documents and photos and newspaper and television coverage to try to craft a narrative that is meant to explain what might have led Klebold and Harris to attack their school.

'Marked me deeply'

The creator, who goes by the name Columbin on his Web site, said he was inspired to make the game because he was in another Colorado high school when the shooting occurred.

"Columbine marked me deeply," he wrote in the e-mail interview with the News. "I was in a Colorado high school then. I was a bullied kid. I didn't fit in, and I was surrounded by a culture of elitism as espoused by our school's athletes."

Columbin said the game took 200 to 300 hours to create. Since its creation, more than 10,000 people have downloaded the free computer game, he added.

The game has flashbacks that highlight times when Klebold and Harris may have felt marginalized. One takes place behind a Blackjack Pizza store, where the two worked. Another takes place at the school.

The reaction to his game, Columbin said, has been almost entirely negative.

"I'm routinely accused of being soulless, of being destined for an eternity in hell, and similarly colorful assertions," he wrote. "However, I cannot emphasize enough that there is a small fraction of the population who really gets it, who really understands why I made the game and how possible it is to escape from the polarized, dualistic thinking the Columbine shooting seems to (elicit) in most people."

One of those people may be Ian Bogost, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Bogost researches video-game criticism and video-game rhetoric and runs a Web site dedicated to video games with an agenda.

Bogost recently stumbled upon the game and wrote about it on his site, WaterCoolerGames.com.

"While it is a challenging subject, I think the effort is brave, sophisticated and worthy of praise from those of us interested in video games with an agenda," he wrote.

"Super Columbine Massacre RPG is disturbing because it is meant to be.

"I've talked and written for some time about how games need not be fun to be worthwhile. This game is not fun, it is challenging and difficult to play - not technically difficult, but conceptually difficult. We need more of that."

Add Columbine families to those angry about the game.

"My initial thoughts, I guess, are that when people glorify murderers, they make murder acceptable," Rohr-bough said.

Columbin said he doesn't believe any video game should be taboo.

"Honestly, I'm not sure why video games are held to a larger degree of scrutiny than films, books, or other (media)," he wrote.

"The Palm d'Orre at Cannes in 2002 was Bowling for Columbine and in 2003 was Elephant. Why, then, ought not a video game be made of the same award-winning subject matter? The silence is deafening."

Richard Castaldo, who was paralyzed from the chest down in the Columbine shooting, downloaded and played the game after reading about it on a gaming Web site.

He said he wasn't sure what to think about it.

"It didn't make me mad, just kind of confused me," he said. "It kind of reminded me of that Elephant movie, but in video-game form. I think I get what he was trying to do, at least in part.

"Parts of it were difficult to play through, but overall, I get the feeling it might even be helpful in some ways.

"I don't think it's bad to discuss."

[Narrock]

Sick. Prepare for idiotic comments like "it's just a game dood."

[Reverie]

I am prepared, unfortunately.

But, yes.. I really don't know the point in actually making a game like this.. Next there will be a game about 9-11 and trying to attack hijackers on the plane, or even worse.. being the hijacker.

Unless there already is. I wouldn't really know since I wouldn't actually look for a game like that. I stumbled upon this article while looking through the normal news sites I go to.

[Zanchief]

It's just a game, dude.

[Reverie]

Charming.

[Narrock]

Did you expect anything other than a reply like that from people like Zanchief, Reverie?

[Reverie]

Mm, I wouldn't really know what to expect (check my posts, I only come here sometimes, although I have read a lot more than I have posted) but I figured someone would of course do that and I figure more will in a bit, just to be amusing. Or... Some other interesting word inserted here.

I still don't know what the person is actually thinking that made the game. I am wondering how many people are actually going to go and play it.

[Narrock]

Stores should refuse to stock this kind of game. That's how you put morons like this gamemaker out of business.

[Zanchief]

It's a crappy internet game, Mindia. It won't be in any stores.

[Reverie]

I'm guessing that someone could probably just go and find it on the internet and get it like that. I bet it has already been released to some people and some sick people out there are having some fun playing it, thinking they are being some kind of rebel or something by playing such a horrible game.

But that's just my cynical opinion, of course.

Now I am kind of tempted to see if it is possible to just go and find it and play it, but I don't want to give into that. I am just a curious person - not curious enough to try it, but yeah. Curious enough to wonder if others are actually playing it and if it's actually easily accessible.

And.. what if.. children start playing this? This is one kind of game that parents should really watch for.

[Reverie]

Q&A: Creator of Super Columbine Massacre RPG

Tuesday, May 16 at 9:54 AM

Q. What inspired you to create a game about Columbine?
A. Firstly the shooting itself. This may seem like a tautology to even mention but it's resoundingly true. Columbine marked me deeply. I was in a Colorado high school then. I was a bullied kid. I didn't fit in and I was surrounded by a culture of elitism as espoused by our school's athletes. I saw so many similarities between the situation there in Littleton and my own. It was very much like being terrified by one's visage in the mirror. At the same time, it was empowering to see two oppressed, marginalized kids rise up--but we'll get into qualifying this later because I think there is a dangerous oversimplification to be made by saying this.

The real spark to fuel the fire was stumbling across a moderately user-friendly platform for making video games. I played so many during my youth and often imagined making one but lacked the necessary computer skills to do so. All that changed in the fall of 2004 and I began encoding. Almost immediately I realized I could do something profoundly unique and confrontational--never really knowing whether it would be played by one person or (at least count) over ten thousand.

Q. Why did you decided to make it a role-playing game?
A. If I told you it was purely my intention that would be a lie. The fact is that RPGs are easier to program because they have vastly more simplified game physics. There is no aiming of weapons, hit detection, and gravity or inertia to program. With these limitations, however, also came new possibilities that a conventional action game (first person shooter or otherwise) simply couldn't offer. There were real characters, a storyline, flashbacks, song lyrics, and genuine opportunity to create more cinematic experience--a narrative from a true story.

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. Part of the point of SCMRPG is that it parodies video games--much like the Broadway version of "Backdraft" from the film "Waiting for Guffman" parodies films adapted for the stage.

Q. Why do you have gamers playing as Eric and Dylan?
A. This seems only logical to me. Who would want to play as a girl that got shot in the head?
To be fair, though, the larger question here is "why do you have gamers playing as killers who massacre innocent people?" The answer: I think this is a great way to confront people's moral sensibilities. You must CHOOSE to kill in SCMRPG. You have to chase down your victims. You carry shotguns and they run away from you, unarmed, making a bloody gurgling noise when you kill them. Do you feel guilty? Do you kill one of them or fifty? The choice is entirely yours. You enter a classroom later to find the bloody bodies still lying there from your rampage. Do you feel triumph or remorse? Most videogames never cast doubt over the player's actions. SCMRPG does and I love it.

Q. What purpose do you think the game serves?
A. I'll admit that, sociological imagination removed, it's not that entertaining. I want people who don't usually play video games to take this one up. It's not very challenging and only requires the arrow keys and the spacebar. I want people to read and learn something new about the shooting. I want people to walk away feeling disturbed or at least introspective. I think the ultimate purpose of the game is to promote real dialogue on the subjects of school shootings, violence, retribution, media coverage, and many others. For me the website's forum is as important as the game itself; otherwise I would just be firing .zip packets into the black hole of cyberspace.

Q. Would you call this a serious or educational game?
A. I'm not sure the two are mutually exclusive. I feel like parts of the game are very emotionally powerful--something I wanted to push in a medium best known for innocuous icons like Mario, Sonic, and Pac-Man. The game deals with difficult coming-of-age situations like rejection, isolation, ridicule, and depression. Behind all the pixels is the fact that people really died--including angry two boys who were at times very thoughtful, sensitive, and intelligent young men.

At the same time, the game is a great way to learn about the shooting itself. Much of the history of Eric and Dylan is in the game's flashbacks and cut scenes--consisting mostly of direct quotes. Even trivial details like the fact that a man contracted to repair the school's roof was initially mistaken for one of the shooters are in the game. I think SCMRPG is educational in the sense that it is an antidote for many of the myths and mistruths about the shooting and those involved.

Q. What sort of lesson are you trying to teach with the game, if so?
A. I think that question is excessively pedagogical. SCMRPG isn't a nursery rhyme with readily available morals at game's end. To cut to the heart of the issue, though: I got tired of all the traditional platitudes and panaceas being wheeled out around the shooting. "Insufficient gun laws!" "Violent video games!" "Children devoid of God-fearing morals!" "Angry music!"

What really frightened people about Columbine is that it confronted America's dark inner soul. These were upper middleclass white males who had the potential to do anything at all; and all they ended up wanting to do was blow it all up. This scenario, in my view, indicts the most fundamental aspects of society. Eric and Dylan were the canaries in the mine; they represent something larger than themselves. Perhaps in a hundred years they will be recognized as precursors to the collapse of modern civilization but right now this is far too bitter-tasting an analysis for most to embrace; hence the smoke and mirrors of feigning to want to know "why they did it" but really only being concerned with make-shift solutions to prevent more destruction in the future. Society has a powerful self-preservation meme and most people are incurably affected by it. Thankfully I'm not--hence, the game.

Q. Do you worry that some might get the wrong message from this game?
A. I think the concern that this game will "inspire" more violence is a fairly hollow one. Amidst such a violence-saturated media in such a violence-saturated world, if a collection of 16-bit colors and sounds inspire someone to walk into a public area and randomly execute people... well, this is cosmically beyond my control. For all I know, random colors and shapes could inspire such a fragile psychopath to do the very same. I sleep quite well at night, trust me.

Q. When did you create the game and how long did it take you to make?
A. I discovered the RPG Maker 2000 software in the fall of 2004 and worked on and off over the next several months; finally in March of 2005 I poured all my spare time into getting it completed and available for download before the 6th anniversary of the shooting on April 20th. I would estimate between 200 and 300 hours went into the game from start to finish. It was all off the clock and at odds hours of the night so we'll never know for sure.

The game's creation was a pretty monumental undertaking for one person who's never programmed a videogame before; during tedious and trying times in the process I had to keep reminding myself of what Tyler Durden says at the end of the film "Fight Club" as the financial buildings are primed to explode: "this is the greatest thing you've ever done, man. Don't stop now."

Q. What sort of research did you put into creating the game?
A. As much as I could. Honestly I didn't know how huge the cult following around the shooting was until I began researching. There's really something morbidly special about the Columbine shooting; people on six continents know about it and I found great sites from the UK to Australia to refer to. I listened to KMFDM. I watched all the school shooting movies I could find. I played Doom all the way through. I recovered videotapes of Eric and Dylan's home movies. In every way I could, I tried to understand them and, in an eerie way, I imagined they were by my side designing the game (being that Eric designed his own levels for Doom II, this isn't really that far-fetched a notion).

Some aspects of the fact checking process were very important to me. In the game players get the exact numbers of bombs and the exact guns the shooters used. Most everything the boys say (as well as a bulk of the rest of the text) is verbatim from firsthand accounts. In other ways, like the layout of the school and the game's metaphysical second act, I took the liberty of creating a world I wanted the game to be comprised of.

Q. Do you think there are certain topics that should be taboo for video games?
A. Absolutely not. Foremost, the concept of "taboo" is a laughable one in a society that pretends to care about free speech. I stumbled across KKK versions of Super Mario Brothers, a game about escaping the World Trade Center as the towers collapsed, and a shooting game that takes place at the Branch Davidian. I knew then that I was in good company in making this game.

If I made a film in which the main character was Adolph Hitler, I might be up for an Oscar nomination. Conversely, if I made a videogame in which Hitler was the main character, well, I'd be buried in anti-defamation charges. Honestly I'm not sure why videogames are held to a larger degree of scrutiny than films, books, or other mediums. Perhaps because some believe (incorrectly) that the demographic consists mostly of young children? I don't know. It's quite irritating and I think SCMRPG is a way of widening the chasm of subject matter for videogames. The Palm d' Orre at Cannes in 2002 was "Bowling for Columbine" and in 2003 was "Elephant." Why, then, ought not a videogame be made of the same award-winning subject matter? The silence is deafening.

Q. What sort of reactions have you received from the game?
A. I would say around 95% of everyone despises it outright and doesn't give even a passing thought to the potential the game actually has in creating inquiry and civil discourse. I'm routinely accused of being soulless, of being destined for an eternity in Hell, and similarly colorful assertions. However, I cannot emphasize enough that there is a small fraction of the population who really gets it--who really understands why I made the game and how possible it is to escape from the polarized, dualistic thinking the Columbine shooting seems to illicit in most people.

Q. Are you concerned about the impact a game like this might have on the people directly effected by the events at Columbine?
A. This is actually a more difficult issue for me that my detractors might otherwise imagine. Yes, that is a concern of mine. I realize it's very difficult for someone affected directly by the shooting to understand or appreciate my point of view in creating a videogame from what is no doubt the most painful experience in their lives. Nonetheless, film directors are embraced for "getting it right" on the Holocaust and I think anyone, including CHS families, who really look at this game will understand that I don't advocate or endorse the violence but rather am calling for a deeper understanding of the shooting itself. Anyone who rejects outright the search for an alternative perspective is either a fascist or is hopelessly entranced by the emperor's new clothes.

Q. How should I describe you for thee story? Like any background: place you live, age, profession.
A. I went to high school in Colorado during the late 1990's. I currently live in the United States. I have a variety of jobs that are media-related. In a more thoughtful, tolerant society I could tell you more but judging from the kind of online animosity I'm already receiving I'll leave it at that for now, thanks.

If there is anything I could add, it would be this: if this topic is of interest to you, go to http://www.columbinegame.com , download the game, play it, read the forums and add to the debate. I'm not going to kill anyone and I don't hope for the same from my audience. Let's exchange ideas and agree to disagree if we must. Nonetheless, a game like this has underground popularity for a reason--and that reason can't be easily swept away by blanket assertions of "offensive" and "inappropriate."

[Captain Insano]

lol.

I have always thought there is a huge, untapped market for screwed up video games...

It would have been more cool if they would have used a counterstrike map builder and gotten specs from the highschool and did it in that.

or how about a game where you lead a modern crusade against Jerusalem, blowing up moscques and muslims and eventually you get to kill Allah and Muhammed at the end?

That would be so win. Screw stocking it in stores. Just sell a downloadable version on the web.

[Reverie]

Well, as he says in the question and answer, an RPG was just easier for him to make.

And it is downloadable, unfortunately.

[Ginzburgh]

But it's ok to make a game splattering illegal immigrants as they zoom across the border?

So long as the victims in the game aren't American's it's ok.

[Agrajag]

But it's ok to make a game splattering illegal immigrants as they zoom across the border?

So long as the victims in the game aren't American's it's ok.

QFT

[Ginzburgh]

And I hear it'll be taking advantage of PS3's long awaited Blue Ray technology:

[Jay]

Agree with Ginz' earlier comment about Border Control and notto mention we play games like GTA San Andreas where you can fuck a prostitute and kill her right afterwards and laugh about it. Only difference is the Columbine thing happened to suburban white people. There's plenty of games that have simulated urban death and gang violence which results in death and no one gets offended by those.

[Ginzburgh]

I wonder if Mindia cries about the player's ability to choose the terrorist team in SOCOM.

[Narrock]

I wonder if Mindia cries about the player's ability to choose the terrorist team in SOCOM.

Why don't you stop wondering about it and just go ahead and ask me.

[Zanchief]

Stores should refuse to stock this kind of game. That's how you put morons like this gamemaker out of business.

Yea like the mexican immigrant game, right Mindia.

If anybody has it please link it here.

27/88 Need a better gun

A real model of integrity.

[ClakarEQ]

This reminds me of the folks that made that 9/11 movie. I know they did that to make sure we didn't forget. I KNOW they didn't make it for the money!

This guy is getting his 5 mins in the lime light, good for him.

GOOOO USSSAAAAA!!!

And you wonder why the "towel heads" hate us, sometimes I hate us to.

[Ginzburgh]

See Zanchief's post above Mindia.

[Reverie]

But it's ok to make a game splattering illegal immigrants as they zoom across the border?

So long as the victims in the game aren't American's it's ok.

No, I don't think that kind of game is fine, either. Any game that is based off of a horrible real life event where a bunch of people die and are murdered is wrong.

Even a regular game, like GTA is kind of messed up, but it's still not directly based off of a tragedy - it's just.. wrong, to me, but fun for other people. Raping prostitutes, killing cops and all that other stuff isn't appealing in any way and I don't care what race the people are.

[Spliffs]

If I made a film in which the main character was Adolph Hitler, I might be up for an Oscar nomination. Conversely, if I made a videogame in which Hitler was the main character, well, I'd be buried in anti-defamation charges. Honestly I'm not sure why videogames are held to a larger degree of scrutiny than films, books, or other mediums. Perhaps because some believe (incorrectly) that the demographic consists mostly of young children? I don't know. It's quite irritating and I think SCMRPG is a way of widening the chasm of subject matter for videogames. The Palm d' Orre at Cannes in 2002 was "Bowling for Columbine" and in 2003 was "Elephant." Why, then, ought not a videogame be made of the same award-winning subject matter? The silence is deafening.

Personally, I would never play this game. Much for the same reason that I don't care for gruesome movies. However, I think his point is pretty legit here.

[Narrock]

Stores should refuse to stock this kind of game. That's how you put morons like this gamemaker out of business.

Yea like the mexican immigrant game, right Mindia.

If anybody has it please link it here.

27/88 Need a better gun

A real model of integrity.

Oh shut up you fag. You thought it was funny too.