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Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

  • calunio
  • 10/17/2013 02:36 AM
  • 4868 views
I just realized that my game, in concept, it's pretty similar to the Super Columbine Massacre RPG! It's a game that tries to reenact a crime through the perspective of the criminal. I had never played the game before, and partly because I thought it was some sort of joke game (blame the graphics). It's not, so I gave it a shot, and tried to see how it compares to what I want Suzy and freedom to be.

I agree with Danny Ledonne, the creator of the game, when he says SCMRPG is a game that "had to be made". Public reaction to ugly crimes such as this tends to be very blind and dishonest, looking for ways to turn the criminals into inhuman monsters, and set them apart from regular people. What should worry us is not that there are monsters among us, but that there are monsters within us. I guess this is not such an original discourse nowadays as it was when the game was made.

I think the game made a good job with dialogs and texts and other ways to empathize players with the characters/killers. There is a lot of depth in it, and it is a story to really think about. It's also a better way to get in contact with what happened than googling for news about the tragedy. The game summarizes everything very well.



On the other hand, it has horrible gameplay. It's way longer than it should be, and the killing part gets boring fast, which is the exact opposite of the feeling that should be created to simulate a mass murder scene.

Anyways, I guess that what I'll try to make differently with Suzy and freedom (beside more engaging gameplay) is put the player in the shoes of not only the killers, but the victims as well. I'm making a game with no heroes and no villains, just people. A bunch of people without a happy ending.

Super Columbine Massacre RPG! kinda makes the characters feel like heroes, and there's zero empathy for the victims. I'm not saying it is a game that stimulates players to be bad people, like some people said, but killing rm2k rtp sprites in DBS felt just too detached.

--edit--
Oh, and there's one more important difference I can't ignore: the killers I'm talking about are very much alive.

Posts

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edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
I commend you in your efforts to humanize what people can easily view as monsters. While people are ultimately responsible for their own actions, the thought process that leads to those don't occur in a vacuum.

Not to blame society, but, in a sense, things occur as a consequence of it. Thinking about a recent event that happened, the US Navy yard shooting might have been prevented, had he gotten help to address the mental health problems. Somehow, even though the warning signs were loud and clear, they were left unaddressed and, in retrospect, the end result is not surprising.

It does take a certain courage to put these "monsters" in a new light. Just maybe they were some Dr. Frankensteins involved in their creation ... The question in the end will remain, who's at fault for those atrocities (any way you cut it, I think we can all agree on this label).
I personally commend anybody who is willing and able to tackle issues like this with gaming, and do it in a really adult and sensible way, instead of making fun of it or hiding it behind thick symbolism in some damn art game.

Knowing that you've done your research and looked at other games in the same field only makes me more excited to play this. Keep up the good work!
author=Pizza
instead of making fun of it or hiding it behind thick symbolism in some damn art game.


I'm curious as to what kind of games are you talking about? (examples)
Just more of the concept really, I like it when the message is directly explored through characters and story rather than arting at the player. Like, I'd watch a documentary over a played up movie or something, I don't know. I just don't like art games.

Knytt Underground is a good example of how to explore realistic themes such as friendship and the meaning behind life/religion, as opposed to games like Limbo/The Path where things are so vague that it's hard to say if there was even a message at all.
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