Poll: Should games like "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" be allowed?

[Lucem712]

Recently, I watched the documentary "Playing Columbine" which follows the media response, public and video game industry response to a little 16 bit game called "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" (SCMRPG!). The game, itself, its about the school shooting, by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, at Columbine Highschool. Many times it has been criticized because games are "play" things and reacting a real tragic event is 'crossing the line'.

In your personal opinion, should games like "SCMPRG!" be made? Should they be allowed to document tragic events, or is the very nature of a game, interactive and immerse, that should restrict it's topics?

Edit:
(If you wish to experience "SCMPRG!" download it here [http://www.columbinegame.com/], it is Freeware and the creator estimates that it would be rated "M" by the ESRB)

 

[Gasaraki]

Yes, because the day we stop being allowed to discuss tragic events, no matter the amount of respect the subject is treated with, is the day that I start building an underwater fortress to spend the rest of my life in.

 

[xvbones]

Freedom of Expression cuts both ways.

 

[El Luck]

Yes they should be made. Whether or not people should play it, or documentaries and media groups give it free advertising is a different story to be honest.

Also saying no will always bring out the guys screaming about rights....so chalk up another reason to say yes.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Depends on the content of the game. I don't know exactly where something becomes hatespeech or the like, and where it goes beyond "advocating" murders to advocating murders, but it happens somewhere.

 

[xvbones]

Almost no one who criticised the game played it, almost no one who comes on here to defend it will have played it.

It honestly makes it more than a little difficult to have a proper discussion about it.

I played it.

It's a pretty stupid game. It's deliberately offensive in every way it can be and also really just tremendously silly.

Freedom of expression cuts both ways.

If the game is being made in America, it is protected by the Constitution of the United States.

It is Protected Speech.

Hurt feelings or respect for the dead are irrelevant.

For the same reason we must accept the existence of the God Hates Fags people, for the exact same reason that they are permitted to picket funerals, this game cannot and should not be censored, nor should anyone be permitted to stop such games, even deliberately offensive games like this, from being made.

Because it's Protected Speech.

There's no debate here.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Almost no one who criticised the game played it, almost no one who comes on here to defend it will have played it.

It honestly makes it more than a little difficult to have a proper discussion about it.

This post is full of magical win.

This entire discussion is going to break down into people shouting "Robble Robble Free Speech!" and "Wakka Wakka Disrespectful!" and few if any of them will have any idea whatsoever what the game is like, and whether it crosses any lines.

Also, if the Off Topic forum is any indication, like maybe 5% of people even know what Freedom of Speech laws entail in their country and where the limits are anyway, making even the meta argument pointless.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

Everything is fair game, or nothing is.

Games ARE "art," right?

 

[xvbones]

Oh, as a side note, anyone interested in witnessing the game so that 'proper discussion' can be possible:

http://lparchive.org/Super-Columbine-Massacre-RPG/

Full archived LP of this and the Virginia Tech Massacre RPG. And Mega Man 2, for no reason.

They are deliberately offensive, deliberately shitty games.

And they are Protected Speech.

 

[zehydra]

Yes, because it would be wrong to censor the creation of material deemed offensive, since offensiveness is subjective, and would thus be legislating subjectivity. It's like banning brussel sprouts, because no one likes them.


Edit: ALSO, video games being a form of narrative has nothing to do with their validity as an art form. Being able to tell a story is just one of the many ways video games can be artistic.

 

[xvbones]

Almost no one who criticised the game played it, almost no one who comes on here to defend it will have played it.

It honestly makes it more than a little difficult to have a proper discussion about it.

I played it.

It's a pretty stupid game. It's deliberately offensive in every way it can be and also really just tremendously silly.

I'll go with 'tremendously silly' and raise you 'just not a good game' since it's just not, but I wouldn't say it was deliberately offensive. It was basically a caricature of the opinion of people who genuinely believe games can cause violence like that. it's kind of the gaming equivalent of summarising someone's argument in a retard voice. I wouldn't say it offended deliberately so much as it shocked deliberately, I honestly think the lads that made it were gunning for some rather interesting ideas, but critically were shit at expressing them.

I took the whole thing to be one prolonged troll, to be honest. The backlash against whatsisfuck, (that guy who kept trying to have GTA arrested for war crimes, what the fuck was his name? Penny Arcade donated 10 grand in his name and he tried to have them arrested?) and his ilk was apparent, but to me most of it just rung like the old R. Crumb comics: really just deliberately trying to be a punk.

Also, pretty terrible. Not a good game. No, sir.

Freedom of expression cuts both ways.

If the game is being made in America, it is protected by the Constitution of the United States.

It is Protected Speech.
...
There's no debate here.

Except that 25% of Escapist users are British, plus a lot of other nationalities make up a good chunk. As a theoretical discussion it works fine because in our countries (in theory) games like this could be banned, or at least restricted from general sale.

Yes. You are correct and I had not considered it.

I will amend my comment:

In America, there can be no debate over this, in America, this is protected speech.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I disagree with you in every way that I can.

It is entirely possible to debate protected speech without actually knowing what lines the material crosses, because it does not matter what lines it crosses.

Protected speech is protected speech. Period full stop the end.

I've also linked the LP of the game, so the argument is rendered further invalid: anyone who wants to see how far over the line the game goes is now fully capable, it is linked right there.

Is libel legal in the US now?

I must have slept through that.

 

[Flig]

Should it be made? No.

Does it have a right to be made? Yes(depending on where you live).


It's the same thing with the WBC. Do they have a right to be there? Yeah, but they should still get some class and stop being so fucking stupid, but, hey, it is what it is.

 

[Lucem712]

Oh, as a side note, anyone interested in witnessing the game so that 'proper discussion' can be possible:

http://lparchive.org/Super-Columbine-Massacre-RPG/

Full archived LP of this and the Virginia Tech Massacre RPG. And Mega Man 2, for no reason.

The official(?) website " http://www.columbinegame.com/ " also has a forum where people can discuss the game/shooting/other school shootings and ect.

 

[xvbones]

I disagree with you in every way that I can.

It is entirely possible to debate protected speech without actually knowing what lines the material crosses, because it does not matter what lines it crosses.

Protected speech is protected speech. Period full stop the end.

I've also linked the LP of the game, so the argument is rendered further invalid: anyone who wants to see how far over the line the game goes is now fully capable, it is linked right there.

Is libel legal in the US now?

I must have slept through that.

Have you not paid attention to FOX News?

"Not intended to be taken as factual statements" is like magic. Apparently.

Also are the words "parody" and "satire".

 

[Lucem712]

I apologize for the double post :\

 

[Johnson McGee]

In a world where The Human Centipede 2 exists, we are already far over the callous insensitive violence line.