If this is the future of freedom of speech then please take it away.

I think I prefer Voltaire's point of view: "I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write." Ask some people from Argentina, Chile, North Korea, Myanmar, etc. what happens when freedom of speech is "taken away". (Hint: it ends up with people dying horribly, on a far larger scale than happened at VT.)

Many have given their lives to preserve such rights in the U.S. and Europe, among other places. Don't cheapen their sacrifice by throwing it all away to vent your indignation over a Flash game, however stupid and offensive that game may be. I don't think the people who died at VT want their memory sullied by being used as a lightning rod for suppressing free speech -- again, however detestable that speech may be.

I am from Blacksburg Va and this game is sickening. How are we supposed to heal when this game pokes fun at the tragedy we faced? It is an outrage than someone would create such a disturbing video game.

does this guy have a life?

Hey firstly this kid is NOT an Aussie. He just happens to hide in Australia atm. This is the price of freedom of speech and so is this:-

Ryan Lambourn
Address: 8 Barossa Cl St Clair 2759
Tel +61(02) 9670 2947

Just in case someone would like to personally hand him a donation personally. Good luck Ryan i wish you all the best!!!

Ok.....So............
You guys do not play World War based games.......
Right??

It is not differnt from World War based games.
But...It needn't to intentionally make 'V-tech based game'

[...] « Who dares to say that blogs do not have an impact on political campaigning? V-Tech Tragedy as a Flash Game May 16th, 2007 Sooner or later it was going to happen. Unfortunately it happened sooner. A flashgame about the V-Tech rampage was uploaded on Newgrounds. As GamePolitics points out, the game is rendered in a documentary style, similar to that of the highly controversial Super Columbine Massacre RPG. There’s one difference though: As controversial Super Columbine Massacre RPG might have been, its creator at least tried to make a thoughtful attempt and had the decency to wait six years with the release – and he didn’t give in to the increasing industrialization of all art but tried to convey his viewpoint. It was dangerous in a thought provoking way. I can comprehend where the (often ill-informed) critics are coming from: Games inherent the trivialisation of human life since the survival of one’s avatar depends on the player’s ability (that’s why there never was – and hopefully never will be – a game about Anne Frank) and due to their save function they won’t let the player feel all the consequences of their action. That said: A mature medium should be allowed to make comments on serious issues (it should not only be allowed to but see this as a pressing duty). But not only is the game industry notoriously insecure about itself, perpetuating the same juvenile concepts again and again, but there is also the sensationalist mainstream media, which can’t tell independently developed games and industry-produced software apart (yet to speak of politicians who use them as an excuse for strikter legislation) – with often unfavorable consequences for the industry. Still: Should this stop people from trying to critically comment serious events through the medium of a digital game? It would be giving up before trying and giving in to the political economy of the contemporary mainstream mediasphere. The V-Tech game though is just plain, idiotic provocation. It’s evacuated of any thought, any reflection, any common sense. A fact that is underlined by the fact that its creator started to hold the public hostage and offered to take it offline if people pay him $1000 US – an apology can be expected for $3000 US. As Kotaku put it: “Free speech and free expression are great. Just make sure you’ve got something to say.” [...]

is good game is for all people lv tech jijijijijijijijijijij

I will run a campaign, to raise $1000 in donation to track this person down, and put his details and address public, so that anyone who wants to do anything to him can do it, $2000 for anybody who would find him and give him a bitch slap, $3000 posted on the web him suffering and being sorry for what he had done, with the most humiliating thing ever done to him. Then we will see whether who is being funny.

The pain has already been set, & being
dealt with by those that lost.
As I think this dumb asian kid should
not be glorified any more then he
has too, this game is the same as
GTA, Call of duty, Saints Row, ect.
If anything, market this game & put
all proceeds to getting guns off the streets.
just a thought.

I have people.

I can already hear the backlash. This does not help us in anyway =(

Isn't that why most people post anything on the Internet. They're after the attention from everyone in the world.

3... 2... 1...

JT: Game companies are mocking the dead and glorifies their murderers!!!
Games like this are gonna create hundreds of copycats all over the world!!!
Let's ban games, make me world president and rejoice!!!

I don't care what people post on the net, there are plenty of worse things out there (even if it is in poor taste).

What I'm more concerned about is the media reporting on it and treating it like a commercial game when in fact it is just some cheap flash game made by a bratty teenager.

I spotted this on 4chan and gave it a try. The game is one of those steaming piles that would just go away if ignored, but guess what, thanks to massacre chasing politicians and lawyers, the game has already achieved immortality.

I dunno about you guys, but I found the PC Advisor article interesting and balanced. Unfortunately, I fear this will be an exception.

Pathetic. I hate people.

//What I’m more concerned about is the media reporting on it and treating it like a commercial game when in fact it is just some cheap flash game made by a bratty teenager.//

And sadly, we'd have to defend it because if we don't, then we would be called hypocrites and then all hell would break loose ("M-rated games are no more in the USA! *shock!*"). I sometimes hate being a defender of the media, because you have @$$-holes that will just do anything for a shock or whatever.

this is one of those times we need to inform people that the video game industry is not responsible for homebrew video games. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen, and we're gonna have another Super Columbine Massacre RPG = Bully on our hands.

ugh this sucks. because half of my mind is like "why the heck did this kid/guy do this? doesn't he/she know what politicians did with the columbine game?" and then my other half is like... "freedom of speech, anyone can say what they want no matter how ugly it may be. let em' be".


Somehow I don't think this person even knew what a ruckus the columbine game made. I talk to all my other family members about whats going on with politicians using it and they have no idea what I'm talking about. but they are of a different generation. but then I thought what if this person does know how much guff that other game got and is doing this to get the same attention that creator did... then frankly I don't hold that person higher than JT because he does what he does for attention aswell. lets hope this person was just ignorant of the fact then. then my faith in humanity will be slightly restored ;)

Oh Christ. What is WRONG with people?

Freedom of speech is an incredibly, vitally important thing. It's just such a hideous waste when people use that freedom to do idiotic things that will only backfire on themselves.

I mean, the moron who made this is presumably a gamer, right? It seems a very fair assumption. Well now thanks to his (or her, I guess) idiocy and desire to cause a sensation and be oh-so-cleverly controversial, the cycle of Blame-The-Games will just strengthen, so the hobby that is the *reason* they created this crud in the first place will be under greater threat than it was before.

Sigh. And who would want to make a game out of this anyway? I mean... God, sometimes I really despair for humanity in general, seriously.

I unhappily await the media firestorm that will come from this. Meh.

This person just put us and our cause back a good 5 years. Politicians/Lawyers/NannyGroups are going to jump on this and blame games and gamers for years to come.

Time to call The Soup (ABC,CBS,CNN,MSNBC,ect.) and start damage control.

John Says:
I find this idea stupid. I wish there was some way to distinguish flash and independant games from Professional ones in a way that will shut politicians up

Perhaps in the barrage of reports that will result from this game, the media will attempt to clarify and distinguish between the two ? I'm getting my hopes up, I know it....

The biggest problem with this game is that the creator has gone public with the game but does not use his/her real name. SCMRPG's creators used their real names along with the distribution so that people would know whom to complain to and whom to applaud. This person has shown he/she is a coward. I mean have some balls and take responsibility for your crap.

doh! I meant "Free speech and free expression are great. Just make sure you’ve got something to say. Otherwise, it’s noise.”

whats up with the duck in that screenshot in the article?

@jonc2006

It's the scene from Cho's dorm room in the flash, where he prepares and films his message pack for NBC. I don't know why there's a duck there.

This is genuinely sad. Free speech is great, but unfortunately there'll always be some little fucktards who abuse it.

I believe I speak for the game industry as a whole when I say: f$#k

@Nekojin

"Freedom of speech includes the freedom to make a gigantic ass of yourself in public."

Very true.

He seems like a real winner...

@Jabrwock:

"@Nekojin

'Freedom of speech includes the freedom to make a gigantic ass of yourself in public.'

Very true."

It does?! I'm gonna go try that. *takes off pants and runs into the city square, shouting, "ITTY BITTY BABY ITTY BITTY BOAT"*

Which Mainstream Media Outlet will be the first to decry the game as a depraved creation of the games industry?

Place your bets.

@Volcanman

"And sadly, we’d have to defend it because if we don’t, then we would be called hypocrites and then all hell would break loose (”M-rated games are no more in the USA! *shock!*”). "

Bullshit. I won't defend this, because it's not worth defending. I was one of the most outspoken defenders of SCMRPG! (I was the Slamdance judge that criticized the festival), but that's because SCMRPG! was a well written, thought provoking mind trip. This game, on the other hand, is exploitative trash.

That doesn't make me a hypocrite. That means I have standards.

VERY bad taste. Whoever made this game is an ass, and it's not funny.

@Volcanman Says:

"I sometimes hate being a defender of the media, because you have @$$-holes that will just do anything for a shock or whatever."

now you know how military folk feel.

A good man once said "i dissagree with what you say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it" and that should hold true to this.

And anyways this could be a relization to the person. maby he made it to educate people on things that could happen or things that could go wrong in the world(as SCM RPG has said to me by some).

And realy if the media staarts rubing on everything bad on games and internet its goan be a long time till their done. theres alot of things on internet and games that are defind as "wrong" for us. but that what the games are ment to be and do. they are for FUN not to train people to kill everyone or to makefun of the dead(mostaly).

Just because a game doesn't fall into your narrow view of right and wrong art doesn't mean it isn't a form of art that we shouldn't defend.The comments I am seeing here make me wonder how much bite really has fallen out of the community.

If we pick and chose what art we think is "excluded"from the 1st amendment then it defeats the purpose of defending any of it to begin with.Just because you don't like said art doesn't mean "it's trash not worth defending".To do otherwise is to stick a foot in your mouth and let politicians censor whatever they like.

@Jbourrie well thank you for giving a fine example of the word "hypocrite"and subsequently putting your own foot in your mouth.

you either defend all art or want to censor all of it theirs no middle road,no cherry picking or pulling a bait and switch to make it seem like you can have your cake and eat it too.

@Diceman

You are correct. There's a difference between liking/hating a statement, and defending it's right to be.

Pigpen made a sad pathetic flash, that was badly written, didn't even bother trying to explore the "why", and was clearly made only to have people get their panties in a knot. Really, the more you get offended, the more Pigpen is laughing at you for getting so uptight.

But I defend his right to be a tool. Because I don't want someone else telling ME what I can and can't say, just because it's in bad taste, too soon, or done just to offend. At that point I'm still letting them decide what's right and what's not allowed.

It may be trash, but if you want to pretend that you care about freedom of expression, you have to defend even the crappy expression. It doesn't mean you have to like it, you just have to defend it's right to be...

(18 words) Stop giving politicans and our critics very bad examples that they use to say how bad we are

Jabrwock Says:
Really, the more you get offended, the more Pigpen is laughing at you for getting so uptight.

Actually i was laughing at that ......russian doll statement, lulz.

@tempo: "why are people going nuts about the first amendment?

i don’t think anyone in the game community is saying it should be outright censored. although that makes it easy for some of you to argue (strawman)"

Because there are going to be those OUTSIDE of the game community (and yes, some inside the community, who want to have it removed from NewGrounds, etc.) who are going to try to make it a First Amendment issue, and have it declared an obscenity, and therefore not protected speech.

@tempo

"why are people going nuts about the first amendment?"

Because people like to twist "it should be illegal to make" into "it's just morally wrong to make, and I'll pretend you have a right to make it, but secretly I'll try to make it quasi-illegal to make, while insisting you have a right to make it."

South Park put it best: "Either you can make fun of everything, or you can't make fun of anything."

"we’re just saying it sucks, is in poor taste, is completely meaningless outside of the initial shock value, and cannot be defended in the same way as SCMRPG."

Sort of. It cannot be defended in the same way since SCMRPG is a thought provoking examination of the events preceding and during the massacre, dissected in the same way a killer's motive and actions are dissected in one of those crime docs.

But it CAN be defended in that however awful, it's still someone expressing an idea. Get mad, get offended, get irate, get pissy, get whatever you want to be in response to it. But remember this. By choosing not to defend it, you are no different than those who attacked SCMRPG whilst defending something like that movie that documented the meeting of the German high command that led to the Final Solution... (I can't remember the title offhand)

Found it, I was talking about The Wannsee Conference as depicted in Conspiracy (2001)

Mainstream sensation with JT in 5... 4... 3...

@tempo

Even obscenity is a flaky concept. It's considered a "fair" restriction on free speech, but only because "normal", "decent" people all agree it's filth. As if we've all agreed that the opinions of the masses over the minority only apply if sex or swearing is involved.

But then we go and make extra rules for which obscenity is ok, as long as it falls under certain uses, or certain categories. It's almost like we're rationalizing our censorship, while still claiming to respect freedom of expression...

The First Amendment protects a person's right to produce games like this, but just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you should. This game, IMO, should not have been made.

There's no reason for it, aside from generating controversy (which, I think it's fair to say, was the author's sole intent). The whole of his website exudes a juvenile quality, while lacking any real creative ability or intent (again, all IMO).

I left a comment voicing my displeasure in what was the most civil tone I could muster (I considered writing far worse), but his response indicates that he simply doesn't care about dissenting opinions.

Quel surprise.

@ J-Guy

Whose fault is it victims families will be led to believe it's a product of the game industry?

"Of all the things to hate my game for….why are so many of you hating it for what small repercussions it may have on the game industry? Seriously…priorities."

Imagine all your neighbors assuming you made advances towards a child, even though it was really some pervert who lived down the street whom you have never met, and don't intend to.

Would you not be annoyed that your neighbors were so god damned stupid that they would associate you with him? Would you not be annoyed with him for getting you into trouble?

Your actions have larger repercussions than you think. You believe "it's nothing." We know that there are a large number of people out there who will use your work as a shining example of why the gaming industry should get run by government-mandated Thought Police, and by extension, any other form of media.

Seriously.

"Imagine all your neighbors assuming you made advances towards a child, even though it was really some pervert who lived down....blahblah.....media."

YOURE NOT THE GAME INDUSTRY!
And personally i feel fine with EA getting my blame.....want me to put them on the title screen? NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY, THEYRE PROTECTED BY THE SAME FREEDOM OF SPEECH AS I AM.

And really.....it was probably me who made the advances towards the child.

Pigpen,

he wasnt claiming to be the industry. If you were part of this site and the news and politics of gaming you would understand his point.

People do use online games to fuel the fire and you just added another one.

yeah i understand the point...youre all heartless monsters that care more about getting your next GTA sequel than peoples lives.

@PiGPEN:

Lurk more. Sheesh.

@PiGPEN

>NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY, THEYRE >PROTECTED BY THE SAME FREEDOM OF SPEECH AS I AM.

This is where the politics come into play. In the US at least there are groups specifically trying to strip 'freedom of speech' protections from video games. In which case, neither you (if you lived here) nor the industry, would be protected any more.

It has already happened to the adult industry and is sucks pretty badly for everyone.

It has already happened to the adult industry and is sucks pretty badly for everyone.

Whats wrong with the adult industry? Not enough scat?

Gee, this sounds like the kind of situation where, if Jack used his lawyer brain properly, would do some good...

And YOUR money will go to a needy lawyer who needs HIS paychecks too.

I’m said my piece, now I’m finished feeding the troll.

I know how to get that flash removed.

Contact IMVU and tell them their ads are appearing on a flash game mocking the VA-Tech massacre.

Newgrounds will pull it faster than you can say "WAIT I LIKE MONEY!"

@jabrwock

i agree that obscenity is a flaky and subjective concept

@PlayItbogart

If you think that is true then you don't know anything about newgrounds. Tom (the creator) started off by making controversal games (including school shooting and seal clubbing simulations), and he pulled his game from slamdance when super columbine got x'ed out. The guy also has tons of cash give-aways so he's not greedy, he has refused to pull the suicide bomber game and the site is so huge he could easily find new sources of revenue if some advertisers called it quits. That virginia tech game is not leaving the site anytime soon (or maybe ever).

@illspirit

There are many problems with your theory.

a. IF (and that's a humoungus if) they ban violent flash games they won't arrest pigpen because he would've made the game before the law was passed and not be in trouble.
b. The law is passed in new york, newgrounds servers are located in Philadelphia, there is a pretty good chance that pigpen does not live in new york (and if he does see point a), so he might not be effected.
c. Such laws would create too many problems what if he created and uploaded the game while in Canada, would he still be effected?
d. If violent games are protected speech, then surely flash games are, public opinion does not dictate what is and what is not constitutional, the courts do.

Ok, whatever braindead idiot came up with this, seriously, grow the Hell up. I know that people want to get attention and use controversy for there own gains, but have some decency.

VT barely happened and you pull this? What is wrong with you? Was it not bad enough that idiots like thompson and others in the media were pointing fingers at the game industry, you just had to go whack the Beehive.

It's pathetic, its insensitive, it's offensive, even to me, and I take offense at very little.

Hopefully, you'll pull this before we have to get it pulled from newgrounds. It's the decent thing to do. When you can learn to treat this topic with some degree of respect, then make a game out of it.

@PiGPEN

Australia doesn't have free speech. Australia has been banning games, movies and books for years.

http://www.refused-classification.com/

@Father Time

Aye. I know that's a really big if. However, Pigpen was saying he doesn't care if such laws are passed because it would ostensibly be only the big, mean industry which was affected. I was merely following his "what if" train of thought through to conclusion.

And I realize NY may not have jurisdiction, and the whole ex post facto thing would shield him from prosecution for this game. But if a Fed law was written (and magically survived a court challenge) and he made another game though, it might affect him, no?

games as obscenity?i would love to see them try and pull that wool over any judge's eyes with common sense (activists judges excluded).I think i will go play the south park movie soundtrack blaring on my boom box across the street from a 1-5 grade school and see what happens just because I'm insane enough and when(or if)the cops show up for obscenity bullshit ill play twisted sisters "were not gonna take it"call my lawyer for a happy suit and laugh all the way to the bank.

Better yet ill buy up 40+ copies of GTA:SA and distribute them for free along with a flyer with bold lettering saying "rage against the machine baby!(with a butt load of politicians in asterisk identified as "the machine")Ill even pass them out to 5 year olds because its their rights as humans to absorb all kinds of knowledge be it culturally unfriendly or not.

Besides all the above obscenity laws are more of a scary boogie man to keep freedom of thought in check than a law(s) to actually protect people from anything harmful(I mean really nudity and crap worked for the greeks for the longest time without any problems).

@the rest of you kiddies...seriously are you not sick of playing defense all the time?embrace the flow of ideas and if politicians move in the strike blockade the town hall until X person changes his mind.Damning his creation only serves to help destroy what Dennis(and others)have tried valiantly to protect.

I concur with bayushisan

I want to be surprised by this, but I can't be...

@Kommisar

With all due respect I'd have to disagree. I think the industry and developers should distance themselves from things like this. It needs to be hammered home as often as possible that this flash game is in no way, shape or form connected to any legitimate game developer. Its not for sale, nor do flash games have to be submitted to the ESRB for rating. Like I've said earlier, just because this thing was legal to make, didn't mean it was the right thing to do.

Yes it was legal. No it was not moral. The two are not necessarily the same thing. Besides I'm getting tired of having to defend the medium when jokers like pigpen are doing their hardest to wreck it from within with their stupidity.

I'm going to use some George W. Bush meets Jack Thompson logic in this situation:

A. Pigpen has created a game which glorifies killing innocent students.
B. Killing is what murderers do...and terrorists.
C. The game is teaching people to murder innocent Americans. Terrorists kill Americans.
D. The game is a murder simulator teaching terrorists how to kill.
E. Therefor, Pigpen must approve of terrorism.
F. Pigpen is a terrorist!

Pigpen, you have been branded a terrorist by the conservative right - congrats!

@flap

did you just pull a jacko wendies tactic just now?

Wow, reading PigPen's comments on this board, it's plain obvious to see he is a complete moron. He has no feelings for any of the people that lost their lives during the VT Massacre. I picked that up by just how pointless this game really is. Now I have not played Super Columbine Massacre RPG, but it seemed to be made with good intention. This is not. This is puerile trash from a puerile person with no regard for humanity. At all. And he has the audacity to tell US "yeah i understand the point…youre all heartless monsters that care more about getting your next GTA sequel than peoples lives."

Please. Get a grip. If you really cared about people's lives there would 1. Be an actual examination of the tragedy and 2. wouldn't even be out for at LEAST another five years.

This game should be blammed off of Newgrounds, but not because of its subject matter, as tasteless as it is. If you're going to legislate morality concerning this you may as well do it to everything else, and that can't happen. Simply because it is...hands down...a horrible game. Simply put. Everyone hates E.T., right? Why not this trash?

Disclaimer: I am Australian and I am aware that, unfortunately, what happens in the US will eventually cascade down into Australia.

'NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY, THEYRE PROTECTED BY THE SAME FREEDOM OF SPEECH AS I AM.'

Technically Australia has no 'freedom of speech' in our constitution so you’re safe up until any Australian problems with the game (not that anything will happen). Australians are too lazy to fight for our rights as evidenced by the lack of civil wars/unrest (maybe because we all started as convicts with no rights...). That and our gaming industry isn’t large enough for anyone to really care.

So, now that that has been said. I don't really give a crap about this game, if it is shit all the better, if it is great I am sure someone will insist I give it a go. However, if everyone on this site is that worried that this will have an impact on vid games vs. constitution in America, I am disappointed you think both the constitution and 'people with IQ's of over 100' can be so easily swayed.
If that is the case, it is just a matter of time regardless...

And to add, regardless of the differences between SCMRPG and this game, the mainstream media will treat them exactly the same, haven't we all caught on, THEY DON'T ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAMES BEFORE REPORTING ABOUT THEM. We also know that those heading the anti-games debate will even twist/alter the truth regardless of whether they have played it or not.

I am not trying to flame, I think everyone just needs to take a breath and consider what this site is about. It is not to report on how crap a game is (or the inability of the maker to make it more intelligent/with reason etc.), so before everyone gets up-in-arms about the maker of the game save that energy for the lawyers/politicians who will incorrectly utilise this and other more ‘moral’ games for their own selfish purposes.

It seems to me everyone HAS been up-in-arms about the lousy politicians and lawyers. It seems to me that people do not like the fact that videogames are still in a struggle for credibility, and everytime we start to make some progress some stupid person goes and does something like this.

People like PigPen are the reason we take 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.

ah leave him alone, its not that big a deal i mean everyone is just making a big deal about it because they were american. i mean how many kids in iraq die a day?

and heads up he is australian but he was born in the u.s

I don't like this game because it causes controversy. I don't like it because Cho wasn't a gamer, therefore no ironic supplement to the game.

I just finished playing 'VTech Rampage' and have some mixed thoughts.

1) There are elements of factual synthesis to the game. Creator Ryan Lambourn has a sense of humor (morbid, certainly - but not beyond the recognition of the guy who made SCMRPG) that arises in the quips uttered by Cho and by police officers that apprehend him. The use of Cho's identity as "?" is found in the upstairs of Norris Hall and there are loose references to events as outlined in the media's reports following the shooting. Also the use of Collective Soul (hardly the "angry rock music" that one would imagine from a mass murderer) provides an interesting counterpoint to the game's violence. Whether this was intentional on Ryan's part or whether this was merely the result of Cho's favorite song as reported by the press remains up for speculation.

2) It would appear to me that Ryan has no intention of doing much other than making money and gaining immediate recognition after the Virginia Tech shooting. Inevitably, comparisons between SCMRPG and VTech Rampage are being made right now. Some bloggers despise both games equally whereas others recognize a level of commentary that SCMRPG attempted which was not evident in VTR. For myself I wish to point out that SCMRPG was never a for-profit endeavor and thus I never posted statements like that which is on the VTR game's homepage:

"I will take this game down from newgrounds if the donation amount reaches $1000 US, i'll take it down from here if it reaches $2000 US, and i will apologize if it reaches $3000 US."

This quote seems to indicate that Ryan has no intention of leaving the game up permanently or having a channel for discourse (as I have done) but instead has unfortunately chosen an artist's statement that reads more like a hostage note. Following Ryan's demand, would anyone accept an apology made after a $3000 collection check? I'm not sorry for making SCMRPG nor should Ryan be sorry for making VTR; to imply that his apologies can be purchased for a few thousand dollars truly cheapens whatever efforts he is attempting to make.

3) While many are bemoaning how the game industry should distance itself from homebrew games, I am torn as to whether I should distance myself and my game from Ryan and his. I wrote after the Virginia Tech shooting:

"Societies throughout history have dealt with pain, tragedy, and suffering with art in a multitude of forms and ours is no exception. There will be poems about this shooting, there will be books about it, films about it, paintings about it, and indeed I do not believe the medium of interactive electronic media should be excluded from exploring the sorrows and challenges of the human experience."

Now I am forced to confront my own words by asking if the VTR game does ANY of what I outlined as the "exploration" of "sorrows and challenges of the human experience." I would like to ask bloggers to consider not whether a game about the Virginia Tech shooting SHOULD be made but how we might go about making a game that accomplishes more than VTR does with the subject matter.

[...] Va Tech Game Appears On Web [GamePolitics] [...]

To reuse a quote I said earlier, "you can't unring that bell." The game's made, it's up on a site, and has been so for more than 24 hours. Removing it at this point won't somehow make it cease to be. And, as Ryan says, an "apology" written after a $3000 payment will ring a bit false.

So, don't give him a dime. Just let it drift to the bottom of the trashheap on its own, and get back to more important debates and discussions.

Some people are so stupid....*hope points for humanity decreased*

i dunno what yall are talkin about. this game is fun as hell

It's better than Fusion Frenzy 2...

I am not sure if anyone mentioned it yet, but there's a "supersecret code" at the end of the game, that lets you skip through the levels:

Just start and press A+X.

Imho, this whole discussion is just an otiose bubble of hot air. Take it easy on yourselves and everybody else.

It's just a game. *repeat*
Peace.

Can Danny Ledonne complain about Ryan Lambourn when a bit of Intelligence and reality can see his game is just as bad as Ryan.

And that both of them need to seek help ASAP for their sick way of thinking towards people killed.

But a question for them both and the people who support these two of course if they have enough Intelligence to answer?

Would you make fun of people killed at both Columbine and Virginia Tech if your family and friends was the one that was killed?

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[...] Several opinions on Gamepolitics I will support–Totally, completely, whole-heartedly: We should defend his right to free speech, but condemn his use of it. We must stand aside and make it clear that we, as gamers, are not this man, this child, this juvenile. We instead are those who represent a group of people, a demographic, a life-choice that does not include violence in the real world, or simulations of real tragic events. He is free to say it, but if PiGPEN wants us to support him when his world comes crashing down around him, he’s got another thing coming. PiGPEN, grow up. [...]

for those of ya who b!tch and cry about the game,sending hatemail,writing fourms/blogs about how horable it is,please go get f_uc_ed.people cry how "it happen in real life how can you make a game about it?!?!?" 1st stop trying to pin games like these,while your posting your hate/anger about it just STOP..go in the bathroom and look in the mirror,then SLAP yourself,while your posting that crap you kid has done worse with games like halo,doom,quake,mortal kombat,shadowman,i mean look at all the other sh!t out there you don't cry about..no need to say sorry,please just shut the f_ck up