(Newswire.net — May 29, 2018) — Parents of students murdered in February at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, spoke out against “Active Shooter,” a videogame scheduled to be released soon.
The controversial first person shooter game, announced for release in Jun, puts players in the role of an active shooter in a school with the task of killing civilians and law enforcement officers. Parents of the Parkland shooting victims, however, teamed up in effort to flag the game as highly inappropriate. They launched a petition calling for a ban of the game that has been signed by more than 18000 people within a few days.
“Active Shooter” is billed as a “SWAT simulator’, and will be released on Steam, an online games marketplace,” parents said in a statement, cited by Russia Today.
Players can assume the role of an elite SWAT team member tasked with neutralizing the shooter. However, the game also lets players chose to be the shooter and kill children, teachers or SWAT members. The score depends on a kill count of how many cops and civilians the player has killed.
There are also various weapons at the player’s disposal, from automatic rifles to explosive devices. In one scene shown in the game’s trailer, the shooter throws a hand grenade into an auditorium. This scene has a striking resemblance to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, in which Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 15 students.
Valve Corp, a renowned gaming company famous for their Steam gaming platform on which any game developer can place their game for $100, set June 6 as the release date of “Active Shooter” the videogame that according to many has crossed the line.
“It’s disgusting that Valve Corp is trying to profit from the glamorization of tragedies affecting our schools across the country,” Ryan Petty who lost his 14-year-old daughter in the February shooting, told the Miami Herald.
Parents of victims and sympathetic people are signing a petition calling for Valve to remove the game from its online marketplace. “It’s just wrong in every way,” said one supporter, Karen Nash.
“Please do not take any of this seriously,” Revived Games, developer of the controversial game said in a disclaimer. “This is only meant to be a simulation and nothing else. If you feel like hurting someone or people around you, please seek help from local psychiatrists or dial 911 (or applicable). Thank you.”
There is still no indication if Valve would kick out “Active Shooter” from their Steam platform, especially after the publicity that the petition has drawn. However, the game’s publisher, Acid, said in a statement that it will likely remove the role of the shooter and only let players control the ‘good guys’.
The fact is, however, that the role of the deranged shooter is what would sell this game. Being a SWAT member offers nothing we haven’t seen in other games and developers are well aware of this. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the original concept of Active Shooter finds its way to consumers.