The upcoming Steam first-person shooter video game, Active Shooter, which reportedly will allow players to go on civilian mass murder sprees while keeping count, is gaining mass criticism, and it is even being compared to the game Hatred. School shooting victim’s parents, child health advocates and elected officials are calling for a ban on the game.
The game was scheduled to be released on June 6 and its publisher Valve, has been heavily criticized over their upcoming Lo Fi title. This game is not precisely packed with great detailed graphics, neither does it strike as a game with a compelling plot or story, most of what is known of the game is basically a couple of snapshots that have been circling around the internet.
Valve has since addressed the controversy head on and it will be pulling the game from the online store Steam.
Valve Removes ‘Active Shooter’ Game And Its Developer From Steam https://t.co/skZkx0FHTw
— Variety (@Variety) May 29, 2018
Negative comments, reception, and criticism
Game Developers, however, have asked those who play the game to not hesitate on contacting a psychiatrist or 911 in the case that they feel like hurting someone, due to the requests from any victims’ parents. On the other hand, the game developers say that the title’s main attraction will be to basically engage in a classic “protect and extract, or hunt and destroy” gameplay.
It is understandable for the media to give light and a voice to parents of victims who are hurting and concerned about what may be of the next generations.
Ryan Petty, whose daughter was shot dead during the Parkland shooting on February 14, said that this kind of games glamorizes shootings and killers and that it is “disgusting that Valve Corporation is trying to profit from the glamorization of tragedies.”
Even Senator Bill Nelson tweeted about the game, saying: ”This is inexcusable. Any company that develops a game like this in wake of such a horrific tragedy should be ashamed of itself.”
Wendy Rice, a child psychologist said about the game, “My first thought is really just as a person, is that I am horrified, I think parents need to let their kids know that this is too close for comfort, and I don’t think parents should let their kids purchase this particular game.”
"When asked why she had to be so quiet, one little girl said 'Because a stranger might take you.' 'We call it a stranger,' said a teacher. 'We're not going to tell them there may be a weapon and go to an extreme. We just put a name on it so they know.'" https://t.co/CBxf3XWJ1B
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) May 30, 2018
On defense of the game
Despite shootings being a sensitive subject for many in the United States, some opinion reporters don’t consider Active Shooter an evil game at all, in fact, Forbes magazine pointed out an example, when the outrage about the game started, Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad a game which allowed players to play as a partisan on the Nazi German army during WWII.
Also Forbes magazine pointed out a famous case of controversy, when back in 2010’s Medal of Honor, players could play as the Taliban and EA’s Senior PR Manager Amanda Taggart famously told AOL News “Most of us having been doing this since we were 7 – if someone’s the cop, someone’s gotta be the robber, someone’s gotta be the pirate and someone’s gotta be the alien. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone’s gotta be the Taliban.”
Source: Variety
