Somebody needs a beating - Virgina Tech shooty game

Quote:

---

Outrage over Virginia Tech game
Stephen Hutcheon
May 16, 2007 - 1:33PM

A Sydney youth who created an uproar with an online game based on the Virginia Tech massacre, says he will remove the game if he receives $US2000 in "donations".

Add another $US1000 and he promises to apologise.

The game, called V-Tech Rampage, offers "three levels of stealth and murder" and is set on a facsimile of the Virginia Tech campus.

It is modelled on the exploits of South Korean-born Cho Seung-hui who last month shot dead 32 fellow students at the Virginia Tech campus in the worst such massacre in US history.

The game features a gun-toting character based on Cho, the dormitory where the killing spree started, the post office where he sent his manifesto to a TV network and Norris Hall, the building where most of the murders took place.

The game first came to light after it was uploaded to a site called newgrounds.com which hosts a large number of basic, mainly home made , computer games. Game makers upload their creations on to the site much in the same way as people upload videos to YouTube.

V-Tech Rampage is the work of 21-year-old Ryan Lambourn from western Sydney who goes by the screen name, Master PiGPEN.

"I've done offensive things before but they're not usually this popular," Lamourn said, adding that he made the game "because it's funny".

Lambourn, who grew up in the US, said his friends suggested putting up the ransom demand which he thought was "a hilarious idea".

He posted the demand on his website saying: "Attention angry people: I will take this game down from newgrounds [the games website] if the donation amount reaches $1000 US. I'll take it down from here [his website] if it reaches $2000 US, and i will apologise if it reaches $3000 US."

He described the exercise as "a joke". "They were so adamant about me taking my game down ... I gave them a way," he said.

"The donation thing was just to pull a few more strings and make more people angry. It's worked."

Lambourn said that while he felt remorse for those who had lost friends and relatives in the massacre, he also had sympathy for the gunman.

"No one listens to you unless you've got something sensational to do." he said. "And that's why I feel sympathy for Cho Seung-hui. He had to go that far."

The game requires players to move the pixellated South Park-like Cho character around the campus, shooting other characters.

Once shots are fired, the other characters start running around with their hands in the air screaming. A song, Shine by the band Collective Soul, is played on a loop in the background.

Lambourn chose the song for the game because it was one of the gunman's favourites.

The game starts with the gunman in his room. The text on the screen says: "Locked and loaded, it's party time. I just gotta make sure no one sees me or lives to tell the tale."

In another frame, the following words appear: "The pawns are all in place, the time has come that I may finally send my message to the world."

The game text also refers to "Emily". Emily Jane Hilscher, 18, was Cho's first victim. The subject of his infatuation, she was shot in a dormitory.

"Emily stayed overnight with her boyfriend, Karl, again last night. He'll be dropping her off at school as always ...," the game text reads.

Players who fail to shoot the characters get the following message at the conclusion: "Mediocrity. You let Emily get away! Are you always full of Stuff, McBeef? Try again, this time don't be such a wuss."

"McBeef" is a reference to a play Cho wrote called Richard McBeef. The disturbing play features a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of being a pedophile and of murdering his father.

The play ends with the man striking down and killing the teen.

The game and its creator have been roundly condemned on blogs and forums on the internet.

"People like this need to be publicly beaten," reads one blog comment. "This [bad person] is possible the worst little piece festering of pond scum in years."

---

Linky

Testing the tolerance of free speech....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HoreTore

Testing the tolerance of free speech....

---

Tolerance?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HoreTore

Testing the tolerance of free speech....

---

Which it should be. I think this is just plain lame, but the guy who did this has the right to, AFAIK. (I am ignorant of Aussie laws on this matter) The best thing to do here is just ignore it honestly.

a capitalist pig is born

If you don't like the game, don't play it. I personally won't play it. To take legal action against such a game is to unnecessarily infringe free speech. What could be taken legal action against are any attempts to spread the game to people below the appropriate rating (18, I suppose?) limit.

Lambourn said the game was "funny". Too bad the article didn't quote any of the "funny" lines. Sounds like he just likes to press people's buttons and enjoys the reactions. I can't say I'm a fan of that mentality.

I don't see why people keep reprinting the story. It's nothing new and it's just going to get the guy what he wants.

The phrase "troll" comes to mind.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

Lambourn said the game was "funny". Too bad the article didn't quote any of the "funny" lines. Sounds like he just likes to press people's buttons and enjoys the reactions. I can't say I'm a fan of that mentality.

---

The guy's taking trolling to new lows. :no:

The games a bit sick, but shouldnt be taken down. I don't know that it can be taken down legally anyways. More then likely the server isnt in Australia so laws there couldnt do anything.


The ransom though is amusing.

So it is okay to post a violent game about a tragic massacre?

Not according to most folks' sense of morals and propriety (but then again, how many WW2 first-person shooters there now were around...?), but it ought to pass in most legislations. Assuming it can't be nailed with something like, now how does that charge translate, "inciting violence against an ethnic group" etc. of course.

Definitely in poor taste, but not worthy of all the attention it is getting.

Just about every reality-based FPS game has the potential to offend somebody.

I wonder how the families of killed NVA/Viet Cong soldiers would feel about games like this:

http://www.conflict.com/Vietnam/default.aspx

http://menofvalorgame.com/us/

I suspect any protest they made to the games' producers would be met with the following response (if they responded at all):

"Don't like it? Don't play it."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marshal Murat

So it is okay to post a violent game about a tragic massacre?

---

Yes. And it's OK to criticize it too. Free speech is a wonderful thing indeed.

If you get upset everytime a jackass brays....you'll go through life an angry person. No sense feeding the troll, pity him instead.

My Grandfather served on a convoy escort during the war, he saw men burning in the water. But I still played Silent Hunter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hosakawa Tito

If you get upset everytime a jackass brays....you'll go through life an angry person. No sense feeding the troll, pity him instead.

---

Thems be words to live by. Literally. Stress is a killer.

Sounds like they could get him for copyright infringement - I doubt he licensed the song mentioned in the article.

:book:

I love it when this happens. People get angry and feed him the very attention he wants. Ignore him and he'll go away.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by currywurry

I love it when this happens. People get angry and feed him the very attention he wants. Ignore him and he'll go away.

---

Who is trolling?
:dizzy2:

Played the game.
Could use a graphic update to say the least.

I don't see the fun in which the player is the only one with weapons.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shaka_Khan

I don't see the fun in which the player is the only one with weapons.

---

While I agree in this case, I respectfully disagree in regards to Duck Hunt. That game rocked.

Sad that anyone should find that tragedy humorous. I'd suggest to anyone intending to play the game, or having played the game, to read this and then reflecting on what that 'game' means with regards to respect for those who were murdered.