College counseling directors object to a new video game that lets players take on the role of someone on a campus shooting rampage.
According to a statement issued by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors:
As an organization of professionals based in campus mental health settings we feel compelled to decry the development and marketing of video games that present such video activities as “fun”. It is disrespectful to survivors, and inconsiderate to the families, friends and loved ones of those who have been killed or injured in school shootings. It would be ill advised and regrettable to market such games given the potential harm they could cause.
AUCCCD issued the statement in reaction to Checkerboarded Studios’ apparent development of School Shooter: North American Tour 2012.
Note that it’s not a real video game. Checkerboard Studios specializes in satirical modifications of existing video games. The company strips games down to their basic structures and then attaches new components. The game is the same though the story that surrounds it can be radically different.
Meanwhile, other programmers build video game versions of Waiting for Godot and The Great Gatsby.
You see what happens? I told you no good could come of this!
