Parents condemn video game simulating school shootings
An upcoming computer video game that would allow players to re-create school shootings by stalking school hallways and racking up kills has been condemned as insensitive and inappropriate by the parents of students who were shot to death in the school massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida.
The game – Active Shooter – is scheduled for a June 6 release via the digital video-game marketplace Steam. It is branded as a ‘‘SWAT simulator’’ that lets players choose between being an active shooter terrorising a school or the SWAT team responding to the shooting.
A description of the game, which will not be sold on a console system, comes with a disclaimer: ‘‘Please do not take any of this seriously. This is only meant to be the 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.’’
The game is to be released about four months after a gunman killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and less than a month after 10 more were killed in a school shooting in Texas.
Critic Ryan Petty, the father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High student killed during a shooting at her school in February, called on Monday for the game’s release to be canceled. His daughter Alaina was 14.
‘‘It’s disgusting that Valve Corp is trying to profit from the glamourisation of tragedies affecting our schools across the country,’’ Petty said.
– Miami Herald