Can we unclench over ‘school shooting video games’?

So there’s this video game coming out next month that has the media and various other pearl clutchers up in arms. It was announced shortly after the recent school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas and it’s being referred to as a ‘school shooting game’. I’m not going to link to the game or any articles about it or mention it by name because it doesn’t even deserve the attention it’s getting. The game is centered around a mass shooting. Supposedly, you can play as a member of a police SWAT team responding to the shooting, or, of course, you can play as the shooter. Distasteful? Yeah, pretty much, but as a society, we need to stop being so sensitive about things like this without knowing the facts.

First off, it’s been over 40 years since video games have been able to be played at home and still there are too many people who think video games are just for kids. Video games have been made for both kids and adults for over 20 years now. Having said that this is not a game that is going to be released by a major publisher where it will be on every store shelf waiting to be played on your kid’s Nintendo Switch. As far as I can tell the game is being made by one man and is only being released on Steam for the PC. This is the equivalent of some nobody making a controversial YouTube video in their basement and everyone else reacting to it like it was a major motion picture.

The creator of the game claims he’s not trying to cash in on a tragedy, but we’ve heard that story before. There have been several instances in the past where after a major school shooting some attention seeking troll tries to get everyone riled up by making a game based on the shooting. They either claim it’s art or they’re making some grandiose political statement when in reality it’s more like sophomoric mass murderer fan fiction. The only difference being is the killer doesn’t have some kind of weird fetish sex with the game’s developer.

As for the people who might get a sick thrill out of this game, they’re already lost to us, but they are a very small minority of gamers. This or any game isn’t going to turn your kid into a school shooter. However, if I had a kid of school age, I would not let them play this game. Since it’s only available on Steam it will require a credit card or PayPal to be purchased. If you allow your young children to run amok online with any of these forms of payment then the real problem is you.

When games like this come out what we should do is ignore them. Media outrage and social media conniptions are exactly what these Philistines are actually after.