Monday, September 18, 2006

Is the World Real?

There exists something called Super Columbine Massacre RPG! (Be sure to check out the screenshots. "You found a Marilyn Manson CD! The lyrics are sure to inspire impulsive aggression and rage.")

That is part one of the answer to the question posed by the header. Part two is an interview with Richard Castaldo, a survivor of Columbine who was paralyzed from the chest down after getting shot several times by Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold. The interview was conducted by the Gawker video-game blog Kotaku, which bizarrely introduces Castaldo by saying that he was "last paralyzed...after being shot...during" the attack. Um. "Last paralyzed"?

Regardless: this kid is not at all mad about the game. In fact:

What did you think of it?

It probably sounds a bit odd for someone like me to say, but I appreciate the fact at least to some degree that something like this was made...I like the part in the game where if you go up to the water fountain theres a thing that comes up that explains that the water in denver is a little bit hard because it contains calcium and magnesium but is harmless. Answering the hypothetical question of "Was there something in the water, that caused this?" Clearly not, and the causes for this are not easily apparent.

Did the idea that you were playing as Klebold and Harris upset you?

It's all third person, so your kind of looking down on this thing as all of this horrible stuff is going on. It reminded me of the movie 'Elephant"...

Do you think the fact that it's a game trivializes the attack on the school?

I think that ultimatley a videogame is just another medium for artistic expression. But, you do end up killing literally hundres of representations of high- schoolers...

Does the game's use of low-res, 16-bit-era graphics make it easier to deal with?

...I would be so bold as to say that the effect is very post-modern...

How can people looking to talk to you about a job reach you?

I have a resume posted online at the blogger.com site.

So in conclusion: no.

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