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Critics Rally Against ‘Active Shooter’ Video Game

Critics Rally Against ‘Active Shooter’ Video Game

There have been dozens of people killed in actual school shootings in the US this year and this game is being labelled insensitive

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

There have been eight major school shootings in the US in this year alone, which has left dozens dead and even more injured. So you can imagine some people's absolute horror over a video game that's being hosted on Steam called Active Shooter.

It's not too hard to guess what the game is about: you choose whether to be a part of the SWAT team responding to a school shooting or you could play as the one mowing down a bunch of students.

The trailer shows that you can use a range of guns, knives and even some grenades during your rampage while civilians, who appear to be all women, run through the halls.

The game developer, Revived Games, says for three days after being released online, there will also be a 'civilian' mode where you can try and survive for as long as possible.

People on social media, including those affected by recent school shootings, have been quick to criticise Steam, Revived Games and the publisher ACID.

Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter, Jaime in the Parkland Shooting in Florida, wrote: "I have seen and heard many horrific things over the past few months since my daughter was the victim of a school shooting and is now dead in real life. This game may be one of the worst.

"This company should face the wrath of everyone who cares about school and public safety and it should start immediately. Do not buy this game for your kids or any other game made by this company."

A petition has been launched on Change.org to have the game banned and, so far, it's attracted more than 34,000 signatures.

It's worth pointing out that while this game is no doubt insensitive considering the events in this year alone, there are still plenty of games, like Grand Theft Auto, that allow people to go on rampages and kill civilians.

via GIPHY

Active Shooter reignites the debate over whether video games that are violent or at least allow potential mass shooters a platform to plan their attack, result in real-world incidents.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that retailers can sell violent games to children without parental supervision as it infringed on the First Amendment rights.

According to Psychology Today, the reason why the court went in favour of the video game industry was that the argument that games can cause people to act out what they see on the TV was 'unpersuasive'.

Featured Image Credit: Steam/ACID/Revived Games

Topics: video games, America, School shooting, News, weapons, Technology

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