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Hey ~games, how do we feel about Active Shooter?
There's a game that was coming out that let you play as either an active shooter or as the SWAT team that responds to it.
IMO, it looked pretty garbage to play, but seemed to be banking on controversy. And... controversy it got.
What are your thoughts on this? Should steam have banned it?
I think both sides have a point. You should have every right to develop and publish a game like that. That being said, if you do happen to develop and publish such a game, you're kind of an insensitive fucking asshole and deserve any vitriol that gets thrown at you.
Pretty simple, really.
I agree with this, but I also think that it's the publisher's right to tell you to screw off with such a ridiculous game. Freedom of speech goes both ways.
(I'm not saying you disagree with my statement, but just throwing my 2 cents out there.)
This is an excellent point, and even though it's not a freedom of speech issue, Steam has every right to refuse to sell any game they don't want on their platform.
The devs behind Spec Ops: The Line would do a good job of it I think. That game is very hard to play without feeling some strange feelings inside, while always being tastefully distasteful.
Steam yanked it over a technicality. https://steamed.kotaku.com/valve-removes-school-shooting-game-from-steam-1826404803
It looks like an exploitive cash grab but nothing Steam isn't fine with having on their platform. There is plenty of asset flip trash because Valve has no interest in meaningfully curating their platform. They've outsourced that task to influencers.
I remember when Postal came out and the outrage of it because of the history of post office workers shooting up their places of work.
I'm 48 and have been gaming since I was 6. Games don't offend me or scare me. I do't believe the "games made joey kill people".
Back around Columbine, there was a map for Counter-Strike .65 that came out. I may actually have it on a DVD somewhere.
I think there was another game or mod based on a school shooting too.
Meh.
I think Postal is a pretty different case as it was actually a game with an intent on being ridiculous, humourous, over the top and insane.
That's quite different to something like this. This is a low quality game created in bad faith with the intention of making money on the back of the controversy created by being bad faith. It has absolutely no intention of being a good game, whereas Postal certainly did.
Hatred is a better example, and while it is poor taste it was never pulled down. I would argue that it being an actual game with an actual aim at good gameplay as opposed to purely shovelware played a major role in that decision being different compared to this one.
Same shit as Hatred all over again. It's pretty poor taste but it's obviously made just for shock value.
The game looks like asset flip garbage, so as a gamer i think its pretty trash.
As far as a concept, it doesnt bother me in the least bit. Firstly, developing a game about school shooting is no different then writing a story about it, a movie or tv episode, its freedom of speech, it isnt actively trying to incite school shootings, its just the subject matter.
That said, freedom of speech works both ways and unless the hate or anger that comes from that crosses a line, like personal threats or such, thats what you get. You have the right to say things, not the right to be heard, and not the right to anti-criticism.
All that said, this is clearly a title that used cheap assets to quickly make a drag and drop title that is just cashing in on an incident and gaining publicity from it. It will no doubt make its money back, because people will want to play it because of controversy an d asset flipping is very cheap to do so its margin of cost will be low. MY HOPE would be that despite the cheap facade the game actually pushes some discussion on the topic, or the very least contains genuine good gameplay, because controversial topics liek this NEED to be dissected and examined to better understand them. Video games offer a level of interaction that other forms of media cannot achieve, so its always sad to see that first impressions are such trash instead of something intelligent.
i remember back int he day some kid created a game where you had to shoot little baby jesus' as they fell from the glory of heaven...
this shit has existed and will continue to exist.
we need to stop blaming the fun stuff for our own inability to care for the people around us.
it takes a village to raise a kid, and our villages are burning. but hey, at least i can have 47 guns i dont need.
I don’t quite follow (sorry.) Could you please ELI5?
i feel that, at least in the united states, we are no longer concerned about the general welfare of the population.
a particularly egregious example is the fact that we cant actually get healthcare to 100% of our population despite our enormous wealth. Also, we do not adequately educate our population, despite our enormous wealth. we are the most selfish nation on the planet, despite our enormous wealth. i cringe when i hear how "generous" politicians claim we are.
adding to that our overpowered/oversized military, and a society that says "my guns are more important to me than your dead kid".
I don't think anyone has a "right" to publish on steam. It was garbage and steam pulled it, they can still sell the game.
I think the best strategy relating to stuff like this is to be pretty hands-off. Sure he had the right to make it -
just like everyone else has the right to avoid it.
But Steam also has the right to not sell the product - they're a private storefront and have the right to curate what is available in that store. There are plenty of other online storefronts on which to sell things. Maybe a storefront that sells literally anything is in demand enough for someone to move in on the market.