8 votes

Steam store school-shooting game 'appalling'

8 comments

  1. crius
    Link
    Truly an American company!

    Steam moderators have removed games featuring nudity, but have allowed a school-shooting simulator to remain on the store.

    Truly an American company!

    7 votes
  2. [2]
    Shiga
    Link
    I'm a little torn on this. Where do we draw the line on such grey areas such as this? Would we be allowing games that focus on the hanging of black slaves in America? Games that focus solely on...

    I'm a little torn on this.

    Where do we draw the line on such grey areas such as this?

    Would we be allowing games that focus on the hanging of black slaves in America? Games that focus solely on concentration camps in Nazi Germany? Games that have Japanese soldiers slaughtering and experimenting on prisoners during WWII?

    Personally, I'm OK with having content such as these within games given the context is suitable and they are not the sole focus of the gameplay. I wouldn't want entire games to be based around these kinds of things.

    And we look to this particular school-shooting game: why is this a thing? Why did the creator make this, and given the context of American society right now, is this truly appropriate? You can think games are harmless, but does that make them immune to being inappropriate? I'm all for standing against people who blame gun violence on video games, but games solely based around school shootings? Why?

    5 votes
    1. Catt
      Link Parent
      I'm honestly not torn at all. School shooting, as terrible as they are, are part of our reality. Game should probably not be rated E, but other than that, is it really worst than any other game...

      I'm honestly not torn at all. School shooting, as terrible as they are, are part of our reality. Game should probably not be rated E, but other than that, is it really worst than any other game that depicts violence?

      4 votes
  3. [3]
    Catt
    Link
    I honestly find video games harmless regardless of their content. If you don't agree with the content, don't play it (or buy it for your kid).

    I honestly find video games harmless regardless of their content. If you don't agree with the content, don't play it (or buy it for your kid).

    2 votes
    1. [2]
      cfabbro
      Link Parent
      At the same time it is well within a distribution platform’s rights to remove content there that they do not want to be associated with since allowing it can be seen as tacit agreement of the...

      At the same time it is well within a distribution platform’s rights to remove content there that they do not want to be associated with since allowing it can be seen as tacit agreement of the content itself. Similar to how reddit and the hate speech communities it allows to operate there are often (rightly or wrongly) conflated.

      2 votes
      1. Catt
        Link Parent
        Definitely don't disagree there. My comment is more pointed towards Charity Infer Trust than at Steam.

        Definitely don't disagree there. My comment is more pointed towards Charity Infer Trust than at Steam.

        1 vote