A blood-thirsty new video game that encourages players to take part in a school shooting has triggered outrage online. Source: Acid/Active Shooter
A blood-thirsty new video game that encourages players to take part in a school shooting has generated outrage online.
The upcoming game, Active Shooter, allows players to choose between taking on the role of a SWAT team member trying to stop an ongoing school shooting — or the role of the shooter themselves.
Those who play as the shooter will be shown a tally of the number of civilians and police officers they have managed to kill during their simulated shooting spree, according to the Daily Mail.
Players in "Active Shooter" will be shown a tally of the number of civilians and police officers they have killed during their simulated school shooting spree. Photo / Revived Games
Anti-gun violence charity Infer Trust has described the game as "horrendous" and in "bad taste" given the recent mass shootings in the US.
"Pick your role, gear up and fight or destroy!" the description on the Active Shooter listing declares.
"Only in Active Shooter will you be able to pick the role of an Elite SWAT team member or the actual shooter.
"Depending on the role, your objective might be to protect and extract or hunt and destroy."
The developer has promised to add a "civilian survival mode" shortly after launch, which will challenge players to survive for as long as possible inside a school environment with a gunman on the loose.
Anti-gun violence charity Infer Trust has called on Valve – the company behind the Steam online games store, where Active Shooter will be available to purchase – to take the title down before it goes on sale worldwide, on June 6.
A spokesperson for Infer Trust told the BBC: "It's in very bad taste. There have been 22 school shootings in the US since the beginning of this year.
The developer promised to add a "civilian survival mode" after launch, which will challenge players to survive for as long as possible inside the school with a gunman on loose. Photo / Revived Games
"It is horrendous. Why would anybody think it's a good idea to market something violent like that, and be completely insensitive to the deaths of so many children?
"We're appalled that the game is being marketed."
The controversial video game will launch less than a month after 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis killed eight students and two substitute teachers with a shotgun in Santa Fe High School, Texas.
Following the shooting in Santa Fe, Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick blamed the creators of violent video games and films for promoting a "violent culture where we've devalued life".
Patrick told ABC News: "Psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you that students are desensitised to violence, have lost empathy for their victims by watching hours and hours of violent video games."
The creator of Active Shooter, known via the moniker "ACID" on the Steam online store, published a statement in response to the criticism.
"Since this games storefront has been live, I have been stormed with accusations and heavy critics from people across the globe," the statement begins.
The developer states the video game "does not promote any sort of violence" before pointing to the description of the game as a "dynamic SWAT simulator".
The statement, which was posted on Steam on May 23, adds: "I have wrote to Valve regarding this game and waiting for the reply.
"Active Shooter" also allows players to take on the role of a SWAT team member tasked with trying to stop an ongoing school shooting. Photo / Revived Games
"After receiving such high amount of critics and hate, I will more likely remove the shooters role in this game by the release, unless if it can be kept as it is right now." (sic)
Steam users have flooded the site's comments section to support the game, pleading with the developer to release the game with the controversial shooter element intact.
One user wrote: "F*** anyone that's demanding this game be removed. Most of us aren't stupid enough to have trouble understanding the difference between fantasy and reality."
"Do not be censored by this nonsense," another added.
It's unclear whether the developer, whose other games include Tide Pod Challenge, Furry and White Power: Pure Voltage, will alter the gameplay before the release of Active Shooter.
Gun violence has become a regular occurrence at US schools and colleges. Below are some of the worst US school shootings in the past two decades.
BENTON, Kentucky, Jan 23, 2018 - Gabe Parker, 15, kills two fellow students, both also 15, at Marshall County High School in western Kentucky with a pistol and wounds 14 others. Four other high schoolers suffered non-gunshot wounds in the ensuing panic.
AZTEC, New Mexico, Dec 7, 2017 - William Atchison, a 21-year-old man, disguised as a student enters the local high school, kills two students and then shoots himself to death.
SAN BERNARDINO, California, April 10, 2017 - Cedric Anderson dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing his estranged wife at North Park Elementary School where she worked. An 8-year-old student is also shot to death.
ROSEBURG, Oregon, Oct 1, 2015 - Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, opens fire on the campus of Umpqua Community College, killing nine people before he is shot dead by police.
MARYSVILLE, Washington, Oct 24, 2014 - Freshman student Jaylen Fryberg, 15, at Marysville-Pilchuck High School fatally wounds four students in the cafeteria before killing himself.
SANTA MONICA, California, June 7, 2013 - A one-time digital media student, John Zawahri, 23, fatally shoots his father and brother, sets their house on fire, and then kills three people at Santa Monica College. The gunman kills himself.
NEWTOWN, Connecticut, Dec 14, 2012 - Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shoots his mother, then kills 20 children and six adults before killing himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was the deadliest mass shooting at either a high school or grade school in US history and prompted renewed debate about gun control in the US.
OAKLAND,California, April 2, 2012 - One L Goh, a former nursing student, kills seven people and wounds three at Oikos University, a Korean Christian college.
CHARDON, Ohio, Feb 27, 2012 - 17-year-old student Thomas 'TJ' Lane at Chardon High School kills three students and wounds three in school cafeteria. He received three life sentences on March 19, 2013. In 2014, Lane, along with two other inmates, escaped from Allen Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, but he was recaptured the following day.
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama, Feb 12, 2010 - Amy Bishop, a biology professor at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, opens fire during a staff meeting, killing three faculty members and wounding three.
DEKALB, Illinois, Feb 14, 2008 - Steve Kazmierczak, a former graduate student, kills five students and wounds 16 at Northern Illinois University before taking his own life.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, Feb 8, 2008 - Nursing student Latina Williams at Louisiana Technical College kills two classmates and herself in a classroom.
BLACKSBURG Virginia, April 16, 2007 - Gunman Seung-Hui Cho slaughters 32 people and kills himself at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech. At the time it was the deadliest shooting carried out by a single gunman in US history.
NICKEL MINES, Pennsylvania, Oct 2, 2006 - Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot eight out of 10 girls, killing five in a one-room Amish schoolhouse, before killing himself.
SHEPHERDSTOWN, West Virginia, Sept 2, 2006 - 49-year-old Douglas Pennington shoots himself and his two sons Logan, 26, and Benjamin, 24, to death during a visit to the campus of Shepherd University.
RED LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION, Minnesota, March 21, 2005 - A 16-year-old high school student Jeffrey Weise, kills seven people including his grandfather, a tribal police officer, and wounds several others in a shooting rampage after killing two people off-campus. He then kills himself.
COLD SPRING, Minnesota, Sept 24, 2003 - 15-year-old student John Jason McLaughlin, fatally shoots a freshman and a senior at Rocori High School.
TUCSON, Arizona, Oct. 29, 2002 - Failing student Robert S Flores Jr, 41, shoots and kills three professors and then himself at the University of Arizona School of Nursing.
GRUNDY, Virginia, Jan 16, 2002 - Nigerian immigrant Peter Odighizuwa, a recently dismissed graduate student aged 41, kills a dean, a professor and a student at the Appalachian School of Law and wounds three others.
SANTEE, California, March 5, 2001 - Charles Andrew Williams, a student at Santana High School kills two students, wounds 13. He is currently serving life in prison.
LITTLETON, Colorado, April 20, 1999 - Two teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold rampage through Columbine High School, fatally shooting 12 students and a teacher and wounding more than 20 others before killing themselves. The personal journals of the duo document that they wanted their actions to rival that of the Oklahoma City bombing.
JONESBORO, Arkansas, March 24, 1998 - Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, fire on their middle school from woods, killing four girls and a teacher and wounding 11 others.
