The Slaying of Sandy Hook Elementary

**Paddy™** · 11-21-2013, 03:29 AM

http://googumproduce.com/post/6723332345...elementary

**VaeVictis** · 11-21-2013, 04:11 AM

Definitely more of a political statement than a game.
Not gonna lie, my initial reaction was disgust (I couldn't even get passed the 'shoot your mother' scene, but I suppose therein lies the point), but after hearing the creator's message, I must say I'm glad to see people making a statement on things like this rather than express apathy.
After the initial reactionary shock wave, people tend to become complacent, and things continue as they were before.

**Froge** · 11-21-2013, 04:48 AM

Stopped after killing Lanza's mom. I suppose forcing you to reenact his actions brings light to the horror of what Lanza's done, but it's not the most effective way to deliver the message.

**Alardem** · 11-21-2013, 05:11 AM

Shock for the sake of shock. Regardless of the creator's intentions, you're not going to get any positive reaction - just defensive outrage.

**Paddy™** · 11-21-2013, 05:14 AM

For those who didn't play much of the game, it's worth knowing that after "completing" the Historical scenario (which involves shooting yourself in the mouth with a pistol) another game mode becomes available. There are 3 in total. The Historical mode is the one which emulates what actually happened, then there's the Gun Control mode, in which Lanza uses a sword instead of a gun (and commits suicide with pills), and finally there's the Eagletears mode, in which Lanza is armed like normal, but so are the teachers (which is the scenario the NRA claims would have stopped Lanza, i.e. more guns is safer than fewer guns).

I played all 3 scenarios, and found them all to be more or less the same in terms of difficulty and kill count. And yes, you get a score at the end, comparing the number of people you killed with the number of people killed in the real massacre. I guess this is to compare how each of the three modes would have gone down in real life, but like I said there wasn't much difference when I played, so it seemed more like a straight-up "high score screen" to me.

The guy who created the game also created the one for the Virginia Tech massacre. I haven't played that one.

**Alardem** · 11-21-2013, 05:15 AM

The creator also seems to be a trolling douchebag who set out to offend people and smugly claims there's a 'gun control' message behind it. It's as clever as tripping up the blind.

**VaeVictis** · 11-21-2013, 05:17 AM

(11-21-2013, 04:48 AM)Demonofrog Wrote: Stopped after killing Lanza's mom. I suppose forcing you to reenact his actions brings light to the horror of what Lanza's done, but it's not the most effective way to deliver the message.

Yeah, I wouldn't say that this was a genius way of bringing an issue to the forefront (especially since so many people think video games and real-life violence are connected).
Shock, generally speaking, is cheap. Bare minimum, the creator needs to bring his message closer to the forefront. It's still south of a tasteful presentation, regardless.

**Bridge** · 11-21-2013, 12:05 PM

Say what you want about the content, the game is pretty impressively crafted for what it is. Did any of you feel empowered mowing down defenseless children and teachers, as you would in any given FPS? I didn't. The almost complete lack of music, the repetitive splish-splashy sounds of his footsteps and the grimy visual style are all working against that idea. So yeah, the actual events are obviously horrible and you could easily make a case that this is sensationalist but at least it wasn't exploitative. Felt terrible to play and that was precisely the point I think.

**Alardem** · 11-21-2013, 12:30 PM

But what is the point? Guns are bad? People who already believe that don't need convincing, and those who are offended i.e. majority of human beings aren't willing to see past the emotional reaction.

The 'message' is a futile rationalization, and judging from the author's smug attitude it's evident he gets a kick out of angering people. That's all it is - pointless outrage.

**Bridge** · 11-21-2013, 12:50 PM

Was there any point to the killings in the first place? Love it or hate it, the author just presented you with his interpretation of the events and you are free to interpret them as you will. It doesn't need to have a "point". However, perhaps he was commenting on how desensitized we have become to violence in media, which is what I perceived. FPS games especially generally show a glorified view of murder and usually the only reason you have problems killing someone is if it gives you a lower score or handicaps you in some other way. There are many more ways he could have designed this and they are all worse - so I think it is a small achievement in that regard. I don't think it's a good game though, in fact I never want to play it again.