A soon-to-be-released video game, “Active Shooter,” allows children and young teens the opportunity to simulate a school shooting. The game has prompted outrage and sparked concern.
Players are given two choices, be a SWAT member or be the shooter while simulating a mass casualty event in a school environment.
The game’s description from the popular online gaming website ‘Stream;’ “Active Shooter – the Simulation. Pick your role, gear up and fight or destroy! Be the good guy or the bad guy. The choice is yours! Only in “Active Shooter,” you will be able to pick the role of an Elite S.W.A.T member or the actual shooter. Lead your team, extract civilians and neutralize the shooter.”
Acid, the developer of the game goes on to state that players “please do not take any of this seriously.” However, the audacity of a developer to create a game like the aforementioned under any circumstances is preposterous.
Players, like in any other video game, are then ranked and given stats on their performance. However, the stats for this game pertain to how many civilians and or police officers were killed.
In the United States, this year, 2018, there have been 22 school shootings. According to Infer Trust, while speaking with the BBC; this game is “in very bad taste.”
“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,” a for Infer Trust spokesperson said.