A game that appeared on the Steam storefront today that will allow players to play as a school shooter is causing controversy, especially in light of the shooting at Santa Fe High School on May 18th. According to testimony from Russian developer Revived Games, the game will allow players to play either as an active shooter armed with an assault rifle, a member of a responding SWAT team, or a civilian, in what the developer calls a “survival mode.”
Image from Steam
Many people in the Steam community have responded negatively to the game’s appearance on the storefront, with several claiming to have flagged the game to be removed by Steam’s parent company, Valve. The developer defended themselves from criticisms of depicting the mass murder of students and teachers by stating, “Nowhere around it mentions you can kill students, teachers, kids and so on. While the setting is the school, NPC's are considered to be civilians, rather than anybody else.” The developer also defends their game by invoking titles that have caused controversy in the past. “As I mentioned in steam discussion forums, there are games like Hatred, Postal, Carmageddon and etc., which are even worst [sic] compared to "Active Shooter" and literally focus on mass shootings/killings of people.”
Image from Steam
The game is not an instructional tool, according to the developer. In the game’s description, the developer instructed potential customers to “not take any of this seriously.” However, the game has no apparent similarities to software like the US Department of Homeland Security’s Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment (EDGE) that allows first responders an opportunity to simulate a response to situations like school shootings.
