‘Active Shooter’ Video Game Sparks Disgust, Outrage
An upcoming video game that allows players to simulate being a school shooter is sparking outrage on social media.
Developed by Revived Games and published by Acid, a Russian company, “Active Shooter” is set to be released on June 6 through Steam, a popular digital distribution platform for PC games. The game will allow players to choose whether to be law enforcement responding to an active shooting, or "play" the role of the shooter.
Parents of students slain in recent school shooting have expressed disgust at the idea of glorifying the violence that claimed their children’s lives. Students from Parkland, Florida have launched protests via social media in an attempt to stop the game’s release.
Ryan Petty lost his 14-year-old daughter in the Parkland, Florida shooting, and had this to say on Twitter:
David Hogg, one of the student activists who survived the Parkland shooting, retweeted Fred Guttenberg's request for people to contact Valve, the company who owns the Steam platform where the game is being sold, urging them to halt the game's release. Guttenberg's daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting.
A petition created by Stephanie Robinett to stop the game's release has already gained nearly 100,000 signatures toward its 150,000 goal. (Click here to access the petition.)
Revived Games currently has six other titles available on Steam, including "Tyde Pod Challenge" and "AltCoin" all of which are published by Russian publisher Acid.