TY - JOUR
T1 - Super Columbine Massacre RPG!: The procedural rhetoric of critical (gun) play
AU - Sci, S. A.
AU - Ott, Brian
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - This essay offers a counter-reading of Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, a controversial video game about the infamous school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 in which players adopt the roles of the shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebod. Focusing on the game’s unique procedural rhetoric, we argue that SCMRPG! juxtaposes interactive, non-realistic violence–reflected in a campy nineties video game aesthetic–with photographic evidence, extant dialogue, and a detailed narrative of the tragic events at Columbine to promote critical thought about gun violence generally and school shootings in particular. The essay concludes with a brief reflection of the vital that role video games can play in critical pedagogy.
AB - This essay offers a counter-reading of Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, a controversial video game about the infamous school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 in which players adopt the roles of the shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebod. Focusing on the game’s unique procedural rhetoric, we argue that SCMRPG! juxtaposes interactive, non-realistic violence–reflected in a campy nineties video game aesthetic–with photographic evidence, extant dialogue, and a detailed narrative of the tragic events at Columbine to promote critical thought about gun violence generally and school shootings in particular. The essay concludes with a brief reflection of the vital that role video games can play in critical pedagogy.
U2 - 10.1177/1532708616636071
DO - 10.1177/1532708616636071
M3 - Article
SP - 125
EP - 132
JO - Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies
JF - Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies
ER -