In a Web article released today, Ian Bogost, a game designer and assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, challenges the video-game industry to develop a thoughtful and respectful game that encourages people to reflect on the shootings at Virginia Tech. His article is in response to the widespread condemnation of an online game, V-Tech Rampage, that simulates the massacre at the university in April, when a student on campus, Seung-Hui Cho, gunned down 32 students and faculty members before killing himself.Among the issues that a productive game might tackle, says Mr. Bogost: campus security, survivor guilt, how Mr. Cho's family dealt with their son, and how college policies facilitate or impede counseling a troubled student.
In the article, Mr. Bogost identifies the creator of V-Tech Rampage as Ryan Lambourn, an Australian game developer. Mr. Bogost says Mr. Lambourn's game "makes him appear unstable at best, deeply troubled at worst."–Andrea L. Foster
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