'Columbine Massacre' Game Puts Players in Killers' Shoes

Sept. 14, 2006— -- At first glance, the game is unimpressive, even amateurish. The cartoonish, two-dimensional graphics are likely to bore fans of shoot-'em-up games such as "Doom."

But in the past year, "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" has garnered more attention and generated more controversy than gorier video games on the internet.

The shooter in the Montreal school shooting at Dawson college claimed in an online blog to have played the game regularly.

In SCMRPG, the player assumes the role of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two teens responsible for the 1999 shooting that left 12 students and one teacher dead and 24 others wounded at Columbine High School.

Armed with a semiautomatic weapon, players roam through the school -- the cafeteria, hallways, library -- deciding whom to kill. Along the way, the game intersperses real-life news footage and photos of Harris and Klebold.

Mock dialogue from the killers appear on the screen. "This is what I always wanted to do," the text reads as players move through the cafeteria. "This is awesome!"

Some elements are tongue-in-cheek. "You found a Marilyn Manson CD," the game announces as the player enters one of the killers' bedrooms. "The lyrics are sure to inspire impulsive aggression and rage."

But the game then strikes a serious tone, seemingly highlighting important lessons from the massacre. A message reads, "If only we had searched their room. If only we would have asked the right questions."

The game's 24-year-old creator, Danny Ledonne, grew up four hours from Littleton, Colorado, and like most Americans was profoundly affected by the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

In an "artist's statement" found on the game's website, Ledonne says he designed the game as a tool of discussion rather than a tool of violence.

"Games that genuinely challenge social taboos or confront real cultural issues are nearly non-existent. I wanted to make something that mattered," writes Ledonne. "This game asks more of its audience than rudimentary button-pushing and map navigation; it implores introspection.

"At the end of the day, the understanding of the Columbine school shooting is deepened and redefined. That is the real object of the game," Ledonne writes.