A video game titled “Active Shooter” was set for release in the online store Steam on June 6th. This game is a first person shooter that allows the player to either take the role of the good guys by being first responders or the bad guy – a school shooter targeting everyone and anyone.

The main goal of the first responders is to take out the shooter by using strategy and trying to limit the number of victims.

On the much more sinister side of this game, players can play the school shooter. This is just as twisted as it seems and in the preview of the game it even boasts a kill counter for not only cops but also innocent bystanders who are supposed to be students and school staff.      

“As a student I am appalled that someone could even have the idea to make a genuine fear of students a fun, recreational thing, especially something of this magnitude,”  stated Andrew Gentile, a student at Naugatuck High School.

In the last few years, school shootings are sadly becoming mainstream. We seem to be hearing about schools being attacked weekly. The casualty numbers are always touted as “the deadliest shooting in recent American history”.

With that being said it is utterly inexcusable to create a game meant to be fun and seemingly glorifying school shooters more than they already are by the media, who release their pictures and names rather than focusing on the victims.

According to Valve, the company that runs Steam, the game was not taken down due to its offensive nature but rather the fact that the company that posted the game has a past of ¨…customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation¨.

Regardless of whether or not the game was taken off the online marketplace due to Valve´s views on gun violence or strictly to keep their market clean, the removal of this game was still a huge win in the eyes of people that continue to push for more strict gun laws including survivors of Parkland, Florida and parents of the same survivors.

The outrage did not only include the students and parents of Parkland, but there was also an online petition that as of June 6th, 2018 has amassed over 267 thousand signatures backing the removal of this game from the online store.

Twitter also had a lot to say about this game making up the hashtag #notagame.

One user tweeted, “THIS IS DISGUSTING. Valve Corporation of Bellevue is launching a video game on June 6th that’s a school shooting simulator. Everyone that cares about school & public safety should be OUTRAGED. Sign this petition to DEMAND the game isn’t launched” followed by the link to the now successful petition to take the game off of Steam.