Play’s Republic

The aptly-named First Person Shooter is… well, okay, it’s a play. It is the story of two young programming geniuses, their start-up company (’JetPack Games’), and their amazing technicolor computer game: a red-hot, ultra-violent FPS game that hits the top of the market in no time, bringing its creators fame, fortune, and all sorts of success.

… until the game is linked to as the cause of a recent schoolyard shooting, bringing with it a slew of ethical questions (what are the programmers’ responsibilities?), the perspectives that give the programmers a rude awakening as to the consequences of their actions (meeting with the victims’ parents), and the experiences of everyone caught in the media crossfire.

I have not heard of this play until just recently, but still, one paragraph in particular caught my attention, as it reveals a bit of the playwright’s take on the situation from which he drew inspiration:

 The play draws on the national debate over the link between violent videogames and school shootings, which first came to the fore after Columbine. Aaron, who now develops videogames, worked as a journalist covering the world of videogames at the time of Littleton, Colorado shootings and “wanted to write a play about the people caught in the echo chamber of the debate. What must it be like for the people actually accused of making a game that turns kids into killers? What about the parents of the victims? Their children are dead and the news is jam packed with talk of something so trivial as videogames!”

http://sfplayhouse.com/season0607/firstperson.php