As you might imagine, the outrage was swift and ferocious. By my last count, there have been 364 news stories on Google News alone, and Kennedy's family has officially called the game "despicable". But judging by the coverage, no-one had actually played the game itself.
Years ago, when I worked at a different company, one day some coworkers and I were sitting around trying to think up the most ridiculous idea for a computer game that we could. One of the ideas we thought of was a virtual JFK assassination. And here it is.
Posted by: Tom at November 22, 2004 10:18 PM
Clive -- maybe part of the experience of the game should be to instill horror, disgust, eh?
Posted by: Ian Bogost at November 22, 2004 10:21 PM
Could have been a brilliant way to send a political or ethical message, but since you have to pay... I think it's only a very mean way to raise some cash.
You can still find something interesting or deep or revealing in the experience, but...
Anyway I didn't do it (and I think I got very close to the 1,000 points for matching Oswald ;-D)
M
Posted by: Mario at November 23, 2004 7:08 AM
Clive,
Oswald didn't shoot Kennedy.
The Cigarette Smoking Man shot Kennedy.
[dons tinfoil hat]...and maybe Traffic're just working for the people who *really* killed Kennedy, and this software is a means of recruiting new shooters. Coz, see, the software has a way of sending info back to "Traffic" that gives detailed info about who's doing really good at the game, and from there, "The Conspiracy" can check you out to see if you've got that "killer instinct" that they need...
I think your score of 430, Clive, means you don't have to worry about some stranger striking up a conversation in a bar subtly seeking to determine where your political sympathies lie, whether you wet the bed until you were 12, Oh! and do you like to start fires or harm small animals?[doffs tinfoil hat]
:)
Posted by: bud at November 23, 2004 7:55 AM
Tom -- yiii!
Ian: Heh ... yes, that's a really interesting point. I think disgust-provoking artistic/entertainment experiences are incredibly important, actually! But I don't think this piece was engineered that way; I think it's got something do with how the deeply voyeuristic aspects of the gameplay seem to be begging you to find the physics of the kill rilly rilly interesting. And of course, they *are* interesting! But the artistic bias in the interface, as I noted in the piece, is to treat the situation merely as a physics problem, which winds up seeming sociopathic. Is the designer simply more subtle yet, and did he *intend* me to note the sociopathy of the interface? Did he set up the $100,000 prize -- and affect his own air of credulity ("we just thought the game would be educational and respectful of the Kennedys!") to further ironize the situation? Possibly ... but I kinda doubt it. This is not to say the intentions of the creator/author are paramount in determining the meaning of the work, of course. One could still derive the usefully disgust-provoking reaction from a game that was designed to provoke another entirely different reaction.
Mario, how do you match Oswald?
Bud: You know too much now, and I'm afraid I'll have to kill you.
Posted by: Clive at November 23, 2004 9:13 AM
He didn't shoot, nor did I... :D
Posted by: Mario at November 23, 2004 10:00 AM
The three shot scenario that Clive posits as fact is open to question. John and Nellie Connally, both experienced hunters, said all their lives that they were certain that Kennedy and Connally were hit by two different shots before the fatal shot hit Kennedy in the head. They did so fully aware that their testimony greatly increases the possibility of conspiracy.
Their testimony, buttressed by the most recent scholarly analysis of the Zapruder film (by Prof. David Wrone, Univ. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point) goes a long way toward demonstrating the basic implausibility of the single bullet theory (that one bullet caused 7 different wounds in Kennedy and Connally.) The preponderance of evidence indicates there were four shots and casts doubt on the possibility that Oswald could have fired all of them.
Posted by: jeff at November 23, 2004 11:45 AM
clive,
think as you wish, I will not buy the game for I do not spend money on 'games' if it were free then maybe? But the main point is this I am aware of the great symbolic importance of the 'JFK' , would you be so upset if it were the Ziggy Frome game and you took shots at President G. Ford? Or the 'Hinkley loves Jodie' game where the winner doesn't only gets to shoot Reagan, but have the 'Brady gun bill' to pass congress. Would you be so upset then ? I think not ! So yes this game has the right to be for sale and played, you should respect republicans and democrats alike.
Posted by: mark at November 23, 2004 12:04 PM
It reminds me of the old joke about the ICBM who wanted to be recast and come back as a bullet. His fellow missiles were agast. "Why do you want to give up all of this respect and come back as a lowly bullet?", they would ask. He replied, "I miss the personal touch."
Posted by: C.S. DeBlues at November 23, 2004 12:51 PM
Not interesting as a piece of interactive art, because it doesn't say anything interesting or challenging about its subject matter (we're not invited to be horrified, pleased, or anything else).
Not interesting historically, because you only really get one very obvious and already-well-documented perspective on the event.
Not interesting as a game design, because the player has almost no freedom to pursue their objective. You sit on your perch in the Book Depository, aim and fire. There are more interesting choices to make in 10 seconds of a single mission in GTA3. As Sid Meier is often quoted, "a game is a series of interesting choices".
These guys are stirring shit with the controversy stick and hoping to turn a quick profit. In so doing, they nudge what the rest of us game developers are creating even deeper into the "cheap, tawdry thrills" corner of the cultural consciousness. Thanks a lot, assholes.
Posted by: JP at November 23, 2004 1:35 PM
How about a game where one picks of the developers of JFK Reloaded?
Posted by: Joel at November 23, 2004 2:40 PM
Why stop there? why not re-enact serial rapest. we can mass market the thrill a sociopath feels when they beat the living shit out of their helpless victims. who wouldnt pay for that.
Or maybe a game where a killer grows up and avoids detection while he starts killing family pets brutalizing family members beating girlfriends (or boyfriends, dont want to leave out the alternative lifestyles for this bang-up time!!) finally kidnapping raping torturing mutilating nurse or nursing students. Why not it's art right??
Posted by: Jim at November 23, 2004 2:45 PM
Why stop there? why not re-enact serial rapest. we can mass market the thrill a sociopath feels when they beat the living shit out of their helpless victims. who wouldnt pay for that.
Or maybe a game where a killer grows up and avoids detection while he starts killing family pets brutalizing family members beating girlfriends (or boyfriends, dont want to leave out the alternative lifestyles for this bang-up time!!) finally kidnapping raping torturing mutilating nurse or nursing students. Why not it's art right??
Posted by: Jim at November 23, 2004 2:45 PM
Why stop there? why not re-enact serial rapest. we can mass market the thrill a sociopath feels when they beat the living shit out of their helpless victims. who wouldnt pay for that.
Or maybe a game where a killer grows up and avoids detection while he starts killing family pets brutalizing family members beating girlfriends (or boyfriends, dont want to leave out the alternative lifestyles for this bang-up time!!) finally kidnapping raping torturing mutilating nurse or nursing students. Why not it's art right??
Posted by: jim at November 23, 2004 2:46 PM
Olive,
I paid the ten bucks too and tried the game. www.JFKRELOADED.com Did you try to watch the replay from the Grassy Knoll? That's the best view. The head shot from the 6th floor makes JFK's head go down. A shot from the Grassy Knoll look at JFK from the front. The historical film shows JFK's head going "back and to the left"....just like Kevin Costner's character kept repeating in the movie......"back and to the left." I too saw Kennedy's brains blow all over the place on the video game reply....but never could get his head to go "back and to the left" like the real movie. I think the makers of the video game should introduce the ability for someone to shoot JFK (also) from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll....perhaps make it an online game or something....so two or three people can conspire to do the deed, just as I belive they did 40 years ago. I've been to Dealy Plaza, and physically stood behind the corner of the pickett fence, just behind the grassy knoll....it is absolutely an evil place to be. You can feel it when you stand there, Satan was there...even today! I think the video game creator made his point....Oswald had help. I'd like to see them simulate that theory! The truth will set you free. Thanks. Nice write up.
Posted by: Ron at November 23, 2004 3:04 PM
Olive,
I paid the ten bucks too and tried the game. www.JFKRELOADED.com Did you try to watch the replay from the Grassy Knoll? That's the best view. The head shot from the 6th floor makes JFK's head go down. A shot from the Grassy Knoll look at JFK from the front. The historical film shows JFK's head going "back and to the left"....just like Kevin Costner's character kept repeating in the movie......"back and to the left." I too saw Kennedy's brains blow all over the place on the video game reply....but never could get his head to go "back and to the left" like the real movie. I think the makers of the video game should introduce the ability for someone to shoot JFK (also) from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll....perhaps make it an online game or something....so two or three people can conspire to do the deed, just as I belive they did 40 years ago. I've been to Dealy Plaza, and physically stood behind the corner of the pickett fence, just behind the grassy knoll....it is absolutely an evil place to be. You can feel it when you stand there, Satan was there...even today! I think the video game creator made his point....Oswald had help. I'd like to see them simulate that theory! The truth will set you free. Thanks. Nice write up.
Posted by: Ron at November 23, 2004 3:04 PM
Thanks for the balanced article in Slate!
I love the concept of this software as an educational piece; it's unfortunate and distasteful that the developer chose to make it "entertainment". Just calling it a game trivializes the event itself. What were they thinking?
Posted by: Mark DeLoura at November 23, 2004 3:06 PM
Hey.
RonnyBoy called him Olive. What happens when you mix OSWALD with CLIVE? This is getting creepy. And why would RonnyBoy know about it? Perhaps insider info as president of SAG (the Screen Actors Guild)? Like SAG Harbor, where Billy Joel mysteriously crashed his car? Joel? As in JOEL COLLIER!
Posted by: bob at November 23, 2004 3:18 PM
Clive,
:) thanks! I'm dying to start slinging "JFK" (the movie) quotes at you, but I'll spare you that...
(I've seen the movie probably 30 times, it's a masterpiece, even if you don't accept the point of view of the filmmakers. The movie's "plot" is really beside the point, as far as I'm concerned: it's the theme that's important, and in this case, I read it as "think for yourself and question authority, coz they always have an agenda." And that's even more important living under the reign of GWB, no?)
And Jim, I hate to break it to you, but in my nine years of surfing the "Internets," I've seen screenshots from "games" that let you enact violence on women for "sexual pleasure." They're as vile as you suggest...
Posted by: bud at November 23, 2004 4:26 PM
Olive,
I paid the ten bucks too and tried the game from www.JFKRELOADED.com Did you try to watch the replay from the Grassy Knoll? That's the best view, especially when you zoom in. The head shot from the 6th floor makes JFK's head go down into his own lap. A view from the Grassy Knoll looks at JFK from the front. The historical film shows JFK's head going "back and to the left" upon the bullet's impact....just like Kevin Costner's character kept repeating in the JFK movie......"back and to the left." I too saw Kennedy's brains blow all over the place on the video game reply....but never could get his head to go "back and to the left" like the Zapruder film.
I think the makers of the video game should introduce the ability for someone to shoot JFK (also) from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll....perhaps make it an online game or something....so two or three people can conspire to do the deed, just as I belive they did 40 years ago.
I've been to Dealy Plaza, and physically stood behind the corner of the pickett fence, just behind the grassy knoll ... it is absolutely an evil place to be. You can feel it when you stand there, lots of trash and JFK graffiti ... very creepy, almost demonic feeling ... even
today! That's where the head shot came from. I think the video game creator made his point ... Oswald had help. Duh!
I'd like to see them simulate the conspiracy theory in a video game format! The truth will set you free.
Thanks. Nice write up.
Posted by: Ron at November 23, 2004 5:59 PM
The trouble is, the designers couldn't possibly have designed this game's "rifle" to accurately mimic the crapulence of Oswald's Manlicher Carcano, because the gamers would complain! Can a game that doesn't mimic the quirks of Oswald's rifle really be considered an accurate recreation?
Posted by: Kathy Shaidle at November 23, 2004 8:00 PM
Based on the response that this post has generated, it's no wonder someone is trying to cash in. I wonder how much money I could make if I set up a cart in Deeley Plaze and sold Grassy Knoll lemonade.
Posted by: daniel luke at November 23, 2004 8:28 PM
Speaking of historical "games", check out "9/11 Survivor"
http://www.selectparks.net/911survivor/911screenshots.html
I don't think the game is complete, however, it has some intriguing screen shots.
If a "game" enables us to experience an important historical event on a more personal level, what's wrong with that?
Posted by: Ken Q at November 23, 2004 11:58 PM
Excellent question -- and that's a really damn interesting example of what can be done with a game, eh? I suspect some people would find it therapeutic to be able, in that game, to escape the World Trade Center before it collapsed.
As to what's wrong with using games to simulate tragic historic events -- I don't think there's ever anything "wrong" with it, in the sense that I think creative people should be promiscuous with their creativity, and explore all manner of dark and disturbing stuff, game designers included! It's no different from our need for plays, poems, movies and novels that explore creepy, awful things that happen to humanity.
That said, it's perfectly fair to critically assess the execution, impact and success of a game, much as we'd do so for a movie or poem or etc. With the JFK game, I thought the emphasis was so strongly on the sheer physics of the kill that the game designer displayed an almost intriguingly sociopathic disconnect from the cultural content of the game. And hey -- nothing wrong with that, insofar as he's allowed to do whatever he wants! The more games the better. But this particular experiment -- the JFK game -- sorta failed, I think. That's not to say it wouldn't be possible to produce a game that was as gripping and intense (which JFK Reloaded certainly was!) but also more dimensional.
And of course, plenty of people would disagree with me and point out that merely by being gripping and intense, the game *was* multidimensional.
Posted by: Clive at November 24, 2004 12:08 AM
Posted by: dgh at November 25, 2004 3:16 PM
There is a brand-new study of the relationship between videogames and violence.
The Globe and Mail featured a comment about it, and it is circulating on a few Canuck blogs.
You should check it out:
http://www.cultureraven.net (my take on the issue)
The Globe and Mail article:
C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\globeandmailstory.html
The original scholarly paper from The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp784772.html
A discussion of the paper: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/04/000424094004.htm
Posted by: Erik at November 28, 2004 11:18 AM
The sequel will hopefully include the part at the hospital where you remove the president's clothes, wash them, and plant a pristine bullet on a gurney.
Posted by: Bram at November 28, 2004 10:36 PM
I'm surprised this conversation has gone as far as it has without a mention Marshal McLuhan. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with creative people exploring dark and disturbing subject matter, but if the medium is the message, then the matter takes on a totally different message through different mediums. Is there something fundamentally different between people reading about or observing these events in books and film and plays versus actually participating in it?
I don't think that there neccesarily is. I mean, sick twisted individuals probably read obscene literature not to benefit from it or to view it within the spectrum of art but to be aroused and inticed by it, and to live out their fantasies. People might play this game with similar intentions, but that doesn't mean that the value of these game is any less if some individuals can find the merit in it, artistic, political, or otherwise.
I think that there is a sensitivity buffer that needs to be passed before games like these can exist. I once read that it wasn't until recently that Germans would play Hitler in movies or theatre; the events of the past were just too recent, and too close psychologically. No one really protests WWII games, or other fictional games that renact historically accurate events. Perhaps the wounds are simply too fresh.
Posted by: Steve E. at November 28, 2004 10:42 PM
I realize it's just one person's opinion, but I can't agree that there is ever a good time to create a game that awards points for mimicking the death of a former President. Despicable doesn't even begin to describe how disturbing this entire scenario is, IMHO. (shakes head with sadness at what people will do for money)
Posted by: ntexas99 at November 28, 2004 11:54 PM
Oddly, I don't think the profit motive is particularly big here. For one, video games generally don't make an immense amount of money, particularly when they sell for 10 bucks. I genuinely think this designer was just obsessively and admirably interested in the question of whether it was physically possible for Oswald to have acted alone. Of course, the probably predicted the outcry, and knew it would help sell more games. But honestly, it seems like he was just mostly intrigued by the way-cool physics of it all.
Steve, that point about the McLuhanesque context of a game is an interesting one, and has been discussed nicely by Gonzalo over at Ludology.org.
Erik, wicked cool links! Thanks! Going over to check out your posting now ...
Posted by: Clive at November 29, 2004 6:37 AM
Jim: that game already exists... as far as the sociopath goes, anyway - manhunt.
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Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.: Tramadol
Posted by: Tramadol Rx at March 18, 2005 1:55 AM
Years ago, when I worked at a different company, one day some coworkers and I were sitting around trying to think up the most ridiculous idea for a computer game that we could. One of the ideas we thought of was a virtual JFK assassination. And here it is.
Posted by: Tom at November 22, 2004 10:18 PM
Clive -- maybe part of the experience of the game should be to instill horror, disgust, eh?
Posted by: Ian Bogost at November 22, 2004 10:21 PM
Could have been a brilliant way to send a political or ethical message, but since you have to pay... I think it's only a very mean way to raise some cash.
You can still find something interesting or deep or revealing in the experience, but...
Anyway I didn't do it (and I think I got very close to the 1,000 points for matching Oswald ;-D)
M
Posted by: Mario at November 23, 2004 7:08 AM
Clive,
Oswald didn't shoot Kennedy.
The Cigarette Smoking Man shot Kennedy.
[dons tinfoil hat]...and maybe Traffic're just working for the people who *really* killed Kennedy, and this software is a means of recruiting new shooters. Coz, see, the software has a way of sending info back to "Traffic" that gives detailed info about who's doing really good at the game, and from there, "The Conspiracy" can check you out to see if you've got that "killer instinct" that they need...
I think your score of 430, Clive, means you don't have to worry about some stranger striking up a conversation in a bar subtly seeking to determine where your political sympathies lie, whether you wet the bed until you were 12, Oh! and do you like to start fires or harm small animals?[doffs tinfoil hat]
:)
Posted by: bud at November 23, 2004 7:55 AM
Tom -- yiii!
Ian: Heh ... yes, that's a really interesting point. I think disgust-provoking artistic/entertainment experiences are incredibly important, actually! But I don't think this piece was engineered that way; I think it's got something do with how the deeply voyeuristic aspects of the gameplay seem to be begging you to find the physics of the kill rilly rilly interesting. And of course, they *are* interesting! But the artistic bias in the interface, as I noted in the piece, is to treat the situation merely as a physics problem, which winds up seeming sociopathic. Is the designer simply more subtle yet, and did he *intend* me to note the sociopathy of the interface? Did he set up the $100,000 prize -- and affect his own air of credulity ("we just thought the game would be educational and respectful of the Kennedys!") to further ironize the situation? Possibly ... but I kinda doubt it. This is not to say the intentions of the creator/author are paramount in determining the meaning of the work, of course. One could still derive the usefully disgust-provoking reaction from a game that was designed to provoke another entirely different reaction.
Mario, how do you match Oswald?
Bud: You know too much now, and I'm afraid I'll have to kill you.
Posted by: Clive at November 23, 2004 9:13 AM
He didn't shoot, nor did I... :D
Posted by: Mario at November 23, 2004 10:00 AM
The three shot scenario that Clive posits as fact is open to question. John and Nellie Connally, both experienced hunters, said all their lives that they were certain that Kennedy and Connally were hit by two different shots before the fatal shot hit Kennedy in the head. They did so fully aware that their testimony greatly increases the possibility of conspiracy.
Their testimony, buttressed by the most recent scholarly analysis of the Zapruder film (by Prof. David Wrone, Univ. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point) goes a long way toward demonstrating the basic implausibility of the single bullet theory (that one bullet caused 7 different wounds in Kennedy and Connally.) The preponderance of evidence indicates there were four shots and casts doubt on the possibility that Oswald could have fired all of them.
Posted by: jeff at November 23, 2004 11:45 AM
clive,
think as you wish, I will not buy the game for I do not spend money on 'games' if it were free then maybe? But the main point is this I am aware of the great symbolic importance of the 'JFK' , would you be so upset if it were the Ziggy Frome game and you took shots at President G. Ford? Or the 'Hinkley loves Jodie' game where the winner doesn't only gets to shoot Reagan, but have the 'Brady gun bill' to pass congress. Would you be so upset then ? I think not ! So yes this game has the right to be for sale and played, you should respect republicans and democrats alike.
Posted by: mark at November 23, 2004 12:04 PM
It reminds me of the old joke about the ICBM who wanted to be recast and come back as a bullet. His fellow missiles were agast. "Why do you want to give up all of this respect and come back as a lowly bullet?", they would ask. He replied, "I miss the personal touch."
Posted by: C.S. DeBlues at November 23, 2004 12:51 PM
Not interesting as a piece of interactive art, because it doesn't say anything interesting or challenging about its subject matter (we're not invited to be horrified, pleased, or anything else).
Not interesting historically, because you only really get one very obvious and already-well-documented perspective on the event.
Not interesting as a game design, because the player has almost no freedom to pursue their objective. You sit on your perch in the Book Depository, aim and fire. There are more interesting choices to make in 10 seconds of a single mission in GTA3. As Sid Meier is often quoted, "a game is a series of interesting choices".
These guys are stirring shit with the controversy stick and hoping to turn a quick profit. In so doing, they nudge what the rest of us game developers are creating even deeper into the "cheap, tawdry thrills" corner of the cultural consciousness. Thanks a lot, assholes.
Posted by: JP at November 23, 2004 1:35 PM
How about a game where one picks of the developers of JFK Reloaded?
Posted by: Joel at November 23, 2004 2:40 PM
Why stop there? why not re-enact serial rapest. we can mass market the thrill a sociopath feels when they beat the living shit out of their helpless victims. who wouldnt pay for that.
Or maybe a game where a killer grows up and avoids detection while he starts killing family pets brutalizing family members beating girlfriends (or boyfriends, dont want to leave out the alternative lifestyles for this bang-up time!!) finally kidnapping raping torturing mutilating nurse or nursing students. Why not it's art right??
Posted by: Jim at November 23, 2004 2:45 PM
Why stop there? why not re-enact serial rapest. we can mass market the thrill a sociopath feels when they beat the living shit out of their helpless victims. who wouldnt pay for that.
Or maybe a game where a killer grows up and avoids detection while he starts killing family pets brutalizing family members beating girlfriends (or boyfriends, dont want to leave out the alternative lifestyles for this bang-up time!!) finally kidnapping raping torturing mutilating nurse or nursing students. Why not it's art right??
Posted by: Jim at November 23, 2004 2:45 PM
Why stop there? why not re-enact serial rapest. we can mass market the thrill a sociopath feels when they beat the living shit out of their helpless victims. who wouldnt pay for that.
Or maybe a game where a killer grows up and avoids detection while he starts killing family pets brutalizing family members beating girlfriends (or boyfriends, dont want to leave out the alternative lifestyles for this bang-up time!!) finally kidnapping raping torturing mutilating nurse or nursing students. Why not it's art right??
Posted by: jim at November 23, 2004 2:46 PM
Olive,
I paid the ten bucks too and tried the game. www.JFKRELOADED.com Did you try to watch the replay from the Grassy Knoll? That's the best view. The head shot from the 6th floor makes JFK's head go down. A shot from the Grassy Knoll look at JFK from the front. The historical film shows JFK's head going "back and to the left"....just like Kevin Costner's character kept repeating in the movie......"back and to the left." I too saw Kennedy's brains blow all over the place on the video game reply....but never could get his head to go "back and to the left" like the real movie. I think the makers of the video game should introduce the ability for someone to shoot JFK (also) from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll....perhaps make it an online game or something....so two or three people can conspire to do the deed, just as I belive they did 40 years ago. I've been to Dealy Plaza, and physically stood behind the corner of the pickett fence, just behind the grassy knoll....it is absolutely an evil place to be. You can feel it when you stand there, Satan was there...even today! I think the video game creator made his point....Oswald had help. I'd like to see them simulate that theory! The truth will set you free. Thanks. Nice write up.
Posted by: Ron at November 23, 2004 3:04 PM
Olive,
I paid the ten bucks too and tried the game. www.JFKRELOADED.com Did you try to watch the replay from the Grassy Knoll? That's the best view. The head shot from the 6th floor makes JFK's head go down. A shot from the Grassy Knoll look at JFK from the front. The historical film shows JFK's head going "back and to the left"....just like Kevin Costner's character kept repeating in the movie......"back and to the left." I too saw Kennedy's brains blow all over the place on the video game reply....but never could get his head to go "back and to the left" like the real movie. I think the makers of the video game should introduce the ability for someone to shoot JFK (also) from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll....perhaps make it an online game or something....so two or three people can conspire to do the deed, just as I belive they did 40 years ago. I've been to Dealy Plaza, and physically stood behind the corner of the pickett fence, just behind the grassy knoll....it is absolutely an evil place to be. You can feel it when you stand there, Satan was there...even today! I think the video game creator made his point....Oswald had help. I'd like to see them simulate that theory! The truth will set you free. Thanks. Nice write up.
Posted by: Ron at November 23, 2004 3:04 PM
Thanks for the balanced article in Slate!
I love the concept of this software as an educational piece; it's unfortunate and distasteful that the developer chose to make it "entertainment". Just calling it a game trivializes the event itself. What were they thinking?
Posted by: Mark DeLoura at November 23, 2004 3:06 PM
Hey.
RonnyBoy called him Olive. What happens when you mix OSWALD with CLIVE? This is getting creepy. And why would RonnyBoy know about it? Perhaps insider info as president of SAG (the Screen Actors Guild)? Like SAG Harbor, where Billy Joel mysteriously crashed his car? Joel? As in JOEL COLLIER!
Posted by: bob at November 23, 2004 3:18 PM
Clive,
:) thanks! I'm dying to start slinging "JFK" (the movie) quotes at you, but I'll spare you that...
(I've seen the movie probably 30 times, it's a masterpiece, even if you don't accept the point of view of the filmmakers. The movie's "plot" is really beside the point, as far as I'm concerned: it's the theme that's important, and in this case, I read it as "think for yourself and question authority, coz they always have an agenda." And that's even more important living under the reign of GWB, no?)
And Jim, I hate to break it to you, but in my nine years of surfing the "Internets," I've seen screenshots from "games" that let you enact violence on women for "sexual pleasure." They're as vile as you suggest...
Posted by: bud at November 23, 2004 4:26 PM
Olive,
I paid the ten bucks too and tried the game from www.JFKRELOADED.com Did you try to watch the replay from the Grassy Knoll? That's the best view, especially when you zoom in. The head shot from the 6th floor makes JFK's head go down into his own lap. A view from the Grassy Knoll looks at JFK from the front. The historical film shows JFK's head going "back and to the left" upon the bullet's impact....just like Kevin Costner's character kept repeating in the JFK movie......"back and to the left." I too saw Kennedy's brains blow all over the place on the video game reply....but never could get his head to go "back and to the left" like the Zapruder film.
I think the makers of the video game should introduce the ability for someone to shoot JFK (also) from behind the fence on the Grassy Knoll....perhaps make it an online game or something....so two or three people can conspire to do the deed, just as I belive they did 40 years ago.
I've been to Dealy Plaza, and physically stood behind the corner of the pickett fence, just behind the grassy knoll ... it is absolutely an evil place to be. You can feel it when you stand there, lots of trash and JFK graffiti ... very creepy, almost demonic feeling ... even
today! That's where the head shot came from. I think the video game creator made his point ... Oswald had help. Duh!
I'd like to see them simulate the conspiracy theory in a video game format! The truth will set you free.
Thanks. Nice write up.
Posted by: Ron at November 23, 2004 5:59 PM
The trouble is, the designers couldn't possibly have designed this game's "rifle" to accurately mimic the crapulence of Oswald's Manlicher Carcano, because the gamers would complain! Can a game that doesn't mimic the quirks of Oswald's rifle really be considered an accurate recreation?
Posted by: Kathy Shaidle at November 23, 2004 8:00 PM
Based on the response that this post has generated, it's no wonder someone is trying to cash in. I wonder how much money I could make if I set up a cart in Deeley Plaze and sold Grassy Knoll lemonade.
Posted by: daniel luke at November 23, 2004 8:28 PM
Speaking of historical "games", check out "9/11 Survivor"
http://www.selectparks.net/911survivor/911screenshots.html
I don't think the game is complete, however, it has some intriguing screen shots.
If a "game" enables us to experience an important historical event on a more personal level, what's wrong with that?
Posted by: Ken Q at November 23, 2004 11:58 PM
Excellent question -- and that's a really damn interesting example of what can be done with a game, eh? I suspect some people would find it therapeutic to be able, in that game, to escape the World Trade Center before it collapsed.
As to what's wrong with using games to simulate tragic historic events -- I don't think there's ever anything "wrong" with it, in the sense that I think creative people should be promiscuous with their creativity, and explore all manner of dark and disturbing stuff, game designers included! It's no different from our need for plays, poems, movies and novels that explore creepy, awful things that happen to humanity.
That said, it's perfectly fair to critically assess the execution, impact and success of a game, much as we'd do so for a movie or poem or etc. With the JFK game, I thought the emphasis was so strongly on the sheer physics of the kill that the game designer displayed an almost intriguingly sociopathic disconnect from the cultural content of the game. And hey -- nothing wrong with that, insofar as he's allowed to do whatever he wants! The more games the better. But this particular experiment -- the JFK game -- sorta failed, I think. That's not to say it wouldn't be possible to produce a game that was as gripping and intense (which JFK Reloaded certainly was!) but also more dimensional.
And of course, plenty of people would disagree with me and point out that merely by being gripping and intense, the game *was* multidimensional.
Posted by: Clive at November 24, 2004 12:08 AM
ef
Posted by: dgh at November 25, 2004 3:16 PM
There is a brand-new study of the relationship between videogames and violence.
The Globe and Mail featured a comment about it, and it is circulating on a few Canuck blogs.
You should check it out:
http://www.cultureraven.net (my take on the issue)
The Globe and Mail article:
C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\globeandmailstory.html
The original scholarly paper from The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp784772.html
A discussion of the paper: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/04/000424094004.htm
Posted by: Erik at November 28, 2004 11:18 AM
The sequel will hopefully include the part at the hospital where you remove the president's clothes, wash them, and plant a pristine bullet on a gurney.
Posted by: Bram at November 28, 2004 10:36 PM
I'm surprised this conversation has gone as far as it has without a mention Marshal McLuhan. Perhaps there is nothing wrong with creative people exploring dark and disturbing subject matter, but if the medium is the message, then the matter takes on a totally different message through different mediums. Is there something fundamentally different between people reading about or observing these events in books and film and plays versus actually participating in it?
I don't think that there neccesarily is. I mean, sick twisted individuals probably read obscene literature not to benefit from it or to view it within the spectrum of art but to be aroused and inticed by it, and to live out their fantasies. People might play this game with similar intentions, but that doesn't mean that the value of these game is any less if some individuals can find the merit in it, artistic, political, or otherwise.
I think that there is a sensitivity buffer that needs to be passed before games like these can exist. I once read that it wasn't until recently that Germans would play Hitler in movies or theatre; the events of the past were just too recent, and too close psychologically. No one really protests WWII games, or other fictional games that renact historically accurate events. Perhaps the wounds are simply too fresh.
Posted by: Steve E. at November 28, 2004 10:42 PM
I realize it's just one person's opinion, but I can't agree that there is ever a good time to create a game that awards points for mimicking the death of a former President. Despicable doesn't even begin to describe how disturbing this entire scenario is, IMHO. (shakes head with sadness at what people will do for money)
Posted by: ntexas99 at November 28, 2004 11:54 PM
Oddly, I don't think the profit motive is particularly big here. For one, video games generally don't make an immense amount of money, particularly when they sell for 10 bucks. I genuinely think this designer was just obsessively and admirably interested in the question of whether it was physically possible for Oswald to have acted alone. Of course, the probably predicted the outcry, and knew it would help sell more games. But honestly, it seems like he was just mostly intrigued by the way-cool physics of it all.
Steve, that point about the McLuhanesque context of a game is an interesting one, and has been discussed nicely by Gonzalo over at Ludology.org.
Erik, wicked cool links! Thanks! Going over to check out your posting now ...
Posted by: Clive at November 29, 2004 6:37 AM
Jim: that game already exists... as far as the sociopath goes, anyway - manhunt.
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