A watchdog for the gaming industry has been called for by an MSP following scrapping of a video game which depicted a school shooter.
A backlash against Active Shooter, which simulated a gunman going into a school and firing at civilians and police, saw it being withdrawn from sale by a popular online store.
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alexander Stewart said it “beggars belief” that such a product could be conceived after the horror of Dunblane 22 years ago and more recent attacks in the US.
He said: “I feel it is essential that there should be some kind of watchdog set up, specifically that the writers and publishers of these types of games are rightly held to account.”
Active Shooter was due to be launched next Wednesday. Publisher Acid claimed the game did not promote violence, especially mass shooting, and was a dynamic Swat simulator in which players took on the role of an armed police officer.
However, developer Revived Games appeared to have added an option to play as a civilian and screenshots showed a score for the number of ‘civs’ and ‘cops’ killed as the player stalked corridors.
It provoked fury from parents of children killed in the Parkland shooting in Florida and a petition was signed by more than 180,000 people.
Conservative Mr Stewart had voiced his disgust before the game was pulled from the website of retailer Steam.
He said: “I am delighted at the news that this awful game has been withdrawn from sale.”
“No-one is arguing that computer games should never involve guns, as they’re clearly popular, but only when the game is played responsibly.
“The school element, however, makes this completely unacceptable.
“People will wonder what on earth the developers of this game were thinking; not just in the context of Dunblane, but all the horrific incidents we’ve seen in the USA as well.
“A responsible games platform would and should, absolutely think twice about allowing this to happen, and it is clear that as a result of the backlash from the public at large – and rightly so – the publishers seem to have done the right thing and pulled it from sale.”
Valve Corporation, which runs Steam, said: “We have removed the developer Revived Games and publisher ACID from Steam.
“This developer and publisher is, in fact, a person calling himself Ata Berdiyev, who had previously been removed last fall when he was operating as ‘[bc]Interactive’ and ‘Elusive Team.’”
