May 15, 2007 -
In the history of video games, perhaps in the history of the Internet, this is something never seen before: an audience held hostage.Ryan Lambourn, the Australian man who created the highly offensive V-Tech Rampage, has posted a message on his GooGumProduce website demanding payment to take the game offline:
ATTENTION ANGRY PEOPLE:
I will take this game down from newgrounds if the donation amount reaches $1000 US, i’ll take it down from here if it reaches $2000 US, and i will apologize if it reaches $3000 US.
Newgrounds, of course, could take the game offline without regard to Lambourn's wishes. It remains to be seen whether the site will do so.
It's unclear whether Lambourn's Dr. Evil-style demand is for real or just part of an elaborate prank. Either way, the clock is now running on Ryan Lambourn's 15 minutes of fame.
UPDATE: We're running a GP poll (see sidebar) on the V-Tech game situation. Be sure to vote!
UPDATE 2: Lambourn writes on his website that the money demand was a joke:
...the donation thing is there as a joke against all the people commanding me to take my game down. I didnt think anyone would donate money to it and so far my paypal account has proven me right...
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Comments
Technically, this isn't correct. Anyone remember savetoby.com ??? Some other jackass tried to extort money out of people by saying that if he had found a bunny, posted pictures of it, and said that if he didn't receive a certain amount of donations, he was going to eat him. The idiot not only received mainstream media coverage, but he actually succeeded and got money. The asshole behind this game is probably just trying to pull the same stunt.
1. This isn't blackmail or extortion because we choose to view it on one site on the vast internets.
2. There is no governing body of the internet.
3. Newgrounds is the only company with the authority to remove the content.
4. Anyone willing to see this medium go to status of art and rightfully be protected better think twice against censoring this man.
5. The asshole posed this proposition because he worked on a project and people then screamed for its removal. He doesn't want to take this down but he's willing to see if people will pay for its removal.
I personally applaud Newgrounds for not taking this game down because they obviously know whats at stake. The creators of Newgrounds just recently dropped from an awards ceremony because of this very censorship with SCMRPG (Behemoth Studios).
Quality and choice of media be it hard coding or flash should not matter to us because we would like to see games protected as art and speech. Not just EA and Acclaim titles but also independent ones. This forces us to take in the good with the bad. So stop being hypocritical and realize what the hell you're supporting.
Yes! Almost makes me want to donate to this guy. Look at the "tragedy" which is V-Tech shootings and then look at what is being done everyday in Darfur, Iraq, Pakistan... and you'll put things into perspective. I don't care at all about his game, but I do care about his right to make it, his right to profit from it and his right to rub it in people's face.
Now, if someone wants to pay ME to shut up (written and vocal) on all issues, I'll take 10 billion dollars. Non negotiable
To pay me to speak only in favor of someone else's opinions and beliefs, even if I don't agree with them, the bidding starts at 1 trillion dollars.
Relly, you're gonna have to do better than a few thousand dollars, even for an apology I wouldn't mean.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
The game sucks anyway, though. It's more likely that he's scum.
This guy is an idiot, and is clearly trying to profit off a tragedy in a heartless way. However, the way he's doing it, though tasteless, is not illegal.
The solution is simple. The guy's manipulating the media to create the controversy that will drive traffic to his website, and therefore more people who might be willing to pay up. Media, therefore, needs to ignore this guy and anyone else who tries a stunt like this, to minimise the traffic.
Complaints should also go not to Newgrounds for hosting the site - free speech reasons, etc. - but to whoever is processing the credit card payments, be it Paypal or whoever (I didn't bother to grace his site with a hit to find out). If the payment facilities are pulled, then free speech and morality are restored.
The best free speech is antagonizing. Also there are no speech laws on the internet. There is no ransom being held so what did he do wrong? The guy made a shitty controversial game and everyone else got upset. We're not forced to play it and we aren't forced to look at it. We're not here to discuss the moral fiber of his character but of the right for his work to remain uncensored.
Yeah, the kid is a moron and clearly has no concept of his actions or the repercussions. Like I said, if he keeps on rolling like he's doing with these ridiculous demands, the gaming industry won't have to ostracize him -- he's doing a pretty good job of making himself look like a crack-pot as it is.
We have the right to call him a duche and show the world that he is the abberation. We do not, however, have the right to sensor him. Yes, that would be the easy thing to do...but the consequences of that one act will come back and bite us.
But that *can't* trump free speech. The response to garbage like this should not be censorship, but to drown it out with our own speech. Make it clear that he does not represent us, and then just hope that the mainstream gets the message. That's all we can do, really.
And I don't see any relationship with the video game industry.. it's one person.. It's when people try to generalize the situation when it turns into something like good and evil..
"Aussies don’t have protected free speech. It’s not in our constitution. We have an ‘implied right of political expression’, but there are no laws that protect us from being censored."
Yes, there is no governing body on the internet. But this was posted by an Australian from an Australian computer. It's abhorrent and disgusting that this child has taken it so far and asked for money to take it down and is selling an apology. But if it was to be censored, it could happen here and he could scream "freedom of speech" til the roos come home (to put a twist on the old saying) and we'd just laugh at him.
Yes, Aussies are considered to be laid back people and a lot of things that people say tend to get shrugged off. But there is a line, and this kid didn't just step over it...he stepped over it, spat on it and gave the line the finger before walking away.
You want to make the game, fine. You want to host it... okay.
You want to charge a ransom? Get a life.
Also, where is this money going? In this loser's coffers? nt kk baibai.
But those same people in the political and media ring are out of touch with the average people.. if anything, the people out of touch with video game would be drawn to those conclusions.
But when it comes to blame.. it would be illogical to blame the industry.. But I think it's just the time.. in 10 or so years things will change. Right now, it's people picking up on things while ignoring more important matters....
though maybe the problem is I can't see it and can only think of it in a technical and objective view.
I see your point... it can be easily taken down if enough demand for it comes up.
Where the hell did you read that? As stated in headline of this article, he is asking for donations now, that means he wants to make a profit from the item, hence the statement it is not 'free', he wants money for it.
Believe it or not, not everything is about Jack Thompson.
Despite what you may think when something bad happens someone is always ready to cash in a buck on it.If you don't like it just ignore it.Hes selling his art in a reverse fashion....kind of how i wish i could pay game companies to not make games based off of movies (bleh).
It's sad that he's only making it harder to defend him, because he really doesn't care. He doesn't give a hoot about freedoms, just his own. He's sitting there, laughing, probably snorting milk out his nose in his mom's basement, because he really has nothing better to do than demand payment for an apology we know would never be sincere...
The game, politics, commercial value, free speech blah blah..that's not really the point.
The reason that this kid is a major douche bag is because he created this POS game, solely with intention of try to get money.
He put no thought, heart, or love into the game. There is no point to the game, there is no story to the game. He whipped the thing up to try to make some dough.
THAT'S why this is disgusting, and if he makes any money off of it, those people who actually donate are just as bad as he is.
For altough most people would simply ignore it, there only needs to be a few for him to get his money.
I think that the Tom Fulp and the other owners of Newgrounds should remove the entry themselves for a money-grabbing attempt from the game maker.
You know, I almost agree with you, but had Lambourn even mentioned Darfur or Iraq as the reason he trivialized the murder of 30 students, then I would agree with you fully. He trivialized it for shock value with no wit or reason behind it. So therefore, I will afford him no protection from scorn for his game. (Yes, I realize I have no real potency, but this is the internet, and I am exaggerating)
Yes, I will state that I am 100% against him being censored, because I hate the censorship of any idea. But, I still will freely speak out against it, after I finish laughing about what a crappy game and a silly little racket he's trying tp pull off. Like I said above, shock-value entertainment has been done before, and done better.
That being said, if this pays off for him, maybe I will program a crappy 8-bit flash game entitled, "Mohammed Raper 2008 (c)" in which the 2008 U.S. Presidental candidates all take turns competing for far-far-far-right wing votes by sodomizing the founder of Islam. Good idea?
(In case anyone can't figure it out, I am being facetious)
Danny's comment on the matter has increased my respect for the guy, SCMRPG was a piece of satire and commentary of the game industry, its critics, and the political situation surrounding columbine. It asked the important question of why its ok to make paintings, films and books on a tragedy but not interactive software.
But above all, it was a prime example of a good man defending his work respectfully.
Unlike Ryan Lambourn who has just abandoned his work out of greed.
Unlike Danny Ledonne, this guy had lost my respect for him and his work.
BUT...
Its freedom of speech, sure Newgrounds can pull it down if they want to, just slam dance could pull down SCMRPG because they wanted to, but there will never be a reason to fully justify censorship. And so I may not respect this guy, but I don't want this pulled down against his will.
But...
That doesn't mean VTR and its creator can't be criticized and insulted to no end.
You're all (well, most) acting the way politicians do/did about Super Columbine Massacre RPG.
First is the fact that the gaming industry has been under fairly heavy fire of late, and that quite understandably makes some members of the community a bit touchy.
Second is that Super Columbine Massacre RPG was actually a thoughtful, insightful look into the whole Columbine event - once you got past the idea that it was sensationalistic (which is an arguable point), it wasn't just a mindless slaughter-fest. V-Tech Rampage lacks that merit completely. It contains a few personal details that are publicly known (like the ducks and the music), but is otherwise a fairly mindless game.
Third is the apparent fact that the author didn't do it to explore any subtexts that the media is ignoring - instead, he did it to pour salt in an open wound of the gaming community, offering little more than pure shock value. Instead, he compounded the matter by "offering" to take the game down if he's given donations - not that doing so would erase the existence of the game, mind you. It is, by all appearances, little more than a sensationalistic grab for his Warhol time.
All of these taken together do result in somewhat of an overreaction - still completely understandable, but still an overreaction - among a large portion of the game community.
Shouts to have it removed are ultimately pointless, for several reasons. The first is that you can't unring that bell... it's been made, it's been released, even if both NewGrounds and the author's site both take it down, it's now being spread through other methods online, and removing it will have little effect. Second, controversial media like this is EXACTLY what NewGrounds is famous for; they're unlikely to remove it unless THEY feel it's merit-less... and given some of the crap I've seen on NewGrounds, it's unlikely that will happen.
The best-case scenario is to let it die. Stop making a fuss over it, write it off as the tacky attempt at ego-stroking that it is, and move on to more important matters. By giving it such massive amounts of HWFO, you're giving the author exactly what he wants.
But, I also understand free speech. I don't think censorship is the answer here. Rather, people should just ignore this game enough until it will go away on its own.
When the get-on-with-it feeling built up, I was mashing the a/s keys just to continue - only to feel as if I missed something important. (probably not.)
The game claims to be a "stealth" game. Based on how the characters were acting, I'd say "bull". Granted, I didn't go past the first screen of the building I entered, but there's no motivation to do so.
@jakethe8lf
this is not like SCMRPG... SCMRPG actually made an attempt to say something. Its a game that actually had meaning... it was a thought provoking game, so much so that independent film makers wanted to nominate it for a film documentry (until, once again, the founder of slamdance pulled some strings to ake the game down)... hell the main reason SCMRG was done as a video game and not as a film was because of how the media was commonly blaming video game for what happened, while ignoring the actual issues.
This V-tech games does not try to do any of what SCMRPG was trying to do. This piece of crap provides no thought or insight... it tells us nothing that we don't already know; it only tells us what everyone knows Cho did, nothing more (shoot a girl, mail his tapes, then attack Norris hall). Hell there isn't even a reason why this should be a game instead of a film (sometimes other mediums are better for adressing such issues), afterall, unlike columbine, the majority of the media (with VERY few exceptions) are not blaming video games at all...
there are things that COULD have been done, things that could have be said... such as attempting to get into Cho's head, and attempt to figure out what went wrong and what happened. What triggered all of these events? what could have been done to prevent it? Mental, Social, Family, society issues? there are many things such a creation could say that would be very thought provoking, and this piece of crap doesn't do any of it. all it is a crappy game made in exremly poor taste...
now, if i were making such a game (though i would probably choose film as my medium), i would probably start it off months before the incident... the game would be mostly about interacting in class and such, getting an idea of how messed up Cho was... it would probably then go into Cho prepaing for the day, such as buying his weapon and going to the sooting range. All the while might include some flashbacks if the is anythign in his past that might be relevent to what went wrong with him; such as the period of time he spent in that mental institution, but was later released... or perhaps showing how much of a loner he was back in his teen years. it all leads up to the point when he actually goes and commits his act. it can even include details about how the police and the school handled the situation, along with the reaction for after the game. A great amount of research and time would be needed to make the game in that much more information would be needed to be known about Cho so as to present the incident and the events leading up to it in fairly accurate manner (thus need to wait a couple of months or so for more details to come up about cho); we can't know the exact truth, but we can take some pretty damn good guesses. The whole concept would be to give poeple an idea of what probably went wrong and what they might be able to do in order to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. poeple would undoubtably still get offended by such a thing, but atleast the game would actually attempt to say something... and not just be some pile of crap that some kid decided to make just to grab some attention...
And umm... hello? You dont have to play it if you dont like it.
Sigh.
I voted "not sure" in the poll, because while I personally find the game to be reprehensible and offensive, and I fear the further anti-game backlash from uneducated mainstream media and political opportunists, freedom of speech is important. I am, and always have been against censorship in all forms. I guess I feel like the game should be taken down, but it shouldn't be *pulled* down, if that makes sense. I would hope that good taste and common sense would prevail on the part of the maker, but obviously he's far too impressed with his own cleverness for anything like that to happen.
I guess I just yearn for a world where crap like this could just be ignored. Where it wasn't destined to become a big deal and could be treated as the drivel that it is.
How do you feel about South Park? In this particular case, I'm referring to the whole Starvin' Marvin plot lines... that rather insensitive too, yet it brings our attention to a horrible situation in an amusing way.
People are always going to freak out about someone else saying something. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't be able to make light of it.
Sorry, just had too.
Can we have a "The game sucks, so ignore it" option on the poll? I mean, the guy has a right to say whatever he wants, but he doesn't deserve this much attention for making a terrible game and slapping a controversial name on it.
(And what's up with those Carl's Jr. posts?)