An online game allowing users to play as the gunman of the 2006 Dawson College shooting was taken down by its creator after a public outcry.
The aim of the game, called Dawson College Massacre!, was to shoot as many students as possible before the cops came. The setting resembled the college’s atrium. It was put up days before the shooting’s Sept. 13 anniversary.
“It’s not so much offensive as a first-person shooter game,” said Shannon Pine, a former Dawson College student who was present during the 2006 shooting, said she heard of the game from a friend. “It’s offensive to the people that were there, who were affected by this.”
Students were appalled anyone would create such a game, said Ariel Charney, chairperson of the Dawson Student Union.
“It has saddened our students tremendously,” she said. “It’s been a huge shock for the Dawson community.”
Charney added the union contacted Montreal police on Sept. 8 to make them aware of the game.
Montreal police looked into the matter, but couldn’t take any official action because there was no criminal offence, police communications officer Mélanie Lajoie said in an email.
Lajoie said the police did request its removal, although they couldn’t force compliance.
“The Internet provider was contacted by an investigator – out of moral consciousness – and asked to remove the game because of the poor taste of it,” Lajoie said.
Finally, it was the creator who chose to bring down his own game.
“After thinking it over for a while I feel that the existence of the game is hurting a family that doesn’t deserve it,” the creator, who used the alias Virtuaman, wrote on his page.
Nearly 75 people, including Dawson College shooting survivors, commented on the game expressing their disgust. The creator first dismissed the comments, saying he didn’t think he would take down his game, but changed his mind once he heard the mother of Anastasia DeSousa, who was killed during the rampage, was hurt by it.
“To be honest I didn’t care what anyone thought of my game till [sic] I heard her mother was upset over it,” he wrote.
“It’s good to hear it’s taken down. I’m happy he realized he offended so many people,” Pine said.