A Sydney youth who has created an uproar with an online game based on the Virginia Tech massacre, says he will remove the game if he receives $US2000 in “donations”.

Add another $US1000 and he promises to apologise.

The game, called V-Tech Rampage, offers “three levels of stealth and murder” and is set on a facsimile of the Virginia Tech campus.

It is modelled on the exploits of Korean-born Cho Seung-hui who last month shot dead 32 fellow students at the Virginia Tech campus in the worst such massacre in US history.

The game features a gun-toting character based on Cho, the dormitory where the killing spree started, the post office where he sent his manifesto to a TV network and Norris Hall, the building where most of the murders took place.

The game first came to light after it was uploaded to a site called newgrounds.com, which hosts a large number of simple computer games. Game makers upload their creations on to the site much in the same way as people upload videos to YouTube.

V-Tech Rampage is the work of 21-year-old Ryan Lambourn from western Sydney who goes by the screen name, Master PiGPEN.

“I’ve done offensive things before but they’re not usually this popular,” Lamourn said, adding that he made the game “because it’s funny”.

Lambourn, who grew up in the US, said his friends suggested putting up the donation request which he thought was “a hilarious idea”.

He posted a demand on his website saying: “Attention angry people: I will take this game down from [the website] newgrounds if the donation amount reaches $1000 US. I’ll take it down from here [his website] if it reaches $2000 US, and i will apologize if it reaches $3000 US.”

He described the exercise as “a joke”. “They were so adamant about me taking my game down … I gave them a way,” he said.

“The donation thing was just to pull a few more strings and make more people angry. It’s worked.”

Lambourn said that while he felt for those who had lost friends and relatives in the massacre, he also had sympathy for the gunman.

“No one listens to you unless you’ve got something sensational to do.” he said. “And that’s why I feel sympathy for Cho Seung-hui. He had to go that far.”

The game requires players to move the pixellated South Park-like Cho character around the campus, shooting other characters.

Once shots are fired the other characters start running around with their hands in the air and screams can be heard on the soundtrack. A song, That’s Shine by the band Collective Soul, is played on a loop in the background.

Lambourn chose the song for the game because it was one of the gunman’s favourites.

The game starts with the gunman in his room. The text on the screen says: “Locked and loaded, it’s party time. I just gotta make sure no one sees me or lives to tell the tale.”

In another frame, the following words appear: “The pawns are all in place, the time has come that I may finally send my message to the world.”

The game text also refers to “Emily”. Emily Jane Hilscher, 18, was Cho’s first victim. The subject of his infatuation, she was shot in a dormitory.

“Emily stayed overnight with her boyfriend, Karl, again last night. He’ll be dropping her off at school as always …,” the game text reads.

Players who fail to shoot the characters get the following message at the conclusion: “Mediocrity. You let Emily get away! Are you always full of shit, McBeef? Try again, this time don’t be such a wuss.”

“McBeef” is a reference to a play Cho wrote called Richard McBeef. The disturbing play features a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of being a pedophile and of murdering his father.

The play ends with the man “lifting his large arms and swings a deadly blow” on the teen.

The game and its creator have been rounded condemned on blogs and forums on the internet.

“People like this need to be publicly beaten,” wrote one blog reader. “This asshole is possible the worst little piece festering of pond scum in years.”

How very interesting!

The military, where possible wear ’soft’ hats instead of helmets, and their weapons are less prominent. Likewise, in some contexts aid workers need no presence of military. I prefer a military intervention where the highest priority is the safety of people and the functionality of their infrastructure. Australians are brilliant at hearts and minds approaches in deployments. Compare aussies with US soldiers: no comparison with respects to this.

Any ideaology we have, no matter how pure it is, must be applied to abroken world where tragic historical precedents ahve left many countries mired in a perpetual hell. Aid into these situations can only come via the protection of a force, whcih is big and strong enough to oppose the forces of lawlesness and terror.

Luckily it didn’t end where it could have, but I was willing. That was a very good post, and in the end we do have to answer to Jesus for our own actions. And none of us take this lightly. I do believe we have to come to a situation sometimes that means someone has to die, and we must choose who. In my reading of Jesus, this person is always me, just like it was in His case.

Saint, I am not sure of where I stand on those scriptures, but what I can say is Jesus says he brings us a new “way” the way of the kingdom, is the more complete way. Can you explain to me how 1 Cor 13 condones war, or killing in anyway? If there is a disparity, then I choose Jesus revealed in the flesh, and I think this is what we are all called to do.

rev