All of us who don’t spend all day in schools need to remember that this, and the other school shootings, are things students have to live with every day.

Just think of all the kids who look at the “weird” kid and wonder if he’s going to kill them. I’d say showing who Cho actually was one of the best things about this video - which certainly would have been a lot more questionable for presentation in school if a “picture montage” of real people had preceded it.

It’s like asking why someone would want to make a video about domestic violence… just because it’s not a part of your world doesn’t mean it’s not something that affects other people.

Finally, I would argue that saying Cho should have been “stopped” is true, but SHOULD is different than could have. What “they” should/could have stopped him? Armed guards at the school? Other students who also carried weapons? The police years before because someone determined him to be mentally ill? And what should have happened to him if the police did act on that teacher’s concerns? Court mandated therapy? Institutionalization? Would either of those have ensured a massacre was prevented? maybe… but are there things that just have to happen in order to change how society thinks? would there have been a shooting at a different school if this one hadn’t happened?

Anyway. Just my thoughts.

Halo is a good tool for something like a machinima movie because of the flexibility of the characters and camera. Basically, if you dont’ have a camera, or actors, or locales, but you still want to tell a story, you have these little animated people that you can control to do it. A little editing and voila. It has nothing to do with what Halo is, except that guns were involved in real life and this game has already taken that obstacle away from the director since the characters have guns.

No, Cho didn’t play video games. Glad that was pointed out.

And if he did, so what? Screwed up people are attracted to media that meshes with their twisted mindset. But there has been NO proof that the games CAUSE it. If you find some guy who committed a crime like this and found out he played Manhunt, you’d probably also find Korn in his CD collection and Saw I, II and III in his DVD library. He is attracted to the media. The media didn’t create him.

Lastly, it is ludicrous to think that one could practice for something like this with a video game. I can’t race professionally because I’m good at PGR. I don’t kick ass at football because I’m good at Madden. I won’t be a good soldier because I rock at Call of Duty 4. The Army uses games as a tool, but they do so more for decision making than weapon control. Gun’s aren’t controlled with dual analog sticks. Being good at one does not make you automatically good with the other.

What a game MIGHT do is improve your respoonse time and hand/eye coordination. And while a criminal might use that to his advantage, so might a doctor. It’s not what’s in the game. It’s what the player takes away from the game.

Is it screwed up to say, “I watched Saving Private Ryan and enjoyed it?” Or “Schindler’s List?” It depends on what you took away from the movies. Maybe you got the part about risking your own life for others. Maybe you got to see a lot of carnage and misery.

Halo addresses religious fanatics, prejudice, cooperation, hope, trust, honor… on the other hand, you get to shoot a lot of stuff. What do you take away from it?