Bananation: The Year Sickest Online Game

This is not a game review for PS3 (Play Station 3) or Xbox. This is an outright condemnation of the online game [V-Tech Rampage] devilishly created by an amateur, a 21-year old Australian, Ryan Lambourn (inset bottom). The game was based on the mass shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute on April 16, 2007. The creator said he made the game "because it's funny," the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Bananation finds neither the incident nor the game funny at all.

The website, Googumproduce.com which hosted the game has been suspended since the public uproar over the Year sickest online game. However, it can still be played at a popular game portal site which allows homemade games to be uploaded (like youtube). So far, the game has been played 50,000 times. Apparently, Ryan is very proud of his offensive creation.

"I've done offensive things before but they're not usually this popular", said the self-taught animator who goes by the screen name, Master PiGPEN when he uploaded the game. (inset left: PiGPEN's pic from his profile).

His game became a heated discussion in the media and forums. Some supported him in the name of freedom of speech and action while others are digusted by the motive behind the game. The most disheartening is, however, not his creation. It is the absence of remorsefulness in the aftermath of the incident. He challenged the angry community by demanding USD2,000 to remove the game from his site and an additional USD1,000 to apologise.

It is pathetic that Ryan draws attention to himself by piggybacking on the mass publicity of a tragedy. As reported by Earth Times, an Australian Communications Minister Senator, Helen Coonan described the youth's endeavor as "very poor taste and the person concerned may want to consider getting some professional help." Indeed, the kid needs help.

Ryan stayed in the US till he was 14 before returning to Sydney. He dropped out of 8th grade after being bullied and abused at several schools. According to him, "no one listens until you do something sensational." By creating [V-Tech Rampage], he immortalised himself as the Korean-born gunman Cho Seung-hui - the lonely student from Virginia Tech. The kid is obviously misguided in his understanding of recognition.

Bananation suggests that the Australian government pays for all the professional help he needs and grooms him to become an ambassador for the online game community. In this way, he can bask in the limelight positively.