Actually, the thing that is worse than a kid knocking up a simple, silly videogame is the over-reaction that people have to such things.
Making videogames based on violent historical events is nothing new.
I guess its all in what timing you consider as 'historical'. Read about the Columbine version here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011702051.html
What is more serious, though, is the knee-jerk overreactions that such events generate in people - particularly in people in authority who feel the need to be seen to 'do something'.
After the Columbine massacre, nonconformist (insert goth/geek/emo/loner or your choice of social pariah here) students across the US were instantly under suspicion of being the next potential mass murderer.
The overreactions are recorded in the piece by journalist
John Katz, titled "
Voices from the Hellmouth" and posted on the geek-themed website
Slashdot :
An exerpt:
"From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Todd Solondz's "Welcome To The Dollhouse," and a string of comically-bitter teen movies from Hollywood, pop culture has been trying to get this message out for years. For many kids - often the best and brightest -- school is a nightmare.
"People who are different are reviled as geeks, nerds, dorks. The lucky ones are excluded, the unfortunates are harassed, humiliated, sometimes assaulted literally as well as socially. Odd values - unthinking school spirit, proms, jocks - are exalted, while the best values - free thinking, non-conformity, curiousity - are ridiculed."
Here are a few more overreactions...which - since they come from 'authority figures' - are all much worse than making a simple videogame:
The teachers who held a class 'gunman attack' drill:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05...rss_topstories
The student who was arrested for making a videogame map of his school:
http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/2847/chinese-community-rallies-behind-student-removed-from-clements-over-pc-game-map
Or the straight A's student arrested for writing an essay:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070425essay,1,696682.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true