What to Know
- The "Active Shooter" game was created by Anton Makarevskiy, a 21-year-old developer from Moscow, Russia.
- It was removed from the webpages of two online platforms after complaints by parents of children killed in Newtown and at Douglas High.
The creator of a school shooting video game that was protested by parents of slain children – including those killed in the Parkland massacre in February - says it's up and running again after being removed by a website host.
Acid Software says two websites for the "Active Shooter" game were shut down Tuesday night by Bluehost, a Burlington, Massachusetts, company. An Acid representative says the websites were running again Wednesday using Russian servers.
Bluehost was urged to remove the sites by Sandy Hook Promise, an anti-gun violence group formed by parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
The game lets players participate in simulated school shootings. It was removed from the webpages of two online platforms after complaints by parents of children killed in Newtown and at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The "Active Shooter" game was created by Anton Makarevskiy, a 21-year-old developer from Moscow, Russia.
The game is branded as a "SWAT simulator" that lets players choose between being an active shooter terrorizing a school or the SWAT team responding to the shooting. Players can choose a gun, grenade or knife, and civilian and police death totals are shown on the screen. Acid had been selling an early version of the game online for $20 and plans to release a new version next month.
Local
"You cannot censor us and what we do," an Acid Twitter posting said . "Our game does not violate any ToS (terms of service) nor promotes any violence and/or extremism. #ActiveShooter will remain on our website and continue its course!"
One of the sites included a discussion section where one person recommended adding more "blood from shot civilians (LOTS AND LOTS)" and increasing noise and chaos to add to "the drama."
