New Zealand terrorist attack exploited to create ‘toxic’ first-person shooter video games

Online trolls are exploiting the Christchurch terrorist attack, using Facebook footage of the shooting to create disturbing video games. GRAPHIC CONTENT

New Zealand’s worst terrorist attack is being exploited to produce vile video games in which players shoot worshippers inside Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque, listen to racist songs, and dance in celebration.

The violent interactive games, including one modelled to look like life simulation game The Sims, are being based on video of the attack streamed to Facebook, with one developer saying he would create more rooms for gameplay but “the livestream is my only source for the interior of this place”.

An image from one of the disturbing video games.

Game experts slammed the creations as the work of trolls that was “not supported” or “wanted” by the industry, even though online extremists called for more platforms for their “deathmatches”.

Despite a Facebook video of the shooting that killed 50 people being deemed “objectionable" by the New Zealand chief censor, it was still widely available on shadowy online forums yesterday where supporters of the alleged shooter were creating games based on its contents.

Social media experts and researchers said it would take a co-ordinated international effort to remove this type of material from Facebook and other platforms.

Clips of three sickening games, modifications, and walk-throughs based on the massacre -unearthed and verified for News Corp by Storyful - remained online for days.

Ardern’s new gun laws ban semi-automatic weapons

PM’s fiery face off with Waleed

New Zealand is in mourning after the horrific Christchurch attack.

One man, who uploaded a web-based, first-person shooter game, said he spent five hours making the interactive effort, which he called better than Minecraft and a “short, sweet … video game based on the events of the Christchurch shooting”.

The game tasks players with shooting unarmed men with a semiautomatic rifle, and its creator pledged to keep sharing access to the game “if the links get taken down”.

Another person shared a bloody modification of popular game The Sims, in which the shooter kills worshippers inside a mosque before dancing outside.

And the game platform Steam hosted a detailed digital recreation of live video from the terrorist attack, featuring the same music and placement of victims. A worshipper even rushes the gunman during the game, as reported after the event.

The vile video games have been widely condemned.

Fans of the creator’s work demanded a larger map “to play a deathmatch on it,” though he replied that he’d need a floor plan as “the livestream is my only source”.

Interactive Games and Entertainment Association chief executive Ron Curry labelled the copycat video games “incredibly sad,” and said their creation was not “representative of the wider industry”.

“When you look at the amount of people who are engaged in video games, which is the majority of the population, there are always going to be the outliers,” he said.

“They’re not supported, they’re not wanted but, sadly, they’ll always be there.”

Mr Curry said fledging game developers should use “much more productive and positive ways to use their skills” as exploiting tragedies like the Christchurch shooting was little more than a trolling attack.

An armed policeman patrols past Al Noor mosque. The attack was the worst mass shooting in New Zealand's history. Picture: Getty

Curtin University technology researcher Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie said she was saddened but not surprised by the games’ emergence after seeing similar creations following the Columbine High School shooting in the US.

“It’s a toxic part of our online culture,” she said. “They’re designed to get attention and it points to the problem we have with online echo chambers where there are a lot of hate and anger.”

University of South Australia media and communications lecturer Dr Damian Spry said the deeply insensitive video games showed the worst parts of the internet were spilling into the mainstream following the alleged shooter’s use of Facebook.

“(The video game creators) are trying to demonstrate how outrageous they can be to one another,” he said.

“The trolling culture every now and again explodes into mainstream social media. They encourage each other to go as far as they can, and then one step further.”

Dr Spry said social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube would need to remain vigilant for this type of content, though he warned they were still unprepared to adequately police it.

Additional reporting and verification by Storyful

Originally published as New Zealand terrorist attack exploited to create ‘toxic’ first-person shooter video games