You know how many 1st-person shooter games have custom-made maps and enemy characters? What if an avid gamer/programmer made caricatures of hated people from real life, into those enemy characters?

Those are alot of hypotheticals. Why are you asking so many, just out of curiosity?

@ShiningToast Oh, I’ll be more than happy to answer yours, as soon as you answer mine.

Eventually, the story would be adapted for a musical.

Haha how do I do this? THat would be so much fun

there’s a simulation where one is able to assassinate jf Kennedy. (clicky here if you want a sneakpeak)

as for your question, the people modeled into the game, i think they should be rather flattered that someone took the time to model them ;o

The school officials and such would take this seriously, but i don’t think that modelling someone into a game and taking a name is against the law…

the parents wouldn’t be impressed

i dont think the programmer would get in any legal trouble(as stated as above), probably just a bad reputation.

i don’t think anything would be wrong with making such a game, i think it would be rather awesome. i do think, however that the programmer would get quite a bit of harrassment, and maybe perhaps some appreciation ;o

egaonogeki, tell me why you are asking this? you are quite the character!

I think that there are too many variables that could change any answer to any of the subquestions you have provided. Things like how the characters are actually used, how specifically the gamer/programmer identifies the enemies (school and city, or just first names, etc.), and even how harshly the targeted people react. They may actually enjoy shooting each other’s brains out on Halo.

Of course, you mention that the downloaded files would be modified further, in ways that could really hurt the feelings of those targeted. Once again, though, the targeted persons might think that their faces replaced with genitals in-game may just be even funnier to mess around with.

So, for these questions:
(1) There are too many possible reactions from the targets.
(2) This depends on number 1.
(3) Why would a high-schooler tell his/her parents about some video game? Any reaction is unlikely, give or take one lone student who may have been really hurt. (A chain reaction among parents, and therefore, the school and possibly the news, could result.) You know teenagers.
(4) If there is a single upset student [1] who tells on the programmer [2 & 3], then there is a good chance that, if the parent (not the school voluntarily; they would second the parents if a news story occurred.) told a news channel, it wouldn’t go far, unless some coincidence of story selection would place it on national television.

I took very little planning in writing all this, so question it freely.

I think it’s wrong.

Given the climate today, especially after episodes like Columbine, I think this would be taken seriously as a threat against the people modeled in the game and would probably result in criminal charges and law suits.

I don’t know if they would against the programmer, but I think that’s how it would play out.

@EgaoNoGenki People would go apeshit.

Depending on how many people downloaded it and used it (I personally wouldn’t download character models of pre-teens that I don’t even know) would determine the answers to the rest of the questions. If the school district or parents told the news, then it would recieve a good amount of coverage, possibly nationally. It would give the anti-violence in digital media politicians some serious ammunition.

Now answer my question, if you would :).

@ShiningToast Thanks for taking me up on my offer.

Because if I played online 1st-person shooters in middle school, and learned to program custom elements, I would’ve done it to a few bullies, and even a certain faculty member that I grew to revile so much!

I thought of the past, and thought of what I would have done if I were in middle school today, and in similar situations.

How would those hated schoolmates react? With more bullying, if they found out who did it.
How would the school & district officials react? With horror, if they found out.
How would those schoolmates’ parents react? The same as the officials.
Would this all go on the news? How large of it? (Local? Regional? National?) Probably not, unless something came of it.

What would happen to the programmer of those custom enemy avatars? He’d get bullied more, punished, and maybe forced to delete (ha!) his work. Now, with more people to hate, he could start all over.
With sufficiently reasonable/competent officials, the bullying problem might be dealt with.

@Nullo After deleting his work, it would already be copied & downloaded numerous times. He could just request the file from a player, or download it off a site mirror of some kind.

Thanks for your response, Nullo.

Actually, this happens all the time!

There are countless GW Bushes, Clintons, Rosie O’Donnels, etc., etc. taking the place of various zombies, demons, and aliens in games like Doom, Quake, Half Life, etc.

well if you had the hypothetical misfortune to have a bully with a totally paranoid soccer mom then she would probably consider it as a threat to her son, daughter, pet hamster etc. and file a police report and now a days you just cant get away with that sort of stuff and at the very least (if they find out who you are) stuff you in a tiny office with a balding middle aged man asking you to talk about your problems.