Parkland victim's parents release school shooting video game
PARKLAND — Six years after losing their son in the massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, Joaquin Oliver's parents are sending a message through a new video game. It's called The Final Exam and to win, you must survive a school shooting.
The game is filled with not only the sights and sounds of a school shooting including the gunfire, but it also features educational items.
Not all parents are sure this is the way to prevent school shootings.
Broward County School Board member Lori Alhadeff lost her daughter Alyssa in the massacre, and she believes the game should be taken straight to legislators who can make real change, not students.
"I wouldn't want them to have trauma related to such a video and then I don't want kids scared to go to school," she said.
In the years since the tragedy, Manuel Oliver said there have been several more school shootings in the United States. He says there hasn't been any progress and that's why he and his wife created this game. The goal is to reach young people and teach them that there are laws that can help change things.
While playing the game, users will find information lodged in books, school boards and maps about school shootings. It will also reveal five pieces of legislation that could prevent future tragedies like the assault weapons ban, secure storage also known as Ethan's Law, the banning of high-capacity magazines, conducting universal background checks and raising the minimum age to purchase a weapon.
"We need young Americans to be aware of what's going on and to understand the bills, there's a whole complexity of law language behind these bills and one of the things that the game is doing is that make it that very comprehensible, very easy to understand," Oliver said.
Max Schacter lost his son Alex in the Parkland shooting. He gave CBS Miami this statement about the video game:
The shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, remains the deadliest at a high school in U.S. history with 14 students and three staff members killed.
There's no winning for the parents of Parkland victims, but for the Olivers, The Final Exam can help prevent future tragedies.
"The root of the problem is not the games. The root of the problem is the easy access to guns," Oliver said.
To win the video game and survive the mass shooting, gamers must collect all five bills created to prevent future tragedies.
The Final Exam is designed to be played on computers and will be available free to download.