Just yesterday, my friend and I were having a discussion about a first-person game that came out recently called The Static Speaks My Name. We've both played it, and while the game starts out rather normally, by the end it has painted a very dark tale. You start the game in outer space, and have to make your way over to a cloudy orb. Upon entering it, you begin the game by waking up and rolling out of bed at 3:22 AM. You're given the objective to go to the bathroom. Normal, right? You are then told to go to the kitchen and get breakfast. Another easy task.
However, upon exiting the bedroom, it is clear automatically that something is very, very wrong. The windows and doors are all boarded shut, there is a wall of static TV's along one wall, and multiple copies of the same pictured are plastered all over the walls. There is a room with notes that are obsessing over the origin of the picture, and every single inch of wallspace in that room is covered by the picture. Upon looking in the fridge, there is nothing, and you are forced to eat live shrimp from a tank in your room. Your next prompt is to clean the microwave. After wiping up a red stain in the microwave, leaving it spotless; you are given another command to talk to people online. You can go to the computer and talk with a chat bot, but if you're observant you will notice a note that is lying on the desk next to the monitor. If you read it, you can see that it is clearly a suicide note, addressed to the character you are playing as' mother. Your next goal is a strange one: "Decide what to do with the man in the cage." If you've been following the small clues left throughout the game, you know that in your town, a painter has been missing. You also know that your character has been obsessively trying to figure out the meaning behind a painting. ALSO, you know there is a hidden room behind a bookshelf that was made to conceal the room from everyone but yourself. Taking keys from a peg by the door, you go down the hallway, behind the bookcase-door, and into a vault-like room where there is a man in a cage with a bowl of shrimp sitting in front of him. There is also an easel with a copy of the painting on it and artist's supplies littering the floor. At this point, your only option is to unlock the cage. When you do so, you are given a final objective- go to your room and let your body rest. I initially assumed this meant to go back to bed and sleep, but upon trying to interact, I couldn't. After stumbling aimlessly around the house for 25 minutes trying to find the solution, I finally opened the door to the close in the bedroom- a door that had previously been un-openable. Inside there was a noose and chair- and yes... the only option was to use the noose. You couldn't save the character. You had no other choice. After this, you are brought back into space and must choose another dust cloud, but instead of continuing into another level, you are left with a "Thanks for playing" text and the ending credits. So what was the point of this post? Well, my friend and I were talking and she said she had overheard two 5th graders on her bus talking about the game, oblivious to what it actually meant. This led to us discussing how influential video games can be to younger children- especially if they don't realize what they are actually doing in the game. What would happen if a child actually tried this, not knowing the outcome? Just because they saw it in a game? The game is meant to bring light to suicide and help prevent it, but if you have big YouTubers (who appeal to a mainly younger audience) playing these games and then making jokes about it... how are you helping the problem? Children look up to these people and are so easily influenced... if you're going to make a YouTube video about the game, at LEAST make a disclaimer at the end of the video saying what it is actually about... for those who do not know. Maddie
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