VR Game Based Upon 9/11 Terror Attacks released amid Strong Criticism and Public Backlash.
The virtual reality app inspired by the September 11 terror attack on the Twin Towers, which has been aptly titled “08:46,” is being criticized heavily by users and the general public alike.
This controversial game takes you back in time on the day the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred and lets you experience the incident in real time.
The immersive app is being panned by critics for being too graphic, obscene and sensational.
Just for information sake, the app has been named “08:46” because this was the exact time when the American Airlines Flight 11 banged into the Northern Tower of the WTC situated in lower Manhattan on September 11th, 2001.
The game has been created for Oculus Rift by 846 Studios, a group of students at ENJMIN University, France. This narrative-oriented VR simulation lets you relive the fateful day and observe the happenings from a worker’s perspective.
The game allows users to become “an office worker in the North Tower of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 events.”
According to the developers of the game, the project is a result of “countless hours of research in order to try to properly recreate the atmosphere and dynamics within the top floors of the towers.”
Furthermore, the creators of the app stated that it was “designed and developed as a school project during three months by a six members team, working in close collaboration with two actors for [motion capture] and voice acting.”
However, critics claim that this game is nothing but a “tasteless exploitation” of the catastrophic event.
But, one of the team members that created the game, Anthony Krafft, states that this is not created for commercial point scoring but to realize that the day that changed the world started like just any other day for the workers.
It reminds us “that 9/11 was, for the victims, first and foremost a workday like every other workday. It was essential to us to be accurate, as we could never be obscene or sensationalist out of respect for the victims,” Krafft told Tech Insider.
Criticism on Twitter:
Some dudes made a 9/11 virtual reality simulator. I asked them why they would do that. https://t.co/NisXnH7Pl1 via @Esquire
— luke oneil (@lukeoneil47) October 30, 2015
Just had a go on that VR demo where you're in the WTC during 9/11. Harrowing event reduced to janky virtual reality tech demo.
— Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant) October 30, 2015
Why on earth would you want to know what it feels like to be a victim of a terror attack? https://t.co/FH2f2HV2Hp
— Natasha Todd (@tash849) October 30, 2015
Watch a simple video here:
This explanation is apparently is not reasonable enough to satisfy the public and users because the internet is throbbing with the comments of disappointed and disturbed users.
FrankyManky, a YouTube user, fails to understand that “why would anyone want to create a real life horrific event?” he urges developers to keep such incidents rest in fiction.
On YouTube, another user Pandemonium Lig also thrashed the idea and posted that it is “more than very unhealthy to have seek to make money creating and representing this horror of scene?!!”
However, some users are of the opinion that recreation of such events in real time would be beneficial in preventing occurrences of similar events in the future.
As posted by a YouTube user deathpresent101, “If anything, this is a good idea, hearing the planes crash into the building was scary. If kids were shown this in context to other disasters throughout history. It could give kids perspective and real empathy to the situations. And a definite urge not to repeat history.”
So, what do you think about this game? Please let us know in the comments section.
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