In the middle of a crowded intersection in San Diego, a woman played a survival horror game at a pop-up stand. Confused and intrigued, I stopped to have a look. The game was The Final Exam, and the whole thing lasts a mere 10 minutes. You play as a high school student running from an active shooter and scrambling to find a place to hide within a tight time frame. If you don’t make it, the game tells you you’re one of 17,000 kids who are shot every year. If you do, you’re informed of legislative bills that, if passed in Congress, could help restrict the prevalence of these weapons.
The small, bite-sized experience is fairly bare bones, but no less harrowing for it. But what’s more fascinating is who made the game and why: The nonprofit, Change the Ref, in collaboration with a game developer, Webcore Games, wanted the world to know that violent games don’t cause real-life crimes — the prevalence of weapons do.
