Raphael Adley wants people everywhere to incite a riot. With the publication of his card game, “Riot!,” he takes a jab at campus riots everywhere, though the game was loosely based on the riots at MSU in the late 1990s. There was nothing good about the riots at MSU. Many people were injured or arrested, thousands of dollars worth of damage resulted, and MSU and East Lansing still are working to recover from the black eyes caused by those incidents. The riots were embarrassments, and those years were a period when MSU became known for civil unrest and public violence. The glorification of this is disappointing, to say the least.
Fans of these types of games say they’re fun and provide an escape that allows people to do things they can’t do in real life. There are numerous video games are on the market that allow players to incite violent riots, carjack innocent people or ferry prostitutes around.
But being inundated with these kinds of images presents a danger to real life - it desensitizes some people to the seriousness of similar situations and can even make people believe this kind of horrible behavior is OK. It is each individual’s right to choose how they entertain themselves, and their responsibility to understand the consequences of violence. But the choice of this subject matter is questionable.
It’s important to remember that riots and violence are a very real part of life at other campuses across the country, even while MSU has remained generally calm and peaceful for several years. And in the case of “Riot!,” it takes a subject many take very seriously and turns it into a farce. The Munn field and March 27-28, 1999, riots were no farces, as those who were here at the time will attest. In the end, the game will likely provide little embarrassment for MSU - the number of units available are small and those who already have played say that the rules are confusing and complicated. But for those who were present at the time the riots took place, no amount of time or jokes will make up for the shocking display of violence years ago.
