In light ofrecent events in Parkland, FL, Facebook has decided to remove itsBullet TrainVR demo from Oculus Rift demo stations. TheBullet Traindemo was shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this week, along with other VR demos, but due to the timing of the conference and the shooting, Facebook has decided to remove it.
Bullet Trainis a first-person shooter where players have to run around a futuristic subway station shooting armed guards and fighting a giant drone boss towards the end. The game lets players interact with various weapons, ranging from guns to grenades to missiles, and players can even feel the weapons through haptic feedback. The game also lets players teleport and manipulate time in order to blast through the resistance forces. The game was developed byEpic Gamesback in 2015 to help show off the capabilities of VR and the Oculus headset, and it was generally well received by those who tried it out.
Hugo Barra, the vice president of VR at Facebook, commented on the removal of the game from the anthology ofVirtual Realityexperiences that Facebook offers: “A few of the action games [that Facebook displays at public events] include violence. In light of the recent events in Florida and out of respect for the victims and their families, we have removed them from this demo. We regret that we failed to do so in the first place.”
It is understandable that some might feel that violent games such asBullet Trainare not the most appropriate games to show at conferences at the moment, however the government often uses gaming and various other media as a scapegoat when they fail to address larger issues. Many gamers will agree that there are and always have been video games that are much more violent thanBullet Train,and thatthese games are certainly not to blamefor violent acts committed in reality.
