Mercer Island mom takes stand against violent video game

When a Mercer Island mother witnessed a Bellevue gaming company’s latest online video game, she immediately launched a campaign to have it removed.

RELATED: School shooting game removed after backlash

Stephanie Robinette told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that she felt her “stomach turn” and “tears in [her] eyes” upon learning about a new game called “Active Shooter” that was set to be released on gaming website Steam.

The video game, produced by Bellevue company Valve, is a first-person shooter game in which the player is walking through a school while shooting civilians. “Active Shooter” immediately reminded Robinette of the recent school shootings in Parkland, FL and Santa Fe, TX.

“The minute I saw that, I felt myself watching as the mother of someone who lost a child in a school shooting,” Robinette said. “We can’t expect those people to be the only ones who stand up against things like this. It’s enough — they’ve experienced enough.”

Although Valve is based in Bellevue, Robinette heard about the video game through the BBC. She said that she was shocked that it took a British news organization rather than a Seattle one to inform her about the game.

“I knew that I needed to step up and do what I could to make change,” Robinette stated.

Marketing is Robinette’s livelihood, and she brought her skills from the office home to spread the word about “Active Shooter.” The concerned mother started a Facebook and Twitter campaign, launched a change.org petition that is up to nearly 213,000 signatures, sent an email chain out to teacher associations, gun control activists, and anyone else she could think of who would jump on the story.

The campaign spread like wildfire. After several days, Valve reached out to Robinette to say it had taken the game down and blamed the game’s developer for going against company rules.

Robinette, however said that she is not confident that this will not happen again; through research, she found that Valve “had a history of content that is inappropriate and unacceptable.”

“I’m glad they took the game down, but I was disappointed that they didn’t take a stand against the content of the game,” she said.

Robinette’s concern is that not enough research has been done to find out how video games may be linked to violent behavior.

“As things like video games get more realistic … we don’t know how that affects a young, not completely-developed mind of a child,” Robinette said.

Until these answers become clearer, she is determined to keep working toward keeping violent influences away from children.

“It’s a reminder to us that if you see something, say something,” she continued. “We need to expect more of the billion-dollar companies in our community that are making things possible like school shooting games.”

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