'It makes me sick': A planned video game in which a player can be a school shooter draws outrage

MERCER ISLAND, Wash -- A video game depicting “active shooter” situations in school environments is getting international backlash, and one local woman is fighting to stop the game from being published.

“It turns my stomach; it makes me sick to watch it,” said Stephanie Robinett as she watched clips from the video game Active Shooter.

Robinett says around noon on Friday she found out about the game. The mother of three says she could not believe a video game like this would even exist.

“How could anyone think this is OK,” she said.

Active Shooter is set to be available on June 6 for download on Steam, a digital distribution platform for video games. Steam is developed by the Bellevue-based company Valve.

Valve itself did not create the game, but is providing the platform for people to access it.

“It’s not OK to do it in a school, and any reasonable company should know that,” Robinett said.

She added that she can’t just sit by and do nothing. In about six hours, she got organized, creating a petition on change.org.

The petition already has hundreds of signatures. Robinett says she only has one goal.

“I want them to pull the game; simple. Just pull it,” she said.

We’ve reached out to Valve for comment but have not yet heard back.

The creator of the game has addressed some of the negative backlash Active Shooter has received.

In a post, he said he may remove the ability for users to play as the active shooter, and instead focus the game-play around law enforcement.