Student gets creative with 'Riot UMass' video game
By Dan O'Brien, Collegian Staff
November 10, 2004
In the aftermath of the Red Sox disturbances that took place on the University of Massachusetts campus last month, there have been several studies, forums and debates on the celebrations - but one student decided to recognize the Red Sox revelry on his own, by creating a video game.
Freshman Grant Cerulo created "Riot UMass", which is an online computer game that challenges rowdy students, some dressed in Boston Red Sox baseball caps to fight off riot police officers. The player must attack any and all police officers he or she comes across until the officer collapses on the ground in a pool of blood. Players can also get extra points by picking up police batons dropped by assiduous officers. All of this takes place against a backdrop of the tumultuous Southwest quad.
Why base a video game on riots? Cerulo said it generates a lot of student interest.
"It's just an amazing thing to see. Everyone gets so hyped up about it," he said. "People seem to love to get their aggression out against police brutality."
"Riot UMass" has grown with popularity in the three weeks it has been available on the World Wide Web. It has already received over 26,000 hits on Cerulo's Web site and has been featured on collegehumor.com and zoomassgear.com. Cerulo said he had no intention of generating so much interest in his game. He claims that he made the game one weekend out of boredom, when he did not have to practice with the UMass Marching Band.
"It was the weekend ... I didn't have marching band," he said. "I was sitting in my room with my roommate and I said, 'I've got the best idea ... I started working on it ... he really loved it so I made two levels."
A short time later, Cerulo tested his game on friends who lived in his dorm and received positive responses.
"Eventually, kids from my hall came in and played it," he said. "Everyone just comes in and looks at it and they're like, 'oh my God, this is the best thing in the world!'"
The game has received all positive responses, according to Cerulo. At best, it's popularity exploded almost overnight.
"I sent [the game] to a couple people online and they were like ... 'You're going to be famous for this.' Everyone I told, all my friends, they all really liked it, so eventually I put a counter on the Web site the second day it was on," Cerulo said. "All of the sudden ... we got on collegehumor.com and I got emails from Zoomassgear and all sorts of different people just telling me how much they loved it."
Cerulo said that he was "surprised" that he has not received any response from the administration about "Riot UMass", especially since the Web site is based on the UMass Internet server.
"I made jokes that I was going to get kicked out of college once they found out ... They haven't taken [the Web site] off their server, so they [probably] don't know about it, which would be surprising," he said.
Meanwhile, curious fingers have continued to click on to Cerulo's Web site, but that does not mean students agree on whether the game is good for the University.
"Simulation of reality is not something I really like doing, but riots ... As long as you're not depicting any particular community, I don't care," said a graduate nursing student who identified herself as Jigyasa.
"I think it's pretty normal stuff and most people who are adults and intelligent should be able to handle it," said John Jackson, a member of the Outdoor Club.
"I don't think it's a good cause for the students, it's not going to show any good morale," said Michael Parrish, a junior Journalism major. "I definitely think it looks bad for the University and I don't see how that's going to reflect in any good in any way towards how the students feel about the school."
Cerulo said he does not have any definite plans to make another UMass-based video game in the future, but said if he gets a good idea, then he would consider the option.
"It actually depends on what I get inspiration for ... If I get a good idea, I would." he said.
Riot UMass is still available on Cerulo's Web site: http://www.people.umass.edu/gcerulo/riotumass.html
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