Playing Columbine

By: Derek Yu

On: October 3rd, 2007

A 13-minute excerpt from Danny Ledonne’s upcoming documentary about his controversial game.

Uh oh?

(Source: Play This Thing!)

Interview: Two of the Most Hated Game Creators Alive

By: Derek Yu

On: May 18th, 2007

Destructoid has an interview with Danny Ledonne, creator of Super Columbine Massacre RPG, and Ryan Lambourn, creator of V-Tech Shooting.

I find it interesting that Ledonne is very articulate and Lambourn is… well, he did it for the “lulz.” Neither game is a success, in my opinion, from a gameplay perspective or a social perspective. What they’ve proved is that games can create discussion and cause controversy… is that something that needs to be proven?

I find this screenshot from V-Tech Rampage to be extremely ironic.

(Thanks, Felan, for the heads-up!)

SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10

By: Shapermc

On: April 12th, 2007

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Since returning from GDC this year I’ve seen just about one new article, column, or feature per week which has discussed, criticized, or highlighted SCMRPG!

Hit the extended for a short list of possibly the most talked about game from the independent community ever.

First up is the soapbox article by Patrick Dugan titled “Why You Owe the Columbine RPG.” As expected, this article covers many benefits of the game’s existence claiming that “SCMRPG! and the media surrounding it is affecting three positive trends for games, and in the long-term, the game industry:

-It’s introducing game designers to new notions about what games can be.”

The article goes into a lot of depth discussing it’s effects on the media, non-gamers, and how it relates to game design. It is well written and worth a look, even for the skeptics.

Next, Jason Dobson reports on the <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13330 >“Columbine Controvery Examined at Serious Games Symposium” for Gamasutra. The article cover the panel discussion at Living Game Worlds Syposium relating to the controversial explosion from the game’s Slamdance reception. The panel included: “USC Interactive Media Program’s Tracey Fullerton and Georgia Institute of Technology assistant professor and Persuasive Games founding partner Ian Bogost, as well as Slamdance competition organizer Sam Roberts, all of whom seemed to agree that that the removal of Super Columbine Massacre RPG! for the event was ‘symbolic of a cultural misunderstanding of this medium.’” It reads more like a postmortem on the Festival itself, but an interesting article nonetheless.

Earlier this week, James Edwards wrote a new review of the game for “the pitchforkmedia.com of videogames” review site ActionButton.net. He gave the game a scathing 0 out of 4 stars (with 1 star being an average rating) and states that “Super Columbine Massacre RPG! is a game which evokes lank hair and scuffed combat boots with little or no effort. This owes less to the success of the author in evoking the twisted souls of Eric Harris and Daniel Kobold and more to the simple fact that only people with lank hair and scuffed combat boots make these kinda things sincerely. Long before Daniele ever paraded this kind of crap as sincere parody, Slipknot fans the world over were making shitty flash games just like it. Stickdeath.com was a horrible, crude and reactionary bag of filth, but it had the good grace to be sincere about what it intended – to make guileless balls of cheeto-dust and lard totally f***in’ snigger at their monitor, some bleary-eyed morning in their parents basement.” No mincing words here. James writes entertainingly enough that it’s worth a look if for no other reason that to figure out how to make a game he likes.

And today (the article which drove the nail in the coffin to get me to write this collection of articles) Sharon Sloane, President and CEO WILL Interactive, Inc., has an opinion piece about SCMRPG! up at Gamasutra. Her focus is on serious games in general, with the prevalent example of SCMRPG! as how real events can trigger very real emotional reactions from games. “Designing these games is part art, part science. Doing it well requires attention to many disciplines including psychology, screenwriting, learning and game design.” Those of you interested in covering more serious topics in games should definitely read this over as it contains very good food for though.

Could Super Columbine Massacre RPG! possibly be getting more attention in the media right now? Probably, but there certainly isn’t a shortage of it for a game that’s coming up on it’s two year anniversary next week. Hell, it will probably get more attention on the 20th of April because of the 8 year anniversary of the shooting.

Columbine RPG Slammed

By: Derek Yu

On: January 7th, 2007

“Slamdance finalist ”http://www.columbinegame.com/">Super Columbine Massacre RPG has been officially kicked from the festival due to mounting pressure from protesters and the loss of sponsorship, the game’s creator told Kotaku Thursday night.

This is the first time in the Slamdance Festival’s 13-year history that a game or film has been removed from the festival due to criticism or outside pressure." (Read More)

This rather mediocre (as a game, at least) RPG continues to stir up controversy. I won’t bother to discuss my own opinion of the situation. It’s easy to understand why every side is doing what they’re doing.

Of note is that Braid, the innovative time-altering game from last year’s IGF has dropped out of the competition in protest of Slamdance’s decision.

Update: A bunch more games have bowed out and an official letter of protest has been issued. And other crap you can read about here. (Thanks, Shih Tzu!)

Columbin Revealed, Profiled

By: Derek Yu

On: May 26th, 2006

“Columbin,” the creator of the controversial freeware game Columbine Massacre RPG, has been revealed as 24-year-old Danny Ledonne, an Alamosa filmmaker. Kotaku’s Brian Crecente has written an interesting profile of Ledonne and his game for the Rocky Mountain News, explaining the creator’s background and reasons for making the game. His (Ledonne’s) views on film and games are also interesting.

A quote and some commentary after the jump… because I always wanted to say “after the jump.”

“I understood outright that if I wanted to write a book it would be pretty evenly accepted even if it contained some critical points, people would still regard it as an acceptable form of communication,” he said. “But saying the same or similar things in a game is both so new and so outside of the context of what people are used to looking at a video game for.

“This is a medium in which people use to drown out a few hours of their life after they get home from work or something. This is not the place you turn to for a challenging, moral program.”

All I have to say, really, is to give the medium a few more years and people will begin to see it less as “just games” and they will take it for what it is. The impact of games will speak for itself.

And I’m looking forward to more socio-political activity from the homebrew sector. Make history, not money, kids! (Well, make some money, too… I don’t want you to starve.)

(Source: Kotaku)