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V-Tech game creator willing to abort game for a price
Australian Ryan Lambourn could have made his flash game based on the Virginia Tech Massacre and left it at that. However, the ensuing outrage and press coverage caused him to do something quite unusual -- hold the game for ransom. On his website he states that he'll take the game down from website Newgrounds if he receives $1000 USD, he'll take it down from his personal website if he receives $2000 and he'll apologize for creating the game for $3000.Danny Ledonne, creator of Super Columbine Massacre RPG, writes on Lambourn's site, "It would appear to me that Ryan has no intention of doing much other than making money and gaining immediate recognition after the Virginia Tech shooting. Inevitably, comparisons between SCMRPG and VTech Rampage are being made right now. Some bloggers despise both games equally whereas others recognize a level of commentary that SCMRPG attempted which was not evident in VTR. For myself I wish to point out that SCMRPG was never a for-profit endeavor and thus I never posted statements like that which is on the VTR game's homepage"The only thing gamers can hope now is when this news hits the mainstream press they take a restrained approach and recognize that this is not an "industry game," and it never went through the ESRB process. Lambourn responds to Ledonne's statement saying, "Danny, the donation thing is there as a joke against all the people commanding me to take my game down. I didn't think anyone would donate money to it and so far my paypal account has proven me right."
Living Game Worlds III: Playing with Controversy: The Case of Super Columbine Massacre
At the Living Game Worlds III Conference last week at Georgia Tech, Director of the Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition Sam Roberts lent his feet to the fire to explain his company's decisions in the aftermath of the Super Columbine Massacre RPG pullout, to which he lamented that "I don't think we handled this very well ... this was poorly execution, from start to finish, how we dealt with this."Also on the panel, entitled Playing with Controversy, was GT Assistant Professor and founder of Persuasive Games Ian Bogost and USC Assistant Professor Tracy Fullerton, whose Interactive Media Division withdrew sponsorship following Slamdance's decision. GT Assistant Professor and game theorist Celia Pearce served as moderator. Portion of the SCMRPG trailer was shown to begin the discussion. In it, video of the game is shown over audio tracks showcasing the mainstream media's reaction to the game. The choice quote, from unknown source: "I see no way that you could, in any way, create the mindset that this was anything other than a really bad attempt to make money." The game was created by aspiring filmmaker Danny LeDonne using RPG Maker and was released his website for users to download free of charge.
Columbine game blocked from receiving Slamdance special jury prize
When Slamdance festival director Peter Baxter removed Super Columbine Massacre RPG as a finalist in the festival's Guerrila Gamemaker Competition, he probably thought it would be the last time he would have to block the game from consideration for an award. As it so happened, though, Baxter found himself in a similar position last Friday night, when he reportedly stopped the game from receiving a special jury prize from the judges for the film documentary category. As detailed on Slamdance attendee Patrick Dugan's blog and confirmed by SCMRPG creator Danny Ledonne in an interview with Joystiq, the whole thing began on Tuesday, when Slamdance documentary juror Brian Flemming paused to watch an unofficial demo of the game put on by Ledonne on a laptop just outside the official game competition tent. Flemming, director of "The God Who Wasn't There," had heard about the controversy surrounding the game, and was intrigued enough by the demo to mention the game to his two fellow documentary jurors.
Slamdance treats games as kid-centric
Take a look at the finalists for the 2007 Slamdance Guerilla Gamemakers Competition and notice how only one game even remotely tackles a controversial subject, Super Columbine Massacre RPG. That game has subsequently been dropped from the running. And like that, we are reminded how video games are perceived.In a biting editorial, Newsweek's resident gamer N'Gai Croal condemns Slamdance President Peter Baxter's decision, noting the disparate treatment between games and cinema. Film festivals (of which Slamdance is a part) are notorious for showing pieces that tackle controversial topics that could make SCMRPG look like Mario Party. Our understanding is that the game's creator was simply trying to explore an issue, much like Gus Van Sant's film Elephant.Though we agree with Croal's editorial, we do sympathize with Baxter's position, who was losing financial backers because of the game's inclusion. We are reminded that the game industry is still in an infant stage, and any controversial subject will have detractors. All we can do is stand up for what we believe in, and know someday the general consensus on gaming will expand into a larger age bracket.
Super Columbine Massacre RPG creator interview
Canadian television network Canoe interviewed Danny Ledonne, the creator of the Super Columbine Massacre RPG. The game has become the scapegoat for the Montreal "Video Game Killer" school shooting rampage.The interview is worth watching for the way Ledonne behaves himself. Like watching Marilyn Manson in Bowling for Columbine, Ledonne handles himself professionally with word choice precision; meanwhile, the Toronto Sun columnist being used as the counter, who "tried to play" Ledonne's game, comes off like the stereotypical out-of-touch old man -- because he is. We'll avoid the First Amendment soapbox and just throw a quote in here from Ledonne, the new poster boy for the ESRB:"Find out what your kids are playing, talk to them, get in touch with them. I mean, most of these cases have kids that have fallen through the cracks, they hate life, they say it, and these I feel are the root causes, not whatever video game or book or movie they happen to pick up that weekend."See also: Columbine game scapegoated for Montreal shootingsThe Political Game: The blame gameWatch - Canoe Interview
