On April 20th 1999, the United States was rocked by a horrific school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In the years to follow, many forms of media began to sort out the events of that day. Books were published. Films were made. Then in 2005, one Colorado man created an amateur videogame exploring the actions and possible motives of the two shooters. That game was downloaded over half a million times, became immensely controversial and brought a pressing question to the public discussion: we can read Columbine, we can watch Columbine, but can we play Columbine? Moreover, should we?
In the documentary "Playing Columbine: a true story of videogame controversy," the history of "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" is traced back to its inception, through the 2006 shooting at Dawson College in which the game was singled out by the media as a "murder simulator" that "trained" the shooter, and finally the game's removal from the list of finalists at the Slamdance 2007 Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition - prompting half the entries and a sponsor to pull out of the festival in protest. Clearly the game has polarized audiences worldwide, giving way to ardent defenders as well as staunch critics.
More information at: http://www.playingcolumbine.com
Rating: User: DannyLedonne 2007-08-06T19:46:46.837Z
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