21 Comments:

So - if the justification for making a "game" about the Columbine massacre is that it isn't just entertainment, but art - then the game better be pretty damn good art. Van Sant's movie "Elephant" is deeply serious and earns its right to exist. Is the game good enough?

By  Anonymous, at 5:56 PM  

I'm not a fan of the game. I thought it was poorly done, and muddies its espoused "point" with poor design decisions. Greg sees a lot more virtue in it than I do :)

But as the saying goes, I may disagree with what you have to say, but I'll fight for your right to say it. I may be unhappy with SCMRPG being the rallying point for the cause of "games are art," but that's pretty much the hand we're dealt, here.

While Baxter may have been only trying to preserve short-term relationships with sponsors by taking responsibility for dropping the game upon himself, citing moral grounds, the end result (as Bogost and Croal have eloquently states) is that he has stated that games are not as important or worthy of serious consideration as film.

And that may very well be the way he feels. And if that's the case, it really is in the best interest of the indie game community to demonstrate that we do not share that belief.

By  The Rampant Coyote, at 6:20 PM  

Wow .... just because we have the freedom do something doesn't mean we should. There is no art in this. And shame on those involved trying to apply 'art' as their excuse.

It's a true shame that these people - those withdrawing from the event, those who made the game, and those who would buy it, couldn't switch places with one of the children who died in Columbine.

By  Anonymous, at 6:39 PM  

Anonymous the 2nd: The game is not sold, the issue really isn't the game itself but the medium of game's being treated equally, and thousands of children die everyday due to poverty and disease.

By  Patrick, at 7:25 PM  

Before making a judgement, first just play the game, ok?

Then make a judgement.

Don't ASSUME.

I can tell you many a horrible story that you could judge filth. But you won't because I took it from one of the many literary works we have in our treasured libraries. Why could a game not deal with serious matter in a similar way?

Maybe it's the word "game". How about we call it "electronic interactive literature"?

Anyway, It's so sad people start yelling before they think when online.

By  Michiel, at 7:29 PM  

"So - if the justification for making a "game" about the Columbine massacre is that it isn't just entertainment, but art - then the game better be pretty damn good art."

Would you make the same argument about written fiction?

It is certainly possible to find examples of that artform which both deal with sensitive subjects and are popularly considered to fail to do so to an exemplary standard.

I'm not sure most people would find the suggestion that those books should be either censored or censured, despite their quality or lack therof, entirely comfortable.

By  Hugh "Nomad" Hancock, at 8:07 PM  

i'm pretty sure everything here has already been said when someone wanted to make a holocaust movie, or when pro-white people record music and expressing their racism. problem is, we got this thing called "freedom of speech," and even worse we got this thing called "choice."

No one is making people play this game any more than this game is desensitizing people to this issue. Even if you think that this is the single worst thing known to mankind, you can't ban or restrict it just out of public opinion, because then everything is subject to opposition. It's not illegal which means it should not be banned. Think of the movie they made of 9-11. The same things were said about that movie, that it was against morality and for entertainment. So how come that movie got made?

By  Anonymous, at 9:46 PM  

Nick Montfort has withdrawn Book & Volume. And USC has withdrawn their sponsorship.

By  Ian Bogost, at 10:56 PM  

Will Manifesto reconsider its support of this festival given the number of withdrawals of sponsors and the statements of respected game developers and bloggers?

By  Anonymous, at 11:54 AM  

"Anonymous the 2nd: The game is not sold, the issue really isn't the game itself but the medium of game's being treated equally, and thousands of children die everyday due to poverty and disease. "

The other media (even film) spent time establishing some aesthetic standards, before those same standards were ironized. Art forms that try to skip that phase will never be taken seriously, IMHO.


What the fuck with the poverty and disease? Most of the people I know who were upset about Columbine are also against poverty and disease. Some of them even do things about it. The media I follow (a good daily paper, and NPR) tend to have lots of material on poverty and disease. You dont think povery and disease get enough attention? So make a serious game about poverty and disease. Making a crappy, disrespectful game about a tragedy just doesnt cut it. More people dies of famines last century than in the Nazi gas chambers. Would a mocking game about the holocaust be an "artistic" way to dramatize the issue of famine?

Geez, louise, the inanity that passes for analysis.

By  eu2player, at 4:08 PM  

"i'm pretty sure everything here has already been said when someone wanted to make a holocaust movie, or when pro-white people record music and expressing their racism. problem is, we got this thing called "freedom of speech," and even worse we got this thing called "choice." "

Yes, which implies the freedom on the part of a private fesitival to exclude something. Shit, why dont people understand that?

By  eu2player, at 4:10 PM  

"I'm not sure most people would find the suggestion that those books should be either censored or censured, despite their quality or lack therof, entirely comfortable. "

this game wasnt censored. Its available on the net. sheesh.

By  eu2player, at 4:11 PM  

Am I the only person on this planet that though Elephant was a piece of garbage? I keep seeing people say "that was art" during this and other conversations. Its acting about on par with that of a 2d sprite and had about as many "facts" on school shootings as SCMRPG.

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