Super Columbine Massacre RPG Massacres Slamdance
First: if you haven’t yet done so, please visit the Super Columbine Massacre RPG site (SCMRPG) and watch the video before making up your mind about the game.
SCMRPG made it to the finals of the Slamdance competition, based on selection by jury. Before final audience voting, however, the festival’s founder personally removed SCMRPG from the running. According to the statement from the USC Interactive Media Division– who is withdrawing as a sponsor– “Slamdance celebrates independent games only so far as they do not make us uncomfortable”.
The center’s withdrawal is only the latest action of what is quickly becoming an exodus. First to go was Braid– not an easy decision in the early uncertain days after SCMRPG’s ejection. Soon after, however, Everyday Shooter, Toblo, Once Upon a Time, and fl0w all voluntarily withdrew. Now the sponsors are leaving. Will there be anything left of Slamdance by competition time?
USC, Braid, fl0w, and others have all issued eloquent statements in support of SCMRPG’s inclusion, and I won’t attempt to surpass them. I’ll only say this: SCMRPG is genuinely controversial. A lot of us aren’t used to that: a lot of supposedly controversial issues nowadays don’t force us to think too hard to reach a decision (how do you feel about intelligent design?). Very little makes us uncomfortable, or challenges our preconceptions. SCMRPG enters territory that most people haven’t explored– and would perhaps never like to.