Super Columbine Massacre RPG
Posted by Ben Sawyer on 06-05-06So a long time ago I got a email from someone who said they were working on a social commentary game about the Columbine Massacre. They wanted us to know it was being worked on and they wanted to do something "serious". Imagine at the time not knowing anything more. Needless to say while not being dismissive of it - I left the call as it was. "Thanks for writing and let us know when it comes out" and for the most part it was more "ah yeah - sure thing..." as no one in their right mind would be involved with that knowing anything more then I was told.
Now perhaps it's not the same group, or perhaps it is but this week Super Columbine Massacre RPG debuted. Google it for the link... and Water Cooler Games and other blogs have some good posts on this.
There will be lots of debate on whether this is a subject that should be off limits for a game. What a piece of luck for the developers it comes out the same time we're having the same debate as a nation about Flight 93. What makes the debate about Flight 93 so much more serious is because Flight 93 is a serious movie and seriously well done - don't ask me, I've chosen not to see it for my own personal reasons but I've read and seen the reviews and the point they're making is that this is a great film.
Thankfully for Super Columbine Massacre RPG they've also made a serious work. I've not played it (and probably won't because I don't have the time for now) but I've spent the last day reading on it and it seems flaws and all to be accepted by people who think carefully to be a pretty serious attempt at commentary related to the incident. Like Flight 93 this is good because if we're going to do games about subjects that are tough and questionable we can't make bad games and frankly at this point all we can do is try because unlike film we don't have a lot to build on in gaming yet. Escape from Woomera, Eye Witness, and a few others do exist but for 2006 it may very well by this game which gets dissected the most and despite all the good, bad, and ugly of this project it will be this larger discussion that very well could be its legacy.
I'm not going to pass judgement on whether this game should have been made. Depending on the prism I view it through the answers are yes and no. But I will absolutely applaud the developers for one thing outright - they apparantly didn't make this blindly or to trivialize anything. That's the essence of serious when your goal is to make a game like this. That's why this game deserves to be properly discussed and not dismissed. Flight 93 got the EXACT same treatment. So should this.