I've been following this story for a while now, but when it finally popped up on MSNBC on Friday I was a little surprised. I knew this was a big issue in the gaming community, but I didn't think it would get attention from non-gamers.
In a nutshell: Super Columbine Massacre Role Playing Game! (SCMRPG!) has been pulled from Slamdance by festival president Peter Baxter. Subsequently, several finalists, including FlOw and Braid, have withdrawn from the competition in protest, and sponsor USC has withdrawn its support for the festival as well.
I could link to 1Up, Kotaku, Joystiq, and GamaSutra---all of which are covering this story---ad nauseum, but I'm sure we've all seen those articles already. Here, instead, is a selection of news articles from primarily non-gaming news sources, including the MSNBC item, to sample the coverage this is getting outside of the gaming demographic.
Game On, the Newsweek/MSNBC article.
Columbine Game's Ouster Brings Response, from the Rocky Mountain News. Caveat lector: This appears to have been written by Crescente from Kotaku.
Slamdance Sponsor Pulls out over Game, from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Super Columbine Massacre Removed from Indie Game Finalists List, from the Guardian Unlimited---might be a gaming blog, but looks like it's affiliated with a mainstream news source. Cheerio, toodle pip---coverage from the other side of the pond, guv'ner.
Slamdance Is Slammed over Game, from the Desert Morning News.
Festival Pulls "Columbine" Video Game, from the Denver Post.
Unsurprisingly, the Denver Post seems to be the most antagonistic, opening the article with a citation of Peter Baxter's "sense of moral obligation," reminding readers that SCMRPG! made PC World's list of the worst games of all time, and trimming SCMRPG! creator Danny Ledonne's comments on the controversy down to the most inane snippet. By and large, though, I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of the articles (including the Denver Post) were professionally neutral on this touchy subject.
As I was compiling these links (on Friday), a non-gaming colleague of mine came by and, seeing the headlines emblazoned on my computer screen, commented that she'd been following the story as well and offered her own insights on the controversy.
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Speaking of fl0w (well, not really), but I recall Catarina saying she hadn't played it yet. Tsk, tsk. Go check it out.
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