TIGSource: SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10

SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10

Shapermc — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:43:00 +0000

Since returning from GDC this year I’ve seen just about one new article, column, or feature per week which has discussed, criticized, or highlighted SCMRPG!

Hit the extended for a short list of possibly the most talked about game from the independent community ever.

First up is the soapbox article by Patrick Dugan titled “Why You Owe the Columbine RPG.” As expected, this article covers many benefits of the game’s existence claiming that “SCMRPG! and the media surrounding it is affecting three positive trends for games, and in the long-term, the game industry:

-It’s challenging the mainstream and specialist gaming press to discuss games as an artistically potent medium.

-It’s introducing the notion of games as art to progressive non-gamers.

-It’s introducing game designers to new notions about what games can be.”

The article goes into a lot of depth discussing it’s effects on the media, non-gamers, and how it relates to game design. It is well written and worth a look, even for the skeptics.

Next, Jason Dobson reports on the “Columbine Controvery Examined at Serious Games Symposium” for Gamasutra. The article cover the panel discussion at Living Game Worlds Syposium relating to the controversial explosion from the game’s Slamdance reception. The panel included: “USC Interactive Media Program’s Tracey Fullerton and Georgia Institute of Technology assistant professor and Persuasive Games founding partner Ian Bogost, as well as Slamdance competition organizer Sam Roberts, all of whom seemed to agree that that the removal of Super Columbine Massacre RPG! for the event was ‘symbolic of a cultural misunderstanding of this medium.’” It reads more like a postmortem on the Festival itself, but an interesting article nonetheless.

Earlier this week, James Edwards wrote a new review of the game for “the pitchforkmedia.com of videogames” review site ActionButton.net. He gave the game a scathing 0 out of 4 stars (with 1 star being an average rating) and states that “Super Columbine Massacre RPG! is a game which evokes lank hair and scuffed combat boots with little or no effort. This owes less to the success of the author in evoking the twisted souls of Eric Harris and Daniel Kobold and more to the simple fact that only people with lank hair and scuffed combat boots make these kinda things sincerely. Long before Daniele ever paraded this kind of crap as sincere parody, Slipknot fans the world over were making shitty flash games just like it. Stickdeath.com was a horrible, crude and reactionary bag of filth, but it had the good grace to be sincere about what it intended – to make guileless balls of cheeto-dust and lard totally f*in’ snigger at their monitor, some bleary-eyed morning in their parents basement.” No mincing words here. James writes entertainingly enough that it’s worth a look if for no other reason that to figure out how to make a game he likes.

And today (the article which drove the nail in the coffin to get me to write this collection of articles) Sharon Sloane, President and CEO WILL Interactive, Inc., has an opinion piece about SCMRPG! up at Gamasutra. Her focus is on serious games in general, with the prevalent example of SCMRPG! as how real events can trigger very real emotional reactions from games. “Designing these games is part art, part science. Doing it well requires attention to many disciplines including psychology, screenwriting, learning and game design.” Those of you interested in covering more serious topics in games should definitely read this over as it contains very good food for though.

Could Super Columbine Massacre RPG! possibly be getting more attention in the media right now? Probably, but there certainly isn’t a shortage of it for a game that’s coming up on it’s two year anniversary next week. Hell, it will probably get more attention on the 20th of April because of the 8 year anniversary of the shooting.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by A mook

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:02:53 +0000

“God hates Students” as the Phelps would say

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Derek

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:35:40 +0000

Amen to that.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by mr

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:25:52 +0000

I just hope, in the interest of taste, that the creator is not making a sequel called “Super Virginia Tech Massacre RPG” as we speak. That would be pushing it.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by ArticleReader

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:07:30 +0000

I would rather have layers and layers of depth to gameplay than story, personally…

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Advenith

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:39:29 +0000

It’s nice that there’s a game out there challenging people to think of the medium as an art form, but why did it have to be this? It’s a boring, tedious game, given life only by a controversial plot. What gaming really needs is its own Faulkner, Joyce, or Hemmingway. We need something with layers upon layers of depth, so critics can whine about not understanding what the hell just happened for years to come.

Not that it’ll necessarily be a fun game for the average person, but it would get Roger Ebert and Jack Thompson to shut up.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Sergio

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:39:11 +0000

It’s past ten. Where’s mah news?

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Scrotu

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 22:22:44 +0000

What is a “progressive non gamer?” A person who is too stuck up to try video games that aren’t “art” (i.e. pretentious, boring crap that makes pretentious, boring people feel like they are among the chosen few who care about important things)?

And why should “I” (who apparently “owes” Columbing RPG something, or so I’m told) care about what this person thinks?

(I don’t. Ha!)

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Rhetorical Man

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:23:08 +0000

God of War II was hard-hitting socio-religious commentary next.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Dracko

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:20:50 +0000

-It’s challenging the mainstream and specialist gaming press to discuss games as an artistically potent medium.

-It’s introducing the notion of games as art to progressive non-gamers.

-It’s introducing game designers to new notions about what games can be.

Don’t make me fucking laugh.

I suppose you’ll tell me God of War II was hard-hitting socio-religious commentary next.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Willy Four-Eyes

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:32:31 +0000

Wow. Jimmy-boy needs to fetch himself a dictionary and a clue, stat.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by BeamSplashX

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:46:56 +0000

Daniel Kobold? Isn’t it Dylan Klebold?

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Hater

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:39:00 +0000

James Edward is a pretentious dick.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by GrViper

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:44:45 +0000

I remember reading a review of the “game”, that said survival in Hell after the school shooting is much easier, if you kill each and every student to get XP. Weird..

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by haowan

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 03:30:14 +0000

Doesn’t need more coverage IMO

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Radix

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:47:13 +0000

Presumably he doesn’t know any languages, and thought something called “RPG Maker” would be good for making RPGs.

To be fair you have to be exposed to it a couple of times before you realise how bad it is.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by negative zero

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:08:13 +0000

my question is, why use rpg maker?

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Anthony Flack

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:09:39 +0000

The game is crude, but during the early sections at least, it did manage a few rather chilling moments with its mix of SNES-era blocky RPG-em-up and real-life tragedy.

But then, once you actually get to school and start killing people it becomes a tedious grind. Is that part of the message? I don’t know. I got bored and gave up at that point.

"SCMRPG! Nearly Turns Two. News at 10" by Scrotu

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:09:00 +0000

More proof that sensationalism trumps quality when it comes to drawing the attention of the herd.