Playing Columbine

Playing Columbine
File:Pc poster.jpg controversial videogame documentary
Produced by	Danny Ledonne
Edited by	Danny Ledonne
Music by	Cory Antiel Josh McKnight
Release dates	November 7, 2008
Running time	94 minutes
Language	English
Budget	USD $12,000

Playing Columbine is a 2008 documentary film produced and edited by Danny Ledonne, an American independent filmmaker. The film follows the controversial videogame Super Columbine Massacre RPG! in which players experience the Columbine High School massacre through the eyes of the killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

In the documentary, critics and supporters of the game are interviewed, including Ledonne, Jack Thompson (attorney), Hal Halpin, Doug Lowenstein, Jason Della Rocca, Jenova Chen, Ian Bogost, Tracy Fullerton, Brian Flemming, and the hosts of Free Talk Live. Arguments are made to support the game's inclusion in a growing movement of videogames with social agendas, referencing other independent games such as McDonald's Video Game, Darfur is Dying, JFK: Reloaded, and those made by Persuasive Games.

Supporters of videogames such as Greg Costikyan note that the medium of the video game is undergoing the same reactionary criticism as previously experienced by comic books, rock and roll, and Dungeons and Dragons. Some argue that videogames will gain more mainstream acceptance as more videogame players are in positions of power. The film argues that the medium of the videogame should no longer be viewed as a children's toy but rather as a mature form of art.

The film also examines the link drawn by the Toronto Sun and other media outlets between the Columbine videogame and the 2006 Dawson College shooting. The shooter, Kimveer Gill allegedly listed Super Columbine Massacre RPG! as his favorite game. Two survivors of the shooting, Melissa Fuller and Joel Kornek, are interviewed and both dismiss the game's role in the shooting. However, attorney Jack Thompson maintains that the game is a "murder simulator" that "trained" the shooter. The link between the game and the shooting is regarded as an "easy out for society" by IGDA executive director Jason Della Rocca.

The final section of the film documents the 2007 controversy at the Slamdance Film Festival in which the Columbine videogame was pulled from the Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition by festival director Peter Baxter. In response, University of Southern California pulled its sponsorship of the competition and half of the other game developers puled their projects out of the festival. The Slamdance documentary jury attempted to award the game a special jury prize but Baxter prevented the award from being given. Eventually, the game screens at other events such as an art gallery at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Release

Playing Columbine premiered at AFI Fest in Los Angeles, California on November 7, 2008.

It has also screened at Artfutura , the Bradford Animation Festival , the Denver Film Festival , and the Santa Fe Film Festival .

It continues to be screened in academic venues such as University of Texas at Dallas and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Reception

Reacting to the trailer for the film released in July of 2007, Brian Crecente wrote at the gaming site Kotaku that, "Judging by the rather short trailer, it feels like the documentary is a little too much about Ledonne and not enough about the very real and complicated issues involving both the shooting and the idea of tacking serious subject matters with video games."

A first look screening of the film at Gamecity in October 2007 prompted Daniel Etherington to write, "fascinating documentary... Isn’t it time that games were taken seriously?"

The film was reviewed by Andrew Barker of Variety (magazine) in November 2008 and noted:

The ongoing debate over representations of violence in videogames is the immediate focus of "Playing Columbine," Danny Ledonne's gripping, troublemaking docu about the reaction to his videogame re-creation of the Columbine High School massacre. But the film goes much further, ultimately tying questions of propriety and censorship into a larger discussion of the development of videogames as a form of expressive art. While it raises far more questions that it can answer, pic serves as an impressively nuanced call for games to be taken more seriously.

See also

• Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat
• Bowling for Columbine

External links

• Playing Columbine at IMDb
• official site of Playing Columbine