在枪支管控、媒体评级(审查)、防欺凌法案以及家长监管这些陈词滥调和万金油之外,还有一个显而易见的可能,既是我们所建立的社会已经岌岌可危。这款游戏对于玩家的要求不只是简单地敲击键盘或是跟着地图指引走,它恳求的是自省。
Beyond the simple platitudes and panaceas of gun control, media ratings/censorship, bully prevention programmes, and parental supervision remains a glaring possibility: that the society we have created is deeply moribund. This game asks more of its audience than rudimentary button-pushing and map navigation; it implores introspection.
Danny Ledonne
《哥伦拜恩超级大屠杀 RPG!》作者Danny Ledonne,
SCMRPG!'s creator
2006 年,加拿大蒙特利尔发生的另一起校园枪击案致使情况变得更为糟糕。因为凶手是暴力游戏的粉丝,且主要热衷于游玩《夺命邮差 2(Postal 2)》、《侠盗猎魔(Manhunt)》、《马克思佩恩(Max Payne)》以及《哥伦拜恩超级大屠杀 RPG!》,这让 Ledonne 的游戏再次沦为媒体关注的焦点。
一年后,《哥伦拜恩超级大屠杀 RPG!》入选斯兰丹斯电影节游戏开发者大赛(Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition)决赛圈,但突然间又被以“有碍伦理道德”为由被踢出比赛。包括《时空幻境(Braid)》、《浮动世界(flOw)》以及《城堡破坏者(Castle Crashers)》等作品的作者在内,一组选手联名写了一封公开信向赛会组织者抗议,称“这一决定损害了游戏作为一种表达、探索和体验形式的正当性”。
出于对游戏被剔除出局的愤怒,斯兰丹斯电影节评审团决定这次让这款游戏以纪录片的形式被授予“评审团特别奖”,但斯兰丹斯电影节的组织者再次否决了这个奖项。
Things got worse when in 2006 another school shooting happened, this time in Montreal, Canada. Ledonne's game was brought once more into the media's spotlight, as it was revealed that the killer was a fan of violent games, namely Postal 2, Manhunt, Max Payne and Super Columbine Massacre RPG!.
A year later, SCMRPG! was chosen as a finalist for the Slamdance Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition. But, in a sudden twist, it was pulled from the contest on alleged “moral obligations”. In protest, a group of other competitors – including the developers of Braid, flOw and Castle Crashers – wrote an open letter to the Slamdance organisers, arguing that the decision was “[...] hurting the legitimacy of games as a form of expression, exploration, and experience”.*
Outraged by the removal of the game, the jury of the Slamdance Film Festival decided to award the game a Special Jury Prize, this time as a documentary. Once again, the Slamdance organisers vetoed the award.
最终结果是入围决赛的选手中有一半人选择退出比赛以示抗议,自此斯兰丹斯电影节就再也没有举办过电子游戏节。Danny Ledonne 在 2008 年的纪录片《哥伦拜恩事件中人(Playing Columbine)》里进一步就这些事件进行了探讨,针对聚焦围绕着《哥伦拜恩超级大屠杀 RPG!》的争议,以及“游戏就是小孩子玩具”的观念发表了看法。
在 2007 年,《纽约时报》记者 Hether Chaplin 报道电影节事件时简妙地写了一篇名为《电子游戏挑战制约,制约获胜(Video Game Tests the Limits. The Limits Win)》的文章,事后看来这段真命题只是暂时的。
虽然《哥伦拜恩超级大屠杀 RPG!》可能失去了斯兰丹斯电影节的奖项,但它却引发了全球时至今日仍就电子游戏作为媒体担当的角色和价值的争论,并且激励了其他开发者使用游戏作为媒介来探讨严肃的现实问题。《哥伦拜恩超级大屠杀 RPG!》确实打破了游戏论述内容的边界,并因此成为有史以来最为重要的电子游戏之一。