Made on a shoestring budget with entry-level middleware, "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" has easily provoked more debate and discussion than one could imagine a 16-bit role-playing game ever would. In the documentary film "Playing Columbine: a true story of videogame controversy," the history of the game is traced back to its inception, through the 2006 shooting at Dawson College in which the game was singled out by the media as a "murder simulator" that "trained" the shooter, and finally the game's removal from the list of finalists at the Slamdance 2007 Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition - prompting half the entries and a sponsor to pull out of the festival in protest. Clearly the game has polarized audiences worldwide, giving way to ardent defenders as well as staunch critics. Beyond the controversial game itself, the film explores how controversial media is covered in the press, the school shooting phenomenon, and the future of games as an expressive medium.
