Blaming for Columbine

>> Filmmaker and controversial video game
creator Danny Ledonne examines the links between violence and school shootings in a new documentary

EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF EMPATHY: DannyLedonne

by ERIK LEIJON

On September 14, 2006—the morning after the Dawson College shootings—filmmaker Danny Ledonne awoke to a flood of phone messages. The Alamosa, Colorado, native didn’t know anyone who went to Dawson, yet that morning he and the Montreal school shooting became inextricably linked. Ledonne’s first and last attempt at making a video game, a satirical indie role-playing game named Super Columbine Massacre RPG, was identified as one of Dawson shooter Kimveer Gill’s favourite games.

Super Columbine Massacre RPG—which allows you to play as the Littleton, Colorado, shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold—is a low-fi, ugly looking game with pixelated jpegs of the characters thrown in. Ledonne released it as a free download on April 20, 2005, the sixth anniversary of the Columbine shootings.

“Starting at around six, seven in the morning, my phone started ringing,” recalls the 25-year-old, who will be talking about his game and the new documentary film he directed, Playing Columbine, at this year’s Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS).

“I had no idea what had happened but I knew something was wrong. I called my boss and told him I would be missing work so I could do interviews. I sat by my phone, and for the entire day, I answered all the questions; I only had time to drink a glass of water in between calls.”

KILLERS IN THE CAFETERIA:
From Super Columbine Massacre RPG

From satire to scapegoat

In Playing Columbine, Ledonne chronicles the subsequent uproar surrounding the game, and how the media portrayed video games in the wake of the Dawson shootings. Playing Columbine includes interviews with Dawson students Melissa Fuller and shooting survivor Joel Kornek, as well as with Roger Kovaks, the friend of Columbine victim Rachel Scott, and the man who exposed Ledonne’s previously anonymous identity as the game’s creator a year after its release.

As Ledonne discovered, many people were willing to hold him and the video game industry accountable for violent youth acts. The macabre shooter Doom was singled out as Harris and Klebold’s favourite game, and Ledonne’s satire based on Columbine was ironically becoming the “perfect scapegoat” for those looking to explain Kimveer Gill’s actions.

“If you think video games cause these kinds of events, then this game is your whipping boy,” says Ledonne. “It was frustrating. I was trying to explain that the reason I made this game is precisely because of the reaction I was getting. You’re taking a guy who clearly needed help and for months was slipping into a dark, isolated state. And instead of asking why he had an assault rifle, or why his parents didn’t notice his behaviour, we looked at a little 16-bit game.”

He points out that during his interview with Dawson survivor Joel Kornek, it is revealed that Kornek himself is a big fan of violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto, and he likely “played the same games as the guy who shot him.”

Exploitation and explanation

Since his identity was revealed, he has been open to speaking about the game, but he wants to dispel the notion that he exploited the horrible tragedy for self-promotion.

“When these things happen, game designers need to stand up and say, ‘This doesn’t represent us and this doesn’t represent what we do,’” he says.

The first act of the game features Harris and Klebold sneaking past hall security to plant two propane bombs in the cafeteria. When the bombs fail to detonate, the player must then return inside the school, ultimately killing everyone they encounter. Ledonne says this portion of the game demonstrates how video games can provide a different, more interactive experience than either books or films.

“It gives you a kind of authorship of the experience,” he says. “I wanted to present the moral conflict. In one way, you see these two kids get bullied and isolated and you develop a level of empathy, until you realize what they’re doing.”

The first act ends with the actual security photo of Harris and Klebold, dead after committing suicide, and lying in a pool of blood. The second half takes place in hell, with the two kids squaring off against the monsters from Doom and South Park’s big red Satan.

Ledonne expects to be on the hot seat again after the next shooting, but he accepts the responsibility as the man who created one of the most controversial games in history. “This wasn’t some abstract commentary where we get to feel good about being artists. If we’re serious about taking issues to task, when they really happen, we need to do that.”

International Game Developers Association Montreal
presents Playing Columbine: A true story of video game
controversy on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at The Sat (1195 st-laurent)
8 p.m., $5 for non-igda members, migs attendees