The future of the Slamdance Film Festival's video-game competition may be in doubt following withdrawal of support by a festival sponsor.
The University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division withdrew sponsorship in protest over the decision by Slamdance to pull a controversial video game. And several game designers have followed suit, leaving the competition with about half its original entries.
Worries about possible lawsuits led Slamdance director Peter Baxter to pull "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" Inspired by the Columbine High School killings, the game was selected as one of 14 entries in this year's Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition, which pays $5,000 to the grand prize winner.
According to Baxter, once he learned of the game entry, he consulted attorneys, who advised him that Slamdance could face action from families of the victims, or from families of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who committed suicide after killing students and staff in 1999.
"After much internal conflict and debate, we decided to pull this game," Baxter said. "And we hope a choice like it will never have to be made again."
To say that it was a controversial move by Slamdance is an understatement. USC pulled its sponsorship prizes, which included summer fellowships for competition winners.
Tracy Fullerton, visiting assistant professor at USC who helped make the decision for the university to pull its sponsorship prizes, says that Baxter and the festival made a move that was "short-sighted."
"Whatever one thinks of the game's content, (it) went through an extensive judging process and was deemed finalist by a jury of game experts," said Fullerton, who is also the co-director of USC's Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab, as well as being an award-winning game designer himself. "To have the game pulled, based on either pressure from backers or a fear of liability is to say that independent games do not deserve the same respect and conscientious protection by artistic venues as independent films."
Fullerton also questioned whether Slamdance would have pulled a film from one of its competitions for such reasons. "That is the point of having a festival such as Slamdance, to confront those moments when media sensibility and culture are in conflict ... to offer a place where the independent independents can be seen, appreciated, lauded or condemned — but not hidden or refused."
But Baxter counters those criticisms, saying that "with freedom comes responsibility. Being the head of the festival means I have to consider all facets of it, and sometimes I have do things for the good of the entire festival.
"To endanger everything (Slamdance) has accomplished over the years because of one game would be ridiculously short-sighted. We have a responsibility to our filmmakers and the designers who are still in our competition."
In the meantime, he and other Slamdance officials are still mulling over what to do with the Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition, which is in its third year.
Such events are supposed to help set Slamdance apart from other festivals, including Sundance.
Baxter emphasized that the festival is still planning to hold a panel discussion (not yet scheduled) and wants to invite the offended sponsors and designers to participate. "We want to have an open forum to discuss the future of the competition and address any concerns. Slamdance has always been about the open discussion of ideas."
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