Bloodspell censored by Leipzig Games Conference

Johnnie sez, "Edinburgh-based machinima production team 'Strange Company' have refused to attend the Leipzig Games Conference in protest over the conference's insistence that their machinima feature film, BloodSpell, be censored before it gets shown. Artistic Director Hugh Hancock and First Assistant Director Johnnie Ingram have post posted quite angry responses on the company blog."

On Friday, the Leipzig Games Conference people asked us not to show BloodSpell at the conference.

They feel it is too violent.

They feel that German journalists are looking for violent scenes in video games*, and wish to show Machinima as "a positive example of what players do with games." The implication, of course, is that BloodSpell is not one of those positive things.

I'm quite angry about this. I'm angry that we're being singled out - EA and Take Two are both showing games at least as violent as BloodSpell. I'm angry that I'm being asked to censor my work, and by doing so to implicitly agree that BloodSpell is unwholesome, or at least suspect. And I'm angry that the reason we make Machinima - the chance to tell stories - is being treated as a mere by-product, something that can be chopped, changed or censored at will.

Link (Thanks, Johnnie!)

Previously: Part one of machinima epic "Bloodspell" online under CC license