The debate on the influence on violent content in video and PC games on real life violence has been going on for a number of years. However the debate has never been handled in the way that the play First Person Shooter deals with the issue. Currently in previews at the San Francisco Playhouse (it officially opens on Saturday), the play war written by Aaron Loeb, formerly a writer for IGN and currently the COO at the game development company Planet Moon Studios. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with Loeb about First Person Shooter and the issues it brings up in fictional form:

FiringSquad: First, have you always had an interest in writing for the theater before or was it the specific subject matter that inspired you to write First Person Shooter?

Aaron Loeb: I was actually a playwright before I was ever in videogames. I’ve been writing plays since I was 14 and studied playwriting in school.

FiringSquad: How hard was it to create a narrative that was both an interesting story that also brought forth your own views on games with violent content?

Aaron Loeb: I started writing the play 2 years ago. It was very challenging not to make the play a lecture on why it’s crazy to say videogames are the cause of society’s ills. But, it was also great to get a chance to write about something so familiar to me and so unfamiliar to many theater-goers.

FiringSquad: Obivously your work at Planet Moon must have been a big influence in creating the characters and setting of your fictional game development company. Are there things in the play that come directly with your day job?

Aaron Loeb: Well, there’s certainly the way we mock each other on a regular basis. But the play also draws on the kind of really deep, lifelong friendships you form with your co-workers making games. When you’re locked away in crunch for 7 days a week, months on end, you get to know each other very well. And you also tend to experience things that are life-altering. Over the course of making a game, people get married, lose family members and loved ones, have children… there are incredible emotional ups and downs. Games take years to make, so you go through all the cycles of life together. It was important to me that I showed that part of it; we don’t just sit around playing games all day. ;)

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the main plot of the play and the main characters that deal with the events you created in the story?

Aaron Loeb: The play tracks a fictional school shooting that gets blamed on a developer, called “Jet Pack Games,” because the shooters had played their game a lot. The main characters are the CEO of the company who has to decide how to react to this when all he really wants is to be left alone and the father of one of the children killed. Both are pushed by the controversy into believing that the other is his mortal enemy, essentially, and, in the end, they put it all aside and are able to connect with one-another.

FiringSquad: Does First Person Shooter try to answer some questions for the audience about this debate or do you try to leave your play open ended on the issues it brings up?

Aaron Loeb: I want the audience to decide for themselves. Pretty much every argument you’ve ever heard on either side is made by someone in the play – sometimes by unexpected characters. Early in the play, for instance, the father of one of the victims makes the argument that the whole case against Jet Pack is an outrage, diverting attention from his son.

FiringSquad: Ultimately what was your main goal in writing the play and do you feel you have accomplished it with this production?

Aaron Loeb: My main goal was to show the “controversy” to be the inhuman and immoral boondoggle that it is. That we respond to something so horrible as a school shooting by trying to figure out a quick and easy blame-based sound-bite (“videogames did it” or “bullying caused it”) is horrifying. In the face of these tragedies we need to talk more, not less. We need to connect more, not polarize into oppositional camps. I wanted the CEO and the father to be men caught up in this lunacy, who eventually have the courage to step out of it.

Ultimately, I hope people who see the play will, if they don’t already, start questioning Dr. Phil’s motives when he rushes out to say “videogames did it.” I hope that they will ask, “Is this really what we should be talking about now? How about talking about the victims and their families instead?”

FiringSquad: How did you get the play produced by the San Francisco Playhouse?

Aaron Loeb: The Artistic Director, Bill English, read the script and wanted to produce it. This all happened about a year ago. We’ve been working on it since.

FiringSquad: What has the experience been like to be a part of creating a professional play and how does it compare with your work in games?

Aaron Loeb: I’m glad you asked that. Games and Theater are the two most collaborative art forms I’ve had an opportunity to be a part of. They’re actually very similar. There are plays and games made by one person, but in general they require lots of people working in concert and working very well. The experience has been wonderful, and the cast and crew have all learned a lot about games.

FiringSquad: Obviously the San Francisco area is filled with tons of game developers. How do you think they will react when they see the play and its subject matter?

Aaron Loeb: I hope those who come will enjoy it. I don’t think the play says anything that will make well-meaning people angry. I suppose there are some who will say, “You should never even talk about this,” though I would find that reaction odd. Certainly we talk about this subject on blogs, at the-convention-formerly-known-as-E3, at GDC and in plenty of public places. I think writing a book or a play or any other piece of art about the conversation is good. Again, I think we’re at our best when we talk more, not less.

FiringSquad: The Virginia Tech shootings last month brought the influence of media, including games, on real violence back to the forefront in some circles. Are you concerned that some people might feel First Person Shooter shouldn't be put into production at the moment because of the recent events at Virginia Tech?

Aaron Loeb: We had to ask ourselves that. Because the play doesn’t seek to glamorize, or even dramatize, a school shooting, but is instead about the aftermath – something we all just experienced – we felt as though the play would be even more relevant to our audience. It’s not a salacious play. It’s not a play seeking controversy. It’s a play about human connection in the face of tragedy, and we felt like that was a story worth telling right now.

FiringSquad: After First Person Shooter finishes its run would you like to see the play produced elsewhere?

Aaron Loeb: I’d love to. And hopefully it will happen.

FiringSquad: Do you have any other plans to do more creative work like this outside your Planet Moon Studios gig?

Aaron Loeb: Quite a few. One of the great things about Planet Moon is that everyone’s very supportive of my theater career. I’ve been writing plays as long as I’ve worked here, and will certainly continue.

FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about First Person Shooter?

Aaron Loeb: I will be at every Thursday night performance for talk-backs with the audience. If there are any Bay Area folks reading this who’d like to see the play and talk to me about it, you’re guaranteed to catch me then!

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