Student Arrested for Making Videogame Map of School 998
tanman writes "A student at the Houston-area Clements High School was arrested, sent to an "Alternative Education Center" and banned from graduation after school officials found he created a video game map of his school. School district police arrested the teen and searched his home where they confiscated a hammer as a 'potential weapon'. ' "They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.' With an upcoming May 12 school board election, this issue has quickly become political, with school board members involved in the appeal accusing each other of pandering to the Chinese community in an attempt to gain votes."
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Interesting)
Safely playing out a fantasy (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd absolutely love to make a mod for a racing game of my neighborhood, the Bay Area. If hundreds of people uploaded photos of their houses and nearby buildings, that would be a start for modeling the environment. Then people could speed through the streets safely, without actually endangering anyone or breaking the law.
Frightening (Score:5, Interesting)
This is so ridiculous that it hurts. There's been no scientific evidence that gamers--even gamers who enjoy violent video games--are any more likely to be violent people. And there's certainly been no evidence that game developers or game modders are any more likely to be violent people. Where do authorities get off assuming that someone with an active imagination, who enjoys the fantasy of games, is a terrorist? I hope he sues the school board, and wins.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Interesting)
I got extra credit from my Visual Arts teacher for being 'creative', and lemme tell you, I had a HELL of a lot more than a hammer for weapons at my house.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Interesting)
Crime no longer requires you do anything illegal, nor does it require you intend to do anything illegal; instead you just have to be a potential threat.
I wonder how long till weightlifting will be an arrest able offense? I mean, think about it, those guys are just getting strong so they can commit crimes! What other possible reason could there be?!
We need revolution and we need it now (Score:5, Interesting)
I also remember a group called the POCD made a DoomII mapset with school layouts. The maps turned out to be a hit in deathmatch, especially on "Last man standing" mode that was added in a recent Doom port, Skulltag.
Now you can be arrested for...... this? What I got.. this plaque for?
*a tear falls down his cheek*
America, what is wrong with you?
insane (Score:5, Interesting)
People study this (Score:5, Interesting)
http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/projects/ARQuake/ww
Re:A bit of an overreaction (Score:5, Interesting)
I believe in applying the cure where the problem is. If parents or teachers feel disturbed, they should go see a shrink. There's therapies available that can assist with irrational fears.
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Its sad in this day and age to find out that small-minded simpletons can pull off crap like this, even if its just banning an innocent kid from his school.
It is ape law! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
You know, that gives me an idea for a FPS mod. Rather than having all the bad guys slash you, bite you, or throw fireballs at you, how about someone ports the Hammerhead Brothers from Super Mario? Can you imagine the sheer terror of it all? Spinning hammers flying left and right, and all you have is a puny FN P90 Personal Defense Weapon for defense! How will you ever survive the onslaught?!?
Interesting factoid: I learned more about submachine guns from Stargate SG-1 than ever I learned from video games. Maybe we should arrest people who watch Stargate, too?
Re:Understood... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I guess I'm a Terrorist as well (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Full Text (Score:2, Interesting)
It's random, sure, but apt.
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.allmax.com/MILT/ [allmax.com]
Remember the Blacksmith. (Score:5, Interesting)
During the US revolutionary war, a blacksmith performed an errand for General Washington, only to return home and find that redcoats had murdered his family in his absence. The blacksmith took a heavy sledge from his workshop and walked onto the battlefield of Brandywine. There, before they finally brought him down, he slew 20 british soldiers. With a hammer.
No, I'm not being serious about a hammer being a viable weapon, not these days. (Although note that the Blacksmith story is true, from all references I can find.)
I just found it ironic, that the Blacksmith of Brandywine went on a murderous rampage in response to oppression from a ruthless government...and now, our government is so scared of our children that they're even taking our hammers away.
Re:Got free speech? (Score:5, Interesting)
"If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society."
How ironic. [wikipedia.org]
What a shocker. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Full Text (Score:2, Interesting)
The stereotyping [slashdot.org] has indeed begun. The money quote for me from above was:
The Asian community "faces new pressures" as a result of the shootings,
I didn't quite know whether to laugh or cry. Apparently, Asians are Natural Born Killers(TM). And being intelligent enough to create a game map, we're wicked smaht NBKs! And wielding that mighty Mjolnir (also useful for bed repair), we're wicked DEADLY smaht NBKs.
OK, I have to stop now. Seriously, I think most everyone here at
Now I better get my boy's 870 off his gun rack in his bedroom, lest he be labeled "terroristic." Just kidding. The gun stays; it's his.
Poor kid.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Without RTFA, I don't know if there were additional indicators beyond just creating the map in this case, but if he simply created the school's layout I think this is a huge overreaction. It takes a lot of work and talent to create good maps, and I don't see how it is an indicator of violence at all.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh. My. Gods.
When I was in high school - just as I was about to graduate, actually - some or other FPS was very popular (which FPSs were current in 2000?) and I thought I could design a level containing my school and its immediate surroundings.
So I talked to some people, to a few teachers and to the people in maintenance, who then gave me a whole bunch of plans of every single floor as well as the front and side views of the whole building to carry home and have fun.
Then, alas, came college and I never went through with it; I did toy with it for a while, but couldn't convert the units... much as I fiddled with the internal help (I had no Internet access back then), I could find no correlation between metres and whatever the unit used in the level editor, i.e. I had no idea which units the editor used.
However, had I succeeded, the level would have been available as a free download on my school's official website.
My teachers thought that in fact, yes, it could be good marketing for our school.
And mind you, that was in Croatia. Not that long after the war. During the time both angry kids and parents came (and they still do come, from time to time) armed to school and threaten teachers, or drop a bomb in the teachers' room because of a fail grade.
Yet for some reason no-one thought it might cause more violence.
Re:Queen's College Oxford (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Queen's College Oxford (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I have a solution to this problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Tell me this is a joke, please... it is, right? (Score:5, Interesting)
I couldn't agree more. I think the really scary thing is that there's a kid out there that spends his every waking moment in a building moving from section to section each year and wouldn't be able to model his school! Furthermore if you're afraid of what could happen, wouldn't knowing the layout of the building you're in be a Good Thing if the lead ever did start flying?!
This quote is so incredibly stupid I almost refuse to believe that the reporter didn't lead the kid into the question and then quote him out of context. I can't fathom what the question could have been, but the alternative where I accept that this kid is a potential canidate for making any kind of policy or decision in his future at work, politics or anything other than "paper or plastic" is so terrifying, in and of itself, that I refuse to entertain the very notion for fear of my head exploding. If that's true, I just know somehow he's going to be my PHB 15 years from now.
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
Just simply talk to the kid, figure out why they did it, figure out if there really is any danger involved, if there is, explain it to the kid, make sure they understand, and if it seems that they don't, or that there is something rong with them, send them to a psychologist, talk to the parents, and eventually take some other steps.
When I was in 7th grade, with some friends we tried to make a smoke bomb. We tested it in a school restroom, and managed to burn a large hole in a stall door. We got caught (of course, there was smoke all over the place, plus bunch of classmates who wanted to see the test streaming in and out the restroom, the operation was not exactly secret). I remember we got yelled at by the principal, our parents had to come to school, we got yelled at again at home, our citzenship grade for that period was lowered, and we had to fix the door. We had no idea how to do that, so we ended up filling the hole with plaster of paris, and painting the whole door. The result was really heavy and really solid looking, compared to the original flimsy door, and we joked that one day, when the whole school collapses and gets washed away by weather, the door will still stand there. Our chemistry professor gave us a lecture on responsible handling of chemicals, to which she added several stories of her own school days, that turned otherwise boring lecture into something we could actually relate to and which we actually decided to take seriously.
I can't even imagine what would happen with us if we did something like that nowdays at an american school. We would probably be shot by a fireing squad at the school yard.
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
Some of them are really good, such as UCSD, or UNLV [unlv.edu].
UNLV will let one take classes as a "special student" before admission, and you can get in if you do well enough. Despite the jokes and smart-ass comments people make about it, it is a premier university, and is THE leader in OCR technology development [unlv.edu].
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
Next... landscape paintings... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Oh, For Christ's F***ing Sake... (Score:3, Interesting)
There, you just hit the nail on the head for something that drives me FREAKING INSANE!
We're god-damned PEACE OFFICERS, not government toughs! We keep the peace, and enforce laws in order to do that. American police forces really need to change their attitude and stop acting like an extension of the military.
Re:I have a solution to this problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Trust me, you're absolutely correct about European public schools. This crap that happens in the US is ludicrous and it is hard to imagine it happening here, but only because 1) public schools are funded properly not to have idiots as teachers (and teachers are expected to have proper credentials), and 2) people have a general consensus that the task of the school is to give a good education in neccessary fundamentals, and that people in general agree on an objective enough a reality that they know what those are (which is in turn a long term result of having a good public education system).
I feel this could happen just as well in a private school, and in some ways it's more likely, as MY view is that private schools are more likely to be indoctrination centers for some particular ideology. I care deeply about my potential children not having to share their world with some Flat Earth Academy -educated nutjobs with nukes.
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
You think I'm making a joke don't you, that is really how those idiots think. I went through 14 hours of Homeland Security training before I walked out telling the instructor that if I wanted to be a racist I'd join the KKK. That was 2 years ago, Today I am sure it's worse.
This glass is half full (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It's even worse than an overreaction (Score:4, Interesting)
Columbine happened when I was in eighth grade, right when I hit my cool rebellious phase - blue hair, black t-shirts, huge goth jeans. And, like many kids that age, I discovered I have depression (major depression with a splash of bipolar). As a result, I wrote some sad emo journal entries in my English class, and the English teacher informed the school counselor that I might have depression.
I went and talked to the counselor, assuming that the whole "confidentiality" thing was relevant. I failed to realize that Columbine had changed all the rules magically, and that confidentiality was a thing of the past.
She told EVERYONE who had contact with me - all my teachers, all the administrators - and they brought in a police officer to have a little chat with me. Unfortunately, I was a straight-A student, polite in class, hardworking, always helping my peers, always protecting smaller kids from bullies (I was already 6 foot and huge), never late to classes, never broke any school rules, didn't smoke or drink or do drugs, and just generally a really sweet kid back then. I just thought it was cool to experiment with different looks and styles of clothing. All of the teachers laughed it off.
When my parents were brought in, they sent the officer home and told me not to write anything else like that at school. The administration was pissed - they KNEW I was a gun-wielding psychopath who was going to kill everyone in school. They made me see a psychologist, and after two sessions she said "You're obviously very normal and well-adjusted - I don't think you need anything from me".
Two weeks later, I made a web page in the gifted education program. Then, in Latin class, I brought it up and showed it to my teacher - "Hey, look at this cool web page I made!". At the end of the day, I was brought into the technology administrator's office and told that I was kicked off the network. Why? Because the web page I made FOR SCHOOL wasn't 'related to Latin' and therefore I wasn't allowed to use the computers for the rest of the year.
Being able to use computers was one of the only things that made my boring, slow classes worthwhile, because at least I could research interesting things during my free time between classes. If I had actually been unstable, taking that away from me would have been the last straw - but since I wasn't, I just put up with it and spent the last two months of school miserable and bored almost all the time and using other people's accounts to use the Internet when I could sneak off to an uninhabited part of the school.
What it boils down to is self-fulfilling prophecy: these fear-mongering twits actually *want* someone to shoot up the school, or go crazy, or do something to validate their paranoia, and so they use zero tolerance policies to harass and intimidate kids in the perverted subconscious hope that maybe one of the kids will bring a gun to school and validate their otherwise meaningless existences.
PATRIOT ACT (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not about over-zealous school officials, its about people covering their asses.
Re:Contact Information (Score:2, Interesting)
My Teacher Made a 1st P Shooter Map of My School (Score:3, Interesting)
No one seemed the have a problem with this then ('94). I wonder how they'd treat a teacher who did that today?
Re:Understood... (Score:3, Interesting)
The US have been Fascists for generations.
Re:Tell them how you feel (Score:2, Interesting)
Dear Chief Campbell,
As a Ft. Bend county resident and parent of a FBISD student, I have recently been reviewing your departments actions in case #200700971 involving the Clements High School student who created a counterstrike map of Clements High School.
I understand that in today's environment, an investigation of the situation was inevitable, and it appears that situation was handled reasonably by your department. I understand that it was eventually determined that "no criminal offense .. had occurred." However, in reviewing the the investigation report, I noted that the student involved was directed by FBISD PD officers to "delete the program completely" and "never again produce a map of any school, or even any public building or area." While I can sympathize with the officers, it appears to me that this significantly overstepped the officers' authority and infringed on the First Amendment rights of the student.
I would like to know if you agree with my analysis of the situation, and if so, what instructions will be given to officers for similar situations in the future. If you disagree, I would like to understand the basis on which the officers authority is derived.
I would like you to know that I am a great supporter of the FBISD police department, personally know one of your officers who I greatly admire and appreciate the work that your department performs. However, I also believe that we, as citizens, have an obligation to uphold the "constitutional restrictions" that are quoted in the FBISD PD mission statement.
I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.
Re:Tell them how you feel (Score:2, Interesting)
Dear XXXXXX
As a voter, taxpayer and parent of a Ft. Bend student, I am writing to appraise you of how disappointed that I am that the school district chose to place a Clements High School senior who recently was found to have developed a counterstrike map of Clements into an alternative education program.
I understand the need to the school to investigate this issue when it was raised. However, based on the facts as presented in the media, I think that it is absurd that the student was even considered for alternative school. I think that the school district employees that are responsible for this decision need a lesson in the basic scientific principle that correlation does not equal causation. For example, I would hate to find that my son is sent to alternative school simply because I happened to take him to the gun range to shoot a pistol, because he was playing paintball, or, god forbid, participating in a truly violent activity like football (in which he does, in fact, participate).
Ironically, the student in question, who was smart enough and motivated enough to develop this map, will probably end up as one of the more successful graduates in his class, especially given the technology infused environment that we live in today.
I hope that there are some unreported facts in this case that justified the nuclear option that was used in this situation. I would appreciate being informed of any such factors if in fact they exist. Otherwise, I hope you get this student back where he belongs, with an apology, in the near future. Thanks for your time and I look forward to your reply.