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."
Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
But I never went through with it, because Columbine was still fresh in everyone's memory, and I was afraid that exactly this sort of thing would happen.
It's not a fear of terrorism that drives this sort of thing, or even a fear for our children. It's a fear of our children. We're so scared of the little guys that the instant they bring school into their video game hobby, we freak out.
This kid doesn't deserve to be arrested. He doesn't deserve to be thrust into "Alternative Education". He deserves to have someone ask him why he built the school in a video game. Let a psychologist evaluate him, and then either medicate the kid or let him go back to class.
(And someone should offer him constructive criticism on his level building techniques.)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Interesting)
It is ape law! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It is ape law! (Score:5, Funny)
PATRIOT ACT (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
But really, sending him there is retarded. He's going to be there with a bunch of people who deserve to be there - drug addicts, violent people, unstable people, etc. Hes in danger - hes probably a nerd, and wont be very good at defending himself. ALC's (Alternative Learning Centers) are the worst places to send anyone "good" - its like throwing a kitten into a pack of rabid wolves.
Its hard to say that some people shouldnt be in there - i remember i looked across the room at this guy, and he freaked out, like in the movies:
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing."
"So what, im nothing to you?"
"No, i was just looking across the room."
"What, im not good enough for you?"
There really are people like that out there, and i unfornately do agree that some people should be in there. That guy was quite ready to severely injure me - had the teacher not told him to shut up, i woulda been hit with a chair.
Of course, zero tolerance is what got me put in the school, and this poor guy is there for the same reason. What it boils down is that Zero Tolerance is what is garbage - and only the unstable nutjobs and hardcore drug addicts should be in ALC's.
-Red
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing."
your first mistake.
The correct answer is...
"I'm trying to figure out what way is best to kill you. Should I slit your throat and give you a necktie or simply cut your balls off and shove them down your throat.
Hey do you think your flesh goes better with Mustard or Barbecue? Nevermind, I'll bring both when I eat your eyelids."
Also in a fistfight, first thing you do is grab the top of the fuckers ears and pull. If you had him his ears all of a sudden tough guys become crying pussies. At that time hit him so hard in the nuts you feel something pop.
"tough guys" need the shit kicked out of them like that so they become less of a problem to society. They need to know that people will go psycho on them and do shit they cant imagine without getting mad.
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Informative)
I don't think you get into a lot of fistfights in real life. There are ways to "stop" a person, but those ain't it. (think knife/stabbing) All that other crap you talking is silly. Stop giving fight advice.
And your snappy comebacks will just likely lead to escalation...right then or later when he/they catches you alone. Try talking shit to an aggressive macho man...he'll love that. Seriously, stop giving fight advice...nobody's taking it anyway.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
Apart from that, what was Steve Ballmer like at school?
We have no idea what this ALC looks like... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:in lumping in drug-addicts with violent people (Score:5, Insightful)
Apart from that, i do think that the restrictions put on pot are pretty stupid - putting a pot smoker into ALC would be just as stupid as putting the guy the story is about in ALC. Thats doesnt make smoking pot "ok", but that does make overzealous punishment "idiotic".
Besides, ANY mind altering act (be it sex, drugs, alchohol, anything) done to get away from emotional pain will always get worse. Doing it for fun or socially is fine - just like drinking alchohol, its ok in moderation.
Speaking of moderation, maybe you outta give it a try. Lay off the speed.
-Red
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Informative)
I have a sister-in-law who went to a Texas education "Alternative Education Center." It wasn't because she bucked the system and wouldn't play along with the propaganda. It was because she was a self-indulgent druggie who needed different attention than most people her age. She got to go to school with a smaller class of other potential lost-causes. And it worked. She's now got her head on reasonably straight and has a fairly decent life (although it took her a few years after graduation to get there). Without this education program, I'm not sure where she would have ended up.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not endeared to the Texas highschool education system. I still laugh at the memory of a friends mom earnestly explaining how our Highschool years will be looked back on as our Golden Years. But I do see an underlying value to the idea of education. And sometimes it takes a different approach to get someone there.
Overhauling the entire process and ousting idiotic bureaucrats who make decisions like this one is an entirely different matter.
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Informative)
Eh - to each their own. Sure... I have some good memories from that time period. But life got a heck of a lot better for me shortly after I graduated from Highschool and I went out in to the world and became my own person. If I were to look back and call a time period the golden days of my youth - that would be the time.
Reading is fun (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Guess they forgot the simple rule ... (Score:4, Informative)
Sorry, I think you're wrong on that point, unless you mean "You don't consent..." as a piece of excellent advice. I can't believe they were dumb enough to allow this. Any evidence found in a search to which the owner has consented is legal and admissable. So are statements you make if you've waived your right to remain silent and agreed to talk to the police without a lawyer present.
That's why you NEVER give the cops permission to search your house. If you're pulled over, NEVER allow them to search your car. Don't answer any of their questions, and don't believe a thing that they tell you. Spend a few monotonous hours learning the laws (Federal and in your state) so that you know how to protect yourself in these situations. That will put you on higher ground than 95% of the stormtrooper wannabes you're likely to encounter.
"If you're ignorant of your rights, then you don't have any"
-unknown
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.
Better grade than I got (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
Does it matter that it was a game that he used instead of drafting software or a pen and paper. what makes him different than a student in a drafting class? For drafting we used autoCAD to map the school. the game was his "free" 3D draft studio.
That alone is not a crime or wrong. I did not read the article any more.
duke nuken 3d did have a simple world designer that was easy to pick up. I had alot of fun with it. That might have been the reason I took drafting classes where we made the same map but to scale this time.
quick, someone go arrest my drafting teacher. he is training terrorists.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
I wanted to create a 3D walk-through to complement the Visio diagrams I'd already done, so we could get a feel for the dimensions of the place. I was about half-way through designing it when I got sick of being asked "why does the guy have a gun?". (As I was the one _designing_ it, I didn't have to worry too much about the "terrorist" nonsense.)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
You mean people who make those gaming maps don't do it strictly as a training ground for their future slaughter?!
I feel so deceived, why would Jack Thompson lie to me like that?!!
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you make a map of your school for a first-person shooter:
- Yes.
- No.
- I started to, but didn't finish.
You, I, and I suspect many of the Slashdot population would be in the last category. Most schools are pretty complicated. I cheated a bit and didn't fill in every floor in every building, and skipped most of the furniture, and even then I didn't finish. Anyone who does manage a complete map is probably obsessive-compulsive, and a lot better at 3D art than me (even the bits I did 'finish' didn't look much like the original).Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
In the early '80s, me and most of my friends had all mapped our school for Dungeons and Dragons.
Late '80s, Paranoia. Pretty accurate, aside from the entire school being underground and the access to Green-level clearance area (outdoors) required going through the (in joke) glass ceiling above the (non-existent) third-floor (nonexistent) swimming pool. Due to a personality quirk of one of the odder members of local geekdom, the local outdoors was overrun by nine-foot carnivorous supermutant squirrels; her character promptly joined the Sierra Club Secret Society. By the end of senior year, our characters had blown up every single room at some point with the exception of the Biology classroom, which had been sealed shut while being filled with a hideous green goo... and then erased from the computer's records. "Room? What room?"
I think the most dangerous-seeming three of us went on to (a) drop out of nuclear engineering to work in a deli, (b) become a professional clown, and (c) work for the US government as a I'M SORRY CITIZEN YOU ARE NOT CLEARED FOR THAT INFORMATION. TRUST THE COMPUTER. THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND. Harmless, really.
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Funny)
Unslashdotted links (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metr
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&i
I'd scream at the ridiculousness of it all, but, then I'd probably be arrested for practising some sort of arcane terrorist warcry.
Re:Unslashdotted links (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah
Re:Unslashdotted links (Score:5, Insightful)
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:Unslashdotted links (Score:4, Informative)
I imagine because sex is cheap enjoyment, and there are no compulsory education or licensing required to have a child and raise it, however there is often government assistance available just for having it around.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
What does anyone need with a hammer in their house anyway? Forget about banning him from graduation, this little mini-Osama should get sent straight to Gitmo. There is absolutely no reason to have a hammer in your home unless you intend to commit a terrorist act.
Plus, if all that weren't bad enough, this kid is ASIAN. Christ man, do you have any idea how crazy those Asians are? One of them killed a bunch of people at Virginia Tech just a short time ago. This categorically PROVES that all Asians are sociopaths just itching to shoot up a school. You can't argue with this logic, it is completely impervious.
You have no idea what we're up against here, man. This shit is SERIOUS. Don't come crying to me when your kid comes home with a big nasty bump on his head because one of these little Asian al Qaeda wannabes smacked him over the head with a mallet. You were warned.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
He might have had the hammer for home defence. There is nothing
wrong with some sport hammering from time to time. Of course, we
believe that hammers should be licensed, and background checks done
before a hammer can be purchased. Training is, of course, very
important, and hammers should never be left where children could
harm themselves with them. If appropriate, a hammer lock can
be had at any high school that teaches wrestling.
Dont forget about the constitution, and the right to bear hammers.
Responsible hammer ownership is a right, and should not be infringed
by a few nut cases.
As Charles said "you can have my hammer, when you pry it from my cold,
dead fingers".
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
People are always misquoting that amendment. It's the right to hammer bears. Which, as the supreme court affirmed in smokey v. ashcroft, means that you have the right to get a bear drunk if it's more than 18 years old.
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Funny)
You should all pay attention to the details.
Have the police found any nails? Is it a silver hammer? Have he ever visited Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/)? Does he have any Beatles album?
Never trust a man that keeps a hammer in his house. He can be one of those psycopaths that hangs pictures on the wall or worse, a carpenter.
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Funny)
It could have been The Hammer of Justice, as described in the well known song. That could have been really frightening to the authorities.
Never trust a man that keeps a hammer in his house. He can be one of those psycopaths that hangs pictures on the wall or worse, a carpenter.
A bit like that guy who caused so much trouble for the Romans about 2,000 years ago
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (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 def
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
As a proud, lifetime member of the National Hammer Association, I must insist that we not go too far here. It's part of our constitutional rights - the right to Arm and Hammer - to arm ourselves with hammers. This incident is merely one more reason that everyone ought to carry hamers everywhere they go - if others had been armed with hammers, this student would have had a serious disincentive to consider possibly carrying out the egregious act he was prevented from possibly committing.
Soon, crazy liberal will want to outlaw air hammers, jack hammers, Mike Hammers, pipe hammers - even Diesel hammers - you name it. Act now to preserve your hammer rights - join the NHA.
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Funny)
Hey! If we outlaw hammers, only outlaws will be able to put shelves up!
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:Remember the Blacksmith. (Score:4, Funny)
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?!
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just why should he be evaluated or asked about what he's done?
It's not in any way strange to apply your day-to-day experiences to hobbies and fantasies.
I wrote a text adventure in my youth where large parts of the layout was based on my school and public library. A classmate won an award for the painted plywood model he built of our school. No-one sent either of us to psych eval.
What this guy needs is for people to give him a fucking break. It's his school, and his knowledge about its layout is his to do whatever the hell he wants with.
As for the police confiscating potential weapons, that's worse than any police state I've ever heard of.
I say that Condoleezza Rice has several potential weapons in her office, and she could potentially go on a murder spree in the White House. Since you can't prove otherwise, now go lock her up. Or set this kid and anyone else who's been arrested for potential (i.e. thought) crimes free, and erase their bloody records.
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Insightful)
No kidding. An arrest in these circumstances is nothing less than kidnapping and assault. The officers and prosecutors involved deserve to go to jail.
This is a reactionary response (Score:5, Insightful)
Add to this a mix of fascist officials and craven lawmakers who choose to ignore rights in search of appearing to address the security problem (insert Ben Franklin quote here).
You're right, it's a culture of fear, but it goes beyond our children. It's the technology and to a large extent, a media-inspired culture of fear... of EVERYTHING.
Re:This is a reactionary response (Score:5, Insightful)
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt
This culture of fear of everything, as you so aptly described it in the post above, wasn't exactly what FDR had in mind when he spoke these words, but I can't help but think how incredibly prescient his words were.
Sigh....
Re:This is a reactionary response (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Child 1: Dude - look at this cool map I made for [insert game name here]
Child 2: Dude! It's amazing. That's so cool.
Child 1: Yeah.
Child 2: Dude - could you make a map of the school? That would be awesome.
Child 1: Hmm - let's see....
[2 weeks later]
Child 1: Here it is man - what do you think?
Child 2: Dude! Let's upload it and get the rest of the guys to play!
Child 1: m'okay.
[3 months later]
FBISD: You're being creative, and having fun in a
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.
Tell them how you feel (Score:5, Informative)
The School's site is here. [k12.tx.us]
Principal: Kevin Moran - Kevin.Moran@fortbend.k12.tx.us - 281-634-2156
Assistant Principal: Lorri Hubert, Lorri.Hubert@fortbend.k12.tx.us [mailto] - 281-634-2164
Lead Counselor: Alice Ledford - Alice.Ledford@fortbend.k12.tx.us [mailto] - 281-634-2157
Fort Bend ISD's site is here. [k12.tx.us]
Superintendent: Timothy R. Jenney, Ph.D. - superintendent@fortbend.k12.tx.us [mailto] -
The entire board of directors of the Fort Bend ISD can be reached here. [72.14.253.104] (Google Cache in anticipation of slashdotting).
Re:Tell them how you feel (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Understood... (Score:5, Insightful)
2. It is not illegal to show maps for a first-person shooter game to someone else.
3. It is not illegal to possess five swords.
4. The board had nothing to react to in the first place.
5. The student committed no crime for which the police could legally arrest him, at least pre-PATRIOT Act.
He, an honor student, was removed from his high school and forced to attend an alternative (read: for delinquents) education center, will not be allowed to receive his diploma with the rest of his class, and will probably have difficulty, if not being accepted to, at least getting financial aid for a good college. All because he went to a school staffed and parented by a group of reactionary morons.
How should the school have handled it? There's nothing to handle. When/if parents complained, the appropriate authority figures should have repeated my response to #1: "It is not illegal to create game maps for a first-person shooter game."
Re:Understood... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not about over-zealous school officials, its about people covering their asses.
Oh, For Christ's F***ing Sake... (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, that's right: never.
I'd read the article, but it's been Slashdotted.
Re:Oh, For Christ's F***ing Sake... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is par for the course in this part of the United States. Ignorance, fear and xenophobia run rampant, white men run everything, and opportunism prevails at every turn. Police forces are treated as a paramilitary force, and zero tolerance is the rule in schools - even though it only means that more kids every year get fewer chances at straightening up and becoming successful.
Louisiana (and other population-losing red states) wonder why it's best and brightest move away as soon as they finish college - crap like this is the reason why.
A bit of an overreaction (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sorry, but the idea of creating a school map for you and your friends to play is something that goes back as far as Doom. Kids create these environments because they're familiar, not because they want to go shooting up the place. Only Jack Thompson believes that unbalanced people "train" for killing on these games. The truth of the matter is that ole' Jack is full of sh*t. His claim on Fox news that a previous shooter had created maps of his school turned out to be bunk. He had created maps for Counter Strike, but nothing even vaguely related.
If this map disturbed parents (which is an understandable concern given recent events), then the school's action should have been to evaluate the individual, not immediately kick him out of school. Pretty much all of the shooters in recent history were known to be mentally unbalanced prior to the shootings. An evaluation of the individual's mental state and school records would clarify if he was a threat or not. If not (which it doesn't sound like in this case), you ask them to discontinue the behavior, delete the maps, and go about school as usual. But instead, we give these kids a real reason to hate the faculty. Way to go guys.
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: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's even worse than an overreaction (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's assume for a second that they are right. The guy is violent, mentally unstable and is using his home grown CS map to practice his planned killing spree (which was apparently to be carried out with a hammer). What do they do? They merely transfer him to a different school. In no way, shape or form do any of the school's actions prevent him from entering the school again and carrying out his assumed plans. At best, they've moved the problem to a different place, and put others at risk that hadn't been at risk before. At worst, it really pisses him off, and he escalates his planned violence (pipe bombs really aren't hard to make). Any which way you look at it, the actions of the school and the police were completely irresponsible.
Factor in that the guy had none of these plans to begin with, and you're looking at a massively incompetent school administration, board and police whose only goal is to cover their ass. They don't care whether what they did solved any issues; all they wanted was to have something to point to if the student does go apeshit and the inevitable question of "who's to blame?" rolls around.
The US is going down the shitter, and attitudes like these towards kids and education are the reason why. Way to ruin your future generation.
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.
I [heart] Houston. (Score:3, Insightful)
Linky? (Score:5, Insightful)
And this is important how? (Score:5, Insightful)
In Russia, government hammers you (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was going to high school, we had war games. Not simulated, but real - in person, on campus. And it was not the idea of some demented student, it was organized by the PE coaches.
The gym was one fort, the bleachers on the eastern side of the football field were the other. Each structure had a hose nearby. The gave us a bunch of balloons, and we had water balloon wars.
To the best of my knowledge, none of my classmates has committed any mass murders in the several decades since then.
I worry that policies as mentioned in TFA may actually increase violent incidents like Va tech. We were allowed - even encouraged - to burn off frustrations in acts of simulated violence. Then we dried off, went back to class, and were rather good students.
Today, young men are being denied symbolic outlets for violence. It come as no surprise to me that Chu did what he did. I worry that there will be more.
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:Frightening (Score:5, Funny)
Got free speech? (Score:4, Informative)
Condoleezza Rice, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outposts_of_tyranny [wikipedia.org]
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]
They Found a Hammer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They Found a Hammer? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously though, this is a freedom of speech issue plain and simple. Maybe he made this map so he could play in a familiar setting. Maybe he wanted to try and just recreate something he knew. Maybe he really did fantasize about walking in and just shooting up lots of fake teachers and students in a game. The bottom line though, is that this is a game. It's fantasy, and having somewhat violent fantasies is normal for a large percentage of the population. It doesn't mean that they are planning on hurting anyone, or would hurt anyone; it just helps as an outlet for aggression.
Bottom line: kid makes a game map of the school, then who cares. Kid plays that map, then who cares. If the kid plays and is constantly saying "Just wait, ya'll are gonna get it one day.", then do some counseling and see what's up. If he buys 10 boxes of ammunition, a handgun, has a printed copy of the map, AND other evidence that he is going to be be attacking the school, THEN you start to get the cops involved.
Goldeneye (Score:3, Insightful)
Oops. Brought up airports and level design in the same topic. My name just moved up a few spaces on the govt. list. Better leave some extra time next time I fly. After all, these games are only functional as "simulators", right?
Developers do this all the time (Score:5, Insightful)
FTA: "Speakers at the FBISD Board's April 23 meeting alluded to the Clements senior's punishment, and drew a connection to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in which a Korean student shot and killed 32 people."
In which video games *WERE NOT INVOLVED*. But that clearly doesn't matter. Something bad happened involving people under the age of 21, and as such video games must be at the heart of it.
-lw
Full Text (Score:4, Informative)
Chinese Community Rallies Behind Student Removed From Clements
by Bob Dunn, Apr 30, 2007, 11 57 am
Members of the area Chinese community have rallied behind a Clements High School senior who was removed from the campus and sent to M.R. Wood Alternative Education Center after parents complained he'd created a computer game map of Clements.
About 70 people attended the Fort Bend Independent School District's April 23 meeting to show support for the Clements senior and his mother, Jean Lin, who spoke to FBISD Board trustees in a closed session.
While an agenda document does not specify details, the board is holding a special meeting tonight to address the boy's actions and the discipline that was meted out as a result, sources close to the matter say. The boy's name was not identified last week, and the district has declined to discuss his case.
Richard Chen, president of the Fort Bend Chinese-American Voters League and a acquaintance of the boy's family, said he is a talented student who enjoys computer games and learned how to create maps (also sometimes known as "mods"), which provide new environments in which games may be played.
The map the boy designed mimicked Clements High School. And, sources said, it was uploaded either to the boy's home computer or to a computer server where he and his friends could access and play on it. Two parents apparently learned from their children about the existence of the game, and complained to FBISD administrators, who investigated.
"They arrested him," Chen said of FBISD police, "and also went to the house to search." The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy's room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn't in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon.
"They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.
Sources said that although no charges were filed against the boy, he was removed from Clements, sent to the district's alternate education school and won't be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies with classmates.
"All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play," Chen said. "The mother thinks this is too harsh."
FBISD officials declined to comment on the matter Monday. "Our challenge is, people in the community have freedom of speech and can say what they want, but we have laws" covering privacy issues, especially involving minors, that the district has to respect, said spokeswoman Nancy Porter.
Speakers at the FBISD Board's April 23 meeting alluded to the Clements senior's punishment, and drew a connection to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in which a Korean student shot and killed 32 people.
The Asian community "faces new pressures" as a result of the shootings, William Sun told board members. "We urge the school and community not to label our Asian students as terrorists."
"We should teach our children not to judge others harshly" and not to target people as being a threat because of their race, said Peter Woo, adding that the school district should lead the way in such efforts.
But Chen said Monday he and other community members don't consider FBISD's actions in the case to be racially motivated, and don't think they blew the incident out of proportion.
"They all think the principal has to do something - but how much? We do understand with the Virginia Tech incident...something has to be done," Chen said. "Someone just made a mistake, and we think the principal should understand that."
Psychos... (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Re:We need revolution and we need it now (Score:5, Insightful)
In addition to working on doom and quake levels based on real world locations, I also grew up around guns (with a very healthy respect for them), listened to heavy metal, and was probably considered a non-conformist to most (ie: trench coat and combat boot wearing, angst ridden, KMFDM listening, rivet head-teenager).
Had I gone to school after Columbine or VA Tech, I would have likely been arrested and secured for the safety of society, instead of going on to serve honorably in the US Marine Corps, working in medical research, and raising a family. The real shame here is how this kid's life will forever be changed because of overzealous scaremongers trying to make examples of anyone who doesn't fit in their homogenized view of society.
-Rick
insane (Score:5, Interesting)
If any high school students are reading this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Please take heart. Not all of us adults are such utter fucking morons.
Not that you'd know it from the comments on the article, where a depressing number of people say they hope he has learned from his "mistake."
I bet he has. He's learned to keep his activities secret from the authorities if he values his freedom. He's learned a little bit about what it's like to live in an increasingly paranoid, authoritarian society, where innocuous activities that harm nobody can get one declared an enemy of the people. He's learned that politicians have no compunctions about advancing their own careers by ruining the lives of the people they supposedly serve.
His mistake wasn't making the map. If FPSes had been around when I was in high school I would have loved to play on a map of the school; unlike a bunch of adults, it seems, I understood and understand the difference between video games and reality. His mistake was not being sufficiently clandestine when he shared it with his friends. Hopefully he will take this as a valuable lesson about the value of covering his tracks thoroughly in his daily life.
People study this (Score:5, Interesting)
http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/projects/ARQuake/ww
hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
But I have one question for the school board. Did they bother to make sure that he weighs as much as a duck before they took action against him?
Re: (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.
Houston Chronicle article (Score:4, Informative)
me too (Score:3, Insightful)
who didn't?
* I want to create something
* Hey look, a tool to create something
* Crap, what do I make?
* Well, I'm in school all day, so I'm pretty familiar with that.
* Arrested.
I have a solution to this problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Normally, I would oppose such a suggestion. Were the US run like typical European democratic-socialists the schools would probably be responsibly managed. But with one political party fighting to destroy public education, and the other party in the pocket of the public school bureaucracy, there's no voice left for the kids being ruined by these bullshit political non-events.
I honestly think government can do a good job of providing basic public services. But right now, the US government cannot. At least not until the leaders of our political parties come to some basic consensus on the role of government. Until then, it will be one crazy situation after another as they duke it out. All while citizens and their kids get fucked by the very public institutions that were ostensibly created for their benefit.
Spiderman 3 (Score:5, Insightful)
Are the devs terrorists?
Reprecussions. (Score:3, Insightful)
But did any one think for second what the effect of continually treating children like criminals is? How repeated persecution for fictional crimes desensitizes children. An effect which makes real world incarceration more tolerable and less revolting, in effect training our children to be inmates ready to submit to authority for any reason at a moment's notice. Some might argue that that's the very point of these so called "nanny states".
Perhaps it was given a lot thought, indeed.
Dear America,
Stop sucking.
Your pals,
Voters
Videogame map? (Score:3, Funny)
Excuse me, but I've been making maps of schools for Hello Kitty's Sunny Summer Adventure for years now.
The local Police should play the game (Score:4, Insightful)
learn from the Marines! (Score:4, Funny)
1. Treat every hammer as if it were dangerous.
2. Never smash anything you do not intend to break.
3. Keep your fingers straight and off the handle until you are ready to smash.
4. Keep your hammer holstered until you are ready to smash.
Since it clearly wasn't in his hand when found, the kid didn't break the rules and, therefore, did nothing wrong.
On a second note, I thought this was rather humorous... the police took the kid's tool, but he received a "ban hammer" from the school. (yeah, that was corny)
What you folks need... (Score:4, Funny)
Contact Information (Score:4, Informative)
the board website [k12.tx.us]
NOTE: DO NOT HARASS THESE PEOPLE. It will have the opposite effect you wish to achieve. Simply let them know of your approval/disapproval of their actions
And here is the info for the public relations department for the school district:
Kudos to those who at least attended the meeting:
This glass is half full (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry, you'll respawn in Mrs. Crabapple's classroom for round 2.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hammers? (Score:5, Funny)
Look, I found a terrorist song!
If I had a hammer I'd hammer on the freedom
I'd hammer on the infidels
All over this land
I'd hammer out patriots
I'd hammer out christians
I'd hammer out apple pie and baseball
All over this land