Student Removed from High School after Making a Map of His School in Counter-Strike

Advanced Media Network ^ | 2007-05-02 | Matthew Wirgler

[Xenalyte]

I was thinking about the “why the school?” question on the way home, and another idea occurred to me.

Think of how cool it is when you watch a movie filmed in your town and you can spot locations you know. This is the same phenomenon.

For a teen, the school is the space he shares with friends, including those he’s likely to play computer games with.

[B4Ranch]

I doubt that there is a single student in America today who has not thought about how to effectively barricade the classroom door and mentally practiced exiting from every classroom that they study in using every escape method possible.

Thanks to the slaughter at VT our students are now one, two or perhaps three steps higher in the world of self reliance and self protection.

A few of them that can handle the idea of violence have possibly even determined a couple of different methods of expediently killing an armed attacker, should it take place at their school.

Yes, I suggest that many young men have studied their classrooms, looking for tools to be used for physical resistance, perhaps carrying something they didn’t previously in their backpacks.

Don’t be surprised if as we suspect, airliner hijackings have ceased to be a terrorist tool, that school slaughters may just have had a final headstone placed on them too.

Great good can grow from great evil.

[Mariebl]

Officers came into his home and reportedly found five swords which they deemed a level 3 terrorist threat.

So how does this scale work? Would a broad ax be considered a level 2 threat or a level 4? How about a wizard's staff? Do Elvish blades carry any enhancement on this scale?

Actually, I'm amazed that he didn't have any 'samurai swords'. I had the impression that any swords mentioned by the news media were automatically 'samurai swords.'

[No Truce With Kings]

“Wonder how many Doom3 or Quake4 maps are based on schools and such.”

Back in the 1980s I did a “Car Wars” arena based on the building where I worked. You fought in the parking lot. We played a campaign of it at work, during the lunch hour.

Hate to think what would happen to me today.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“Don’t be surprised if as we suspect, airliner hijackings have ceased to be a terrorist tool, that school slaughters may just have had a final headstone placed on them too.”

That would be a good thing!

[knarf]

"Amazing for kids that are barely potty trained!"

Uhhhh ... that was floorpLan ... not floorpan.

heh heh heh

[www.saveourguns.org]

1. After VT the school administrators are in panic mode. This is also known as the precautionary principle, which is where we got all our current gun laws.

So what? It's time to learn that this type of thinking is ineffective.



2. Making a map of your school in a first person shooter AND distributing it at this time is STUPID. This does not defend the schools actions, but this kid was stupid and deserved to be smacked down.

No he doesn't. He is not a threat and you know it. The school deserves to be smacked down for being stupid. The kid was audacious, nothing more. It's not a crime to be audacious. What he did was not a "red flag" and did not represent any level of probable cause to warrant such action.



3. After Breslin, plans of schools SHOULD be classified on a need to know basis. Denying operational intelligence to the bad guys is always a good idea. While little johnny may be a sweet innocent (STUPID) kid, someone suffering from SJS does not need the edge of knowing where all the good hiding places are.

You cannot be serious. Anyone who wanted "operational intelligence" could collect it in an afternoon without your permission. What now? Are you going to arrest anyone who photographs a school? It's this kind of attempt at thinking that leads to all the security theater we have now. When did you escape from Soviet Russia, and, more importantly, when will you be going back?



Yeah they over reacted, but the threat is real.

The only threat here is people thinking like you.

[www.saveourguns.org]

thanks for posting.

In the spirit of exchange, and not argument, I submit these thoughts from my own life for your consideration.

I have had very similar experiences.

Once with Mario Brothers. After hours of playing I had great difficulty reading because my eyes kept seeing the letters blow up.

And I've relived many a game in my sleep.

I feel very compfortable shooting life like graphic targets by the bazillion.

More important is my values.

The games have not changed my values one bit. I would turn the any weapon upon myself before using it on anyone in my family. I would not hesitate to drop an intruder. I felt this way long before Pac-Man came along.

I also maintain that such games do not provide anything approaching realistic combat training. Weilding a mouse is not a good substitute for holding a firearm, sword, club or even a bare fist. Even the games that attempt to be ultra realistic utterly fail to reproduce the physical and mental stresses of real combat.

[Oztrich Boy]

Those who can use their brains go into school administration.

Strangest statement ever

[doodad]

Yes the scale is based on damage points and the responding officers roll a 12 sided die to determine response. LOL

[JamesP81]

I also maintain that such games do not provide anything approaching realistic combat training. Weilding a mouse is not a good substitute for holding a firearm, sword, club or even a bare fist. Even the games that attempt to be ultra realistic utterly fail to reproduce the physical and mental stresses of real combat.

Very true. The only thing you could learn from that is use of terrain and some basic strategy, but it doesn't give an accurate representation of the visceral nature of it. The closest I've ever come is sparring in my martial arts classes and playing paintball. Paintball especially is an intense experience (one that I thoroughly enjoyed) that will give you great appreciation for the folks who do it for real.

[MeanWestTexan]

It’s just goofy.

I remember the Addventure game at MIT (tells my age, huh? Remember Zork?). The maze was based on one of buildings there.

People map what they know. If doing floorplans was easy, we’d all be archetects.

[knarf]

Don’t remember any of that ... I’m not a gamer ... but I’ve smoked dynomite weed on the banks of the Charles ... when I wasn’t panhandlin’ at Park Street Station or scoopin’ chicks at the concerts.

[MeanWestTexan]

That, I did not do. Beer, yes.

[Sloth]

What would YOU think if you found a shooting game on your son's or daughter's computer and your home was the floorplan?

That would be SO AWESOME. And it would remind me of the time I drew maps of my parents' house for use in Dungeons & Dragons.

[Sloth]

Officers came into his home and reportedly found five swords which they deemed a level 3 terrorist threat.

Oh yeah? Well, I've got a level 4 sword with a +2 enchantment vs. bureaucrats.