May 10, 2007
Yesterday, GamePolitics reported on developer Kenn Hoekstra's criticism of a Texas high school's disciplinary treatment of a 17-year-old senior who crafted a Counter-strike level based on his school's layout.A second developer, Jay Barnson of Rampant Games has now weighed in on the issue via his blog:
Now I get to don my old geezer hat and say, "You know, when I was a high school student, I never made Counterstrike maps of MY school." The main reason was because we had dinky little 8-bit machines that didn't have enough horsepower or colors to even display a decent-resolution JPEG image of the school, let alone anything resembling a first-person shooter like Counterstrike.
Instead, back in my teenaged era, what was going to ruin society and turn out an entire generation of bloodthirsty, psychotic, devil-worshippers was called "Dungeons and Dragons."
...The key difference between then and now was that what we were doing wasn't so photorealistically OBVIOUS to low-imagination, paranoid authority figures. Well, that, and the game hadn't hit the mainstream consciousness hard enough to become the default scapegoat for all of society's ills...
Frankly, if we'd had games like Counterstrike back then, you'd better believe I'd have been making maps of my school, my house, and the local mall. And sharing them with my friends...
But now we're on the verge of criminalizing that sort of thing in our hysteria... I'm just glad I didn't have to grow up in their world.
Comments
It's no the fact he made it. Its not the fact he distributed it. It's the fact he was 'caught' by some "paranoid authority figures".
We all start somewhere, and if he was interested in graphic design, why not start with game maps? He can play it afterwards and 'enjoy the fruits of his labor'. The school should be glad he did it - look at all the free publicity it's getting (though not the good kind).
I mucked around with a bunch of stuff like this, including a 2D 'Barney' Shooter with blood and gore (remember that 'Cute Purple Dinosaur'). But it hasn't turned me into a psycho killer, and no one I gave a copy too has gone on any purple-dinosaur killing rampages (to the best of my knowledge).
Who should be blamed for this - does anyone need to be? Everything we do with computers (gaming, digital scenes in movies, etc) is to try and replicate the 'real-world' - yet this kid is treated as a leper for having done so. Why don't the local police use it as a tactical aid - should there be another school-shooting, or hostage situation?
"But now we’re on the verge of criminalizing that sort of thing in our hysteria… I’m just glad I didn’t have to grow up in their world."
- Couldn't have said it better myself!
They must have! They made an Unreal Tournament map of the ISS!
http://www.unrealty.net/ :P
I mean, if you're learning to use the map editor and/or want something that'll wow your friends. What better way then with a well-done recreation of a location you all already know of?
It's a great subject for a map: You know what the map should look like, because you know what the location looks like, you've been there! And you know you did a good job on the map when it's done because it looks like the place you modeled it after. It's almost like painting a landscape. That you can play around in the map and show it off to your friends is just cool, "practice" be damned.
Imagine the sort of conspiracy rants he would be spurting then!
"911"
"OMGOMGOMGOMG you gotta help me, theres a nation of brainwashed loonatics who are planning to assasinate me in my house! With a Warthog... hello?"
They think its because you "plan" on killing people by practicing on a game, but seriously, the only thrill you get from playing a map based on something you actually have been before, its that you know everything on the map, that you have walked those corridors. Not that you plan on killing people and NOT because you feel you are killing people in your college. Or at least thats how i feel.
Also if its true then why havent they found the map of VT in the killer's computer, or the Map of Columbine in the others guys computer.
But back on topic Im glad developers are making their voice known to the public, its a sign that people with no longer stays still when the **** is about to hit the fan.
But someone should make a map on halo based on JT house that would be awesome and scary. And the most played map on halo
I also made a few Unreal Maps that was based off a building in my hometown.
We need more professionals to stand up to this crap. I'm Canadian, so I don't have much weight to this. But I'm pretty happy that more and more professionals are reacting to this issue.
It would be like a protest against the ignorant/naive authorities as well as a gesture of support for this young guy.
lets face it, people smart/sensible enough to listen to/read gaming experts and gamepolitics.com aren't the audience we need to get the message to.