As far as I'm concerned, if the kid took the time and applied himself to something he obviously loves - who are we to give him a slap on the wrist?

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!

My gawd, did you know that even NASA has used murder simulators to make plans to kill everyone on the International Space Station?

They must have! They made an Unreal Tournament map of the ISS!

http://www.unrealty.net/ :P

Remaking buildings in a first-person shooter makes perfect sense if you ask me.

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.

I once played an Unreal Tournament on a map based on my current college and it was awesome.

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 made my house on the Sims, I guess that means I want to accidentally light it on fire.

I made a Duke Nukem 3D map of my school and my neighborhood when I was a young teenager. Did that make me a psychopathic killer? I'm killing competition as a Multimedia Designer... that's pretty much it.

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.

what if instead of people blogging on how it is unfair, everyone design a map of their school and any building of interest and then release it on the net for people to play. Surely if a few thousand maps based off real world like this are released simultaneously they will have to give up on the case at hand...

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.

Does anyone the add-on pack for Duke Nukem 3D (Atomic Meltdown I think) that started on the front lawn of the white house with the helicopter crashing into it? Surprised that hasn't been dragged up for giving terrorists idead yet!

It is good to hear that people are actually fired up about this issue. A buddy of mine in high school made a quake map of our hs a few years ago, and it wasn't considered being even remotely bad. I'm not sure when our system got to the point where we were treating this almost as a crime, but it's awful. The worst part is that censorship and rules such as this more closely resemble the attitudes of the 40's and 50's than they do the 90's. Let's keep pumping issues like this into the ears of officials and hopefully make them understand that creativity in game development is here to stay.