A Chinese student was removed from Clements High School in Fort Bend, Texas after parents complained he had re-created the school grounds in a game and uploaded the map for his friends to play. The boy was placed in the district’s alternate education school and later arrested, as the police considered him a “t erroristic threat”.
“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.
The Chinese community and the boy’s mother have rallied behind him, saying the school has acted too harshly in the wake of the Virginia Tech shoot ings. No charges were filed, though the boy won’t be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies.
Photos of the CS map can be found here: (what a shame! this map looks pretty good!)
And here’s the actual map, minus the textures:
www.megaupload.com/?d=F48893HJ
rapidshare.com/files/29195663/clmbsp.rar.html
www.megashare.com/165325
Later Update:
I found the whole story (originally hosted on Fort Bend Now):
A Chinese student has been arrested in Texas, charged with “Suspected T errorist Activity”. This student was apprehended after parents discovered that he had used plans of his High School in the creation of a map for an online first person shooter. The authorities were notified after parents learned of the map from their children, who had downloaded it off of the internet.
“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.
While no charges have been filed against the student, he has been removed from Clements High School and will not be allowed to graduate with his former classmates.
I don’t know what to say. For most of us who have ever designed a 3D environment, using familiar surroundings is very common place. With no sinister motive, designers use plans for all sorts of different areas to add variety to their designs. I don’t understand the punishment given to this student, who has been cleared of any premonitions for violence.
He has been convicted of no crime but then the school expels him? I guess “innocent until proven guilty” has no merit with the school board. Even with the authorities finding no evidence of gaming-related causes for the Virginia Tech shootings… It seems that we, as gamers, still are targeted as warped killers.
This post was written by bullets on May 3, 2007
