Some HS kids looking to get shot!!!

[Dionysusigma]

I'm with everyone that likes this stuff. One year in college, there was such a game but involved "melee" combat instead of guns... your target had to be smacked with a tube sock weighted with another tube sock in the toe. No guns, nor arson (it'd be interesting to see what someone would come up with for that, using only socks... ) and IIRC, people had a lot of fun.

Some day, I'd like to do it myself.

 

[TheLastBoyScout]

DUDE!

I've gotta figure out some way to make this work up at my camp this season. It sounds like a hell of a staff morale booster/ staff idle time killer.

 

[bradvanhorn]

Yes it sounds like a lot of fun, and yes it sounds like a great way to get someone shot.

Let's see, hypothetical situation... some kid is trying to "assassinate" your daughter. Your daughter is coming home from an evening of studying in the library. You happen to look out the window and see her being dropped off by friends. It's dark, but you also notice what appears to be someone lurking in the shadows. Everyday you hear about sex predators, kidnappers, home invaders, etc., so you immediately react to the threat by grabbing your gun and heading outside. You get outside as your daughter reaches the porch and you see someone step out and point what appears to be a gun at her. Your reaction is to aim and fire. You now have shot and probably killed some kid with a toy gun.

You may pick apart my scenario as extreme, unrealistic, pick an adjective, but I assure you, go back and read articles about police shooting people who only were "playing" around, my hypothetical situation is totally possible. Also, I don't call it mistaken or accidental shooting, because under the circumstances of those incidents, the threat appeared real at that moment, and the response was appropriate to the perceived threat. Only when the dust settles do we find out it was a squirt gun, dart gun, whatever. When someone you can't identify is pointing a "gun" at you or your child and you're in the dark are you really going to take the time to try to locate the orange safety cap?

In a more controlled environment, like summer camp, where there is generally no reasonable expectation someone might be out to do harm, then this is probably great fun. At home, school, work, whether "against the rules" or not, someone could easily end up getting hurt. "It hasn't happened yet" you say? Well, I don't want to be the first person to have to offer my condolances to another parent because their kid was killed due to a game.

 

[bogie]

I actually won a game of Assassin in college. Came down to two of us, the fellow runs up to me, and his dart gun malfed... So I took my own sweet time, standing in the middle of the street in front of my dorm.

I think it'd be great for a summer camp... Only I'd include at least one hockey mask in the props...

 

[tc300mag1]

It does sound like fun but the orignal post of this sounds like people getting out of hand

 

[HankB]

In the '70's we had "water pistol wars" in high school right before summer break. It wasn't in the least bit organized, but it was a way to let off some steam between - and sometimes in! - classes.

The "magnum" of the day was an oversized replica hypodermic syringe (by oversized, I mean it held a good pint of water) concealed in a rolled up newspaper. None of the "weapons" looked the least bit realistic.

Squirt guns were occasionally confiscated by a teacher, but that was it.

Until "someone" squirted the prinicpal of the school from a cracked window as he was walking in . . . they had an announcement that day promising dire consequences for whoever was caught with a squirt gun.

Of course, I have NO IDEA who committed such a nefarious act. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Penforhire]

Maybe times have changed but I was playing this back in the mid-80's too. Squirt guns were not clever enough. A good clean kill was sneaking a note under a guy's can of Coke saying it was poisoned...

 

[falconer]

We used to do this when I lived in the dorms. The only difference is we used marshmellows. Dorm rooms and elevators were the only "safe" zones.

 

[Iain]

http://www.dur.ac.uk/assassins.society/

All fun and games. Several friends were involved back in those days, ex was a runner-up once. The next game she was killed early, whilst she was with me. Guy ran up behind her and shot her in the back of the head. I nearly clocked him because the fact that it could just happen like that really upset me.

 

[c_yeager]

A hugely popular game in colleges accross the country and lots of fun too. It's not real hard to avoid getting shot for real since the rules ALWAYS require the use of brightly colored plastic water pistols or somesuch.

 

[Jeepman]

Perhaps the HS kids could take a lesson from the older (wiser?) players of the game. It certainly sounds like a blast, but some restraint is always necesary. I like the idea of the requirement to use a brightly colored squirt gun or super soaker.

 

[Red_SC]

We did it a sometimes in college, too. We always used dart guns or rubber bands. There was less chance of getting shot on campus, because there were very few guns on campus. (It was a very conservative Christian college.) It could be loads of fun. You'd be sitting at your desk doing homework and a three man hit team would burst in on you. Your roommates would be yelling or providing cover fire while you were taking cover behind the desk trying to return fire. Good times, kept life interesting.

 

[Diggler]

One Easton parent, who asked not to be identified, said her daughter dropped out of the game out of concerns for her safety.

"She took herself out. It was just getting out of control," she said.

What did she do? Dump a bucket of water over her head?

 

[abaddon]

Some people at my college played a similar game called Mafia. There would be two teams of about 20 or so and they could only use certain types of dart guns, all very noticeable as not real. To make it more challenging you had to hit them in either the head or the neck. Looked to me like a fun and safe game.

Jeff

 

[Heraclitus]

Hell, we shouldn't judge a book by its cover. These are the same kids who regularly attend Church, sponsor local charities, and organize neighborhood cleanup rallies. Give 'em a break.

 

[Jeepman]

No one ever said they were bad kids, I can think of much worse things they could be doing. But, my whole point was if they were careless someone is going to mistake a realistic looking squirtgun for a real gun, then someone gets hurt.

 

[Gewehr98]

Doesn't anybody wonder why...

Hell, we shouldn't judge a book by its cover. These are the same kids who regularly attend Church, sponsor local charities, and organize neighborhood cleanup rallies. Give 'em a break.

Society is going the way it is when we're supporting and encouraging kids and young adults who are practicing stalking other humans, and simulating the administration of a coup de grace'? That's really a quality I want to see in my kids some day.

 

[Heraclitus]

Gosh! Doesn't anyone know sarcasm when they read it?

My nom de plume is Heraclitus, for cryin' out loud.

 

[Strings]

Gewehr98:

Do you allow kids to play with toy guns? Usually, Killer is geared twords people old enough to understand the difference between what they're doing in the game and real life...

I've had several people make the same arguement against paintball/airsoft: "it teaches you to break the rules!". However, if you're old enough to play the game, you SHOULD be able to differentiate between the make believe world of the game, and real life. The problems crop up with those who are unable to do so (actually... RPGs have a similar problem)...

 

[Heraclitus]

if you're old enough to play the game, you SHOULD be able to differentiate between the make believe world of the game, and real life. The problems crop up with those who are unable to do so

I couldn't agree more. But I also believe that people are composite beings, and that a person's basic nature can be culled from the sum of his or her activities. I don't care whether or not kids relish Grand Theft Auto or Hitman: Silent Assassins, or even if they act out those roles in fantasyland; but if that's all they do, day in and day out, 7 days a week, then there are some dark and dirty issues a-brewing, and it's time to call a shrink.

 

[OF]

It does sound like fun but the orignal post of this sounds like people getting out of hand.

And who's fault is that? What is the solution?

In ninny-land, where we all live now, it's obvious: Ban the game.

The end result of ninny-land policies: nobody gets to have any fun, ever, because some people are too stupid to control themselves.

If someone gets in a car accident, they got in a car accident. What difference does it make if they were playing a game or eating a big mac or just a bad driver? Why does everyone have to pay the price for the morons on this planet?

It was said before: what this planet needs is a 20ft-long flying predator.

- Gabe

 

[brownie0486]

You take your chances in life playing games where anything could be mistaken inadvertently as a weapon by another person.

In a dorm room, fine.
On a campus, fine.

On the public ways of the Commonwealth, the highways and byways passing through towns open to the public? Bad move.

A game is a game, yes, but when the game becomes dangerous for society in general on public ways, it needs to be stopped before one of them kills themselves, another innocent, etc with a vehicle. The high speed chases are not a game or even remotely considered acceptable in society today.

It could be that the powers that be in police, and the college itself, allowing the "game" to continue will bring trajedy in the community one way or the other. Then heads will roll, cries will ring out from outraged parents that something should have been done to stop the antics in public altogether before it resulted in injury or death.

It's a problem waiting to be culminated with an unfortunate or deadly result.

Brownie

 

[armoredman]

Anyone remember the move T.A.G., the Assassination Game? Rent it.

 

[OF]

So the solution to the problem, in your opinion Brownie, is to ban the game as opposed to holding individuals responsible for what they alone decide, of their own free will, to do.

- Gabe

 

[ny32182]

"Banning the game" will have as much effect as banning anything else. But we are headed toward "ninny-land", so why not?

I guess what we need is some extra laws about commiting crimes while playing games. "Speeding while gaming" should carry twice the fine and points as just speeding for the hell of it.

Running over pedestrians? "Vehicular homicide while gaming". Much more serious than simply running someone over while not gaming, IMO... should carry a penalty of life without parole.

We've got to get rid of the games for the children.