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Texas county student punished for making Counter-Strike map
Leo Chan - Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 | 12:43PM (PT)


Fort Bend high school investigating student who made Counter-Strike map based on school

Asian students and Valve Software's Counter-Strike are thrust into the media spotlight once again thanks to new developments in Fort Bend, Texas. A Clements High School student has been suspended and placed into a correctional center when it was discovered that he created and uploaded a custom map for Counter-Strike, which was modelled after the high school. The school initially feared a possible reprisal of the Virginia Tech school shootings thanks to the involvement of a "violent" video game, though it has noted elsewhere that the fact the student in question was Chinese adds an eerie parallel to the VT tragedy which involved another Asian student.

The Clements senior student has not been arrested over the map, but risks losing credits needed for college entrance as a result of being transferred; the student was previously set to be a part of the school's latest graduating class. A district school board meeting to consider the appeal of the school's decision was cancelled when "four board members stayed away". School officials apparently wish to leave nothing to chance, and hope to have the matter investigated further. On the other side of the fence, Fort Bend's local Chinese community is rallying in support for the student and are speaking out against the labelling of Asian students as threats thanks to the VT tragedy.

Two trustees said they called the meeting because school district officials overreacted when the Clements High School student was punished. Board members Stan Magee and Ken Bryant said the special meeting could have expedited the resolution of the case.

Magee said district officials went overboard when the 17-year-old boy was suspended from school and placed in the M.R. Wood Alternative Education Center.

"I think we overreacted as a result of the Virginia Tech ordeal," Magee said Tuesday.

But a district spokeswoman said school officials cannot afford to ignore anything involving school-based violence.

"This goes back to Columbine. Ever since that horrid incident took place schools today have to take every incident that is reported very seriously," Fort Bend ISD spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson said. "And they have to impress upon students how serious this type of thing is. We can't joke about things or take things lightly anymore."

Alternate Source: GamePolitics

Section: PC Games

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Comments:

  • 0 thumbs!
    Bill Gates03 | May 2, 07 | quote
    Do you think they went too far? If you really think about it, they are just trying to stay as safe as possible and not take chances...
  • 0 thumbs!
    Kronon | May 2, 07 | quote
    So...looks like people can't make FPS maps based on real places then.

    How stupid is that. They aren't exactly solving the problem of school shootings in America by doing that.
  • 0 thumbs!
    jonathan | May 2, 07 | quote
    I GO TO CLEMENTS...holy crap so many ppl here are friggin pissed at the fact that he's gettin expelled but we're doing this petition thing so he won't get expelled. If yall look at the screen shots of the map, it looks almost exactly like Clements. Their was like news ppl who came today and some of my friends got interviewed and said that it was very ridiculous how he's getting expelled for doing something that the game allows. FREEDOM OF FRIGGIN CHOICE... the principle is scared and all because of a possible shootout... he's chinese and my sister is in the same class as he is. She says that whenever they would have free time, he would stare off into space or just not talk to anyone...sounds like Cho from virg. tech huh? Well, now he can't graduate and his senior year was about to end which sucks a lot.
  • 0 thumbs!
    nathan | May 2, 07 | quote
    "Do you think they went too far? If you really think about it, they are just trying to stay as safe as possible and not take chances..."

    By ruining a student's academic career while making a gross generalization? Its a flippin' game! They're totally out of line here and you're pretty ignorant for trying to justify this.
  • 0 thumbs!
    fatboy | May 2, 07 | quote
    dude i know seriously cant afford any chances my ass, people can make maps as they wish, the school shouldnt be able to control that, especialy since theres no rules saying you cant make ur own maps...i have a feeling this will affect video gamers performance, thus causing another v-tech incident, some school people just simply don't know how modern students think
  • 0 thumbs!
    Allnamestaken | May 3, 07 | quote
    People Always make maps like this based on real life things lol..

    I can see why there suspicoius but woah they freaked hardcore.
  • 0 thumbs!
    HappyPants12354 | May 3, 07 | quote
  • 0 thumbs!
    iamjoe56 | May 3, 07 | quote
    YEAH! They got him the nasty ittle bugger!


    THis is in no way how I feel. This is a sick and gross misuse of the poer schools have! HAs anyone one of these babies in dress suites looked at this GAME? Counter strike is a counter terrorist game, isn't it? I fail to see what is so horrifying about a studant taking something he is familiar with, and turning it into a game map. What the *bleep*? Personelly, it is a smart thing to make a map off something you know very well, it gives you an advantage. some kid in new jersey won't know what that school looks like...this has nothing to do with games anymore. It has everything to do with the fact that teachers and principals fear any studant who acts outside of THEIR idea of what a studant should act like. They feel they have to control everything, this only goes to show how powerful they are, and how bloody mother *bleep*in' ignorant too.
  • 0 thumbs!
    GEDDEON | May 3, 07 | quote
    This could happen only in usa... are they omfg MONKEYS that they can't speak witch each other?? They don't know anything about it, except it is an ACTION game with GUNS and TERRORISTS and don't need more to know... E-sports and gaming is terrorism, yeeeaaahhhh!! *bleep*ed nation. What i know, making maps to CS is more like art,... he created a map based on school? Respect to him, if it was a good map omg! Few years ago, I've created a map based on Whitehouse and it was damn good... Im gonna be arrested!!!!??! roflmao
  • 0 thumbs!
    SillyPuddee | May 3, 07 | quote
    I wonder if I would get in trouble for drawing a picture of my school.
  • 0 thumbs!
    iamjoe56 | May 3, 07 | quote
    IF you told your teacher, yes.
  • 0 thumbs!
    AdamHill | May 3, 07 | quote
    oh, yeah, I remember this on the Feed on G4. man, this is just dumb.
  • 0 thumbs!
    SilentScream | May 3, 07 | quote
    I love how the country gets pussified by the smallest things.
  • 0 thumbs!
    iamjoe56 | May 4, 07 | quote
    yeah. Everyone here hear is appauled by violance of anykind, albiet against pixals or agaisnt people. Expecially teachers. Then you have to look at it this way. zIn what way does a Game map, built from textures models and code, influance the real world? If they had found a diagram outlineing the best places to camp out a shoot people, then they could be justified. THen look at the amount of school violance( non lethal kind, fights mobbings that sort of thing) and you have to think, where are the teachers? These idiots fear guns and they fear anyone who can shoot one effectivly( LIke myself) or anyone who can shoot it period! This country is getting to *bleep*ing wimpy...
  • 0 thumbs!
    Norad 2 | May 5, 07 | quote
    "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
    -Mark Twain
  • 0 thumbs!
    VeGiTAX2 | May 5, 07 | quote
    How absurd I have a series of maps based on real places in rotation on the net so does everyone else. What a bunch of garbage, a bunch of administrative idiots get a tip and completely take the most extreme approach to it in the name of "security" if thats the case then I guess everyone needs to be put on a watch list for making any map at all.
  • 0 thumbs!
    johnathan pryce | May 6, 07 | quote
    remember boston, look what happened with the guerill marketing of teen force. this country is so ignorant.
  • 0 thumbs!
    terry | May 7, 07 | quote
    i made a map of my school and published it just to piss them off- hehe
  • 0 thumbs!
    anon | May 8, 07 | quote
    o shit..i played on cs_747.. do u think they'll come after me for 9/11?
  • 0 thumbs!
    iamjoe56 | May 8, 07 | quote
    Hey John, give one good reason why this country is ignorant. Just one.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Angry Asian | May 8, 07 | quote
    First of all, many schools, famous places, and places in general are used as reference for designers. The student thought it would be cool to recreate his school in a game. I would sue the hell out of that school and the people responsible for overreacting. Games doesn't make people violent. People make themselves violent.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Jai | May 9, 07 | quote
    It's purely just a case of racism, big surprise.

    The sheer stupidity of the incident is staggering.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Adam X | May 9, 07 | quote
    Wow. Thats really stupid xD. Like Jai said, its a case of racism.
  • 0 thumbs!
    iamjoe56 | May 10, 07 | quote
    Partly racism, but it is mostly the fact that teachers, everyone damn one of them, hate anything that they deem violant, I have heard many say that MArio is a bad thing! THe very sad fact is the teachers must have control, they always feel the must, and as a result they excersize extreem over the top punishment against a studant who broke the "Mold"
  • 0 thumbs!
    Tyler | May 30, 07 | quote
    I live in this area too!
    but they did take it too far from what my friends told me, but the game is kick ass!
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