Student arrested for making a map of his school
by John Bardinelli 
{ May 2nd 2007 at 7:30AM }
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 "terroristic threat". 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 shootings. No charges were filed, though the boy won't be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies.We don't have to point out how ridiculous this is to our Joystiq readers. How many people have created familiar surroundings using in-game editors? We once made a partial re-creation of our college in Dr. Lunatic Supreme With Cheese. Good thing nobody found out, otherwise we'd be blogging from a soft and squishy padded room right now.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Ian Von Porter @ May 2nd 2007 7:36AM
Hey thats a great idea. Recreate a map of your target building in an FPS engine, populate it with avatars of people you dont like, then act out/practice your shooting spree so your skills are honed for the real thing.
I would have never thought about that until this came along. Hope the feds arent monitoring this site.
chenry @ May 2nd 2007 7:37AM
"Terroristic threat"? Didn't even know terroristic was a word.
dave smith @ May 2nd 2007 7:39AM
Let me get this straight: this kid took the time to learn an editor, create the map, texture and light it, upload it and share it and now He's being punished? Paranoia + Stupidity + Ignorance = this school board. I have an idea: Praise the kid for having the ambition to learn these skills, make it a school-wide project to enhance it and thereby tie in all the math ( modeling ), computer ( behavior programming )art ( texturing )and social ( LAN gameplay ) aspects that I don't know, is maybe why the school is there to begin with? What a shame such a golden opportunity to do some creative teaching and community building has fallen visctim to such rash stupidity and knee-jerk reactionism. The school board should be fired immediately after they beg this kid and his family for forgiveness.
dustandechoes91 @ May 2nd 2007 7:42AM
are you serious? We made a version of our school for quake 3 in our tech(sitaroundbitchandplaygames)club, two of our teachers even helped, and one was even a priest(no we didnt get molested).
Poisoned Al @ May 2nd 2007 7:49AM
And Americans still think they live in a free country.
conservativeinfidel @ May 2nd 2007 7:57AM
Fools are always touting the freedom of speech defense when someone does something stupid... what happened to having common sense and tact? Was it really a good idea to make a map of his school RIGHT after a school shooting? The kid's an idiot, and he got what he deserved.
Savok @ May 2nd 2007 7:56AM
First thing people did when the Doom map editors first appeared was make their own homes, they then moved onto other things like their school for practice.
To be safe we should arrest anyone who had a PC when Doom came out, and maybe a decade after.
ALH @ May 2nd 2007 7:56AM
wow. one of our formal assignments in level design this year was to make a map out of one of the buildings at the university. we were ENCOURAGED to think of elements such as defeating lecturers and shooting students.
lol amerikkka.
LordJezo @ May 2nd 2007 7:58AM
Wow, I did this same sort of thing back in uhh... 96? with Doom 1. I made a wad of our highschool and put a cyberdemon in the class room of one of our disliked teachers.
I wonder if I'd be a terrorist if I did that today.
Vinneeee @ May 2nd 2007 8:03AM
I blogged on this a couple of days ago
http://forevilresidents.blogspot.com/2007/04/modding-student-arrested.html
yes, we have all done it, and keep in mind the VT shooter didn't play any games. ridiculous.
Scarabus @ May 2nd 2007 8:06AM
The land of the free did it again.
lol
matthew @ May 2nd 2007 8:06AM
Yes, "terroristic" is a word. The term "terroristic threat" is a specific crime in most US jurisdictions, and generally means "threats of terror-related behavior".
Wah @ May 2nd 2007 8:09AM
:D I mapped both my elementary, middle, and high schools in various games, (More then three.) Along with my college. Not to metion my home, my business, etc.
bony @ May 2nd 2007 8:11AM
WoW. I actually went to this school. I got sent to alternative school from there as well because I moved and got transfered out, then I skipped my new school one day to go back to Clements to pick up my gf. Some kid ratted me out while I was on campus. They are pretty paranoid there.
Zeromaru @ May 2nd 2007 8:11AM
"Was it really a good idea to make a map of his school RIGHT after a school shooting? The kid's an idiot, and he got what he deserved."
I just looked it up, and this school has on the order of over 2000 students. That's bigger than the university in my hometown (which, btw, I once attempted to recreate in RPG Maker, but the process became too long and time consuming). So chances are, this is a majorly large freakin' school, one that probably took months to map out. The VA Tech shootings most likely happened after he was finished as well, but the kid was of Asian descent like the VA Tech shooter, so obviously everything he ever did would go under scrutiny. It IS America, after all.
Saul @ May 2nd 2007 8:13AM
Sadly, I doubt this would have happenned if the kid in question hadn't been Asian. Are we seen a new form of racism in the US?
Coyote @ May 2nd 2007 8:13AM
“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.
This is a joke right? I feel down right sick at seeing what this country has become.. Its not like child on child murder is anything new. Ever heard of Cane & Abel? These actions do nothing but scare our children and take away our freedoms.
playclever @ May 2nd 2007 8:13AM
I mapped my school out in Duke Nukem 3D back in the day. I never knew I was a terrorist...
Topher @ May 2nd 2007 8:15AM
@ #3 AMEN! The kid should be praised and his talent should be recognized. There wasn't even a gaming connection with vtech but now's a time to live in paranoia I guess.
kingofwale @ May 2nd 2007 8:17AM
wait, you can get arrested for putting an actual building/structure into your game?
is the police station ran by Thompson?
hegemonyhog @ May 2nd 2007 8:19AM
"Was it really a good idea to make a map of his school RIGHT after a school shooting? The kid's an idiot, and he got what he deserved."
One of the beautiful parts of the Constitution that we nominally live under is that our rights are protected even in the face of grossly criminal acts. The state can't (theoretically) suspend our rights because of someone else's acts.
So, no - the kid had every right to do what he did, and the administrators should be ashamed of themselves.
CakeOrDeath @ May 2nd 2007 8:19AM
@conservativeinfidel
Don't be so rediculous. The kid got arrested for terrorism for using a map editor!! He did absolutely nothing wrong. And he should not be expected to design his actions around overeacting soccer mums and the American Police.
I bet it didn't help that he was Asian either.
Jon @ May 2nd 2007 8:19AM
LOL America.
Anyway my gf recreated her university's campus map on autocad a few years ago when she was doing her undergraduate. Nothing big happened whatsoever. She even used The Sims to simulate how a typical student's dorm look like because she did not want to pay for one of those tacky interior design programs. She graduated with 1st class honours.
This news is just sad.
Scarabus @ May 2nd 2007 8:20AM
@ #18. Racism is fueled by ignorance. So in this case I'm afraid you are 100% right.
Vince @ May 2nd 2007 8:20AM
This seems like straight-up racism.
Jake @ May 2nd 2007 8:20AM
Arresting him is crossing the line, big time. Charging him as well. That is absurd. They could have talked to him and monitored him a bit and that would be fine.
Rubang B @ May 2nd 2007 8:29AM
Holy crap somebody interested in making maps made a map of the building they are the most familiar with!
DESTROY THEM AND EVERYTHING THEY LOVE!
msh_hitman @ May 2nd 2007 8:32AM
Makes me ashamed to live in America with bullshit like this. I'm actually scared to release a Counter-Strike map loosely based on a tiny part of my local downtown for fear of untold stupidity happening. o_o'
Pete @ May 2nd 2007 8:35AM
How the fuck is this racism? If a white person drew a map of the school they would do exactly the same thing. Anyone remember a school called Columbine? Schools are just on edge right now and trying to prevent another VT incident...looking for any signs. Is it a knee-jerk reaction? Yes, however that is human nature.
Dave @ May 2nd 2007 8:41AM
How ironic. A Chinese kid whose family probably came to America, the "home of the free", only to be treated like Chinese in China. This country is shit. Anyone who thinks we're free is delusional.
Rob @ May 2nd 2007 8:46AM
@conservativeinfidel:"Fools are always touting the freedom of speech defense when someone does something stupid... what happened to having common sense and tact?"
Free speech != tactful speech. It doesn't matter whether or not you agree with it, it doesn't matter whether or not it's tactful. That's the freaking POINT of free speech. Popular speech doesn't need defending.
Lunarman55 @ May 2nd 2007 8:47AM
Wow...this is insane. I remember just a year ago when I started making a CS:S map of my school. I asked the principal first, he said yes and even provided me with a scaled down copy of the blue print.
darkdreamr @ May 2nd 2007 8:56AM
lol.. god .. i wonder what they are gonna do to the guy who made the whitehouse level for duke nukem 3d. youd think they would have considered him a threat a lonnnnggg time ago lmao.
Patrick @ May 2nd 2007 9:00AM
Cartography skills are the new bomb-making. I say we blame Magellan.
Muu @ May 2nd 2007 9:04AM
Knee-jerk reaction, yes. But at the same time, with the number of these ridiculous cases beginning to circulate post-VT, these teachers should KNOW already that their extreme non-tolerance is going to get them some national media coverage.
BTW: posts from the article say that the alleged map was on the kid's server for over two months, made into a problem only after a parent saw their child playing it post-VT incident.
Boss Tempo @ May 2nd 2007 9:10AM
You mean there's a possibility that some hillbilly racist rednecks still poking around in Texas?! No way man. No frigging way.
If you ask me, kids deserve a little frightening from time to time. Most kids today are clueless little punks who have no idea what's going on in the world around them - I say scare the living bejesus out of those little know-it-all punks.
Would this have happened if it was a Nerf Arena Blast mod?
sheppy @ May 2nd 2007 9:13AM
Heh, mapmakers for mods usually start with buildings that are familiar. Schools work well just by their design. Of course you would have to do things like connect rooms with doorways but by their function and layouts, schools make great video game maps. And your average person takes a couple months on a map so this obviously wasn't just thrown together. This was a product of hard work and should be encouraged, not punished.
But this incident has three strikes against it.
1. It's Texas. If you can tell me what the hell texans are thinking at any given moment, I would appreciate it. Because, right now, it seems California, Florida, and Texas are our crazy states.
2. A fear based media system has everyone on edge.
3. Ignorant police. They confiscated a hammer. A hammer. I was not aware Home Depot was an arms dealer.
Kiey @ May 2nd 2007 9:16AM
When I was in Junior High and playing winQuake on the school computers, we had te same idea to build a multiplayer map in Quake set in the school. It never came to be, but it was a cool idea at the time, and I still think it is now.
More recently I have a friend who designed a CS level based on a Unitarian church where we used to have LAN parties, and then he made a HL2:DM level based on another friend's house.
My point is it's only natural as a gamer, and a FPS player, to want to play the game in a familiar environment. It makes the game far more enjoyable when you have a connection like that between real life and the game. So apparently all they've done is potentially ruin the potential game developing career of this kid.
RUSKULL @ May 2nd 2007 9:23AM
Texas: If you aint white, yer a terist.
Zanzabar @ May 2nd 2007 9:26AM
This is absolutely ridiculous.. Generally I read joystiq and never comment, but this story hits far too close to home.. its sad when something like this starts happening..
There was a time back in the day, when me and a really good friend of mine (rest in peace) created a mod for duke nukem 3d, which was an exact model of our high school also.... Guess I should be committed for that too huh?
This is outrageous..
sirlaitier @ May 2nd 2007 9:32AM
I remember making my dorm building in TimeSplitters...somebody slap the cuffs on me.
I know this sounds crazy, but maybe it would be a good idea to see if this kid has any sort of history of violence? Map-making is QUITE an aggressive behavior, I know, but maybe it was a fluke.
The fact that he can no longer graduate with his class is a shame.
Joseph Villalobos @ May 2nd 2007 9:32AM
Oh My God! Are you cereal? I am so glad I am no longer a student in school these days, it's ridiculas! I remember when I was a student not only did I make my neighborhood in Duke 3D, but I did the High School and I was working on the Community College. I feel sorry for every creative student these days.
dave @ May 2nd 2007 9:35AM
Actually, this is a demonstration of why freedom of speech is necessary. America isn't the only country guilty of these problems. Laws aren't a substitute for ignorance and stupidity, of the school board's and of the parent's in this situation.
This matter should be referred to the ACLU.
typoink @ May 2nd 2007 9:40AM
This is clearly an instance of overreaction on the school's part, but it's not the horribly dire portent of facism in the US that many are making it out to be. It's knee-jerk reactionism after a pretty stunning. The kid wasn't charged with anything, just detained and hassled. Lousy? Yeah. Kafkaesque? Not quite there.
School boards HAVE to take this stuff seriously, and at least follow up. There's nothing wrong with that. Where things went wrong is in the overreaction. Clearly, the board decided to react as strongly as possible, which is rarely the right thing to do.
I had a somewhat similar situation back in my highschool days (back in the just after Columbine days). When a teacher noticed I had "I am become death" written on my graphing calculator, I was recommended to talk with the school shrink. I didn't resent it at all -- and it took all of five minutes for him to realize that I wasn't going to shoot anybody and that I just liked writing movie quotes on my school suppliess (Full Metal Jacket was one of my favorites at the time).
There's nothing wrong with a school taking some interest in a kid who's made a map of said school for use in his FPS of choice. What's wrong is panicking and giving the kid grief over issues that really don't mean anything at the end of the day.
Part of the problem that's very hard to communicate to outsiders is that beginning modellers / mappers really need to start by recreating familiar environments. Highschoolers spend a lot of time at schools, so it's natural for schools to be something they'll attempt to recreate, especially since schools are easier (if larger) than homes and are much more functional maps to boot.
I'd be curious to see if his map was actually a good attempt at recreating the geometry and appearance of his school or if it was a quick job that was pretty obviously meant as a "lol school shooting!" type thing.
AirIntake @ May 2nd 2007 9:42AM
Wow, do American's still think they live in the land of the free? Yeah, free like Iran.
Zertoss @ May 2nd 2007 9:44AM
I live in Texas. The racism here is usually (and sadly) focused on the Hispanics. And even that is slowly getting rarer. I think it's been going down at a rate equal to the number of idiots that manage to remove themselves from the gene pool here in Texas every day. Most of the racism I still hear (that isn't anti-Hispanic) just comes from really old people who aren't going to be around much longer anyway.
Man, all this hate towards Texas. Some of you guys aren't much better than these idiots.
Ocho @ May 2nd 2007 10:52AM
As I grow older, I realize more and more that just because someone's an authority, it doesn't mean they know what they're doing.
And that's both frightening and disappointing.
Chris @ May 2nd 2007 9:50AM
Security+lives>freedom of speech
so all the anti-americans saying
"This country is shit. Anyone who thinks we're free is delusional." are the retards who can go to iran and notice how fortunate they actually are.
(BTW im from the UK)
Christopher7xii @ May 2nd 2007 9:49AM
Just wow... I don't think it has to do with the kid being Chinese at all though. I just think it's being overly worried (if there is such a thing) for another 30+ body count.
Again, knee-jerk reaction though. Personally I'd be pissed if I was in this family. Your son isn't allowed to go to commencement for making a map in a video game. Not to mention it'll be on his record that he was arrested now.
Sergio Tapia @ May 2nd 2007 9:51AM
He really deserves to be kicked out, not for making a map of his school; but for making a map of his school SO SOON AFTER VTECH.
Dumb dumb dumb.
Still, the way USA is going, I'm glad I live in a third world country. At least here it's safe to go to school, to go the bank, to go the grocery. Not having to worry if some sniper is going to kill me or blow up an embassy.
USA will fall, just like Rome.