Images of the Clements High student's "terroristic" maps
by John Bardinelli 
{ May 3rd 2007 at 11:59AM }
The blood! The horror! The ... wait. Actually, they don't look half bad. Makes their school look rather appealing, wouldn't you agree? The "Let Freedom Ring for All People" banner is a nice touch, as well. Call us crazy, but we don't see what's so "terroristic" about these creations.
[Via Digg]
Gallery: Clements High maps
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
hegemonyhog @ May 3rd 2007 12:03PM
Al-Qaeda is watching our games of CounterStrike.
They're learning. And they're camping. Fuckers.
Robert @ May 3rd 2007 12:04PM
Counter-strike eh?
Didn't the kid from VA play CS, too? Perhaps they think CS trains terrorists and/or school shooters.
kingofwale @ May 3rd 2007 12:04PM
Omg, is that the map he made? Damn, the kid's a genius..
I smell a conspiracy here, instead of 'being punished', I think he's being highjacked by FBI to work on the hyper-secret defense project. ;)
man, that map looks sweeeet.
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:05PM
Nice work. Seeya at Gitmo
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:07PM
The real reason they punished this kid is because making a school map encourages camping like crazy, with all those closets, long hallways, stairs, etc.
Also, they did not want inappropriate sprays tagged all over the virtua school.
I REALLY hope this map becomes the next big thing on the CSS servers! Is it well balanced? Do some areas actually WARRANT nightvision? Is it a good map for gungame?
chenry @ May 3rd 2007 12:08PM
Al-Qaeda are a bunch of AWP-whores.
@3: The news outlets that printed that detail about the VTech shooter being a CS player retracted the story.
Theta @ May 3rd 2007 12:10PM
The fact that a kid was brandished a terrorist for making something like this is just flat out depressing...
C.A. @ May 3rd 2007 12:13PM
Yes, he should 100% be able to make that and is not a criminal.
The problem is, if anyone playing that map used it for some crime at the school would anyone that doesn't play games care?
And yes, that's stupid because a criminal could get blueprints that are public domain for free, but people are stupid and will overreact to anything.
Lord Chako @ May 3rd 2007 12:13PM
Thats actually a pretty good representation of Clements. He even got the Rangers (school mascot) emblem in the commons.
Theta @ May 3rd 2007 12:13PM
erm...branded
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:15PM
the USA is losing the war in Iraq because insurgents are aimbotting AK whores, not to mention their autosnipes kill in 2 chest shots, whereas the Sig550 takes 3. We need to reset that war so we can regain the advantage in the early parts where we had usps and they had glocks. and IEDs.
Todd @ May 3rd 2007 12:15PM
That's impressive. Well done. The kid should graduate and go on to MIT where he can make better use of his bomb making, I mean computer programming, skills.
Zanzabar @ May 3rd 2007 12:17PM
Hey here's another tip... You can probably see their high school from google maps... OMG NO! Now they have a complete layout of their school grounds, and surrounding areas.. SUE GOOGLE! ARREST GOOGLEHEADS!!
Chris @ May 3rd 2007 1:13PM
Seems more like school spirit to me. If he wanted to make a map to lay out his evil gunman plans he probably wouldn't have worried about the details. What a crock.
Jon @ May 3rd 2007 12:18PM
OMG OMG they should lock him up and throw away the keys. Oh the horror...!
And what the hell are those:
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/clements-high-maps-1/231737/
I didn't know terroristic hobbits are schooled there.
Lord Chako @ May 3rd 2007 12:20PM
He is not a criminal. He hasn't been charged with any crime, he wasn't arrested, he did not goto jail. He just got in trouble with the school officials.
You don't have to commit a crime at school in order to get in trouble. If a school official deems something "inappropriate", than you are at their mercy.
Obviously in the wake of the Virgina Tech massacre, some higher up found this to be inappropriate, and decided to punish him.
It's a shame, yes. But that is what happens when school officials are given more discretion than those who uphold the law.
Grog @ May 3rd 2007 12:21PM
You should really remove the picture with the "Snipers Here" drawn on it - it misrepresents what was going on. The pictures themselves are OK, and certainly don't imply he was plotting to kill his classmates (though your addition does).
Jack of No Trades @ May 3rd 2007 12:22PM
Yea! Yea!
They should lock him up and make use of his advanced modeling skills on the powerhouse supercomputer knows as the Wii.
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:24PM
Is CSS a terror trainer? Let's find out:
1. CSS teaches you how to load a weapon: IF YOU LOOK REEEAAAALLL CAREFUL
2. CSS teaches you how to aim: YES. IRL RETICLE NOT INCLUDED
3. CSS teaches you how to unjam a weapon: WHAT ARE A JAM?
4. CSS teaches you fighting tactics: CIRCLE STRAFE FTW & NEVER CAMP CAMPING SUX
Theta @ May 3rd 2007 12:24PM
@ 17
*laughs* You're good
Lord Chako @ May 3rd 2007 12:28PM
If trolling is good,
I guess he is the best.
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:27PM
@19
1st rule of Joystiq: don't encourage J.O.N.T.
h0tr0d cO @ May 3rd 2007 12:29PM
Wow! That map looks really good. It's obvious he put a lot of time into the map, and was probably working on it well before the VT incident.
I always dreamed of making my old high school in CS, but just wasn't talented enough to do it. I used to daydream of a "Red-Dawn" type situation and thought it would make a great CS map.
Perhaps the release of this map is in good taste, but by no means an offense worthy of the punishment that was dealt him. It seems obvious his rights have been violated by everyone involved.
Our soldiers are fighting for the freedom of Iraqis, but ignorant public officials and police are oppressing us by taking away our freedom of speech. How is this fair to the American people?
btw...I'm from Texas, and only a couple hours away from this school.
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:32PM
@22
The great thing about Texas is the "only a couple hours from" deal, like my other Texan friend used to say. In NJ, you'll be hard pressed to avoid hearing "It's too far, it's 20 minutes away!"
Lord Chako @ May 3rd 2007 12:39PM
Thats because in Texas, you don't measure distance in miles, only time.
Ask somebody how far it is from houston to san antonio, and they'll tell you 3 hours. Ask them how many miles it is, and they'll scratch their head.
Jack of No Trades @ May 3rd 2007 12:39PM
I will say it agian....
Its better to be safe than sorry. What if that kid was planning a shooting?
Roger @ May 3rd 2007 12:43PM
i like it. i rather go through the school looking about than shooting. damn!
hegemonyhog @ May 3rd 2007 12:45PM
"He is not a criminal. He hasn't been charged with any crime, he wasn't arrested, he did not goto jail. He just got in trouble with the school officials."
He did get arrested, actually, on charges of making terroristic threats.
Jonathan Tran @ May 3rd 2007 12:47PM
You are only considered a criminal if you are actually found guilty of a crime. If you were accused of theft, and it turned out to be false, you are not considered a "criminal" by the courts or by most of society.
kreftron @ May 3rd 2007 12:50PM
I would guess that the people up in arms (whoops!) about this are mostly concerned that the word "Terrorist" is displayed so prominently on the top of the map. They don't care that the kid used the CS engine, they just see "Terrorist" and the outline of a school and jump to the only logical conclusion. Only logical when misinformed about the idea of a "game engine", but nonetheless...
Lord Chako @ May 3rd 2007 12:51PM
I saw that after I posted. He was arrested, but not charged with anything. Pretty much, they arrested him, questioned him, and let him go.
It's the school officials that are making more out of it than they should. But like I said, you don't have to break a law to get in trouble at school. Some higher up deemed this inappropriate, and decided he should be punished.
it-hobbit @ May 3rd 2007 6:52PM
@28. Pretty much like OJ then?
Todd @ May 3rd 2007 1:05PM
I wonder if this is a case of profiling. If the kid were caucasian he probably wouldn't have this much heat. I'm sure he would be allowed to graduate and not have been arrested.
randomshagz @ May 3rd 2007 1:15PM
He made a virtual tour of his school and he got in trouble? Personally if someone modeled my school in 3D using the HL2 Engine I would be more inclined to walk around and take in the environment. I have seen some pretty amazing maps on CS:S. Personally it doesn’t look all that great in terms of what is out there… but it is a good looking map in terms of it’s a 3D representation of his school. The GTA games, True Crime: Streets of LA, and Universal Studio Tour and the Spiderman movie games, are somewhat modeled after real life locations. I live in LA and we have enough weirdos in costumes walking around in Hollywood.
Its important though… the game he made it was in CS:S. What type of map is it? Bombsite, Hostages, or Gun game? If it’s a Bombsite map, what is being blown up? If it’s a hostage map, who and why are there hostages. If it was Gun Game, then I think there are to many hiding spots. It is kind of scary to think that it’s the Principal’s office being blown up. If I were the Principal I would be pissed, if not erk’d.
I still think his punishment was a bit harsh, but at the same time he should have just said at the beginning. “I wanted to making a full 3D tour of the school using the Half-Life 2 Engine due to the already polished programming.”
Something like that…
softgun @ May 3rd 2007 1:20PM
Lord Chako: That's true actually. I'm from Houston, and I probably couldn't tell you (mileage-wise) how far First Colony/Fort Bend is from San Antonio.
Jack of No Trades: you sound like Jack Off My Thompson now with your paranoia
Razoric @ May 3rd 2007 1:25PM
@ randomshagz:
He shouldnt have to make ANY excuses as to way he made the map. He could've made it for his friends to go around the map and shoot each other or he could've made it because he thought it would be a cool challenge / idea for a map. Last time I checked this is still a free country.
jabbertrack @ May 3rd 2007 1:25PM
The lesson here is do NOT get caught in the quad. That is a fucking death trap.
IanC @ May 3rd 2007 1:32PM
That is one awesome looking map.
Derek @ May 3rd 2007 1:35PM
I can understand why the school might be concerned that a student spent hours obsessively creating a map of the school - whether it was a video-game or hand-drawn. However, could they not have talked to the kid to figure out his intentions? Why would he need to be punished?
TeddyN @ May 3rd 2007 1:37PM
I hope the guy is able to read the comments of support he's getting, wouldn't want him to get pissed off at the authorities and go on a rampage.
Roger @ May 3rd 2007 1:38PM
how about a place to download? id love to look around this map. its SO cool! id rather explore than shoot. office1 is more my cup of tea. but is it a crime to make maps if people want to EXPLORE and NOT SHOOT?
duglife @ May 3rd 2007 4:56PM
as an alumni of clements ('96) i can say that these pictures of the map are fairly acurate. yes there are half lockers over looking the cafeteria, yes there is a giant, patriotic eagle head. this kid did an amazing job. it was bringing back memories for me.
like when my friends and i tried to map the school in the wolf3d engine. those were dark times, my friends...
Ted @ May 3rd 2007 1:41PM
I don't think Americans are stupid but I think U.S. society sometimes induces people to act stupidly. For example, these school authorities are influenced by such fear of accountability and a culture of 'no overreaction to danger is too extreme' that they behave in a manner completely detached from common sense, intelligence and rationality.
randomshagz @ May 3rd 2007 1:43PM
@ Razoric
Yeah, but look what happen. He got fucked.
No shit he made the map to shoot his friends. Shooting at friends is the best shit ever. If I could Airsoft/Paintball at my old highschool without any repercussions I would do it in a heartbeat.
So you lie to some to some stupid school officials and get off the hook and graduate with your friends, and now get into a good school, where you eventually make enough money to buy better Airsoft guns can afford to buy a house with a huge back yard and you and your friends can Airsoft all you want. Then also afford to have your friends come over and LAN party all nigh because everyone has their own super computer to play on because you make too much money.
Yes, fuck that he shouldn’t have to make up ANY excuses because America is a Free country!
But, Tokyo Marui Airsoft Guns and Super Computers aren’t.
Yelling out headshot across the room… Priceless.
Pzychotix @ May 3rd 2007 1:51PM
"25. I will say it agian....
Its better to be safe than sorry. What if that kid was planning a shooting?"
Then he wouldn't have been playing with a bunch of his friends and kept the whole thing secret. There's nothing here that would imply a shooting. Hell, the police investigated and found nothing that implied a shooting. If the police found nothing of the sort, then on what grounds does the school administration have to punish him (other than the fact that they just can)?
Honestly, this is just way too out of hand. When I was in middle school (about a year after columbine), one of my friends said off-handedly, "Oh yeah, I'm really gonna bomb the school." The substitute teacher jumped up and ran and grabbed the principal and got him sent off for two weeks. Regardless of whether he was speaking completely sarcastically, that everyone acknowledged that it was a joke, even the principal, he was sent away.
Fuck zero-tolerance bullshit.
Loki @ May 3rd 2007 2:33PM
What happened to the good old days of burning books?
Jack of No Trades @ May 3rd 2007 2:18PM
@it-hobbit
YES!! JUST LIKE FUCKING OJ!!
lol
Roger @ May 3rd 2007 2:25PM
its our pussy esc socioty. good cartoons are gone with retard pants. movies are tone down. tv shows end early at the sight of contravercy. i hate this pussy esc socioty! people get some balls. maybe the kid was making it to be like places he knows? if i play the sims 2 open for buisiness and make a mall of america and burn it down, does that make me a planning arsonist?
randomshagz @ May 3rd 2007 2:33PM
@Roger
No it just makes you a really bad mall owner.
...but then again, my Theme park has too much ice in the soda and I charge an arm and a leg for prizes you have a 2% chance of winning.
sheppy @ May 3rd 2007 2:37PM
This map wasn't made after the VT shooting. Hell, it had been passed among friends for several months before the VT shooting. After the VT shooting, some parents expressed concerns over the map in question and launch and investigation.
Police searched his house, labeled the map of terroristic intent, confiscated a hammer because Home Depot is the new arms dealer for all the cool kids nowadays, and eventually let him go.
His school then preceeded to remove him from the regular students to the behavior disorder section of their school system and denied him the ability to attend his graduation ceremony with his friends.
That is what happened. So while he was not made a criminal, he was made a social outcast based on a ridiculous fear and was robbed of one of the most important events of a young adults life. How in the FUCK is that fair?
And, incidently, we are not the only people jumping to his defense. In fact, a large amount of his own community is fighting against this injustice. A large number of students are trying to get him back into the school where he belongs with his friends.