Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!bu.edu!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!dragon From: dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Offensive new video game... Message-ID: <21375@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: 11 Apr 90 23:56:16 GMT References: <1990Apr11.003741.4610@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <14108@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 69 In article <14108@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> bamford@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (harold.e.bamford,ihp,) writes: >rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kehaar) writes: >> ...However, the new version, >>_Bird Hunt_, really plays hardball. Rather than just ducks and clay pigeons, (etc. etc.) >Give me a break! Its the middle of April so this cannot be an >April Fools joke. It is just a video game. It isn't real. (blah blah blah blah) > >Mellow out! And if you must continue with this discussion, lets >get it out of this newsgroup. > >Jeez! > >-- Harold Hi, Harold! I think that there is someone who needs a bit more mellowing than Kehaar does. I loved your argument about people who can't distinguish fantasy from reality; I applaud it, in fact, since I've used a similar argument on the opponents of the Dungeons and Dragons game. There's one tiny little fact that you are overlooking, though: the REALITY is that 90% of the youngsters out there are not aware that hawks are protected. At least half that number think that it is actually OK, even COOL, to shoot down a hawk. Thus, to them it is NOT fantasy. Ooooo, I can hear the sound of your eyebrows being raised in utter disbelief. Take it from a fellow who has had to rescue far too many hawks who have been brought down by teenagers (and pre-teenagers) who were "just shooting at some dumb bird". That, as a matter of fact, is what I always hear when the perpetrators are caught. They didn't know any better. They didn't know any better, and Kehaar's (and my) point is that this game, while certainly mostly harmless and no more bloodthirsty than a lot of shoot-em-ups out there, does not help the situation. It's depressing for me to be busting my tail trying to educate people about hawks, only to find that there's a game out there that is reaching thousands of more kids than I could ever hope to, and giving them the exact opposite impression. Now, as to your argument about "keeping this off the net", what better newsgroup is there to discuss such a thing? We talk about birds here, yes? This article deals with birds, to a sufficient extent to be included here. What I agree does NOT belong here is the long and tedious flame-war that I see building on the horizon, so I would like to ask that any direct flames be limited to e-mail. Save the net for intellectual discourse. The greatest thrill I ever got in my life was identifying a red- shouldered hawk in the field for a policeman, in the company of the 13-year-old kid who had shot it dead in flight. Such sweet words: "This is a protected species. Officer, arrest this boy." (Yes, I'm mean and nasty! I admit it! But it felt so GOOOOOD!) -- Sam Conway * Well, may I ask what you expected dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu * to see from the window of a Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College, NH * Torquay hotel? Sydney Opera House? Vermont Raptor Center (VINS) * The Hanging Gardens of Babylon?