Slashdot Mirror
Games in High School?
Joe Griego of Bishop Union High School, CA asks: "I'm the Director of I.T. for a small school district, and we've implemented a 'Game Night' for our kids. We open the lab once or twice a month, and let the kids sign up for the lab computers (we have 34 of them), and play LAN games until the wee hours. It's a lot of fun for the kids, and I enjoy seeing them use the computers for recreation, as opposed to purely academic purposes. However, my question would be - do other high schools even do this?" Judging by the post-Columbine reactions from the government, parent's groups, school systems, and the media, if a school is doing this, it's probably on the QT. Personally, I think this is a great idea, it keeps kids off of the streets and their parents know where they are. What do you think?
"I'd like to know what sorts of games would be best for this activity? We play Age of Empires II, Starcraft/Broodwar, and MechWarrior IV. I would have liked to include first person shooters (for the gameplay), but I'm limited by parental concerns, and perceptions in the community. As a school administrator and parent, I understand these concerns in a way the kids perhaps do not.
Are there other games that would be suitable for a school sponsored event? I'd love to hear about experiences at other schools."
No.
we didn't have "network games." Heck, we didn't even have a network. But in college... this sort of activity would get you booted from the lab.
That is, if the lab admin ever looked up from his network game.
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
It's going to be fun watching Jon Katz's brain melt when he reads this article.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
As a parent, I can say that "more addictive than heroin" may not be considered a selling point.
Nevertheless, I have to say (as I did further down) that Civilization is perfect!
when i was in high school we played doom on the school network. except we didn't call it 'game night', we called it 'AP Comp Sci'.
I had a girlfriend. I knew there was a logical explanation.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Even low-end cards can run UT and Q3 not bad...
In the university I go to, we have some standard vid-cards yet Q3 gameplay is really not so bad. Sure it is choppy, but who cares when u can release some study stress by fraggin other students...
^_^
...in my high school, we were left with nothing more sophisticated than that Q-basic bananna game.
At least you could tweak the settings to throw "nuclear" banannas.....
These are high school kids. If you want to give them free beer, you're going to have to do it behind the 7-11.
-prator
Well, one day, he was in the lab alone, in a hacker forum somewhere on the net where he told everybody how l33t he was and how they should all bow before him. In about an hour the real hackers had the school networks shut down.
Xaotik Designs
On the otherside, when I was on the chess team in H.S., I played 2-3 hours per day. Nobody complained about it, maybe because the graphics weren't as good
Whaddaya mean? With features like: Nearly Infinite Resolution(TM), Ultrareal 3D(TM), Force Feedback(Patent pending), Texture Feedback(U.S. Patent 4242424242) and the fact that it is ultra-low power design makes Real Chess(TM) the most realistic simulation of a board game yet. Real Chess, it doesn't get any more real than this!(TM)
Seriously, you DO know that you can play Solitare and Freecell with real cards, right?
Cruel, cruel world!
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
People shouldn't play computer games because it makes people violent. The Romans played computer games which made them violent, that is why they liked seeing people spill blood in the arenas. The crusades began when some people were playing doom deathmatches and a fight broke out and all hell broke loose. World War 1 was caused by people playing computer games and becoming violent because of them and starting the first World War. If Hitler didn't spend his childhood learning violence through video games, we wouldn't of had World War 2. The muslims want to have a jihad against the christians because they have been playing too much Quake. India and Pakistan are at war over the Quake vs Unreal controversy. Come on people, it is obvious that computer and video games are the reason there is violence in this world. Without them, this world would be a much better place. How stupid are you not to see this? -Your local soccer mom.
We play Age of Empires II, Starcraft/Broodwar, and MechWarrior IV.
These are clearly bad games for high school students to be playing, here's why.
Age of Empires II:
This causes kids to think they can become a King and run a monarchy. Eventually they will build farms, trade pottery with other local towns and gather up hoards of archers and sailing vessles to take over the world.
Starcraft/Broodwar:
This will make high school students think that breeding hoards of zerglings or refining their psionic attack powers will be a solution to all their problems.
MechWarrior IV:
I shouldn't even have to talk about this one. The last thing we need is 15 year old johnny thinking that jumping in the 10-story-tall 2 legged family war machine is a good way to vent daily frustrations.
Instead you should be teaching kids to play things like football. Kids need to be taught that they will never be able to accomplish anything in life if they can't physically tackle someone to the ground or body slam another student. Also, kicking an oblong sack between two vertical posts is the only way a kid will know that he will be someone important someday...
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
You haven't met many Columbia students, have you?
There's one thing computing teaches you, and that's that there's no point to remembering everything.
--Doug Copland
So when's the first MathBlaster Quake Mod coming? ;)
I wish my lawn was emo, so it would cut itself.
My school did this, under the slight misnomer of Computer Club. In theory, we maintained the school website, and did productive things, but it was pretty much an excuse to play Starcraft on school computers for a few hours.
Of course, we did the same thing in most of my programming classes..
Overall, the AUP wasn't really a problem. The only staff close enough to enforce it was the sponsor of the club, and was usually playing with us as well.
Overall: Fantastic idea!
Diplomancy? Is that the International Relations course taught at Hogwarts? World Peace through Black Magic?