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'Hunt for WMD' Game Launched Using Public Documents
prakslash writes "AP/The Tennessean reports that a Nashville entrepreneur, Shane Messer, has created an international treasure hunt game called 'Find Those Weapons: The Hunt for the Real WMD' by using actual public documents related to the American invasion of Iraq as clues. Messer's treasure for finding those imaginary weapons of mass destruction? A solid gold trophy, a bag of cash and a barrel of oil, according to the game's website." According to the rules, "If no one... claims the trophy by Election Day 2004.. [it] will be sent to George Bush."
Stand back for the flood of neocon love. And who could blame them? Not that I'm exactly an angel here all the time, but this story is a blatant troll. Have you no shame?
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
What is this dude a former advertising exec from Acclaim?
I was looking at the website and don't see where you get the "trust-fund Bush hater" bit. What page are you looking at?
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
Is that different then trust-fund Bush doing a bit of grandstanding?
Did I accidently type fark instead of slashdot this morning?
Actually, RTFA. The guy is a "left-leaning Republican"... He doesn't agree with the way it was handled, but he says he really does believe there are WMDs. The whole thing is a publicity stunt to get $$$ to make it through law school.
It must be Thursday... I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
A left-winging Republican? Oh yes, there are LOTS of these, just as there are right-wing Democrats, Jewish Nazis, and Chicano Buchanan-voters. Oh yes. Almost forgot the vast "Libertarians for Nader" contingent.
Only in america could someone do this and make money. If i had some i by it just to reward the guy. At least untill he patents the idea of hunting for WMD's that is.
If you look at the top 10 or so genocidal leaders of the 20th century, all but 1 or 2 are Socialists. Even Saddam himself is a Socialist of the Ba'ath sect.
i give this game a week before someone cracks it and figures out where the WMD are.
what actually would be funny is if someone did finish the game and put the FAQ here
The right-wing democrats get ostracized and turn into Republicans.
The US has a strong left-wing....just not as strong as the left-wing in certain countries like North Korea and Vietnam, which have a VERY strong left wing. Compared to them, everything is right-wing.
Shane Messer to George W. Bush: "Zing!"
You sure showed him!
I don't really mind double posts on
it's basically "I like puzzle / riddle games. A major current event involves finding weapons of mass destruction. So why not combine the two into a game I can sell to make money for law school."
anything else is reading far too much into it.
The provided map is a map of Saudi Arabia not Iraq. True, Iraq is in the map, but most of the map is Saudi Arabia. How do they expect the WMD to be found w/o a detailed map of Iraq?
Win a signed Stephen Carpenter ESP Guitar from the Deftones: http://def-tag.com/?r=0008781
Look again: it is the right map of the entire region, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and of course Iraq. It also includes Syria and Yemen, which are places where WMD's could be hidden. Saudi is the most "obvious" country seen there due to its size and shape, but if you spend more than 1 second looking, you will see it is a regional map.
Anyone who knows me will realize that I'm far more interested in this game's similarity to Kit Williams' Masquerade puzzle book from the '80s (as I mentioned in the department line on the story) than any political statement.
Hey hey, I found a document proving the existence of WMD -- turns out they declared them to the UN! And that they had the ability to manufacture more! Check it out:
. pdf
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/18130
Anthrax, Botulinum, VX... Totally awesome, eh? Better yet, the agents and methods of production were never accounted for. I'm going to contact this contest guy right now. That trophy is as good as mine.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
And of course for speaking out about this you are tagged with 'Flamebait'. Possibly, I could see 'OFFTOPIC', but FLAMEBAIT seems a bit harsh, especially since there is truth to your post.
that's right, we wouldnt want to get a broader view of the picture. Everybody mind there own buisness. THat way i won't get too confused. The times are sooo confusing already, don't mess with my view the world. please.
I think it might have had something to do with the 'imaginary' adjective being applied to WMD in the submission.
Iraq admitted to the U.N. that they had WMD, they just never accounted for them.
(Until I read your post, I had no idea of the Masquerade connection. I was just looking at my copy the other night.)
Listening to lies does not really broaden your world view: it only makes you learn anew how stupid the liars are. The parent poster was just fed up with the same old lies, and wanted to stick to reliable sources which present a broad variety of challenging information without lying about things.
Slashdot is rapidly becoming a site of one sided politics
I wouldn't say Slashdotters are particularly liberal at all.
I would say they're anti-authoritarian (in a teenage kind of way). Perhaps libertarian/anarchist would fit the bill?
Mainly what they are is narcissistic.
Hey, buddy, the guy who's made the contest is a republican. RTFA
Why does Bush get the trophy? He can't seem to find any WMD's he isn't building himself or planning to launch.
STFU AC. I love Wil, he loves America just for the record, although he is a fag cuz we had ghey sex last night.
The "building himself" link points to a site about devices designed specifically to destroy bio/chem weapons caches. Oops. you pointed to a link about getting rid of WMD's more effectively.
The "planning to launch" site was fiction from this Cockburn fellow, who loves to make up stuff and is not a reliable source of fact at all.
You failed it.
a copy of Conflict: Desert Storm or the sequel, given that you'll need about $50 to retrieve it. This would make good sense, as the real key is the explanation of why the place-holder is where it is and we don't want to have any chance of the place-holder's being moved or anyone seeing the guy putting it places.
-insert a witty something-
"Americans are on average quite far right compared to the rest of the western world."
Since the taxes are lower, and more things are left to popular control instead of state control (see health care and the media), America is certainly more libertarian than Western Europe.
Libertarian is not right wing, it is outside of the "wings". Left-wing means totalitarian tyranny with the lie that it is "for the good of the people". Right-wing means totalitarian tyranny without bothering with clever lies.
Western Europe is in love with government control of matters and right-wing racist movements, which ironically makes it an easy place (as proven in the past) for Hitlers to come to power. France has even had massive antisemitic rallies in recent years.
"This guy is basicly tapping into the anti-U.S. government setiment thats going around right now to make a quick buck"
It sounds like Howard Dean. He's getting rich off this, but of course if you run your campaign on a "yes-Saddam, no-America" platform like he is, you aren't going to win.
I'm really disappointed that the website does not warn George Bush the game is not real. He's probably already ordered it and has poor post-op Powell already on the trail of the "WMDs".
:)
I just hope he doesn't use the game in the upcoming state of the union as more proof for their existence, although maybe it's more reliable than British intel?
I wonder why he is acting like it is a mystery where they are. We already know what happened to them. Thanks to the UN's grandstanding and BS, they had more than eight weeks to move them to the Bekaa Valley. And Syria and Lebanon have to be more than happy to have their hands on them.
"All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power." - Ashleigh Brilliant
It's good to read of Yet Another Reality Game (YARG)
coming out... but already we've seen a bit of vaporware
in this class of game products, ie:
"Escape from Woomera" (WAS due in Oct/Nov 2003)
I look forward to downloading it, if/when it arrives.
Does anyone know more about this puppy?
Only on slashdot are posts praising the Columbine killers and Al Queda modded "+5 Insightful".
I've never seen one. Have you? Where? I'd like to see it...
BTW, it's Al Qaeda, not Al Queda (Remember, it's not English, so the u after q rule doesn't apply).
Not particularly. You're just exposed here to the fact that far-right wingnut politics are not mainstream opinions. I know this is hard to accept, but it is the truth. America is much richer and more diverse than the narrow and ugly right-wing political/media machine that currently controls it.
Flamebait. My point is proven by the the liberal mods. I'm a liberterian myself so I hold to neither "ultra conservative" or "bed-wetter" but I do think that the hostility shown towards a differing opinion just goes to prove that the liberals like those here at Slantdot are hostile, defensive, and angry. Congrats on proving me right with your completely irrational moderation.
Bingo. The use of the adjective "imaginary" is editorializing. Take a journalism class.
I mean, they probably won't findthem in the game, much like the US can't find them in reality.
-------
Support Indy Music. Buy
then you say -
.... liberals like those here at Slantdot are hostile ...
See what I mean?
Lies indeed. Sorry, where did you say those imminent, deadly, terrifying weapons of mass destruction were again? You know, the TONS of nerve gas and the THOUSANDS OF GALLONS of botox and VX and whatnot and the ACTIVE nuclear program and the DRONES OF DEATH?
Lies suck. Too right.
Anybody who disagrees with George Dumbya hates America? That's truly retarded.
Here is a Columbine +5 Interesting
It also touched on Isreal/Palestine conflict a bit.
And my sig has been changed, thanks for pointing that out.
"However this is just a measure of the contentious nature of the question - to what extent did the US administration knowingly lie and/or exaggerate the Iraq threat in order to create the case for a war they had already decided upon?"
It is not a fair question. For one thing, it begins with the assumption of lying. In fact, there is no evidence of lying. For another, the "question" includes the lie that the Administration had already decided on war. The truth is that they gave the Iraqi government plenty of chances to behave reasonably and comply with the sanctions: giving them multiple ways out.
"I just find it interesting that simply *asking where they are, after all* might be considered flamebait"
When it is couplied with the phony questions and lies, it is.
"Anybody who disagrees with [our elected President] hates America? That's truly retarded."
I made you look better by getting rid if the playground insult in your statement. The answer is, of course, yes. Most of the time.
From those who oppose Bush stopping terrorists (leaving the terrorists free to attack the country) to those who want to deepen the recession by opposing Bush's tax cuts for the middle class. As long as there is a political advantage somehow, his opponents don't care how many people get laid off or die in new 9/11's.
The British intel on weapons was basically, we knew what we sold to them and had an idea what America had sold to them.
:)...... go figure.
As for everything else, the British seem to believe that it was American intel that was flawed
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
"What we found was remnants of an old test core 6ft under a guys rosebush. Hardly the threat worth the billions of dollars, lives and man hours it's taken to prevent."
There was overwhelming proof of WMD's before the US retaliation earlier this year. There was even more proof of the existance of Saddam Hussein.
Yet, it took months of hunting in order to find him.
You idiot!