'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."

Comments

Re:I'm shocked!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that different then trust-fund Bush doing a bit of grandstanding?

Wow, nice story

[Mike Hawk]

Did I accidently type fark instead of slashdot this morning?

Re:I'm shocked!!!

[benlinkknilneb]

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.

Re:Leftist Republican?

[Kobal]

From countries where a real left wing exists, USian democrats certainly look right-wing.

"put me through law school"

[musikit]

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

hmm

[snubber1]

Shane Messer to George W. Bush: "Zing!"

You sure showed him!

has nothing to do with real WMD.

[fireduck]

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.

Re:has nothing to do with real WMD.

[MMaestro]

Except for the fact that the guy purposely used the topic of WMDs just to gain publicity. If the goal was to find a treasure chest of gold, this never would have been reported on Slashdot. This guy is basicly tapping into the anti-U.S. government setiment thats going around right now to make a quick buck.

Re:has nothing to do with real WMD.

[sfjoe]

This guy is basicly tapping into the anti-U.S. government setiment thats going around right now to make a quick buck.

And more power to him!
It sure beats manipulating the energy market to make a quick buck.

Re:has nothing to do with real WMD.

[fireduck]

"Except for the fact that the guy purposely used the topic of WMDs just to gain publicity."

Of course he did. There's a reason there were 3 Amy Fisher movies a soon after the whole fiasco: current events sell. Why create a "find pirate pete's buried treasure" game that will get no attention, when you can create a "find the WMD" game that will get people intrigued.

Plus there's the whole aspect that this guy has crafted a puzzle that fits seamlessly inside of a current event. The game book comes with a bunch of clues, which prompt you to go searching through the reams of publicly available documents (that he provides) to try to track down the WMD, based on his clues. (because clearly if the government knew where they were, they would have found them by now). The author has decided where the WMD are and wants you to track them down using his clues and whatever information the government has declassified. This is kinda like the game associated with the A.I. movie (on a sorta dissimilar level).

As for your contention that the author is "is basicly tapping into the anti-U.S. government setiment thats going around right now to make a quick buck", I find that somewhat laughable. Bush currently is enjoying a major surge in popularity, with op-ed writers across the country predicting how badly this will hurt Dean. (I.E., any anti-government or anti-Bush sentiment that does exist is probably felt by a minority or at best half of the population.)

When can I claim the trophy?

[Rayonic]

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:

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/18130. pdf

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.

Re:Oh Boy....

[Angry Toad]

Interesting question - *is* it a troll?

It will create gigantic flames and whatnot, of course, towering into the Slashdot sky. 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?

However much the ultra-right crazies may froth about it, it is a fair question.

It was stated categorically by almost all the top figures in the White House that such weapons existed and were a clear and present danger. It even made it into the SOTU.

So far, however, such claims appear to have been false. Read that however you will, but the question of honesty is relevant and important.

I just find it interesting that simply *asking where they are, after all* might be considered flamebait.

Re:Few if any right-wing democrats

[Anonymous Coward]

Compared to most European countries, the American left wing is not very left wing. Just look at their standpoints on various subjects. To get an image of an average, standard, somewhat popular European left-wing party, just look at the American Green party. Americans are on average quite far right compared to the rest of the western world.

Why Bush?

[rocketfairy]

Why does Bush get the trophy? He can't seem to find any WMD's he isn't building himself or planning to launch.

The key is probably

[EvilSporkMan]

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.

Did someone warn George Bush?

[zwanglos]

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? :)

Re:Few if any right-wing democrats

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

I suspect the main reason for this is the gigantic size of the US.

Fundamentally, I suspect that the amount of authority that a government can have over its subjects and not end up being oppressive is inversely proportional to the size of the governed population.

A country the size of, say, France (one step down in economic power from the STATE of California, last I heard) can get away with being fairly socialistic. The entire nation of the US attempting to do so would turn into the Soviet Union...

Now, if Europe REALLY wanted the problem solved, perhaps they'd be encouraging the states that make up the US to secede and form a number of smaller, independent nations much as they have in Europe. Said states could possibly become rather "less right-wing" without resulting in a grossly oppressive and ponderous central government...

Just a theory I have.