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Washington School Bans Halo 2 Tournament

Posted by Zonk on from the not-terribly-surprising dept.

Pluvius writes "A couple of high-school students in the Washington city of Puyallup wanted to raise money for the tsunami disaster in South Asia, and figured that the best way to do so was to hold a tournament using Bungie's hit XBox title Halo 2. Their school district disagreed, citing an anti-violence policy. Even though all of the parents of the children who would've taken part in the tournament signed waivers acknowledging the game's violence, Puyallup School District felt that due to school shootings across the country, 'anything we do that even looks like we're endorsing violence is not appropriate.'"

6 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. A Call from the ACLU May Fix This by Doug+Dante · · Score: 4, Interesting
    While getting a bad rap for taking on the boy scouts, the ACLU is probably the most useful defender of students' rights in America (defending students rights to wear black arm bands, publish independent student papers, etc).

    IIRC, it's their legal position that student organizations all have an equal right to school facilities (yup even the Boy Scouts - just no 'special rights').

    You may want to contact them via their students' rights web site at ACLU student rights

    --
    The world will not get better through technology. We must seek to be better people.
    1. Re:A Call from the ACLU May Fix This by rpillala · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The real answer to this is in the last sentence of the article. The school system says they'll support the fundraiser if a less violent video game is played. The decision doesn't deny any students access, it regulates what they can do in the building. The normal school day is full of this kind of regulation.

      --
      When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
  2. This is horrible... by TJ_Phazerhacki · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Back in the day (wow - that sounds corny), we managed to bring in an external drive with UT:GOTYE and "forgot" to leave it plugged into the network. Great times, UT'ing during open lab at lunch. The best part was when a few of the male teachers found out, and "Annonomously" joind games during their breaks.

    It had little effect on productivity, grades didn't change, and we were using otherwise unnocupied resources. And I don't need to tell you the effect it had on morale...

    Few months later, in the next semester, we had some county people in the school. One of them was checking email in the lab. Someone else walked in and booted up UT.

    Not only did we recieve a ridiculous lecture (understand, we are 15 mins from Columbine, maybe 18mos later) but there were suspensions, the lab tech was reprimanded (later left the system - now makes twice the $$ dev'ing software!) And we made the district newsletter.

    Schools over-react to everything, because by default, the only people in district management are the ones who think there is something intrensically wrong with the way the system is run - they do not understand logic - They comprehend only liability.

    --
    Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
  3. Understandable by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I completely understand and agree with teh schools stance. Should anything have happened after the event, months or even years, you could bet that some parents group somewhere would have held the school liable for it.

    I also think that the students should be commended for wanting to do something to aid the victims of this disaster. It proves that their generation isn't as disenfranchised as we are lead to believe.

    Good job gamers!

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  4. Re:If they refuse to endorse viloence.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. It demonstrates how the violence between the two houses leads to ruin and unhappiness for all.

    Halo 2 is a video game. It rewards people for actively commiting acts of virtual violence.

    See the difference?

    The books you've listed contain violence, but they don't endorse it - very much the opposite. Halo 2, on the other hand, is an endorsement for commiting violent acts, albiet of the virtual variety.

  5. The school's right. by phouka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm guessing that a high percentage of the folks here condemning the school don't own homes.

    Why? Because homeowners go through this sort of painful deliberation regularly.

    I live in a cul-de-sac and my yard happens to be the recipient of all the snow for the entire street. For a kid, it presents awesome potential for king-of-the-hill, snowball fights, digging tunnels, etc. It's truly a massive amount of snow.

    But can I really let the neighborhood kids play in it? No way. The second one of them got hurt, it's MY homeowner's policy on the line. It's MY insurance that's going to not get renewed, forcing me to double my cost for homeowner's insurance when I have to resort to the state 'pool'. In other words, if I want to be a nice guy I have to accept an unreasonable risk.

    The school is in the same position. You can bet that administrator and the school officials really thought what the kids were doing was cool. You can also bet that they sat back and said: "When we get sued, it's going to require resources in time and money that we *really* can't afford, given ever-tightening school budges."

    So they came to the only reasonable conclusion.

    To all these folks screaming about the state of our country, I pose this question: Are you really, honestly ready to stand up and say "I won't sue my neighbor, even if he's technically culpable"? Because until you are, people are going to be more concerned about protecting themselves than in freeing up their resources to share.