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Games That Shoot Back

syousef writes "A shooting game that shoots back, delivering electric shocks through the player's hips when they're shot, is being used for recruitment (Hey shooting people is fun) and training by the U.S. military. There's talk of developing it into a PC game. Here's a quote from the article: 'It has the same power as a stun gun. It knocks you down. You have to continue to work through the pain and keep on fighting, as that is what you need to do - to keep on fighting even when wounded.' I guess in Soviet America, games shoot you. How many law suits would this cause based on unknown heart conditions? I also hope there's some sort of built-in safety in case the thing starts to zap you repeatedly. (Deadly endless loop, anyone?)"

34 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. Suicide Booth by fembots · · Score: 5, Funny

    If this is brought to the PC games, I hope they also include a suicide feature so that I can finish myself or team mates who are suffering from electric shock.

    "Timmy, forget about the TK rules, kill me please, please!"

  2. America's Army from Hell by sumdeus · · Score: 5, Funny

    America's Army Part II -- The Final Recruitment. If you manage to live through this video game you are worthy of a sandy death.

    --
    Peter: I got an idea, an idea so smart my head would explode if I even began to know what I was talking about.
    1. Re:America's Army from Hell by buckhead_buddy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Now I know what those newpapers mean when they write something like "The pictures from Abu Ghraib prison have shocked the US army."

      Just beta testing...

  3. Malware by biryokumaru · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who will be the first to write malware that actually kills people?

    --
    When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
    1. Re:Malware by msim · · Score: 5, Funny

      sweet merciful crap, you guys think too much.

      --

      Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
  4. Uh oh by dg41 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone forgot to turn the safety protocols back on.

    1. Re:Uh oh by nacturation · · Score: 4, Funny

      CleverNickname's going to be pissed. He'll have to bypass the holodeck conduits and reverse the polarity by using the main deflector dish or something.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  5. What next? by SteelV · · Score: 4, Funny

    An MMORPG that knocks you out by electric shock and steals your clothes and jewelry, etc. when you die in-game? Realism isn't always a *good* thing. I would prefer not to be shocked while playing Counter-Strike, please.

    Next.

  6. Hey, by CompotatoJ · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's all fun and games until someone does a headshot and 1000V runs through your entire body!

  7. Predicted in fiction by meckardt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This was written about in Piers Anthony's "Kilobyte" 20 years ago.

    1. Re:Predicted in fiction by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And 22 years ago a two-player video game appeared in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again (1983) which would shock the losing player through dual metal joysticks. If the player let go they would lose, and the voltage increased as the other player took over their virtual territory (global conquest type game).

      Speaking of getting shocked by current flowing from one hand to the other (conveniently placing current flow dangerously close to the heart), anybody see the recent episode of Myth Busters where the assistants rig a fake Ark of the Covenant with an electric fence transformer and had the host grab a hold of the two terminals with his hands? I'm surprised someone didn't get fired (or sued) over that one.

      Dan East

      --
      Better known as 318230.
  8. Ouch by Golias · · Score: 5, Funny

    Worst.
    Playstation.
    Accessory.
    Ever.

    Call me when they have a peripheral to go with Hentai games.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  9. Shocking! by Guyle · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is an incredibly electrifying development. The gaming community must be arcing with excitement! I, for one, simply cannot wait to be plugged into such action and adventure. Not to mention all of the amped up individuals bolting to recruiting stations to try their hand. This kind of technology blows away all of the current games by far. Let's hope that development is met with little resistance and that the capacitance of the developers' creativity is immeasurable.

    (Yes, I know, it's horrible. The line to shoot me starts over there. *point*)

  10. Natural Evolution by purduephotog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Pain is one of the greatest behavior modifiers there is.

    The whole point of a FPS trainer is to educate reality out of an individual. When you fire a pistol, sometimes your body will jerk the hand in anticipation of the shot. Dryfiring a few hundred times is enough to condition the pull back out, but it will eventually creep back.

    I'm remember reading that 3/4 of the soldiers in WWI and WWII didn't aim at anything. They were conditioned to shoot at little bullseyes, not people. Notice how the military trains on human shaped targets now? Human-aim-fire-response.

    This is all good, believe it or not.

    Getting shot in a game there is no pain and risky behaviours can continue to flourish. Getting hit with a live round is most likely to inflict pain. Therefore, make the game as realistic as possible without killing your candidate :)

    Will I play this? Nope. I already take Americas Army seriously and do my darndest not to die. But then again I'm not one of those people that beg the S-24 in order to get a pistol, either ;)

    1. Re:Natural Evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      He was talking about the Nazi soldiers. Of course, the Americans could kill 3 enemies with a single spit while somersaulting out of a burning building with a broken leg and a pretty French girl on the shoulder... It's all documented quite well in WWII Hollywood movies.

  11. This would be great for fencing. by VidEdit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My geeky $.02:

    Maybe a shock belt could be used to improve the increasingly unrealistic sport of Olympic fencing.

    While fencing is not a video game, it lacks a certain realism in the sense that there is not a significant enough penalty for getting hit. In epee' fencers learn to do many very silly attacks that put their face in danger so that they can attempt a toe shot.

    By attaching a shock belt to the electronic scoring equipment that is already used, fencers would learn to use the kind of caution that they might in a real duel.

    Of course that doesn't solve the problem of sacrifice that is encouraged by making all of the target area worth the same number of points, or the unrealistic use of the coupe--where a fencer often whips his foil into a "J" shape to touch his opponent on the back. But the shock belt may be a step in the right direction along with some other changes.

    --
    1. Re:This would be great for fencing. by tyman · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...but don't they already have electric fences?

  12. Been done by DavidLeblond · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mattel created a device that would shock gamers a long time ago for the NES. They called it the Power Glove.

  13. Re:Save yourself a couple hundred bucks... by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In some countries this will land you in jail. When I was in the UK I was shocked to discover that two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home are not legally permitted to beat the shit out of each other. "Brawling" is an offense of the crown and you can be put away for it. Of course, it's an unenforcable law when you're in private, but in public it's common for two people who have agreed to fight to be sent to prison for it. How insane is that? Here in Australia if you ask someone to "step outside" the law will usually not get involved.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  14. Re:The Kevorkian game by -kertrats- · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...increase their market share...

    I'm not sure you quite understand how euthanasia works...

    --
    The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
  15. imagine the (mis)applications... by jamesh · · Score: 5, Funny

    DRM. You can download anything you want for free, provided the RIAA gets to shock you on a per megabyte basis - negative conditioning.

    Educational games. Kids are hooked up to the computer and the computer quizzes them, zapping them every time they make a mistake.

    Extreme games - apply the electrodes to areas of the body much more sensitive than they would otherwise be attached to.

    Exercise games - electrodes attached such that they automatically stimulate and tone the muscles while you work/play.

    I could go on, but i'll spare you.

  16. Re:Ouch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    You want giant tentacle penises to erupt from your PS2 and rape you?

    I guess even sex-crazed demonic octopi need love.

  17. unsettling by potpie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I find it a bit sickening that the military is producing games to attract people to join. Aren't games supposed to be fun? Are they hoping for gamers to think "hmm- this game is fun, I think I'll join the army so I can HAVE FUN KILLING PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE." ?

    Does anybody else find that unsettling?

    --
    Esoteric reference.
    1. Re:unsettling by Afty0r · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I find it a bit sickening that the military is producing games to attract people to join ... Are they hoping for gamers to think "hmm- this game is fun, I think I'll join the army so I can HAVE FUN KILLING PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE." ?... Does anybody else find that unsettling?
      The military also pays salarys to people - are they hoping people will think "Hmm, I need some money and I can't get a job, I think I'll join the military and KILL PEOPLE FOR MONEY"?

      Well, actually, yes they are - that's why they recruit most actively in poor areas, for the same reasons that terrorist-financiers recruit most (but not all) of their suicide bombers from youngsters with no jobs and impoverished families.

      There are groups of people ideologically at odds with one another on our planet, fighting for power and control of a variety of things - there is no way to win, and the only way to avoid losing is to not play their game.
  18. Heart Conditions? No problem! by Blind_Io_42 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Heart conditions are not a problem, just go to Start > Settings > Control Pannel > Game Hardware > Shock Feedback Options and enable the Difibulator option.
    In the event of cadiac arrest the computer will automatically re-start your heart, call the paramedics, reserve a room at the hospital, notify your family, and cancel your dinner reservations. That is unless the game locks up.

    Lag would also be a pain if it happens right when you die.

    --
    No one of consequence
  19. watt a terrible post by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 4, Funny

    You should be charged with battery and kept in a cell.

    That's it for me, I'm going ohm now.

  20. This is better. by Frodo+Crockett · · Score: 5, Funny

    while(1)
    {
    shockuser();
    }

    No chance of overflow with this loop.

    --
    "The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
  21. If I may just chip in... by AndrewRUK · · Score: 4, Funny

    You've gone too far-radically too far - with the appaling punnage. They are so bad, it hertz...

  22. Re:Save yourself a couple hundred bucks... by GrahamCox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home are not legally permitted to beat the shit out of each other

    Consenting? I think the law operates as it does because in fact consenting to being beaten up is really pretty unlikely, and the vast majority of situations where this might occur are cases of domestic violence, which surely no sane person would prefer the law turned a blind eye to. If you and a mate want a fight, go ahead - but make sure you don't create a disturbance, damage property or get any third parties involved. Usually by the time you've arranged all this you can be fairly sure the law will leave you to it - but by then presumably cool heads will have prevailed and realised the whole matter can't be settled by a fight. Fights are the last refuge of the idiot, and because society at large believes that, the law upholds that view.

  23. Just how painful is the Taser? by Latent+Heat · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This was some 20 years ago, but a colleague (we are not cops, just EEs) brought a Taser to a presentation -- his point that the Taser didn't really "stun" -- it just plain hurt. He thought the cops would find it wouldn't work, but would be mighty handy with "suspects in custody" if you know what I mean. He was warning us the Taser would be become the modern version of "rubber hoses."

    Well anyway, the idea that you could have a weapon with two settings, stun and kill, gee, where did the cops get the idea that this would come in handy? Turns out that it is hard to stun someone without killing them. The old detective movie cliche of stunning someone by hitting them over the head? An MD writing in TV guide told readers that "if you hit someone over the head, most likely you just hurt them and make them mad. If you hit them harder to knock them out, chances are you kill someone from a hematoma."

    I have seen films where they Taser a volunteer, and they start convulsing or they just faint and tip over and hit the mat in the gym they are doing this with a thud. I have seen a recent episode of "Cops" where they Tasered a whole bunch of different people, and it didn't seem to do anything. I suppose the electric shock causes intense, sudden pain, and that can cause someone to collapse, just like being shot with a bullet, only there is no tissue damage so the person doesn't bleed to death, but does it really work? I suppose a bullet doesn't always "work" in that a person can be fatally wounded but not always drop dead right away.

    Anyway, I was the only person at the meeting willing to try the Taser (it was a model with two electrodes sticking out, and it didn't have the darts for remote action). I was going to zap my forearm and I was quickly advised "better try it on your leg. So I hold the Taser up to my leg and press the trigger. I was pretty embarrassed because I yelled out "Jesus Christ!" I was more startled than anything else, and it hurt real bad, but not the kind of hurt of someone drilling into your teeth -- more like the worst kind of muscle cramp -- it really hurt but I felt like my leg muscles were seizing up.

    So what does a Taser do? Does it really knock a person out like on Star Trek, or does it merely cause a person to take the Lord's name in vain? Have they made the Taser more powerful in the last 20 years? More maybe because my finger was on the trigger, I let go when it first started to hurt, and a person has to deliver multiple jolts to get someone to collapse.

  24. Camping (good point) by No+Such+Agency · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll bet everyone will be camping all the time.

    You mean "hiding behind something bulletproof", just like most soldiers do in a REAL WAR unless the enemy is chasing them or their officers are ordering them to move? A real firefight between a dozen soldiers can take hours, since getting anyone to "rush" is both stupid and nearly impossible.

    That's why "elite units" are elite, because they will actually voluntarily put themselves in harm's way rather than only trying to stay alive. Consequently, they can make short work of conscripts and half-trained farm boys.

    --
    Freedom: "I won't!"
  25. Re:Save yourself a couple hundred bucks... by stor · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fights are the last refuge of the idiot

    From my experience fighting is the first refuge of the idiot.

    Cheers
    Stor

    --
    "Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
  26. Loss of voluntary muscle control by Mal-2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well as you noticed, it does make you cramp up. If you were standing, it was probably difficult to stay that way. Had you been walking or running, the sudden jolt would almost certainly make you lose your balance, which makes it quite difficult to attack someone. That is the point -- not to stun someone, but to forcibly remove their conscious control over major skeletal muscles. This only needs to take place for a few seconds in most circumstances, allowing time to surround the tas-ee and (once the juice is off) pin him down. This isn't to say that the pain doesn't play a role in it, it's quite useful as an intimidation tactic. But the real point is to stop what someone is doing without the high risk of fatal injury that comes from firearms (even with beanbags and the like).

    Another aspect is that there is no scatter, there is no projectile penetration, and there is no risk of shooting the neighbor or wife through the wall accidentally. If firing into a crowded space, or even into a fistfight, you wanna make sure you hit just your target (but if you miss and hit someone else, you don't have to zap them).

    Mal-2

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  27. Gives new meaning to BSOD by carlmenezes · · Score: 4, Funny

    oh yeah...and in the near future on Windows update :

    ***user plays game, gets addicted to it and goes to anonymous website to download a new map*** ..some time later...

    "Windows had downloaded a security patch that will prevent a third party from gaining access to your computer and shocking you repeatedly. Click OK to update Windows."

    ***user clicks OK***

    The following dialog pops up on screen:

    "SUCKA! W1nD0z3 1s 4 n00bZ! I 0wn yoo n0w! Choose your hairstyle : Popcorn or Spikes"

    --
    Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.