Bang! Gotcha!
Kurt Stimeling
Issue date: 3/8/10 Section: Opinion
Bang! Gotcha! You're dead! Who do you have? Who's my next victim? Phrases that may seem oddly out of context, but for those that are playing the game it makes perfect sense. From several sources, the Dean of Students' Office was alerted to a campus game of assassination that is currently being played in and among us.
The game is simple: players who want to be involved put their name into the "hat" and are randomly assigned another player's name. Your goal: to "assassinate" your target.
In my college day, that was simply a tag or tap to let them know that you'd gotten close enough for the "kill". Today's games have many more options and take on much more high-tech (choose your weapon of choice) methodology, yet the principle still holds; you need to "kill" your victim. Upon a successful "hit", you obtain your most recent victim's target name and continue the hunt until, if you've followed me thus far, there is one lone survivor. Usually, that person is worthy of prize money as collected through player admission fees.
Sounds innocent enough right? At its most basic, the game is a fun diversion from the monotony of a long winter. At its most severe, the game is a horrible campus disorder. Devout players develop unhealthy paranoia and find themselves significantly altering routine (read: skipping classes). Numerous campuses have banned "assassin"-type games for the disruptions they've caused.
Games that require a "weapon" (read: Nerf® or Airsoft® gun) for successful targeting often result in students in legal and university disciplinary trouble for the decisions they've made during the playing of the game. I will remind the campus community that we have a zero-tolerance policy on all weapons on campus (reference Clarkson Regulations IX-W).
All of us need to be acutely aware of the world we live in. On the heels of a horrific shooting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the phrase "assassin" strikes a definitely sinister tone. And for those who have lived through all the campus and school violence of the last two decades, the idea of someone attempting to "kill" another (however innocently and game-driven) within our community seems bizarre and certainly not aligned with the values of a Clarkson education.
So, if the rumors I've heard are true; and this game is currently being played, I ask you to take a moment to reflect on why and how the game is to be played. Clarkson will not tolerate disruption within our community and we certainly will not tolerate the violation of any campus policy that places students at risk of harm.
The game is simple: players who want to be involved put their name into the "hat" and are randomly assigned another player's name. Your goal: to "assassinate" your target.
In my college day, that was simply a tag or tap to let them know that you'd gotten close enough for the "kill". Today's games have many more options and take on much more high-tech (choose your weapon of choice) methodology, yet the principle still holds; you need to "kill" your victim. Upon a successful "hit", you obtain your most recent victim's target name and continue the hunt until, if you've followed me thus far, there is one lone survivor. Usually, that person is worthy of prize money as collected through player admission fees.
Sounds innocent enough right? At its most basic, the game is a fun diversion from the monotony of a long winter. At its most severe, the game is a horrible campus disorder. Devout players develop unhealthy paranoia and find themselves significantly altering routine (read: skipping classes). Numerous campuses have banned "assassin"-type games for the disruptions they've caused.
Games that require a "weapon" (read: Nerf® or Airsoft® gun) for successful targeting often result in students in legal and university disciplinary trouble for the decisions they've made during the playing of the game. I will remind the campus community that we have a zero-tolerance policy on all weapons on campus (reference Clarkson Regulations IX-W).
All of us need to be acutely aware of the world we live in. On the heels of a horrific shooting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the phrase "assassin" strikes a definitely sinister tone. And for those who have lived through all the campus and school violence of the last two decades, the idea of someone attempting to "kill" another (however innocently and game-driven) within our community seems bizarre and certainly not aligned with the values of a Clarkson education.
So, if the rumors I've heard are true; and this game is currently being played, I ask you to take a moment to reflect on why and how the game is to be played. Clarkson will not tolerate disruption within our community and we certainly will not tolerate the violation of any campus policy that places students at risk of harm.
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