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Microsoft The Almighty Buck Games

Game About Killing Poachers Vies For Top Prize In Microsoft Student Tech Contest 176

theodp writes: GeekWire reports on a group of students from Nepal who will be competing for the $50K top prize in Microsoft's Imagine Cup student tech contest with a first-person shooter in which players track down and kill poachers. "Until and unless the player kills all the poachers," reads the description for Defend Your Territory, "he/she cannot progress to next level. To make the game more interesting, there will be lots of weapons and vehicles unlock." So, is this the inspiration Google needs to take their anti-poaching drone program to the next level?
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Game About Killing Poachers Vies For Top Prize In Microsoft Student Tech Contest

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @02:11AM (#50150615)

    I have. It's fun. He was there on his knees in his tattered clothes, all trembling and mumbling and pleading for his life "have mercy have mercy I have a family to feed, I can't find a job, they've all been taken by foreigners, they don't even make me flip burgers because they say I'm too old. I have two little kids! please!". Of course I didn't care: I shot him just under the throat, cut off the head, skinned the body and cut it to pieces for the forest animals, then had the head stuff and mounted. I had it delivered to his family so he could be near them forever. :)

    • by cheetah_spottycat ( 106624 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @02:55AM (#50150735)
      That sounds pretty much like Far Cry 4.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      You did the right thing. No matter how destitute someone is, participating in the killing of endangered animals (genocide) means that person willingly forfeits their own worthless life. No one person or their family is worth the extinction of an entire population of animals.

      • The term "genocide" only applies to people.

        genocide
        jensd/
        noun
        the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

        • The term "genocide" only applies to people.

          genocide jensd/ noun the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

          I think he meant xenocide.
          Personally (and I am pretty good with statistics) I think that outside of endangered species, the chance of a poacher achieving xenocide is going to be pretty damn rare, but feel free to point out any evidence of a xenocidal incidents by a majority of poachers, I mighta just missed it.
          (And yes, poaching includes much more than endangered species)

          ...however i've noticed about 9 out of 10 posts this thread are super exaggerated or focused on a narrow segment of the worst/most alt

    • Related Onion video:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @05:44AM (#50151125)

      Funny. Have you noticed that you could replace "poacher" with "burglar" and it would just work out, too?

      With maybe the difference that you wouldn't be modded insightful but flamebait, because it's A-OK to blow someone's guts out over your stereo rather than some rhino horns.

      • by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @06:43AM (#50151265) Journal

        it's A-OK to blow someone's guts out over your stereo rather than some rhino horns.

        Burglary is a very specific crime. In most places. It usually requires breaking and entering a residence at night. The reason its more serious than theft or simple B&E is society has a strong interest in people feeling safe in their own homes. People are likely to be home at night so there is greater danger. Those are legal reasons.

        The practical ones are:
        The burglar may decide to hurt or kill you and your family so that he isn't reported and described to the police. As you are not the one committing the crime and did not create the situation I think you are well justified in removing the danger, without waiting around to see what he or she is going to do. Sorry I don't see any moral or ethical problem with a shoot first ask questions later approach to someone who has invaded your home.

        • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @08:23AM (#50151793)

          And why is the life of some random Joe supposedly more important to me than the life of some random, say, rhino? I know neither, and there are more Joes about than rhinos, so technically the loss of a rhino would be more of a loss, due to scarcity.

          Or so the laws of supply and demand tell me.

          I'm all for "shoot first, ask later", but why does it apply to burglars but when it's applied to poachers it's suddenly causing some moral bullshit?

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            Because there's a wide, yawning gulf between breaking into an occupied home at night and breaking the fish & game laws? Seriously, people aren't aware of this? There are hundreds of years of precedent. You gotta crack open a book one of these days and learn about your own culture. "Reason is the life of the law," and all that. Here's a good place to start. [cambridge.org] Remember, education is always a good thing. Then, you can learn the answer to your question. You're welcome in advance.
            • I guess anyone accepting this cannot with a straight face complain about laws designed to benefit those that make them on the expense of everyone else. Because, well, it's the same thing.

              Yes, of course breaking into your home is a worse crime than mowing down everything alive in a forest with a gatling gun. Because we make the laws and we live in homes rather than forests.

              Reason is not the life of the law. Being the one that makes it is. Not that I'm against it, far from it, but at least let's be honest and

          • by Anonymous Coward

            You'd be demented not to recognize the value of human life.

            • You'd be demented not to recognize the value of human life.

              I value the recognisable dementedness of human life.

            • Guess I'm demented. I don't see the value of human life. What's valuable about human life? There is neither a tangible nor an intangible advantage of having more humans around. It only increases competition for me.

        • by guises ( 2423402 )
          That's not what legislation on the subject says, at least not in many states. In Texas, for example, it's perfectly legal to shoot someone in the back who is running away from you and poses no danger to yourself or your family as long as they're carrying some possession of yours. Any possession, no matter how trivial.
          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            Gosh, better not break into people's houses and rob them, then. There's a thought! Or at least do it somewhere else. My, this whole "people voting for the laws they want" thing is hard to understand, isn't it? We would all be much better off if the Council of Alphas made decisions for us, since they're more intelligent and therefore much less likely to make bad choices. (chuckle)
          • by Anonymous Coward

            Do you have a source for that? I doubt that even in Texas you're allowed to kill someone who's not in any way a danger to you...

            • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

              by Anonymous Coward

              Texas penal code contains an unusual provision that grants citizens the right to use deadly force to prevent someone “who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property.”

              In 2010, the law protected a Houston taco-truck owner who shot a man for stealing a tip jar containing $20.12. Also in Houston, a store clerk recently killed a man for shoplifting a twelve-pack of beer, and in 2008 a man from Laredo was

              • by guises ( 2423402 )
                The Laredo case was a little more than shooting someone in his trailer. Here: [seattletimes.com]

                Gonzalez had endured several break-ins at his trailer when the four boys, ranging in age from 11 to 15, broke in at night. Gonzalez, who was in a nearby building at the time, went into the trailer and confronted the boys with a 16-gauge shotgun. Then he forced the boys, who were unarmed, to their knees, attorneys on both sides said.

                The survivors said they were begging for forgiveness when Gonzalez hit them with the barrel of the shotgun and kicked them repeatedly. Then, the medical examiner testified, Anguiano was shot in the back at close range. Two mashed Twinkies and some cookies were stuffed in the pockets of his shorts.

                Another boy, Jesus Soto Jr., 16, testified that Gonzalez ordered them at gunpoint to take Anguiano’s body outside.

      • Funny. Have you noticed that you could replace "poacher" with "burglar" and it would just work out, too?

        With maybe the difference that you wouldn't be modded insightful but flamebait, because it's A-OK to blow someone's guts out over your stereo rather than some rhino horns.

        Exactly. Then, change "burglar" to "foreigner" or "jew" or "fag" and, wow, look what we have done.

        The ability to treat other humans as less than life is sociopathic. Even if the other humans are assholes and criminals. Teaching children to treat other humans like dirt makes you less than dirt.

        But, we am going against the groupthink. It should be KILL KILL KILL, as long as we are killing the groups that are different from us, right?

    • by Anonymous Coward

      It's funny, I've never killed a poacher. But I heard an almost identical sob story from a human kidney harvester who I hunted down. He claimed to have two little kids, and also claimed to have lost a burger flipping job, but I didn't have his head stuffed.

      All you have proven is that we all agree that there are boundaries. Now can we return the very valid discussion of what they should be?

    • by Richard Kirk ( 535523 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @06:15AM (#50151191)
      Oh yes. And cut off his dick too, and use it as an aphrodisiac for rhinoceroses.
    • by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @07:09AM (#50151383) Journal

      I take you point but we there is a very real and tangible difference between someone taking a deer out of season in the north woods of Minnesota and hunting a Rhino, Elephant or endangered Cat. Its entirely possible the first was done by mistake, ignorance of the hunting season etc, or the person really is trying to put some food on the table. I the Rhino case I will extend this benefit of doubt to say an aboriginal hunter using his peoples traditional tools etc. It strains credibility on the other hand to suggest the guys cruising the savanna in Jeeps with high power rifles, scopes, bait, chainsaws to dismember the corpses don't know exactly what they are doing. Its also hard to imagine they don't have at least some other options, given the found the money to acquire the vehicles, chainsaws, fuel, expensive weapons etc.

      I think at some point we may have to recalibrate or moral compass a little bit to point somewhere besides humans are always the most important. There are 8.5 Billion of us. Its hard to get more commodity than that. As individuals we are all important to someone, but possibly near worthless to the world as a whole and perhaps even a detriment. So what should the collective we do when faced with someone who is bent on destroying something rare and possibly irreplaceable. Should we allow them to deprive the rest of us now and forever on an entire species like the black rhino? These people don't fear prison they know they either won't be caught or corruption will soon have them out. I am not saying its a simple calculation; certainly condoning or even looking the other way with regard to vigilantism is a slippery slope and its easy to imaging that path leading to all kinds of horrors or abuses but blindly accepting a philosophy of human life is fundamentally and always more important may not be right either.

      • There are 8.5 Billion of us.

        I think that you must see dead people. There are ~7.257 billion [census.gov] people, not 8.5 billion.

      • by kenj123 ( 658721 )
        Personally I shrug my shoulders over it. Population of Africa is growing so fast. Plus it the perfect location to feed Asia. Long term there will be no habitat for free ranging animals. OTOH, I don't mind that people are trying to stop poaching, it would be interesting to see how it plays out and its important to change peoples ethical outlook. But long term I wouldn't put money on big animals coming out a winner.
      • Stop making sense!
        Next thing you'll be saying we should split poachers into 3 categories:

        1)Those who knowingly kill endangered species for profit
        2)Those who take someone else's animal property for profit
        3)Those who support selves/families/communities on the local wildlife in a non-financial fashion

        But then everyone could get justifiably upset with #1, lump #2 in with common criminals, and agree that #3 often should be acceptable.
        That wouldn't make for a good /. discussion.
    • Looks like everybody owes Jack Thompson an apology, video games really are just murder training/simulators.
    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @07:42AM (#50151535) Homepage Journal

      I have. It's fun. He was there on his knees in his tattered clothes,

      Have you seen pics of poachers? By definition they aren't poor; their equipment is worth more than most people around them make in a year. They're dressed, typically, better than average for people wandering around the places where one kills endangered animals.

    • It wouldn't surprise me if there were some people who would pay for 'trophies' of poachers who were killed in the act. If you auctioned it off, I bet it would raise a decent amount of money for conservation efforts.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    I like the concept, but it's not politically correct enough to kill people for it to have a chance.

    • by N1AK ( 864906 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @02:53AM (#50150731) Homepage
      If 'politically correct' means not wanting to award a prize to a game encouraging vigilante, or state sponsored, murder of low level minor criminals then I suppose that's what you should call it, personally I prefer 'not being a dick'.

      Just because poaching is a major issue doesn't mean that routinely killing poachers is the best answer. We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.
      • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @03:02AM (#50150757)

        We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.

        It would be better if you got to play as a lion/hyena/rhino. More original and less morally ambivalent.

        We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.

        No, we don't.

        That's still every Batman game.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward

          We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.

          It would be better if you got to play as a lion/hyena/rhino. More original and less morally ambivalent.

          We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.

          No, we don't.

          That's still every Batman game.

          Batman/comic book industry generally had a no kill rule. That's a very weak example of a dark vigilante.

          Wouldn't be much of a batarang if it just stuck in the dudes.

      • by guises ( 2423402 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @04:55AM (#50151021)

        We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.

        ... Well, we make games about it. And movies. And books, and comic books, and we plaster the faces of our fictional vigilantes all over billboards and buses and soft drink cups and onto the toys that our children play with.

        I mean, we don't encourage it. ::wink:: But yeah, we encourage it.

      • by mjm1231 ( 751545 )

        I think it's important to point out that just because a work of fiction is about something does not mean it encourages it. Romeo and Juliet doesn't encourage suicide, SIlence of the Lambs doesn't encourage serial killing, etc..

      • by martas ( 1439879 )
        Good thing Grand Theft Auto didn't win any awards, otherwise we'd have millions of kids who became encouraged to kill hookers and blow up cop cars.
      • by Xest ( 935314 )

        "If 'politically correct' means not wanting to award a prize to a game encouraging vigilante, or state sponsored, murder of low level minor criminals then I suppose that's what you should call it, personally I prefer 'not being a dick'. "

        Why? We already hand out awards left, right, and centre to games that encourage this. How is an award for a game like Battlefield Hardline where encouraging the killing of low level drug dealers or small time smugglers any different? Do we treat it differently because it's

        • by N1AK ( 864906 )

          So here's the question, if we're willing to do it then, is it really such a stretch to also hunt down, or encourage the hunting down of those industrial scale poachers that are also involved in murder, rape, and the funding of groups like IS?

          No more of a stretch than it is to put out cash rewards for killing any number of other criminals.

          Tell me where I can pick up my reward for knocking off some of the bank executives that caused the financial crisis and then I'll accept that we see violence as a soluti

          • by Xest ( 935314 )

            Well I think it is more of a stretch, because no society is even remotely considering dealing with the problem of bank executive, as abhorrent as their actions are, with violence.

            But many society have decided that dealing with violent criminal gangs with violence is an acceptable move, thus, it is in fact far less of stretch to think that dealing with such gangs that engage in poaching in the same way is a plausible option.

            I don't really understand your bracketed sentence, it seems contradictory - you seem

      • If 'politically correct' means not wanting to award a prize to a game encouraging vigilante, or state sponsored, murder of low level minor criminals then I suppose that's what you should call it, personally I prefer 'not being a dick'.

        That a game depicts (and even glorifies) some kind of evil (or just "being a dick") behavior doesn't mean it "encourages" that behavior in the real world. We know the difference and we don't need you or anyone else to police content for us.

        Just because poaching is a major issue doesn't mean that routinely killing poachers is the best answer. We don't encourage people to stalk and kill murderers, rapists etc.

        Correct. But we of course do make shitloads of games where such behavior is depicted (and even glorified). Do you get it yet?

        • by Anonymous Coward

          Games are fun specifically because you can be a dick. In pretty much every game made, you are a dick to someone or there would be no game. I'm sure the ghosts in Pac-Man think it's a dick move when you power up and eat them. And those little mushroom guys must really think Mario is a tremendous douchebag for murdering many of their friends. The enemies in Doom are all just kind of hanging out, existing peacefully, at least until the player character comes crashing through, guns blazing. Yeah, Doomguy is a d

          • If you think Doomguy is a dick, wait until you hear about DukeNukemguy...

          • Not only that, the ghosts in Pac-Man aren't even doing anything intentionally to hurt Pac-Man: they're just following the exact same movement pattern they always do. It's not their fault he decided to invade their maze.

        • by N1AK ( 864906 )
          When exactly did I police content. I get plenty more than ignorant fools who jump to unsubstantiated conclusions tyvm. I'm just not stupid enough to think a game about killing people is going to win in a competition which, to use its own description:

          Imagine Cup is a global student technology program and competition that provides... solutions that can change the way we live, work and play.

      • Just because poaching is a major issue doesn't mean that routinely killing poachers is the best answer.

        It's not the whole answer, but you can't afford to quibble over the "right" thing to do. Yes, they need to improve quality of life so that less people will think it's a good idea. But this is now a military scenario. There's a scarce supply of a limited resource we're trying to protect, and it's under assault by armed invaders. The first step is to shoot the attackers. The second step is to make a better world. Both steps have to come repeatedly, 1-2-1-2 if we're going to save the Rhinos, or whatever.

        Of cou

      • If 'politically correct' means not wanting to award a prize to a game encouraging vigilante, or state sponsored, murder of low level minor criminals then I suppose that's what you should call it, personally I prefer 'not being a dick'.

        That's rather minimizing the butchery of many species (including intelligent primates like gorillas) to near extinction. You even call it a major issue in the next sentence. These are not smash and grab kids or poor Jean Valjeans hunting the only food they can find to feed their starving families. These are well-financed, cold-blooded killing operations with expensive gear.

        Advocating their execution may be in poor taste, but I wouldn't call it "being a dick." And I'm not convinced that using potentia

        • It IS warranted, and it's exactly what many African countries do: they use military troops to protect these animals, and they shoot poachers on sight.

          It's a good thing first-worlders aren't in charge of protecting these animals from well-financed poachers, because they'd all be extinct now.

    • We should go back to wholesome family entertainment, like "Grand Theft Auto: Nepal".

  • by invictusvoyd ( 3546069 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @02:32AM (#50150657)
    There will be supply . Can't kill all the poachers . Kill the demand .
    • Agreed. Making poaching illegal or punishable just makes the animal products rarer and more expensive, but doesn't stop the problem.

    • It's not like it has to be either-or...

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Depending on the animal, much of the poaching is done for traditional Chinese medicine, "alternate" medicine and other superstitions reasons.

      So, when we can stop being politically correct and start saying that traditional medicine is complete horseshit - and educate the alternate medicine kooks in the Western World - we can start reducing demand.

      • Viagra should have cut demand. Boner pills that work should drive out boner powders that don't.

      • You can't educate alternative medicine kooks in the western world. They don't believe in science, for one thing, and they think the government is actively suppressing the "truth" about alternative medicine. There's a reason they're "kooks"; your term is accurate.

    • The way poachers are going (along with destruction of habitat), there won't be a supply before too long.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Play as Holly Windstalker?

  • by Rick in China ( 2934527 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @05:52AM (#50151145)

    I was on a hike in the Virunga mountains, specifically right on the border between Rwanda and Congo. We were on a Mountain Gorilla trek, and after a few hours of hiking our guide pointed out, with the note, "don't be afraid" - a guy in green way up in a tree with an assault rifle.

    They're basically campers.

    • We were on a Mountain Gorilla trek, and after a few hours of hiking our guide pointed out, with the note, "don't be afraid" - a guy in green way up in a tree with an assault rifle.

      They're basically campers.

      They were camping the Mountain Gorilla respawn point?

      If they're just going to respawn, then it's not really killing, is it?

      • They're the poacher-killers, not the poachers! The gorillas unfortunately don't respawn their paws, so the poacher-killers camp up in the trees waiting for the invading Congolese poachers (who I presume spawn in Congo) to sleuth about through the thick jungle dropping traps.

  • I have wondered when will poachers start using drones themselves.
    Drones will be much more useful for finding / killing game than for protecting them.
    When a serious hunting drone makes it to the market, the rhino etc population will be down within a few months.
  • Killing poachers should be completely legal. Heck, have safaris where rich guys can hunt them using high-powered elephant rifles.
    • Surely you meant "high-powered poacher rifles"?

    • It IS completely legal in many of those places: those countries have armed troops out there looking for them, and they shoot poachers on sight.

      I don't know that it'd be legal for some random person to shoot them though, but it is perfectly legal for their troops.

  • Could be the new CS! Poachers have to kill off all the animals while the anti-poachers have to kill off all the poachers. Whichever goes extinct first wins.
  • Imagine --- FPS on XBox through the Google Drones as a live view. Game play that makes it Real!!!

    Bounties could be offered by each country for those extra special poachers.

    Oh yeah baby!!

  • Apparently... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Chris Katko ( 2923353 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @09:11AM (#50152263)
    Nobody read TFA.

    It took all of 5 seconds to load the page and read that:

    The game is set in a futuristic world where decades of poaching has knocked Earth’s ecosystem off-kilter and left the planet a barren dessert. The last hope for restoration involves sending a cyborg back in time to hunt the poachers.

    Your stopping poachers to save humanity.

    And if you can use backstory to allow people kill thousands of demons, zombies, sentient robots, nazis and communists; why the hell are poachers any different? What makes the games you played so magically okay? Did you blow up Megaton in Fallout 3? Because then by your own logic you're now just encouraged nuclear terrorism.

    Get off your damn high horses and realize it's not 1995, you're not Jack Thompson, and video games don't encourage people to kill people.

    • Also, Slashdot editor? You're a sensationalizing prick.
      • theodp writes:

        Slashdot doesn't have editors. Slashdot has people with the title of editor who are really story approvers. They very rarely do anything you might consider to be editing.

  • Terrible Ted is going to find his head up on a wall over this.

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