News Scouts introduce new Videogames Badge

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2010/04/28/scouts-introduce-new-videogames-badge/1

 

They should play this version of Tetris. Even harder. Uh, that is to say 'educationally challenging'.


Achievement Unlocked: Scouts etc. etc.

 

As a former cub-scout leader i have to say....amazing.

(then again, the dutch scouts introduced "Shopping" as a badge for girlscouts nearly twenty years ago)

 

The amazing thing about Tetris and these evil variants is that the new versions don't do anything new. In the one you linked and in Hateris which I linked failure is left as the only outcome because the game conspires against you. The ironic thing though is that that's true of normal Tetris too - it just does it slower.

 

That's deep. But when you say "inevitable failure" I hear "open ended gaming with infinite re-playability"

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/26/the-funniest-unintentiona_n_551567.html

Source material for the next new badge.

 

Scout badges get stranger every time I look back at the old ones! *hugs his old Scout top*

 

You just compared 10-17 years olds with the under 10's for shame!

/me buffs his chief scouts challenge badge

 

Palm to face.

Scouts can manage to turn anything into leadership development and community activity, can't they? What happened to going camping and learning survival skills? Oh wait... that died before I was even alive.

 

Well for Dutch scouts, people having studied social education moved in and "proved":
Camping is actually bad for under 10 year olds, the need a "warm sheltered place" a tent can't be by definition..
As is competition.
And they're not allowed away from their parents overnight.

Thank god scouting is different in every country...the Czechs will turn boys into men

 

"To earn the basic belt loop, . . .demonstrate an understanding of the ESRB rating system and be able to explain why ratings are required for videogames. . . design a schedule that balances games against other responsibilities, including homework . . ."

Important things to learn for anyone who enjoys videogames on a regular basis. It's a little odd, granted, to earn a patch for videogames, but it's not like they're getting it for spending x amount of hours fragging their mates. They do get the incentive of "learning to play a new game," but it's one that has to be approved by the parents. Judging by any of the parents I know whose kids are in scouts, I see educational games on the horizon...

 

A videogame badge for Cub Scouts? Seriously?! Is the BSA really this desperate to attract membership? You don't learn self reliance and leadership skills by playing useless videogames. I guess we should incorporate the movie, Grandmas Boy, while we're at it so 9 year olds can learn that you can live in a videogame world while mastering different ways to smoke weed.

I knew I made a wise choice when I quit working for the BSA professionally, but this is one of the most asinine decisions ever made by upper management. As an Eagle Scout, I am appalled that the BSA has stooped to such a low level. Many of my Eagle Scout friends were already fed up with the way they get treated by scout execs, but implementing a "badge" of this sort is a new low.

Come on fellas, raise the bar a bit. And do it now!

 

WTF, when I was in the scouts we made things with rope, burnt things, made more things with rope, went camping and had a pretty fun time. Badges included OUTDOOR things to do, how is gaming remotely 'scouty'?

 

I got thrown out of the Scouts

 

I think it provides an additional way for parents and their children to spend time together, think of the responsibility, and provides a way for parents to see how other children spend their time online as well. Hopefully some of those kids will get their parents attention a little more when their playing online and I can just hope to hear a parent beating one of those kids for rude language while their using mic's online.

 

Well to be fair the BSA were always a bit strange

(I hate living in a country with no scouts)

 

I am absolutely appalled by this pin/loop. ARE YOU LISTENING BSA??? Are you going to remove the fitness pin while your at it? 20 pins has long since been the standard for the heavy shoulder. Is it 21 now?

I DO NOT LET MY KIDS PLAY VIDEO GAMES AT HOME!! I WILL NOT, SO NOW THEY WILL NOT GET THE HEAVY SHOULDER! THEY WILL BE SINGLED OUT BY THEIR FRIENDS NOW! Their friends spend many hours inside playing games, mine play OUTSIDE. RETRACT THIS PIN/LOOP IMMEDIATELY! STOP GIVING IN TO CORPORATE AMERICA! Games are made in Asia, the new uniforms are made in Asia, the pins, loops, beads (which had a lead paint recall) MADE IN ASIA. CHINA, and Japan... BSA - Boy Scouts of Asia.

I am no longer proud to be and Eagle Scout.

So Sad.

 

I am also saddened by the way the Boy Scouts are going, Yesterday this was on AOL. We should all read and send this to everyone we know. The Scouts are becoming a joke and this proves it. This website from AOL.
http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/boy-scouts-offering-video-game-merit-awards/19457731

 

Well the BSA are anyway...then again they were always over the top with leadershipgoals, competition and mostly pin-, bead-, (shriveled opponents head) -collecting.

Personally I would prefer more "Scouting for Boys" in Scouting