All the anti-gaming activists, listen up. When people claim to "learn things" from video games, they're not just talking about a bit of extra hand-eye coordination from first-person shooters. They're not referring to gaining knowledge of economics from playing real-time strategies. They're not even suggesting the improved matching skills from all those Shockwave titles with the coloured dots.
They're talking about a 12 year old Norwegian boy, who survived a moose attack - using skills he learned in World of Warcraft.
Hans Jørgen Olsen and his sister were walking in the woods near their house when they were confronted by the antlered beast, who was a bit miffed at the invasion of his turf, so it attacked them. Olsen reacted quickly, with the sort of reflexes that only come after spending days in Azeroth.
His first task - protect his sister. How to do this? Taunt the beast! The boy yelled at the animal until it was distracted enough to leave his sister alone, so she could run and get help. Downside of this plan - the moose was now paying some grumpy attention to Hans. What was he to do?
Feign death. "Just like you learn at level 30 in World of Warcraft."
I kid you not. Beast, seeing that the boy was no longer interesting, wandered off to greener pastures and to do whatever moose do in Norway. Hans jumped up and ran home to join his sister and tell the whole world about his adventures.
Now - before you criticise a 12-year old for having spent enough time ingame to get to level 30, stop and think. Had he been a lower level, he just wouldn't have had the skillset to survive. Think about that, and maybe pop a copy of WoW on your Christmas list, if you live somewhere with an abundance of moose.
http://games.internode.on.net/content.p ... ws&id=2330
