Gamertell

A US Army press release sent out earlier this week (January 17, 2008)  is crediting Paxton Galvanek, twenty-eight, with saving a life last year because of skills he received while playing America’s Army, a first-person shooter based on and funded by the US military.

On November 23, 2007, Galvanek witnessed a sports utility vehicle loose control while driving west on I-40 in North Carolina with his family. Galvanek was able to remove two men from the wreckage and administer first aid to one of the passengers who had lost two fingers. America’s Army project director Colonel Casey Wardynski had this to say ((IN THE PRESS RELEASE?)) regarding Galvanek’s actions that day:

Because of the training he received in [the] America’s Amry virtual classroom, Mr. Galvanek had mastered the basics of first aid and had the confidence to take appropriate action when others might do nothing. He took the initiative to assess the situation, prioritize actions and apply the correct procedures…Paxton is a true hero. We are pleased to have played a role in providing the lifesaving training that he employed so successfully at the scene.

This causes a few interesting conjectures to drift through the brain, should the parties in thought be willing…

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This past Sunday, in Essex England, twenty-four year old Adam Mapleson was on his way to work via the railway station when he witnessed two armed and masked men robbing a female security guard. Racing to the aid of the woman, (witness’ accounts state that Adam had attempted to block the thugs’ escape) he was shot at close range in the chest. He is now reported to have regained consciousness and is in stable condition at a Southend Hospital.

According to The Sun Online, “The woman guard escaped shaken but unhurt — as did a male colleague who was driving the security van in Rayleigh, Essex. The robbers - wearing scarves around their faces - fled with a security box belching red dye. Their haul is likely to be worthless.“

What likely won’t hit the airwaves (or net-waves?) as hard is the fact that Adam Mapleson was a gamer, who listens to black metal and in every picture on his Myspace Page is dressed in black. Now, far be it for me to pontificate the jurisprudence of social mores and how backwards they may be, but it just goes to show that looks or interests does not a man define. With that said, I’d like to invite Jack Thompson take a peek at a slice of this hero’s interest in gaming: Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike Source, FEAR, GTA: San Andreas, UT2004, Dawn of War and Mark of Chaos.

For all the negative media around gaming and gamers, I can’t help but notice that when the facts don’t appease the agenda, no matter how insignificant, those facts are lost. Where’s Jack Thompson now?

Read [Kotaku] Read Also [The Sun Online]

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