BULLY'S in uniform.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Though Rockstar Games hasn't made it clear wether this game has been released or even finished yet. It must be damn close to it.

On the Wikipedia entry for Rockstar's latest project.
There's a full synopsis, a run down on the main characters ( There are alot of main characters) and the cliques that exist with the school faculty that are very well known throughout most of the educated world.

Funnny thing is, that in reading up on these Cliques. I found it odd how well established these classicly stereotyped groups are.

The Nerds, The Bullies, The Preppies, The Jocks, The Outcasts, The Greasers, The Prefects, all have their own Clique uniforms. ( Hence the name of this thread topic.) So, you can recoginise them on street.

Thats alittle odd, I didn't think Bullies would really have their own uniform ( A white dress shirt, never tucked in.). Really Anyone of the other stero types could be bullies also. In fact any one of the other stero types could be any other of the other sterotypes.

In my own school days, nothing was so easily defined. Though, The kids that played chess and the kids that play sport at lunch time would still do their own thing. These two main gruops would still mix it up pretty much the rest of the time. Though the clique groups would be more clearly defined as people from different neighbour hoods areas.

The clique groups that were more obivious were known to each other through locality, and also ethicity and still haveing many of varying interests within those groups. You could almost call it a caste system within each group. I think this type of devercity works better than than what is shown in this game.

Despite this type over dependency I still think this game sounds cool and way ahead on the market for it's still a original idea.  

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_(video_game)" target="_blank">RockStar's BULLY

[Dog Deever]

It's already out Thrillseeker- my kids have it, and it's fucking great fun kicking the shit out of the prefects! Soon I shall tire of the senseless violence and start to play the actual game properly!

[TordelBack]

I really like the sound of this game, all PC reservations aside.  Even my better half, who spends her days peering out at classrooms full of little oiks, quite fancies it, despite her ladylike protests. The 'controversy' (read: airtime and column inches successully filled) appears to be aimed at the same group that warned me mam not to let us watch 'Grange Hill'.  Methinks these folks have carefully edited memories of their schooldays, or at least ever look behind them form their perch in the front row.  

OT:  We had a marvellous young teacher, a hulking 6' 3" skinhead,  who used to spend his breaks actively hunting bullies in the dark corners of the scool and scaring the living shite out of them.  Of course one day he actually thumped one particularly loathesome gargoyle who was beating the crap out of a wee First Year in a deserted classroom, and was fired.  In hindsight, I know he was totally out of order, but by God we loved him for it.

 

[Jim_Campbell]

"In hindsight, I know he was totally out of order, but by God we loved him for it. "

Well, yes ... this is the problem with school bullies. All the stuff you know in your head is right goes out of the window, because these fuckers only understand and respect violence.

I was plagued by three of these cunts for the first four years of my time at comprehensive. One or other (and sometimes more than one) of these bastards would beat me up literally every day.

At some point in the fourth year, I snapped and punched one of them in the face. He beat the crap out of me, but after that they all left me alone.

Of course, all they did was go and find someone else to bully, and of course, I did nothing to stand up for that poor fucker.

I saw one of them a couple of years ago in the pub when I returned to my home town one Christmas, and he seemed genuinely perplexed as to why I was so hostile towards him.

Sorry, mate, I know it was twenty years ago, but do you really think you forget being punched unconscious? Being spat on? Being humiliated on a daily basis for four years?

Shooting's too fucking good for them.

Jim

[Dog Deever]

In reality, the game has you defending the the nerds and those who are picked on- it's really the only way to progress in the game. Although that said, you can just thump anyone!

Jim's right about bullies only understanding violence. For ages I used self-deprecation and such like to avoid the worst excesses, but there was one particular guy who it seemed to make hate me more. One day after PE he was throwing football boots at me, til I flipped out and smashed him in the face with the metal studded sole. After that people left me alone because they thought I was a psycho. Escalation of violence really worked for me that time.
After leaving school, dressing in raggedy clothes and having purple hair made me a target again. Til I flipped out on some wanker and he ended up with 12 stitches holding his face together 2wks before his wedding. In a small town, such things keep people away. I very nearly went to jail for it, though. If I hadn't have had witnesses for 'self defence' I would have been inside on a 'serious assault' charge. but I'm not a violent person at all, and would much rather leg it at the first opportunity.

[The Amstor Computer]

Yup, Bully - or Canis Canem Edit as it's been retitled for the Euro market - is surprisingly good. It's very derivative of the now-classic GTA format (unsurprising, given its pedigree) but it's executed with a lot of charm & attention to detail, and in putting you in the (school) shoes of a pretty sympathetic character & rewarding you for protecting classmates from bullies it goes a long way toward defusing the criticism that's been slung its way.

I'm still not entirely comfortable with the content. If you actually stop to think about what you're doing in-game & the manner in which it's presented, there is something a little unsettling - imagine Scum played for laughs & you might have an idea of why I find it slightly dubious.

It's certainly an interesting game, and the opening gameplay sequence that asks the player to enter an unfamiliar school & make their way to the head's office, all the while walking past groups of children talking about the "new boy" or getting jeered at by jocks, is a strangely authentic experience.  

[Byron Virgo]

"Sorry, mate, I know it was twenty years ago, but do you really think you forget being punched unconscious? Being spat on? Being humiliated on a daily basis for four years?"

Let it go, Jim.

I know that's easier to say rather than do, but you can't dwell on these things, because ultimately it's only going to be harmful to yourself (and like you say, the guys involved don't even seem to remember the incidents, which shows how much importance they placed upon it). For your own mental and physical wellbeing, you've got to leave these things in the past - you've changed, and so have your former tormentors. Some of my best friends now are people who treated me like utter shit at school, but then they were treated like crap by others too. That's the nature of violence; it goes round in circles, and ultimately you're better off not giving in to it, because that's never the way to win.

That said, there was this guy in our class who used to punch people in the arm as hard as he could during every single class. For two years. Anyway, this stopped after I knocked him unconscious with a wooden stool in the science block.

[Bico]

I don't think Jim's holding a grudge for the violence itself, but rather the idea that a great many people who engage in bullying when younger are encouraged by society to look upon it all as 'growing pains' that weren't their fault, and go into adulthood without any remorse for what they did.  People who commit acts of abuse constantly use the defence that they were subjected to it themselves and as such see it as a valid form of emotional or social expression, which is just bullshit.  If, as an adult, you understand what you did was wrong, you should be apologetic, not brushing off the feelings of those you abused as a childish grudge, because that's basically saying you were right to do it in the first place.
If I hear an apology for being fucked about by someone, then it's forgotten about - if not, then it's "fuck you and have a nice life".

[Wils]

treated me like utter shit at school

Now there's a *massive* difference between being treated like utter shit and being bullied. From your post, you weren't bullied, as you'd have actually used the word if you'd had. Being bullied goes far deeper than people who haven't experienced it can ever realise. I was bullied for years, purely for having long hair(!) I survived and had plenty of friends nonetheless (although at other schools). There are people I went to school with that I'd still seriously like to see floating face-down in a river with their throats slit even now, nearly 20 years on. Even though it doesn't rule most victims' lives into adulthood (including me), it's fucking impossible to just "let it go" when you've suffered years of constant physical and mental cruelty as a kid.

Slight rant over. Carry on.

[Jim_Campbell]

"There are people I went to school with that I'd still seriously like to see floating face-down in a river with their throats slit even now, nearly 20 years on"

Heh ... I know that feeling!

Of my three tormentors, I don't any particularly festering ill-will towards two of them, because they were remarkably stupid. Their dead-end small-town council estate lives are more than punishment enough.

The other one, though ... he was clever, and quite gifted. And he hated me for no reason I could ever work out. Although he wasn't averse to giving me a good kicking, he liked his bullying psychological as well.

I was shy and very nerdy back then, and I didn't make friends easily, and he systematically drove wedges between me and my friends, mocked and belittled me, and told lies about me to the point where most other kids would barely even speak to me.

It's an old wound, and it doesn't trouble me if I don't think about it, but, to this day, if the opportunity presented itself to do that bastard an ill turn, I'd fuck him over like a shot and smile while I was doing it.

Jim

[ThryllSeekyr]

I think adults respond differently to bullying compared to how they would have when they were kids.

Like you you can still be beaten up or even annoyed the same way you were when you were at school, but as a adult you can pychologically bullied by co-workers, your boss, your former friends, other people you have stay in contact with evryday and even family.

I too had my fair share of bullying and in turn fighting. Funny thing is with the fighting. I guess I never hit hard enough, and so the bullying would continue.

Anyway, becuase of my experiuences at school and in the work place I feel uncomfortable when I am forced to come into contact with people right now.

[Adrian Bamforth]

http://www.fraserking.co.uk/spectrum/screenshots/Skool_Daze.png">

[Rex Banner]

There was a guy at my school who was a bully & a shit to pretty much everyone. Never actually bullied me but we had the odd confrontation. Him & his group were generally best avoided.

I last saw him about a year ago, he was homeless & was begging for bus fare to get from Yate to Bath, about ten miles. I watched him going from person to person asking for money. He approached me, recognized me, changed his mind & walked away.

I wish I could say I felt sorry for him but I didn't.

[Byron Virgo]

"Now there's a *massive* difference between being treated like utter shit and being bullied. From your post, you weren't bullied, as you'd have actually used the word if you'd had. Being bullied goes far deeper than people who haven't experienced it can ever realise. I was bullied for years, purely for having long hair(!) I survived and had plenty of friends nonetheless (although at other schools). There are people I went to school with that I'd still seriously like to see floating face-down in a river with their throats slit even now, nearly 20 years on. Even though it doesn't rule most victims' lives into adulthood (including me), it's fucking impossible to just "let it go" when you've suffered years of constant physical and mental cruelty as a kid."

Well, thanks for saying that those five or more years of hell I went through during secondary school were little more than a bit of gentle ribbing - sorry didn't realise that this was a fucking misery contest. Glad to hear that being smacked about and spat on every day walking to and from school was just a fucking picnic, and that an entire school population refusing to talk to you and not having one single friend to confide in for six months is just bog-standard behaviour. Especially since the only time a teacher put a stop to me getting my arse kicked, it lead to the attackers claiming that they did it because I was being 'racist', and I got suspended and had to apologise to THEM.

Did you think that maybe - just fucking maybe - the reason that I didn't go into specific detail was because I didn't actually want to dredge all that shit up again, because I'd liked to have thought that I'd been able to move on with my life and leave all the crap behind?

Violence is NEVER the answer - I've learned that over time, and I've made plenty of mistakes because of it that I now deeply regret. Doesn't mean that I'm not held responsible - and I DO believe in personal accountability - but unless you understand WHY people do what they do, the cycle just continues regardless. And the truth is, you get used to being miserable - being sorry for yourself is a readily familiar state of mind, and I think it ends up being a psychological crutch, and ultimately if you can't be rational and move away from it, then it ends up controling and crippling you emotionally.

Sorry, I realise I'm coming across like a complete prick - and it's a fair assessment - but I really can't put into words the crap that post has brought up for me.

[Buttonman]

One of the bullys at my school was killed when he hid in a box in the middle of the road as a drunken dare. Naturally it was hit by a car and frankly this loss to the gene pool won't be missed.

Not a bullying tale but I did have a primary school fight with Neil Primrose who later became the drummer in Travis. I won der if I'll merit a mention in his autobioraphy!

As for moving, on a good grudge is an excellent motivational tool.