BULLY'S in uniform.

[Bart Oliver]

As an aside-

Ade, I'm about halfway that at the moment ;)

It's been a while since I picked it up last but with the miracle that is Fuse (Free Unix Spectrum Emulator) I can make TZX snapshots of games and dip in and out when I want.

Tau Ceti and Cobra are still as addictive now as they were twenty(?) years ago.

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/

Link: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/" target="_blank">World Of Spectrum

[I, Cosh]

You have to whack a master to hit the high shields....

[ThryllSeekyr]

Generally, I would feel too much resentment to wards anybody thast's severely bullied me directly in the past to be good friends with them.

Onm the flip side.

Of course, unles you have retaliated in any way, the bully woulnd't be harbouring any grudges toward that person now would they?

It's okay for them, isn't it.

[Roger Godpleton]

The TV ads seem to go out of their way to portray the lead as a necessary evil, is this the case in the game.

I was bullied at school for generally being loud and annoying, I very suddenly became quite introverted at age 14 without realising it. It had virtually died out by the time I did my GCSE's but I still felt uneasy around my tormenters, and probably still would if I spent more than 5 minutes in their company.

On the flip side, I'm ashamed to say that I used to bully one of my friends because he was universally acknowledged as a geek. I wasn't the only one doing it in my group, but this causes me far more trauma then the time someone pretended to hold a gun to my back and forced me to hold my hands up in front of everyone.

[Bolt-01]

hmm.

I've been on the receiving end of bullying- as have, I would imagine, a fair few here.

I've always raised my kids with the attitude that you do not start fights and if you see bullying, tell the teacher.

Two weeks ago Micro-bolt (7) got into trouble for a fight at school. His reason- one of his mates was being picked by a gang and when he told them to stop they started on him. So he punched the nearest one in the face. He was given two days in 'the zone' (Not allowed out of the 'D' on the playground football pitch) and then it was all over.

I know that fighting is not big or clever, but my lad got a box of Heroclix for being a good friend from me for that.

Bolt-01

[TordelBack]

"I know that fighting is not big or clever, but my lad got a box of Heroclix for being a good friend from me for that. "

You're my kind of Dad, Bolt!  

Krust brings up some very disturbing memories for me here.  While I only really suffered from one bully in school, a situation which violence on my part did solve, I was also at one time a bully.  Or rather, I was a bully's henchman, as if that was somehow a lesser crime.  I had a very clever, very likeable 'friend' in First Yea in secondary school, who had been friends in primary school with an overweight and fankly pretty obnoxious kid (weren't we all?), whom he now no longer needed.

Wanting to distance himself from his uncool past, he encouraged myself and others to pick on and mercilessly slag this poor sod, also ostensibly my friend - but he never really got directly involved himself (too damn smart).  There was no physical abuse involved (as if that made it better), but I can't deny that we bullied this guy, reducing him to tears on several occasions, and causing him to miss days of school (in much the same way as I would do myself a year-or-so later) for no other reason than my cool 'friend' made it clear that we should. Sure weren't we al friends, and wasn't it all just fun.  Anyway, he was fat, and thus fair game.  

This went on for maybe a year, and the nadir (for me) was when I was prevailed upon not to attend the victim's Bar Mitzvah, an invitation that even then I knew was a huge honour and a rare experience in he virtual mono-culture like the south of Ireland was then.  Nobody else from our school went.   It's something I've spent the last 25 years regretting.

I stopped picking on him shortly after that, but others continued, he got fatter and more miserable, and I certainly didn't stand up to them.  Years later I tried to apologise, but I don't think I got through.  Who can blame him fro not wanting to listen.  It actually still makes my gut clench with well-deserved panicky guilt to think of it at all.

And why did I do all this?  Because a popular smart guy who I wanted to like me asked me to.  And where is this 'friend' now?  Haven't seen him in 20 years.  And did he come to my aid when I was being bullied a few years later?  What do you think.  What goes around...

[Adrian Bamforth]

"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."

Though to be fair, you shouldn't really have told him to hide in the box.













Or driven the car.

ADE

[Trout]

I had some similar experiences at school, but nothing so severe as many of the posters here.

But I do recall somebody stealing my prog one time. He ran off laughing, saying he wanted to read "Doctor Dredd." The bastard!

Seriously, I feel very bad for those of you who are still scarred by such experiences. I think this thread should be used so they can talk about it if they want.
Let's be supportive and try to avoid any more arguments. The board's gotten a little tense lately and I think this is a good opportunity to be a bit more positive again.

- Trout

[Buttonman]

Fuck off fish-face, you bring your prog money to Gripper Button from now on!


Do I need the winky man?

Ok

;0)

[Trout]

Gripper Button

Fnarr fnarr

- Trout

[Buttonman]

I won't rise to your smutty chortling, but Gripper Stebson was a terrifying Grange Hill bully. Well until 'Bullet' Baxter got hold of him anyway.http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/button71/gripper.jpg">

[Trout]

I'm quite aware of who Gripper Stebson was. See the "age" thread for my vintage.

Now away and grip some buttons... ;-)

[LARF]

It's a game about Bullying. It's not big, it's not clever, it's trying to be controversial and therefore using this as a marketing vehicle to sell games and is a shit wet dream of some marketing/games exec.

IMHO it's wrong.

I was bullied, very badly that it has affected my life, albeit in a small way but also helped me in some way recognise this and use it as an emotional crutch to help me through life, but looking back i would really have liked to not to have been bullied.

My Co. does work with a charity that helps young people who suffer from bullying and knowing what children are faced with from their demonstrative peers during their formative years I really wish that this game was not released. It is wrong.

[Bad Andy]

It's a game about Bullying

Is it? From what my mate says its a game about getting through school with a controversial title (in the states). Is GTA solely about car stealing? No, it also has much worse stuff in it, which is probably a bad example.

Too many people are making assumptions (including me) about the game without actually having played it. Let's not live life through the tabloids, eh?

[Leigh S]

to be fair though, if you call a game "bully", then you are kind of attracting those assumptions...