Power-up prank leads to gamers being charged (Mario related)

[Wes]

Original Article- http://www.gamespot.com/news/6147012.html Also for screenshots of the ? boxes used in prank.

Power-up prank lands gamers in trouble
Ohio girls face potential charges for joke after bomb squad is called; teenagers made life-size Mario power-up boxes, hung them around town.

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Screenshot Index » Games have gotten some kids in trouble again, but this time it's a far cry from the Devin Moore case, which continues to make headlines. This time the source of the problem wasn't an M-rated game like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas or Doom, it was the seemingly innocuous Super Mario Bros.

In the town of Ravenna, Ohio, five teenage girls, ages 16 and 17, crafted some life-sized power-up boxes modeled after those in the NES classic. The cardboard boxes were covered in shiny, gold wrapping paper and had the black question marks familiar to most gamers. As an April Fools joke, the girls laid 17 of these boxes around the town in public spaces Friday morning.

The humor was lost on some residents, however. After noticing one package on the steps of a church, a concerned citizen reported the "suspicious package" to local authorities, who called in the county's hazardous materials unit and the bomb squad.

Upon further inspection, no materials designed to harm people, mushrooms to increase a person's size, or flowers that bestow the ability to project bouncing fireballs were found inside the boxes. The packages were empty.

Ravenna Police Chief Randall McCoy told the online edition of the Record-Courier that one girl came into the police department with one of her parents and claimed responsibility, saying it was just a joke.

Apparently, the girls got the idea from the Web site Qwantz.com, which gives detailed instructions on how to make the boxes. The Web site intended the posting to inspire art projects, and several subversive artists have submitted photos of their Mario blocks in action across the country.

The girls face possible criminal charges for their actions. While most in the online community think the authority's actions are a tad extreme, McCoy defends the proceedings of his department.

"The potential is always present when dealing with a suspicious package that it could be deadly," McCoy told the Record-Courier. "In today's day and age, you just cannot do this kind of stuff."

A posting on Quantz.com responds to the incident in Ravenna. "Not everyone has the same cultural context and not everyone is relaxed about public spaces. [The idea of the project] is to bring a smile to people's faces, to get them to connect with their neighbors, to bring color into an otherwise grey urban landscape. [We] are deeply sorry that things are not working out in Ravenna."

By Tim Surette -- GameSpot
Posted Apr 3, 2006 3:21 pm PT

All I got to say is....the town needs to play more Mario games?

 

[Astinus]

Well, actually, it's the kids' fault. They should know the times that the country is in, and how paranoid everyone is now-a-days. They shouldn't make weird boxes to be placed around town. Especially in front of buildings that have been under attack, like churches. Paranoia abounds.

The townsfolk don't know that it was just a joke. It might seem innocent enough to the original person, but only THEY really know the truth behind it.

Like I said: It's their own fault.

 

[Wes]

That's the problem. People are paranoid beyond relief they can't handle a simple joke intended to make people laugh or be surprised to see a block out of Super Mario Bros of all things at their doorsteps. People have got to stop being so darn paranoid and try to enjoy life!

 

[Cap D. Blue]

I saw this on the news the other day.

I, personally, think it was funny. Too bad there wasn't really a Super Mushroom or anything inside.

 

[ViNe WhIp]

Well, actually, it's the kids' fault. They should know the times that the country is in, and how paranoid everyone is now-a-days. They shouldn't make weird boxes to be placed around town. Especially in front of buildings that have been under attack, like churches. Paranoia abounds.

The townsfolk don't know that it was just a joke. It might seem innocent enough to the original person, but only THEY really know the truth behind it.

Like I said: It's their own fault.

[SARCASM]Yeah because American churchs are bombed daily, you better watch out![/SARCASM]

 

[Astinus]

I meant in the fact that people take religion seriously, so most people try to strike that. Besides, I haven't watched the news recently, but I did remember shootings happening at churches. People just try to protect their religion.

Perhaps next year we should all place Pokéballs on people's front door steps. And everyone would know that it's only a joke. (This is only written in sarcasm, and not to be taken seriously, kids...)

Because if we don't watch out on April Fool's Day, when everything is a joke, and just relax, then whoever wants to destroy something could just do so, because we wouldn't suspect. We can't just take mysterious packages laced around town as a prank when we don't know what's in them. Does no one not remember the anthrax scare years ago?

 

[Sonozaki Maya]

Exactly - people take religion so seriously that it blinds their sense of reality and makes them paranoid to attacks to their faith. I think that religion (not the actual religion itself, I respect that, just the subject of religion) is a bit petty and superficial, that arguments and silly stuff such as this must stem as a result of religion. Paranoia is a deadly thing, I've had a case of paranoia before, but calling all that just for examining a harmless-looking box? That is an EXTREME case of paranoia that shouldn't even have to exist.

People need to lighten up... Even in a war situation, there's gotta be optimism within the masses, and this joke was a great attempt at doing so. Too bad the freakin' religion obsessants had to spoil it all.

 

[Solid Kirby]

I was reading somthing about how to make said Power Up boxes just the other day. ._.

Really, though. I think it's a bit harsh for those girls to be charged for a mere April Fool's prank, even WITH the war going on. It's not like there's a bomber going around doing this kind of crap. I guess you can't leave anything on someone's doorstep with good intentions without having the Bomb Squad come to call. =/

Meh, what do I know? I'm not an adult who lacks any sence of humor and has to call the bomb squad when a Super Mario box shows up on my front porch. ._.

 

[ShiningClefairy]

I saw this on the news the other day.

I, personally, think it was funny. Too bad there wasn't really a Super Mushroom or anything inside.

Heheheh, they should've picked mushrooms from the ground and stuffed them inside.

This whole thing is hilarious.

 

[Another Fan]

I seen that site before. I find this news report rather sad.

 

[Konosuke]

Thats a tad bit extreme, even in this time. Jeez, they are just people who wanted to joke around. Let them go, no need to give them a freakin crime record for a tame joke (tame to the point of hilarity, i say).

 

[Kez]

I think that that was a bit extreme. I mean getting a criminal record for placing shiney boxes around the city with "?" on them. I thought that it was pretty funny.

 

[Black Marauder]

That prank was good... but geeshe... a bit too harsh of a punishment, no?

 

[mangod/pikachu]

Wow those people are idiots for that seriously. It was on April freaking Fools day and the boxes LOOKED LIKE BOXES FROM SUPER MARIO BROS. If I saw those blocks in my town, I would think "Hey maybe, this a freakin' joke" because soooo many things are noticable on April Fool's Day that it's extremely pathetic to get work up over such an innocent prank.

 

[Erus Black Mage]

oh **** looks like you get arrested for making an april fools joke now!

 

[Astinus]

Aw nuts. You also get arrested when you wear a mask on Halloween... And rob a bank. People, it wasn't the day that makes all the differences. It was the subject of the joke. Mysterious boxes. Left randomly on people's door steps. I'd say more, but I'd just be repeating myself. :/

-;249-d;-

 

[bme™]

Yeah, because when you rob a bank or go trick or treating, you carry a loaded fire arm.

I think the punishment was too far and people need to lighten up and stop being so paranoid. It wasn't even a destructive prank, they just layed colored boxes around.

 

[Willow's Tara]

Uh, why would you be arrested for wearing a mask on Halloween?

You know, sincw how it was April fools you think these people would have figured that out huh? Hello! Aprills fools people!, of course tell you the truth I might have been a bit suspicous and akll but that only because I am a paranoid person, execpt maybe on April's fools..

 

[Astinus]

I meant the fact that everything starts out innocent. But then some rare cases twist everything around. Like on Halloween, you had the people lacing the candy with drugs, at least where I live. You had people smashing pumpkins, at least where I live. You had people torturing small animals, at least where I live. (Don't know if you all had the same kind of crazys living in your neighborhood or not...)

Now you hear on the news how people go into banks wearing a mask, holding up the bank, and no one knows who they are because of the mask. Sure, everyone expects the robber to wear a ski mask or what-not, but masks are readily available and no one questions the purpose of what you are buying it for on Halloween. That's what makes it so difficult to live in the world these days. You don't know who anyone is.

Yeah, it was just a simple prank. The teenage girls just wanted to spread some good cheer in a troubled time. It's just that the town, for whatever reason, overreacted and responded the best way they thought how. So perhaps the townsfolk reacted harshly, but you just can't be sure. You have to be so suspicious these days.

But, you know, that's just the way I think. I find April Fool's Day immature. But you people like it. So you just keep going on playing your pranks on one another.

 

[Wes]

Oh it's not immature it's to release your bottled up childness and anger and payback and...err disreguard that. I know today's world is a much more dangerous place. Of course there will be suspicion. But that's human nature and it's human nature for people to try to have fun or to help others. Somtimes you have to do something because...well you just do.