Scouts introduce new Videogames Badge
The Boy Scouts of America has introduced a new badge that can be earned by playing games.
To earn the basic belt loop, Scouts will need to demonstrate an understanding of the ESRB rating system and be able to explain why ratings are required for videogames. After that they'll need to design a schedule that balances games against other responsibilities, including homework, before finally learning to play a new game which has met with the approval of their guardian.
Our recommendation is that, should your child want to pursue the badge then you tell that you'll only approve of them learning to play Hateris.
According to GI.biz earning the full Academic badge involves buying a game with a suitable rating, comparing two different systems, organising and participating in a family games tournament and teaching a friend or adult how to play a new game.
Extra tasks include helping friends with their favourite games for an hour, playing games that improve educational skills such as spelling and maths, comparing prices at different stores and setting up your own games system.
The new badge is only available for the Boy Scouts of America - not the British Cub Scouts.
Check out Joe's list of games he recommends playing with your children and be sure to let us know your own suggestions in the forums.
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(then again, the dutch scouts introduced "Shopping" as a badge for girlscouts nearly twenty years ago)
The amazing thing about Tetris and these evil variants is that the new versions don't do anything new. In the one you linked and in Hateris which I linked failure is left as the only outcome because the game conspires against you. The ironic thing though is that that's true of normal Tetris too - it just does it slower.
That's deep. But when you say "inevitable failure" I hear "open ended gaming with infinite re-playability" :)
Source material for the next new badge.
You just compared 10-17 years olds with the under 10's for shame!
/me buffs his chief scouts challenge badge
Scouts can manage to turn anything into leadership development and community activity, can't they? What happened to going camping and learning survival skills? Oh wait... that died before I was even alive.
Well for Dutch scouts, people having studied social education moved in and "proved":
Camping is actually bad for under 10 year olds, the need a "warm sheltered place" a tent can't be by definition..
As is competition.
And they're not allowed away from their parents overnight.
Thank god scouting is different in every country...the Czechs will turn boys into men :D
Important things to learn for anyone who enjoys videogames on a regular basis. It's a little odd, granted, to earn a patch for videogames, but it's not like they're getting it for spending x amount of hours fragging their mates. They do get the incentive of "learning to play a new game," but it's one that has to be approved by the parents. Judging by any of the parents I know whose kids are in scouts, I see educational games on the horizon...
I knew I made a wise choice when I quit working for the BSA professionally, but this is one of the most asinine decisions ever made by upper management. As an Eagle Scout, I am appalled that the BSA has stooped to such a low level. Many of my Eagle Scout friends were already fed up with the way they get treated by scout execs, but implementing a "badge" of this sort is a new low.
Come on fellas, raise the bar a bit. And do it now!
(I hate living in a country with no scouts)
I DO NOT LET MY KIDS PLAY VIDEO GAMES AT HOME!! I WILL NOT, SO NOW THEY WILL NOT GET THE HEAVY SHOULDER! THEY WILL BE SINGLED OUT BY THEIR FRIENDS NOW! Their friends spend many hours inside playing games, mine play OUTSIDE. RETRACT THIS PIN/LOOP IMMEDIATELY! STOP GIVING IN TO CORPORATE AMERICA! Games are made in Asia, the new uniforms are made in Asia, the pins, loops, beads (which had a lead paint recall) MADE IN ASIA. CHINA, and Japan... BSA - Boy Scouts of Asia.
I am no longer proud to be and Eagle Scout.
So Sad.
http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/boy-scouts-offering-video-game-merit-awards/19457731
Well the BSA are anyway...then again they were always over the top with leadershipgoals, competition and mostly pin-, bead-, (shriveled opponents head) -collecting.
Personally I would prefer more "Scouting for Boys" in Scouting :D