Londoners began a city-wide game involving role-playing last month in which strangers shoot each other with water pistols. It's just for fun, but police say it might not be so innocent.
“StreetWars” has already taken place in New York, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Vienna.Tournament organizers describe it as: “A three-week-long, 24/7, watergun assassination tournament.
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PHOTO: AP
Players are handed an envelope on their “target,” including his or her name, home and work addresses, and picture. The player's job? To “assassinate” that person with a watergun.
The person who has just been assassinated hands details of his or her target to the successful “assassin.
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The last person left standing after three weeks is the winner of a cash prize of around US$500 (NT$16,375).
Players may track down their target any way they see fit.
London's Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police both issued stark warnings to players before the start of the game, with the BTP calling those taking part “irresponsible.”
A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said, “Some water pistols ... can look very real.”
“In addition, actions like this can result in a waste of police time.”
The BTP was advising all players with water guns not to board the London Underground trains or local overground rail services.
“The transport system is not the place for this sort of activity,” said superintendent Bob Pacey.
Drawing attention to the terrorist bombings on London's transport network in July 2005, the BTP warned that the sight of people carrying water pistols that looked like real guns could cause “genuine fear.”(AFP)
倫敦人上個月展開一場全市的遊戲,與角色扮演有關,素昧平生的陌生人大玩水槍大戰。只是好玩而已,不過警方卻說沒那麼單純。
「街頭大戰(StreetWars)」曾在紐約、溫哥華、舊金山、洛杉磯與維也納舉行。比賽的主辦單位將這種大賽描述為「為期三週,日以繼夜的水槍暗殺大賽」。(註︰24/7意指「每週七天二十四小時」,即為永不間斷之意。)
參賽者會拿到一個註明「攻擊目標」的姓名、住家及工作地址和照片的信封。參賽者的任務呢?就是用水槍「暗殺」那位目標。
遭暗殺的那個人要將自己攻擊目標的詳細資料移交給那位成功的「殺手」。
三週之後,最後的倖存者就是現金五百美元(新台幣一萬六千三百七十五元)的贏家。
參賽者可以採用任何手段追蹤目標,只要他們認為合適。
倫敦大都會警局與英國交通警局都在賽前對參賽者發布嚴重警告,英國交通警局並稱這些參加者「缺乏責任感」。
倫敦大都會警局的發言人說︰「有些水槍……可能看起來很像真槍。」
「此外,像這類的行動也會導致浪費警員時間。」
英國交通警局建議所有水槍參賽者不要搭乘倫敦地鐵或地面鐵路系統。
高階員警鮑伯.派西說︰「大眾運輸系統不是進行這種活動的地方。」
鑒於二○○五年七月倫敦大眾運輸網遭恐怖份子放置炸彈引爆,英國交通警局警告說,看見人們攜帶貌似真槍的水槍可能會導致「真正的恐慌」。(法新社/翻譯;賴美君)
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