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Photo by Brian Cox
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Saline junior Zach Wigal amassed some 16 Xboxes, game controls, and monitors from friends in order to run a "Halo 2" tournament at Saline High School for an estimated 300 players. The school revoked its rental permit four days before the event after Pittsfield police objected to the game's violent content.
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The teenage organizer of a video game tournament set to take place last Saturday at Saline High School and expected to draw hundreds of participants was stunned when school officials pulled the plug only four days before the event after police called the superintendent to object to the game's violence.
Zach Wigal, a 17-year-old junior at Saline High School, spent more than three months and hundreds of dollars putting together a tournament for players of "Halo 2," a sci-fi first-person shooter game that is rated M for mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board for violence, blood and language.
Pittsfield Township Director of Public Safety John Phillips learned of the tournament March 20 and immediately called Saline Schools Superintendent Beverley Geltner to voice concerns.
"This is a game that is on our radar screen," Phillips told Geltner, according to a transcript of the message. "We believe (it is) corrupting the minds of our youth, and now someone is going to bring this game to the high school."
"I don't think the school was aware of the nature of the game," Phillips said later, comparing "Halo 2" to such games as "Grand Theft Auto" and "25 to Life," which have drawn condemnation from legislators and media watchdog organizations like the National Institute on Media and Family. "Killing as a form of entertainment at a school isn't appropriate, I don't think. Rated M for mature doesn't go together with high school kids."
Phillips and Pittsfield Township Community Coordinator Ritchie Coleman, who is a member of the Parents Television Council and an outspoken critic of violence in the media, have been campaigning to educate parents about the violent quality of some video games.
Phillips said he did not ask Geltner to cancel the tournament, but Geltner moved quickly to shut the event down.
"I pay extreme heed to what John Phillips has to say," Geltner said. "In my perspective, I would never let a group rent a facility for the use of violence or harassment."
She said she was not familiar with "Halo 2," but based on Phillips' objections chose not to associate the district with the game.
But Wigal says Geltner had a knee-jerk reaction and made her decision without a full understanding of the game or the tournament.
"It's funny to me that people who don't know 'Halo 2' think it's the worst game around," he said. "It's about aliens invading Earth. It is nothing like '25 to Life,' which is about drugs and thugs."
The tournament would have used the multiplayer version of 'Halo 2,' Wigal said, which has two-man teams competing against each other. It does not incorporate the storyline, language or on-line interaction that drew a mature rating from the ESRB.
Even his father, Rusty Wigal, who was the treasurer of the Washtenaw Christian Academy for five years, said he had no problem with the game.
"There is a disconnect between what adults perceive as content in games and what the content actually is," he said.
His son, who does not play "Halo 2" much himself, said he chose the game because it is popular among his peers. He said the tournament had created a lot of buzz and he expected upwards of 300 participants to attend, including some Saline teachers and a youth group from his church.
The entrepreneurial teen had collected some 16 Xboxes and monitors from friends for the tournament. He planned to have concessions, to raffle off an Xbox 360, and to offer a grand prize of $300 to the winner and $150 to the runner-up.
He teamed with Digital Ops, a multiplayer gaming facility in Ann Arbor, for additional equipment. He lined up parents to volunteer as chaperones. He printed 2,500 fliers to advertise the event and spread the word on Myspace.com. The high school newspaper ran a front-page article on the tournament.
"It's amazing how much work he put into this," said his mother, Lisa Wigal. "Every single night since January he's worked on it."
"I've never learned so much in such a short period of time," said Wigal, who came up with idea more than a year ago.
He spoke with his high school counselor about it and received encouragement.
In December, he applied for a permit through Saline Community Education to rent the high school commons and was approved. It cost $647 for 11 hours. Two weeks before the tournament, Wigal received a call from Saline Community Education Director Scot Graden, who expressed concern about "Halo 2's" mature rating, but Wigal assured Graden the game as played in the tournament was more similar to the teen-rated "Star Wars Battlefront."
"There is much debate ... in gaming forums about the rating of 'Halo 2,'" Wigal told Graden in an e-mail. "Many people feel that 'Halo 2' should not have been rated M and that this rating was far too extreme.
"The multiplayer feature on 'Halo 2' contains absolutely nothing that would be considered to qualify as an M rating."
Graden was satisfied.
Wigal argues he should have been told he couldn't hold the tournament at the school when he applied for the rental permit or when he spoke with Graden. He may then have had time to find another location. With only four days' notice, however, relocating was out of the question.
Wigal met with Geltner the day after she decided to revoke the permit and proposed several compromises, including obtaining parental consent forms from players younger than 17, but Geltner was adamant about canceling the tournament.
Geltner agreed to reimburse Wigal the rental fee, but he says that does not cover his time and other costs.
"I feel I was cheated out of my potential profits," he said.
Graden said that while Saline Community Education reserves the right to cancel a permit at any time, it's uncommon for the department to turn down permits based on the nature of the activity. There is no policy specifically concerning video games.
"I think we'll have to review our permit policy," Graden said. "We're always looking to protect the integrity of the district."
"This is an area that we have to explore," agreed Geltner, who said if she had known about the tournament she would have denied the permit months ago. "It's our property and we will decide what is appropriate use for it. We're going to have to take a look at who is using our facilities and for what."
Wigal is not sure what -- if any -- next steps he might take, but he is investigating whether the school possibly violated his First Amendment rights by canceling the tournament.
"I think I should make a final stand and defend all the work I put into it," he said.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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