Police Play Video Games with Tenants After Responding to Noise Complaint

December 12, 2018 9:40 AM

Neighbors called the police on Jovante M. Williams and his friends playing video games. Police responded appropriately. “We got a lot of cops. We’re telling them this is the same noise level we’ve been having,” Williams tells us. “They confirmed, a few times, that we weren’t even loud.” Eventually, one police officer asked the young men what they were playing. “I’m like, ‘Y’all wanna play Smash?!’ And two of them literally raised their hand and walked up. They’re like, ‘How do you jump?’ They were acting; one of them was playing Pikachu!” Williams says, laughing, alluding to the fact that the officers knew how to play very well.
posted by grobertson (14 comments total)

There's a level of play in Smash where button mashing and playing semi-competently look a hell of a lot alike.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:47 AM on December 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

A Yahoo Lifestyle article about police responses on MeFi? Thank you, 2018.
posted by Apocryphon at 9:55 AM on December 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

This is part of my long-held belief that Nintendo games can bring everyone together if given the chance.
posted by Servo5678 at 9:57 AM on December 12, 2018 [12 favorites]

I like to imagine that "y'all wanna play Smash?" will become the colloquial term for a type of de-escalation technique taught to police. (I like to imagine that de-escalation techniques are taught to police.)
posted by Pwoink at 10:08 AM on December 12, 2018 [26 favorites]

I had a similar incident involving the LAPD and Soul Calibur like 15 years ago...

...the officers opted not to join us for a round.
posted by davros42 at 10:42 AM on December 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

I like to imagine that "y'all wanna play Smash?" will become the colloquial term for a type of de-escalation technique taught to police.

I'm trying really hard to focus on the good and not just immediately jump on the larger culture of policing and community interaction/intervention. I'll just say that I'm happy that in this instance, a good thing happened.
posted by Fizz at 10:54 AM on December 12, 2018 [12 favorites]

"This very common thing could have, and often does, end really terribly, but this time, it didn't!" -- A CBS Special Television Event, this Sunday at 7pm. Check local listings!
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:15 AM on December 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

It looks like they're playing Smash Ultimate which just came out 5 days ago, but they're playing with the old gamecube style controllers so I'm guessing they're pretty serious players. (My 15 yr old son and I have exactly one topic of conversation, and it is smash)
posted by selfmedicating at 11:48 AM on December 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

So one time the teacher brought the police in to talk to the kids about safety and Officer Friendly and stuff like that. Afterward, the teacher had the kids write a little paragraph about the police. But the teacher was shocked to find that quite a lot of the students just wrote "All cops are bastards!"

The police chief was very hurt, so he organized a community building activity for the class - cake and balloons and games with the cops.

Afterward the teacher tried the writing exercise again. "Cunning bastards" was what the kids wrote that time.
posted by Frowner at 11:52 AM on December 12, 2018 [73 favorites]

A new episode of the Citations Needed podcast came out today.

Ep 60 - Kitten Rescues, Lip-Syncing & Christmas Traffic Stops: Your Guide to Clickbait Copaganda
posted by Legomancer at 1:34 PM on December 12, 2018 [10 favorites]

Of course the cop plays Pikachu.
posted by East14thTaco at 2:35 PM on December 12, 2018

> Of course the cop plays Pikachu.

That's *Detective* Pikachu to you, citizen.
posted by smelendez at 6:37 PM on December 12, 2018 [13 favorites]

Well played
posted by soakimbo at 10:33 PM on December 12, 2018

Frowner, I hope you will submit that genius story to Tin House or summat so that I can assign it to a class in future.
posted by allthinky at 5:40 AM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]