Norwegian boy outthinks angry moose with Warcraft skillz

A 12-year-old ~~Swedish~~ Norwegian boy reportedly defended himself and his little sister from a moose attack by employing techniques he learned while attaining level 30 in World of Warcraft:

In the article he describes how he first yelled at the moose, distracting it so his sister got away, then when he got attacked and the animal stood over him he feigned death. "Just like you learn at level 30 in World of Warcraft."

Link to Swedish article Link to English commentary

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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NE2d

That was some ØØber Pwnage.
Michelle

So, the moose didn’t bite his sister.
Dadamn

Actually a Moose is far larger than an Elk, and an Elk live in the forests of northern Europe – a moose live in marshlands and forests of the north americas.

These are probably related, but far from the exact same thing.

Despite this, I would say this kid was fairly lucky that simply lying down was enough to save his life – or atleast save him from severe injuries. :)
Harlo

A moose once bit my sister…

No realli! She was Karving her initials on the moose with the sharpened end
of an interspace toothbrush given her by Svenge – her brother-in-law – an
Oslo
dentist and star of many Norwegian movies: “The Hot Hands of an Oslo
Dentist”,
“Fillings of Passion”, “The Huge Molars of Horst Nordfink”…

Mynd you, moose bites Kan be pretti nasti…
Lone

n00b mob!
But seriously, good job by the kid in protecting his sister. Whatever gets the job done, however unlikely the means or method.
couldnotstop

So, is an o with a line through it pronounced the same as an o with an umlaut?

Yes.

http://www.pronunciationguide.org/Swedish.html

travispulley

What he really should have done was send his pet sister in to threat the moose while he range attacked it from a safe distance.

The article didn’t list his professions, but he could have skinned it afterward for some medium leather.

arto

So how long until Jack Thompson issues a press release blaming videogames for the recent epidemic of human-vs-hoofed mammal violence?

This is a serious problem, people–the kobold, orc and floating eye have already been hunted to extinction in Europe. Will Our Children(tm) grow up without knowing the wild and free beauty of the gelatinous cube in its natural habitat?

wizardofrhythm

I think if it’s in Norway, it would have been an Elk, rather than a moose.

Not important to us, but I know a lot of Elks really resent it.

semiotix

Arto–there’s no need to panic. You can always read a cursed scroll of genocide. Besides, hunting floating eyes teaches kids the value of ranged weapons, and how dangerous passive paralysis attacks can be. And of course there’s no better way to get the telepathy intrinsic.

So, what’s this “Warcraft” people are talking about?

Hunty

What wonderful news, both for the boy and his sister and for video games.

spazzm

As others have already pointed out:
The boy is Norwegian, not Swedish. The story is in Norwegian, not Swedish.
To verify this, check two simple facts:
1. The story is published on a site under the .no (Norwegian) top-level domain.
2. The boy spells his middle name with an o with a ring through it. If he had been Swedish, he would have used an o with umlauts.

Norway is not a part of Sweden, or vice versa. They are separate countries – like USA and Canada.

Sorry about repeating this. I know I’m beating a dead moose here.

Micke

“Norway is not Sweden, despite some wishing it was.” is a preposterous statement, we swedes will look redicolous dressed in lusekoftor!

Also, we train our moose(moosi?) to behave and perform tricks and aid us in our never ending quest in releaving german tourists of their money.

But a great day for videogames nonetheless, but I’m worried about where I will find use for my newly acquired Assassin’s Creed skills…

ArtDecoAutomaton

Taunt, Feign Death? Pfft. I woulda Fear, Pyroblasted. Moose are ez to solo :P

freshyill

The most amazing part of this story is that this moose somehow swam all the way to Norway. Moose live only in North America. This was something else. A reindeer maybe?

franko

i hope he remembered to scrape the moss off the moose’s horns for the “moose moss mess” quest. it would suck to have to go back and do that all over again just to complete that one, because while the rep in ironforge is nice, the dagger that dwarf gives you as a reward isn’t worth the trouble.

dogu4

Allow someone, who has lived in close proximity to moose and who has had a number of encounters, tell you that the boy is lucky to escape and the game designers should upgrade their understanding if they wish it to reflect real life. A moose lashes out at what it sees as threats, such as wolves or bears. It doesn’t have an instinct for a prey/pursuit, as do carnivores like cats(lions), dogs(wolves) or bears…uh, some bears, anyway. Ask anyone who lives in Anchorage AK and they’ll tell you that crouching is likely to be interpreted by the moose not so much that you’re not a threat but that you’re NOT leaving the scene. So why the moose didn’t at least stomp on this kid has nothing to do with lying down. And if it happens again, he or anyone would be wise to get away and zig zag between trees and other obstacles because 1200 lb moose is lethal when it starts to lash with its powerfull legs. It will only chase you for a short while and only until you are gone from its sense of the immediate surroundings. That’s no joke.

bojo

@Freshyill

Actually “moose live only in North America” because, the species is known as the elk in Europe (elg in Norwegian).

Not that amazing really, huh?

BlackAndy

@#11:

It’s a poor shadow of the greatest (and evilest) game ever. Looks nicer, though. (Yes, even with a tile set.)

It does have YASDs though.

Nelson.C

So, is an o with a line through it pronounced the same as an o with an umlaut?

justanotherusername

Please.
Sure, feigning death is a valid strategy in the animal kingdom, but you don’t need Warcraft to learn this.
Ultimately the boy was just lucky. In another quantum dice roll the moose pummels the boy to death and the headline runs: “Boy dies because of Warcraft”. But hey, don’t let me stop anyone taking life advice from video games.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

You’re in for it now, Cory. You called a Norwegian a Swede. You’ll probably still be hearing about it years from now, whenever a Norwegian stumbles upon the story in the BB archives.

mannakiosk

You say “Link to Swedish article”, but the article is in Norwegian.

glugenwog

At least he decided on the “feign death” skill, and not the “flying kick to the moose-face” skill, which I don’t see turning out nearly as well.

desiredname23

Norway is not Sweden, despite some wishing it was.

Henrix

Good story, although it is a norwegian boy and a norwegian newspaper ;-)

MHotel

Man this happens to me every time I try to run a lowbie through the treacherous land of Nord-TrÃ¸ndelag. Those moose aggro pretty easily, but it’s way better to use a freezing trap and hightail it.

spazzm

“The most amazing part of this story is that this moose somehow swam all the way to Norway. Moose live only in North America. This was something else. A reindeer maybe?”

“Actually a Moose is far larger than an Elk, and an Elk live in the forests of northern Europe – a moose live in marshlands and forests of the north americas.

These are probably related, but far from the exact same thing.”

Wrong, both of you. Look up Elk and Moose in WP, for starters.

adam hellbound

But he learned it from Warcraft. Not from Jeff Corwin or a book about opossums or old Woody Allen stand-up routines. That has to mean something.

Marisa

Not everyone learns this at level 30… only huntards! I mean… hunters!

mistervega

awesome story! too bad he wasn’t armed, he could’ve just used scatter-shot. or he could’ve downed it and used it to lvl up his skinning/leatherworking.