Real world skills in a game

Here’s an interesting story making the rounds on the net. (A student in my Tools for Thought class pointed it out from switched.com):

Hans Jorgen Olsen and his sister got into a spot of trouble when they encroached on the territory of one of these antlered cold weather staples (otherwise known as a moose). When the beast went on the offensive, Hans knew the first thing he had to do was taunt it so that it would leave his sister alone and she could run to safety. “Taunting” is a move one uses in World of Warcraft to get monsters off of the less-well-armored team members.

Once he was a target, Hans remember another skill he’d picked up at level 30 in ‘World of Warcraft’ — he feigned death. The moose lost interest in the inanimate Hans and wandered off into the woods. When he was safely alone Hans ran back home to share his tale of video game-inspired survival.

It is hard to tell from the online source whether the story is a new urban legend or not, but if true, it is certainly one more piece of evidence (albeit anecdotal) that things learned in games can be used in other contexts.