Inside 'iCombat,' New York's Controversial New Laser Tag Attraction

It was a case of spectacularly poor timing when Indoor Extreme Sports—a laser-tag and paintball arena in Queens, New York—debuted its latest offering, a battle simulation game called iCombat, just weeks after the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. iCombat is based on a training platform developed for military and tactical assault units, and it ratchets up the laser-tag verisimilitude with a set resembling an urban shopping area, flak-jacket-ish vests, and painstakingly realistic rifles. But Indoor Extreme Sports drew the most ire for pitching its game to children as young as eight.

In early February, a Bronx high school teacher led her class on a field trip to Indoor Extreme Sports … while a local TV news crew happened to be there. New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott publicly reprimanded the teacher. Parents expressed outrage. “Media psychologist” Dr. Harris Stratyner contended that the game desensitizes children to killing. The local media took up the question: isn't this game exactly the type of pretend violence that could provoke someone to commit acts of real-world aggression? So I decided to see for myself if one afternoon of iCombat would turn me—and my mild-mannered friends—into cold-blooded killers.