Boy kills over video game

[EIN]

Well, a recent article here at PCN describes a sad situation where a boy actually killed his parent because they took away his video game, and then tried to frame his father for the crime. And while this may seem shocking, this is not the first time such horror stories have occured. People kill each other in real life over WoW accounts, MMORPGs and even Second Life/Sims in one case. These people give gaming a horrible reputation and stigma, and we all know about a certain disbarred lawyer who made it his crusade to curb gaming in modern life (**** you jack thompson!).
Whats worse in this case is that the judge presiding over the case actually decided that Bungie was more responsible for the killings than the perpetrator himself, claiming that Halo had brainwashed the child into thinking shooting someone was ok, and would have no lasting effects.

Personally i think it's bull****. The ****ing kid is 16 years, and I don;t care what any moronic judge says, thats old enough to realize what you're doing when you pull the trigger TWICE. Thats all Daniel Petric, not some game he didn';t get to play. You can't blame Bungie for this; the kid tried to frame his own father to cover up the crime which shows clear premeditation. Kids like him who live fantasy lives or cant deal with reality really **** me off because they ruin the lives of others around them by doing stupid **** like that, and bring a bad name to the rest of us who understand that gaming is SIMULATED reality, and that things done in games should not be done outside of virtuality.

How do you guys feel about this kinda stuff?

*Please excuse the swearing (even though you cant see it)... I feel really strongly on the subject

http://www.ps3center.net/news/2134/halo-murderer-convicted-judge-blames-games-over-boy/ if you want to read the article

[Nick]

I agree with you, honestly. Now, there may be an age where a video game(or any media for that matter, from books to movies) may influence you like that, but it certainly isn't 16. You know the difference between fantasy and reality at age 16, and can handle your self very maturely - thats why you get such major responsibilities at that age, such as the privilege of being able to drive a car.

The kid was clearly not well mentally, and that is not something Bungie or anyone else could have influenced.

[EIN]

Wow look at the guy, theres no way he's didnt know what he was doing. Gaming = drug use my ass

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5512446.ece

[lloyd]

I agree with you completly, EIN. That kid knew exactly what he was doing when he pulled the trigger. His mind wasn't warped. He may be a mean, soulless son of b***h, but his mind wasn't warped because he played halo. He wanted (and excepted) his parents to die and stay dead. No ***ing way he thought that they were going to come back to life after all was said and done.

And to Say he's addicted to it just because he plays it with friends for 18 hours when he gets the chance is ludicrous! I'm not going to say that he wasn't addicted to halo, but if you listen to music for 18 hours every once in a while does that make you addicted to music? NO! It means you like music. The judge is so freaking Stupid! When will people learn that video games are a form of entertainment and not a drug or a tool to brainwash kids?

[Dustin S.]

I actually did a reserch paper on this and I looked into all the studies and its been proven that 9 out of 10 were flawed in some way, and the other 1 out of 10 didnt really show anything. The reason i say that is they allow "third party" things interfere with the subject. I was reading one where they would make loud noises or buzz the kid everytime he died and who wouldnt get ticked off if that was happening? Let me do that while your watching a football game and see what happens.

The thing is can we really call him a "kid" if he is 16? At 16 i knew right from wrong, reality and virtual fake worlds, and therefore if i shot somebody i know i would be punished and i knew i couldnt go pull a GTA in my city and get away by switching cars and standing under a building for 2 minutes. Its common sense and if you cant tell the differnce you shouldnt own the game and should spend more time in school.

Another thing is and was proven in my paper is that video games wouldn't be the way they are if it wasnt for the world around us to begin with. I mean if the world wasnt full of wars and violence would video games do it? No. One thing you learn in acting or whatever is that if you live through something you can act it out alot better. So these developers go to war locations, watch crimes happen, and do all this stuff and recreate it in a game. If it wasn't real to begin with these games would be few and far between. IF the world was full of faries, kids that behaved all the time, and never had a car jacking in history then bam you get mickey mouse games non stop.

Thats just my opinion. Blamin developers for the worlds problems is just really tiring to me. They are making money and very easy targer thats the only reason people continue to do it.

[fLoOn34]

This guy was hardly a "boy". I could understand an 8 year old doing this, to an extent. But this kid was what 16? 17? ridiculous!

[EIN]

Like Dustin, I too wrote a paper on the subject of video game violence and its violent effects on youth, and the research in the field has almost unanimously concluded that there simply isnt enough evidence to prove a causal link between the two. Now if I could come up with a 24 sources from differing psychology journals and papers and review the literature in 3 weeks, AND do a survey with concurrent results, how could a judge (the avatar of justice and fairness in our society) fail to do so?

Anyways that point dustin raises is also true. Video games are a form of art and expression, and they are also forms of entertainment. Its abuse by a small psychotic minority should not reflect upon the millions of others like us who can use them as they were intended