Child Shot Friend, Video Game Blamed...

Originally posted by MrDead
After playing Super Mario Brothers me and my brother repeatedly jumped on each others heads, on turtles, and headbutted bricks in the mistaken belief we would get coins.
Video games are the source of evil, and it surely wasn't the lack of parental control or gun awareness/safety.

Give me a break, this is attempted murder. I hope the kid makes it, I don't mean to make light of the story.

HAHA....OK that has to be the best answer (in humor) ever given about video games and there influence over youth.

Originally posted by Alxandro
Come on, do you honestly think that is the only game they play?

Nah. I am sure they play Mario Smash Brothers and Guitar Hero too.

Come on, do you seriously think the games are the culprit here?

Cuz I do.

In fact, I blame Global Warming on my Wave Race 64 and Surf Riders days..

Originally posted by DJMessiah
I'm 100% positive Jack Thompson is going to jump on this case. The man has been trying to link almost every school shooting, homicide committed by young males, and violent behavior to Grand Theft Auto.

Oh God... that guy

That guy has been the subject of many discussions with my friends and I. His cases are sooo ridiculous. Fortunately the judicial system usually spots his bs right away.

To date, GTA is the only game that I would actually consider not allowing my kids to play. If I had kids that is. Actually I think I would make them play Mortal Combat in preparation of the school yard bullies. Yeah, parenting through video games is the way to go methinks

I don't play any violent games at all, except for Starcraft and Command & Conquer series.

The only thing you can blame on video games is the addiction that could lead to divorces or breakup on relationship. Not to mention staying up for like days playing WOW.

Originally posted by squidboy
So video games are to blame for this?

How about a lack of after school programs?

Or better yet, a lack of importance in education?

How about a household that allows guns to be left out in the open for minors to play with?

Wait ....

How about the kid who decided to shot a bullet into another person's head?

Scapegoating is just more BS. It's a business on many levels. Scapegoating should have stocks involved.

Granted kids today are less educated then previous generations. But come on, when I was 15 or 14 or even 10, I understood death. I understood pain. I understood my actions. I was educated enough to know that a bullet in a gun aimed at a head was wrong.

The kid should just be put away.

On a side note....

Can I blame the US media for my constant headaches? Oh wait thats biological. I'm glad I just cleared that up.

Move on people, just more BS.

Its all about control. Kids kill kids all the time, just means humans are a violent species (obviously). Let's use that trait to scapegoat to gun and entertainment control.

Crap kids were killing kids before electricity was invented. How they explain that?

I dont think it was as bad as back then as it is worse now with much more people in the world with new technology and the like. Seems killing, scandals and lies is the popular trend with the media to get attention with people just wanting to feed like us.

Then again, a virtual reality probly can affect another[depending on the violence] if they are attached enough, maybe in fact the game triggered an emotional response with past aggresion toawards God unknowling...OR maybe it was a lie from the media and the kid just killed. No one was there. Once again, this is not BREAKING NEWS of WORLDWIDE importance.

By the time you're about 7 years old, you should know that if you load a gun and shoot someone in the head, the person will most likely die.

Questions that I'd like answered.
Where did he get the gun and ammunition?
Why did he shoot his friend in the head?

Man I actually think that the media's campaign agaisnt video games might work. The evidence will convince those 30 Year old or older people, they don't know that games like "Gods of War" doesn't include guns but it has the word "War" in it.

However, we do need some control on games such as Playboys the Mansion and the Grand Theft Auto series.

Originally posted by deltaboy
The only thing you can blame on video games is the addiction that could lead to divorces or breakup on relationship. Not to mention staying up for like days playing WOW.

There is no game that is a bigger home-wrecker then WoW! The biggest hit to the sanctity of marriage can be found here, look no further! Women hate this game hahaha. But I love it Well sometimes I hate it too

Originally posted by die_another_day
I don't play any violent games at all, except for Starcraft and Command & Conquer series.

Well then I think it's a safe assumption you will one day start a war over vespian gas!! We don't need another Bush-like tyranny man! You should probably quite soon, before you become morally corrupt.

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy



I guess you're right lol. But first I have to infest myself.


Hey Lucid can you explain to me your avatar part by part? I see some obvious things but some not so obvious.

[edit on 3/19/2008 by die_another_day]

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


It's amusing to compare the methods the modern day allied forces and the protoss use when faced by heavy fortifications.

CARRIER SPAM!

edit; on a side note - i was the kind of kid who was reading books filled with slaughter and forces of generic evil comitting acts of torture on the average townsfolk, with a bit of philosophising on the true nature of evil - in that evil is a matter of perspective.

With that considered, i didn't end up joining a satanic cult in order to fulfill my base desires for Gore and a deluded sense of power, did i?

The people who blame videogames for crimes such as those illustrated are merely showing how little they understand the human condition, and as such those who place blame solely on videogames in cases like those discussed here need to have a reality check.

[edit on 19-3-2008 by Throbber]

I think the kid new what he was doing and the video game is just an excuse. I honestly think that tv and video games is the baby sitter for the parents these days. I go to a friends house who has three kids and all three of them have tv's in their rooms and playstations too! Parents need to get their kids out of the house and do more with them.

The Dead Kennedys put it best "We came home and found our son lying dead of a gunshot wound to the head. There was an Ozzy record on the turntable, so we called our lawyers."

Triumph of the Swill

I think that video games are only going to get much much much more realistic and violent.

Did you guys see the video of the man with a vest that can simulate gun shots impacts?

Originally posted by Solarskye
I think the kid new what he was doing and the video game is just an excuse.

You can only go so far when saying it is an excuse. Are you going to be saying it is an excuse when video games fully immurse the player in the game world?

To an extent, they already do, and some "video games" are used to train pilots, military personel, law enforcement, and certain other occupations.

Originally posted by Mr. Ree

You can only go so far when saying it is an excuse. Are you going to be saying it is an excuse when video games fully immurse the player in the game world?

Probably

Because chances are the kids were not going into the game world with the intentions of becoming better murderers, but better gamers Big, big, difference.

To an extent, they already do, and some "video games" are used to train pilots, military personel, law enforcement, and certain other occupations.

And that big difference is answered here for me

See? It's the intention.

[edit on 023131p://20u30 by Lucid Lunacy]

Originally posted by Throbber

i was the kind of kid who was reading books filled with slaughter and forces of generic evil comitting acts of torture on the average townsfolk, with a bit of philosophising on the true nature of evil - in that evil is a matter of perspective.

Yeah same here. Hell, when I was a young kid horror movies was one of my very favorite things. And now one of my favorite things is reading the philosophy of moral and ethical thought! And you better believe I murdered the crap out of Johnyy Cage and Scorpion with ice balls and head-splitting uppercuts!!

With that considered, i didn't end up joining a satanic cult in order to fulfill my base desires for Gore and a deluded sense of power, did i?

Yeah exactly! and I didn't jo... oh wait, ah crap..

The people who blame videogames for crimes such as those illustrated are merely showing how little they understand the human condition

Precisely. Videogames is the scapegoat answer. It doesn't address the root of the pathology, which is wholey personal and most likely deeply subconscious. Blaming video games for murder is just absurd. What about everything else in said persons life? Like maybe parenting, schooling, and perhaps seeing and hearing about real war on mainstream media..

Originally posted by Solarskye
I think the kid new what he was doing and the video game is just an excuse. I honestly think that tv and video games is the baby sitter for the parents these days. I go to a friends house who has three kids and all three of them have tv's in their rooms and playstations too! Parents need to get their kids out of the house and do more with them.

Interesting that you say that because I just bought a book called.. bloody hell i forget what it's called, but it talks about a disorder called... bloody hell! I am pretty sure it was called NDD, Nature Deficiency Disorder. Very interesting read so far. Basically talks about how kids are out of touch with nature in todays world. Electronic entertainment being a big part of NDD.

Although I don't have qualms with parents "parenting with electronic entertainment", just like anything else it is all a matter of balance.

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
Because chances are the kids were not going into the game world with the intentions of becoming better murderers, but better gamers

Big, big, difference.

To an extent, they already do, and some "video games" are used to train pilots, military personel, law enforcement, and certain other occupations.

And that big difference is answered here for me

See? It's the intention.

[edit on 023131p://20u30 by Lucid Lunacy]

Ok, you might have a point there, I'm just not sure if I agree with it.

They are playing the game with the intent to have their character become a better murderer, and they receive positive reinforcement for being a good killer. They are controlling the character, so in a sense, they are vicariously living through the character. It's reasonable to say that most people can differentiate fantasy from reality, but it is just as reasonable to suggest that the rare youth can not fully grasp the consequences of their actions.

Now, the question should be asked if such "virtual intent" can pass over into the real world on occasion by those children who can not fully grasp the consequences. Do all children grasp the consequences?

Let's take the scale down a little bit to examine what we would perceive as normal people:

Fighting games.

Is it absurd to say that playing a fighting game causes some children to start mimicking the moves they see, resulting in bloody noses?

Do Boxing games sometimes influence drunken 20 somethings to pick up a pair of 16ozers for a friendly round of competition that gets out of hand?

I would bring "backyard wrestling" into the conversation (I just did! ) but that seems to be a result of TV, rather than video games.

I posted a study or two that showed a significant correlation between those prone to violence, and an increased violence level immediatly after playing video games. Nobody mentioned it.

Most people here are assuming that the kid is a "normal" child who grasps the consequences of his actions.

"normal" children do not shoot their friends in the head.

Anyway, to assume another angle, the title of the OP is misleading. The boy nor the paper blamed the video game on his actions:

According to the Marble Falls newspaper, The Highlander, the boy was playing a video game with a friend when that friend loaded a gun and shot him in the head.

...

The newspaper said the boys were playing a video game called "God of War".

They just said he was playing it at the time.