Details Don't Add Up In Story About Mother's Game Addiction

[Trivun]

You know, as a Brit, there are a very small number of places I trust for journalistic integrity outside my student newspaper, which is pretty damn good for that (seriously, my university's student newspaper is one of the best places I know for journalism, they even took on our Student Executive board after the board started censoring the paper, they refused to compromise the ideal of free speech and won the fight too ).

That is, I trust:

- The BBC
- Reuters
- The Guardian (although I must stress that is only for their decent standards of journalism, and I certainly don't agree with their political bias).

And that's about it. So it doesn't surprise me that the Daily Mail printed a story so full of holes and lies, especially after the Daily Star incident not so long ago. The only thing that surprises me is that The Sun hasn't had something like this. Although to be fair, they're usually too busy paying hookers for scandal stories about Premiership footballers to worry about slandering video games. Ah well.

Unless this story appears on any of the three good news sites I listed in bold, and without any obvious (or non-obvious) errors, I refuse to believe it.

 

[EeveeElectro]

The Daily Mail are making up stories to make games look bad? No change there, then.

 

[The Last Nomad]

I bought the (Irish) Daily Mail today to get the free DVD of "Life" by David Attenborough and I happened to read this article, or a very similar one about this story. It seemed a bit exageratted to me as well, but Im 18 and I still can't cook my own meals for shit, so that part of the story didn't seem too bizare to me, but what really made me think was the fact that the article claimed she would leave her children to school the whole time she was addicted to the game and yet the teachers did nothing about it (For 2 months if the time of death of the dogs is to be believed). Instead it was a random neighbour/passerby who looked in the letterbox and was somehow able to deduce exactly what was going on.

All in all though, I don't care so much about this because David Attenborough is too awesome for this to bother me.

 

[SpiderHam666]

I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt about the woman being addicted to a game. BUT the level of squallor along with the kids eating the way they were.... no. She was probably not the tidiest person to begin with and decided to use the game as an excuse to continue her ways.

 

[molester jester]

Seriously just type video game into the search bar and you get 10 + pages of articles stating video games will make your children murderers, rapists, thieves or perverts. The staff at the daily mail really have it out for gamers.

Edit: Wait i found the best one

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1207803/Average-video-gamer-35-fat-depressed.html

Apparently we are all in our mid thirties, overweight and depressed

 

[Judgement101]

This is hilarious. Fake news is fake.

 

[Jared]

It smells alot like some form of publicity stunt, or cry for attention...

 

[Necromancer1991]

I'm calling shenanigans on this one, obviously fake, as Vanasu pointed out Small World doesn't exist online and the whole thing about the dogs sitting and rotting for two months, but why that strikes me as skecthy, the kids never bothered to either feed or walk the dogs, I mean sure I may neglect to walk the dog once in a while but I always make sure they were fed, About the kids not eating, also I agree with Vanasu that the oldest kid could at least heat something up in a microwave and clean up after their siblings. Thirdly I doubt the neighbors would take 14 days to notice something fishy going on.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

It's almost like England has it out against the US and gaming.
OT:
It astounds me that the whole country of England/UK-land hasn't put their newspapers under a magnifying glass yet, they have a really bad history of doing this stupid stuff. i.e. making up alot and reporting alittle.

Because we clearly have complete control over our tabloids, just as you have complete control over Fox news?
I agree that the Daily Mail is utter crap but why are you dragging the entirity of england or 'UK-land' into it? The vast majority of us have nothing to do with what gets published by the media; and we certainly weren't around for some stupid war in the 1800's .(By the way, I think the words you are looking for are either Great Britain or the United Kingdom? And neither of those are countries.)

 

[tjcross]

Inflammatory news? Oh me oh my

OT: There is most definitely a grain of truth in there, I just don't know where.

the grain of truth is that smallworld exists and that's about it

 

[darthotaku]

we should put a stop to these things. next time somebody reports things like this gamers worldwide should mobilize to prove that all of these things are false. after a while we could make it so even a real report of this kind of thing would be dismissed as wrong.

 

[tjcross]

Seriously just type video game into the search bar and you get 10 + pages of articles stating video games will make your children murderers, rapists, thieves or perverts. The staff at the daily mail really have it out for gamers.

Edit: Wait i found the best one

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1207803/Average-video-gamer-35-fat-depressed.html

Apparently we are all in our mid thirties, overweight and depressed

wow that is stupid i'm a gamer i am not fat or depreased i have a good small group of friends i could trust with anything and i don't need constant attention mail online news = shit and why would i go and try to make friends out of strangers if i don't need to anyway thanks for the link jester it was good for a laugh

 

[tjcross]

Everyone seems to hate video games for some odd reason. They're all trying to make it look like the cause of violence etc.

they do not understand and do not want to learn the only logical thing left is hate

 

[Steam Colossus]

My ideas on the subject are.
1. Bad reporting which is terrible in a case that includes death or neglect of any kind.
2. Government conspiracy against gaming.
The second one isn't likely but it's always a possibility.

 

[Susurrus]

Good god, what is this newspaper's damage towards video games? Oh sure its a red letter topic that is certain to garner attention, but even Fox News takes breaks from calling Obama a terrorist.

How the hell is this paper even allowed to still exist if (what I hear from our neighbors across the pond) they consistently print falsified stories? It's one thing to be a tabloid that is pretty much assumed to be fake on all levels but these people bold faced go about telling lies and presenting them as actual news.

And finally, controversy and scandal sells papers, printing corrections barely an issue. Uncovered.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Loves half naked celebrities. Especially young ones.

actually daily mail is the only newspaper designed with women in mind, so there are none of the page 3 ladies. take it from a paper boy.

As an American, the notion that, for folks in your neck of the woods, a newspaper that does not include gratuitous nudity is an exception to the rule? I find that endlessly amusing - it's no wonder kids these days don't read newspapers here!

The Daily Express and the Daily Star, two of Britain's other tabloid rags are owned by the same person as Horny Housewives.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

It's almost like England has it out against the US and gaming.
Well we have no proof about the US thing

Spoiler

Except the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812(I know, America declared it)

Or the gaming thing

Spoiler

Daily Star/sun/astrological newspaper-thingy; old British women are used as stereotypes against gaming for a reason.

OT:
It astounds me that the whole country of England/UK-land hasn't put their newspapers under a magnifying glass yet, they have a really bad history of doing this stupid stuff. i.e. making up alot and reporting alittle.

Dude, its Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. I dont think UK needs a land.
It depends on the newspaper, to a degree. Some are better than others.

 

[Ghostkai]

According to the Metro version it doesn't say the game was on facebook, but that a friend on facebook introduced her to it.

And I believe she got addicted to this: http://www.smallworlds.com

Which IS an online game.

And, erm, could we consider that they got the name of the game wrong? Seeing as it's pretty close. Does it really matter? The point is that a woman who lost her husband retreated inside a virtual world neglecting her pets and children. Resulting in the deaths of the pets and the near deaths of the children.

The woman pleaded guilty to the charges brough against her.... So, seriously, what is there to argue against here? A slight factual inaccuracy? The name of the game nor the platform it's on isn't the main point of the story.

 

[Starke]

sigh mainstream media and games should be keep well away from each other. like different universes.

The Daily Mail is to mainstream media what Jack Thompson is to logical debate. An invader from another universe who's trying to pass itself off as a native.

 

[KaiRai]

If it's the Daily Mail then playing small world will most likely give you cancer and attract Lithuanians to Britain.

Some tabloids are a little believable ( I read the Sun, but I can spot the odd OTT in it still) but the Daily Mail is the most unbelieveable paper ever.