Vietnamese kid kills a girl due to video games.....

[spartan231490]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/teenager-kills-girl-feed-video-game-habit-232801135.html

Naturally this is going to spark some sort of anti-video game protest I'm sure. Great, just what the industry needs.

Whilst I respect that people can get genuinely addicted to video games, I don't think you can take it out on the industry. Plus look at the kid's face; he looks insane!

Additionally, I don't understand this comment:

There are always certain people who will get addicted to a drug, and in gaming we estimate it's about 20% to 30% of people.

Does that mean that 20% - 30% of all 'gamers' are addicted? Because that's bullshit.

What's your take?

EDIT: Reading the comments on the article, a lot of people seem to agree, thankfully.

Your title is wrong. Should be: Vietnamese kid kills girl because he's insane, and then blames video games. People kill other people, wait for it, because they choose to. There is no reason beyond that one that matters. No matter what happened to you, or how "impaired" you are, you chose to do it. It's your fault, no one elses.

 

[Wintermoot]

fuck him!
also has anybody noticed that gaming related violent behavior mostly appear in Asia? I,m not being racist here just pointing something out.

 

[Vrach]

That is fucking tragic. Luring a little girl into the woods and beating her to death for her earrings? Screw the gaming bit. This is just a tragedy.
EDIT: Seriously, screw that little fuck.
EDIT 2: How about we not talk about some silly possible backlash for the industry? A little girl was just beaten to death.

Tell the second edit to the people running the story. I completely agree with it. They take an awful crime and turn it into an agenda, don't blame the people here for getting pissed about it, it's not (just) about it ranting on games (although don't mind us for getting sick of it by now seeing as it's a constant thing), it's about them being fuckwits enough to do shit like that in the first place.

 

[Wayneguard]

Osama Bin Laden Masterminds Terrorist Attack that leaves 3,000 Dead... Violent Video Game "Grand Theft Auto" believed to be the Cause

 

[Pearwood]

"Campaigners have warned about the dangers of online game addiction after a teenager allegedly killed a seven-year-old girl for her earrings to feed his video game habit."

... Wow. Just imagine your 7 year old daughter has been murdered and the media is turning it into a story about video games. This isn't addiction this is psychosis. Heroin addicts desperate for their next fix wouldn't even consider murdering someone to sell their jewellry most of the time. I shouldn't expect valid journalism from yahoo but still this is ridiculous.

 

[Pingieking]

That is fucking tragic. Luring a little girl into the woods and beating her to death for her earrings? Screw the gaming bit. This is just a tragedy.
EDIT: Seriously, screw that little fuck.
EDIT 2: How about we not talk about some silly possible backlash for the industry? A little girl was just beaten to death.

I have to agree,shit like this happens, and the first thing some people are worried about is how it will affect the video game industry. Doesnt matter if he was addicted or not, the kid's a sick bastard whichever way you look at it.

*sarcasm on*
Yeah, but it's so much more interesting to talk about things that can possibly affect how much money I have. Yeah, it's a tragedy, but since it's a crazy kid in Vietnam and not my neighbor down the street I really couldn't give a flying fuck.
*sarcasm off*

It's just how society reacts, dude.

 

[Orcboyphil]

Now lets look at what REALLY happened. Kid lures little girl into wood in order to touch/rape her. Things go wrong, she falls down a ravine and in an act of panic he beats her to death with a rock to stop her telling. He then comes up with this story to hide his perversion and pretend hes the victim by saying hes an addict.

 

[Nightvalien]

i ask you this, where were the parents to raise that lil fuck, nowhere to be seen i guess.

 

[Random berk]

This incident has even less right to be laid at the gaming industry's feet than the kids who kill their parents or siblings over a confiscated console or a game that isn't going their way. This kid murdered a girl and then took her earrings as a trophy. When he was caught, he simply played the gamer card as an attempt to be treated as a victim instead of a twisted animal who's just had his first taste of blood. Unlike the other kids, he probably wasn't even thinking about games when he planned this sickening crime.

Also, I have to say I was ashamed of myself reading through the article annoyed about the flimsy gaming connection, and barely thought of the victim until she was mentioned by a commenter. The real victims tend to get swept aside in these stories.

 

[Webb5432]

Hey, they said that the kid was playing an ultra violent video game, and he's 15. Where were his parents telling him it was time to stop?

Yes, I believe video games can corrupt people if taken out of context. And trust me, if it's this bad, it obviously was. These people are people who need to be aware that this is not an addiction, it is them going into a game without the knowledge that it could draw them in and it could be dangerous for a little kid who doesn't know better. And if this kid is actually a sociopath, then games wouldnt have stopped him anyway and he would have used something else as a reason.

The only reason that the industry has these problems is because parents and some adults either are too irresponsible to watch what their kids play (it's on the back of the damn box!) or don't want to come to grips with the fact that some of them blame lies squarely on their shoulers. And if they were okay letting him play, why did they not tell him "it's just a game"?

The industry doesn't need to be taking the rap for the bad parenting of others. It's not like we're hiding this info from them.

 

[clipse15]

from the article:

Elizabeth Woolley, who set up Online Gamers Anonymous after her son Shawn committed suicide because of his addiction to online games, said it was time governments stepped in and did something about the ever-growing habit.

lady, listen. it's not games that made your son commit suicide. it's probably what prevented him from suiciding much, much earlier.
if she had done her duty as a mother, she would have known something was wrong with him, and that it wasn't the videogames.

Whoa hang on, so you, without any facts are blaming the mother from not being able to prevent her son's suicide? That is just as low and speculative as the people blaming videogames for causing violent behaviour

 

[Woodsey]

Now lets look at what REALLY happened. Kid lures little girl into wood in order to touch/rape her.

This is just as stupid as making it all about a game. You don't win points against Murdoch by pulling as much stuff out of your arse as his news outlets do.

 

[Random berk]

from the article:

Elizabeth Woolley, who set up Online Gamers Anonymous after her son Shawn committed suicide because of his addiction to online games, said it was time governments stepped in and did something about the ever-growing habit.

lady, listen. it's not games that made your son commit suicide. it's probably what prevented him from suiciding much, much earlier.
if she had done her duty as a mother, she would have known something was wrong with him, and that it wasn't the videogames.

Whoa hang on, so you, without any facts are blaming the mother from not being able to prevent her son's suicide? That is just as low and speculative as the people blaming videogames for causing violent behaviour

I think his point is that the video game was unlikely to have directly caused the kid to commit suicide, but some other stress in his life could have. Maybe he was being bullied, or doing badly in school. The mother simply didn't notice these, and when he did himself in, she assumed it was something to do with his favourite hobby. Its a much more likely scenario, although there is also the possibility that he actually was messed up enough to kill himself purely over a game. Its just somewhat doubtful. Only the people who knew him personally could say for sure, and only the mother knows whether she really was paying enough attention to spot the true cause of his state of mind.

 

[Yopaz]

Not trying to troll here, but video game addiction did kill that girl. He was addicted, needed his fix, he was willing to kill to get his fix. His addiction was the reason he killed a girl. His video game addiction killed a girl.
They do paint it more black than they have to, but this isn't like Fox News and their "BulletStorm will make you a rapist!!!!" stuff. If this had been a case about a heroine addict killing the girl to get money to buy heroine you wouldn't have protested that heroine addiction sometimes leads to murder.
And don't get me wrong here. I am one of those who wont believe gaming makes us more violent. I have always been calmed down by playing violent video games, not getting the urge to go out and do it myself whenever the power runs out, but this isn't a discussion about violent video games.
This is a sad case anyway. Both for us gamers, and those involved. This is another item on the list against what we love, and a girl who was too young torn away. However there's not much to hear about drunk drivers dying in car accidents, or those dying from hit and runs. Now a story for every innocent Iraqi killed in the war, not even a news story for every American soldier who dies (and they are the good guys). Why is there a constant need to make games look bad? Maybe when this generation rules we wont blame video games for every bad thing in the world and find something new to blame for the world's condition.
I just hope that will happen before gaming will be banned when some politician promises it to gather votes. I also wonder what we will blame for every violent behaviour. I for one think it's time to blame books and music so we can reset the circle before we end up on movies and games in 50 years or so.

 

[clipse15]

from the article:

Elizabeth Woolley, who set up Online Gamers Anonymous after her son Shawn committed suicide because of his addiction to online games, said it was time governments stepped in and did something about the ever-growing habit.

lady, listen. it's not games that made your son commit suicide. it's probably what prevented him from suiciding much, much earlier.
if she had done her duty as a mother, she would have known something was wrong with him, and that it wasn't the videogames.

Whoa hang on, so you, without any facts are blaming the mother from not being able to prevent her son's suicide? That is just as low and speculative as the people blaming videogames for causing violent behaviour

I think his point is that the video game was unlikely to have directly caused the kid to commit suicide, but some other stress in his life could have. Maybe he was being bullied, or doing badly in school. The mother simply didn't notice these, and when he did himself in, she assumed it was something to do with his favourite hobby. Its a much more likely scenario, although there is also the possibility that he actually was messed up enough to kill himself purely over a game. Its just somewhat doubtful. Only the people who knew him personally could say for sure, and only the mother knows whether she really was paying enough attention to spot the true cause of his state of mind.

Ya that's my point, only the people who know that situation can speculate as to what caused her son's suicide. Where I stake issue is him claiming she failed as a mother for not being able to prevent it

 

[YazBar]

That is fucking tragic. Luring a little girl into the woods and beating her to death for her earrings? Screw the gaming bit. This is just a tragedy.
EDIT: Seriously, screw that little fuck.
EDIT 2: How about we not talk about some silly possible backlash for the industry? A little girl was just beaten to death.

Exactly what I was gonna say

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Feel sorry for the parents; yet pointing the finger at video games again? Really?
There isn't even such a thing as "video game addiction," if someone is 'addicted' to video games, it's not because of the game, it's a social problem, and the blame is on the parents. At least if you ask me.
And if he's willing to kill a girl for her ear rings by beating her with a rock, then he was pretty messed up before he started playing online games.

 

[Random berk]

from the article:

Elizabeth Woolley, who set up Online Gamers Anonymous after her son Shawn committed suicide because of his addiction to online games, said it was time governments stepped in and did something about the ever-growing habit.

lady, listen. it's not games that made your son commit suicide. it's probably what prevented him from suiciding much, much earlier.
if she had done her duty as a mother, she would have known something was wrong with him, and that it wasn't the videogames.

Whoa hang on, so you, without any facts are blaming the mother from not being able to prevent her son's suicide? That is just as low and speculative as the people blaming videogames for causing violent behaviour

I think his point is that the video game was unlikely to have directly caused the kid to commit suicide, but some other stress in his life could have. Maybe he was being bullied, or doing badly in school. The mother simply didn't notice these, and when he did himself in, she assumed it was something to do with his favourite hobby. Its a much more likely scenario, although there is also the possibility that he actually was messed up enough to kill himself purely over a game. Its just somewhat doubtful. Only the people who knew him personally could say for sure, and only the mother knows whether she really was paying enough attention to spot the true cause of his state of mind.

Ya that's my point, only the people who know that situation can speculate as to what caused her son's suicide. Where I stake issue is him claiming she failed as a mother for not being able to prevent it

He's not claiming that she could have stopped him, he's claiming that she wasn't paying enough attention to notice the real cause for his depression, which would have allowed her to talk with him about it, get him help, and at least have a chance to prevent it. He is of course still making the assumption that video games were not a direct cause for his suicide, but to be honest, I'd highly doubt that the kid killed himself because his WoW subscription was out of date, or because he was having an off day in Call of Duty.