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

[JWRosser]

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.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

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.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Not sure where on earth she managed to get that statistic. I'm also curious as to why her son felt the need to commit suicide due to an addiction to video gaming.

The ultimate rage quit?

 

[Catchy Slogan]

There was something seriously wrong with that kid! And they want to just use this to point the finger at a scapegoat? This why Media makes me angry sometimes. Something terrible happens and they use it to shoehorn in their campaign of the week.

Shame on you Sky News. Shame on you. I feel sorry for the girls parents.

 

[nbamaniac]

Hmmmm, sounds like serial killer behavior to me. The worst thing i have done as an 'addict' for 18 years was when I failed a single calculus exam. >.<'

 

[Woodsey]

So says Sky News.

I wonder who they're owned by.

 

[Professor Cubbage]

The whole story seems odd. Why would the boy cut up the earrings if he was going to sell them to fund his "addiction". A real addict would have sold them straight away. People should stop using video games as a scapegoat and instead have the courage to point out the real causes.

 

[Gweneth Knaff]

Oh that poor little girl. And her parents. I can't imagine what unspeakable pain they're going through.

 

[Biodeamon]

I stuck between laughing and cringing. i'm a horrible, horrible person.


but really i'm not surprised.
Online gaming is really a problem, they're all evil. just ask Yahtzee.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I'd agree, but it's really not the first time this has happened.. especially in Asia.

That said, I remember Marilyn Manson used to have a sardonic threat which he'd throw at parents who flipped out at him. The threat was 'you raise your kids or I will'. I'm quoting that to suggest that, rather than focusing solely on how online games are corrupting our youth, let's maybe also consider what might be wrong with the real world that makes certain people so desperate for escapism in the first place.

Because, let's be fair.. gaming related murder is not exactly a global phenomenon.

To be fair, she didn't say 20% of gamers are addicted. She said that 20% of the population have an addictive personality and are at risk of addiction. Still a dodgy statistic, but less dodgy than it might appear.

 

[Tigurus]

What the...?!
Really?! People like that should not exist in our utopia! *grabs Pitchforks and torches*

I'm sorry for the parents. That is just...I don't even have words for it.

Really! Can't people like...search for something else to do in the meantime till they got the money?! Jeeves...

 

[Mr Pantomime]

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.

 

[rokkolpo]

Poor girls.

One clearly was never raised to be a proper person...and the other now dead.
This clearly had nothing to do with gaming.

 

[Vengeful Dusk]

That is really tragic... that poor girl. But trying to use video games as a scapegoat? surely that's a bit old now.

A comment i saw on the article mentioned how Jamie Bulger's murderers were supposed to have been influenced by the film Childs Play. Looks like As long as there's something the mass media can use to create a moral panic, it seems they're going to flaunt it :-/

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

I think that's just poor wording on Elizabeth Woolley's part. I would think what she tried to say was that 20-30% of people have addicted personalities, could be at risk etc etc. The whole situation is pretty fucked up, but I think that using video game addiction is still a pretty piss poor scape goat. He wanted the earring's to play an online game? Anyone who has the peace of mind to push someone down a hill, beat them to death and then cut up and hide the earrings was probably pretty fucked up before video games ever entered their lives.

 

[Hellsen]

The media fear mongers will have a field-day with this,and yes the sheeps will line for some protest after this, but wont lead to anything significant ever, at worst if some minor authoritative asshole will try elevate their political status (Michael Atkinson) by rallying all the sheeps before, before realizing this pointless crusade inst gonna get their career anywhere and craw back into obscurity, leaving the sheeps to loose interest and wonder off.

 

[ScoopMeister]

How is this any worse than when murders are influenced by other thing, like movies?

A comment i saw on the article mentioned how Jamie Bulger's murderers were supposed to have been influenced by the film Childs Play. Looks like As long as there's something the mass media can use to create a moral panic, it seems they're going to flaunt it :-/

See, why isn't anyone proposing to restrict the viewing of Child's Play then? It's all these anti-gamers. Instead of simply feeling sorry for the poor girl who got killed, they just use it as an excuse to get publicity so that everyone knows they hate video games. It's pathetic.

 

[GrimHeaper]

"He beat that little girl to death it must be the games fault" Worst logic I have possibly heard.

 

[JWRosser]

Poor girls.

One clearly was never raised to be a proper person...and the other now dead.
This clearly had nothing to do with gaming.

Exactly.


It's a horrible situation, but the kid should be blamed, not video games. I mean, you don't excuse a drug addict if he were to murder someone do you? You don't say "oh bless he only did it to fuel his addiction; it's him we should pity."

Be interesting to see what happens to this kid. If he really did need these earrings (I still do not understand why he needed to cut them up) then why not just steal them? What possessed him to murder the poor girl? That was unnecessary and the boy's fault - you cannot blame that on video games.