[kharizmatik]

I'm not sure if this has been posted or if this topic should be in the games section but i was wondering have any of you heard about the 17 year old who killed his mom and wounded his dad because they took his HALO game away? I've never played it, just heard of it but i honestly didn't think a video game would possess anyone to carry out a crime such as this. Maybe i'm close minded? I mean sure, i've gotten really angry with my parents to the point where i'd want to slap them before lol but never thought of actually killing them. The world is constantly changing. Maybe i should see exactly what the game entails because i have no clue. What's your take on the issue?

[Advertisements]

I don’t really think it’s the “game” itself, it more of a physiological problem with the person. There have been several different stories about people that killed/hurt others or themselves because of a game they were playing. One of the most popular that I remember was a young man that killed himself over playing EverQuest.

In 2001, 21-year-old Shawn Woolley (search), a Wisconsin man who suffered from epilepsy, depression and schizoid personality disorder, moved back in with his mother and quit his job.

Not long afterward, he killed himself over a personal betrayal — in the EverQuest world.

Reference http://www.foxnews.c...,143556,00.html

His mother actually started an On-Line Gamers Anonymous http://www.olganon.org to help others with problems caused by excessive game playing.

[BHowett]

I don’t really think it’s the “game” itself, it more of a physiological problem with the person. There have been several different stories about people that killed/hurt others or themselves because of a game they were playing. One of the most popular that I remember was a young man that killed himself over playing EverQuest.

In 2001, 21-year-old Shawn Woolley (search), a Wisconsin man who suffered from epilepsy, depression and schizoid personality disorder, moved back in with his mother and quit his job.

Not long afterward, he killed himself over a personal betrayal — in the EverQuest world.

Reference http://www.foxnews.c...,143556,00.html

His mother actually started an On-Line Gamers Anonymous http://www.olganon.org to help others with problems caused by excessive game playing.

[stettybet0]

Like BHowett said, it's the person, not the game. If the guy really, really liked a flower, and his parents took his flower away, he might kill them over that. But you wouldn't be asking if flowers were "dementing".

[kharizmatik]

Hm...just making conversation. But the difference between a flower and a virtual reality game are two different things.

[stettybet0]

The fact that it was a video game is irrelevant; it was an object of addiction. Any addiction in addition to a poor mental state will lead to trouble. Just think about how many drug-related deaths there are.

[Troy]

I've been following this case too - and I can't seem to pinpoint fact. Some say he was angered by not being able to play the game anymore, other sources say he was angered by not being able to play the game at all.

Research it and see... it sure is a tough case to make a call on... Even if all the facts are presented before you!

I wouldn't want to be that judge.

Troy

[sync0s]

If some kid went crazy and killed his mom and dad like this without the inclusion of video games, people wouldn't be so quick to blame something like a video game. My point is people (especially the media) look for one thing to blame that may have been absolutely irrelevant. In this case, the game being banned may have simply been a trigger. No one but the child and his parents know any events preceding. For all we know, his parents could have been evil and abused him, and the only good thing in the child's life was a video game? You never know.

[BHowett]

either way there is an underlying cause, not just the game.

[Kev1n]

Hmm... tough call.
Taking away the most valuable and prized possession from anyone would more than likely drive them nuts. Especially teenagers.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Some people obsess over games so much, they will allow themselves to go in to debt, because they do not have a job. Some get so addicted that they hardly get any sleep. There are many afflictions that can happen to an extreme gamer!

[AdreinDark]

honestly halo is pretty fun, but nothing to kill soemone over. the fact of the matter is, the world is slowing down because we spend so much time indors on video games and such, i mean i the past week, i went outside once O.O
but i planned to change tat, but i suppose with how the world is today with al the parents allowing geveryone to do what they want, and peopl being able to be arreasted for breaking and entering into thier own house, or sue others for a coffee burn (lady in mcdonalds), then i can see killing someone over a video game viable. the world ishow we let it become. we need to make it so that the world gets its morality back, and videos honestly should be regulated. then at least you wouldnt have kids messed up in the heads, and i think we should go back to the old days of wooping our kids butts when they got outta line. i have a job and i go to school and i have a car and lots of money...when i was a kid i got my butt wooped if i did something rong, nowadays yo can get arrested for something as little as a spanking. i mean theyre taking child abuse laws wayyyyy out of context, but yes this is offsubject but it pertains to the whole thing as a whole. if we could do this then the kid probably wouldnt have killed his parents but instead went outside to find something else to do...

[dsenette]

i have a job

obviously not as an english teacher

i go to school

missed spelling class did we?

we need to make it so that the world gets its morality back,

morality is horribly subjective....what you consider "moral" isn't necessarily what i consider "moral"

and videos honestly should be regulated. then at least you wouldnt have kids messed up in the heads,

videos? like what videos? movies? that ARE regulated? ever heard of the MPAA? the rating system? just because parents don't LISTEN to the rating system doesn't mean it doesn't exist

as far as "whooping" kids as discipline...i never got spanked once in my life as a disciplinary tool....and i know right from wrong...why? because my parents invested their time in teaching me right from wrong.... spanking as a form of discipline is the tool of someone who doesn't know what they're doing and doesn't have the commitment to their child (or dog, or whatever) to do things the proper way.... you don't have to resort to violence to prove that you are to be obeyed or to show right from wrong.
did you know that a large percentage of serial killers cite physical and mental abuse by their parents (i.e. being "whooped") as the main reason behind what they've done?

[Elliot]

...i never got spanked once in my life as a disciplinary tool....

Umm....

[AdreinDark]

wow. it seems as if ive receaved my own critic "spot on!"
well for a fact, everyone has been yelled at, and many parents dont resort to violence, but that jsut makes people think their better than others and so CRITISIZE them, my job may be small, but i make enought o live on my own and suport myself and my girlfreind, and as for school , no im jsut not good at typing, i hated typing or useing any electronic means to make my life easyier (i felt it was a form of laziness) until i went to highschool and was forced (literally forced, i could not do my work without it, because the teacher did everthing on the calculator) so after that i have used technology since.

Would you consider it moral to kill someone? many gang members do, and in the past few years weve had a rise in gang members because their parents wont properly discipline them so they feel as if their doing something bad and ot getting in trouble. i mean if you grounded me, id laugh at you and think it was funny, but tell me that youll tell my mom that i jsut shot someone? and ill run for my life because i still have the fear of when i was a kid.

tyhats not regulation though, thats a form of censurship form the bad, did you know that futerama was recently rated pg??? because i morals are growing ever more accepting. you can have crude humo rwith very suggestive themes (spongebob) and yet it will still be rated PG. and since when was it acceptable to becaome fat or any other for of something that was not moral only a few years ago? since the rise of fast food, we have grown fat and lazy, everything we need, we can get easy by driving to the store and walking fo r half a minute, heck we dont even haftodrive all the way to blockbuster anymore to rent movies, weve got online netflix for that, their was once a time where you had to strive for everything you recieved and everting in life, now the only striveing is striving to get your fat body off of a couch and then going to the fridge for another twinkie. it snothing agaist fat people, its against our acceptance that we are able to be fat. Also, how many people do you know that place their whole lives (and video record everythign ) on myspace for anyone to see? i know quite a few, and its stupid because people have no sense of seclusion or aloneness, everything has to go on youtube. if you arent politically correct, you might get racism charges on you or something of that nature,

what say you?

[dsenette]

Would you consider it moral to kill someone? many gang members do,

there's a big difference between morality and what you're willing to do in any given situation.....i don't think a gang member's willingness to commit crimes has much to do with their moral standards....it's got a lot more with what they're willing to do outside of those standards to be a member of a group...

gang members don't become gang members because their own morals dictate that killing people is a good thing....they become gang members because they live in poverty and live in an area where their lives are so hard that they have to band together to survive....which pushes them into a criminal lifestyle because of their perceived need to belong and their inability to get money to get out of poverty....when not in front of their "boys" or in a situation where they feel like they would be perceived as weak by their "crew" MOST gang members will show remorse for what they've done...and they will express a desire to STOP doing what they're doing...they just don't know how to get out (because most people who leave gangs end up dead)

and ill run for my life because i still have the fear of when i was a kid.

there's the problem.....too many parents confuse FEAR with RESPECT...they assume that if their child is AFRAID of them that they automatically respect them.....just a quick question...when you were a kid...how many times did you say "i hate my <mom/dad>...they're so mean"? (you may not have used the words hate....but how often did you express anger towards your parents to someone else because of the way they disciplined you)

tyhats not regulation though, thats a form of censurship form the bad,

it is regulation...they regulate who should be seeing the content...they don't censor the content....(though it could be argued that some producers of media will censor their own works to reach a certain rating level)

did you know that futerama was recently rated pg???

so?

you can have crude humo rwith very suggestive themes (spongebob) and yet it will still be rated PG.

....you're seriously suggesting that spongebob has contributed to anyone's lack of morality? that's a bit of a stretch...

and since when was it acceptable to becaome fat or any other for of something that was not moral only a few years ago?

someone's weight has absolutely nothing to do with morality....and it's ridiculous that you're trying to use this as a proof of your point.... times change...people's views on what is/isn't acceptable change.... do you suggest we go back to a time when a woman showing her ankles in public would cause such a stir in the community that she would be labeled a "hussy"? how about the DEFAULT institutionalization of anyone with any form of defect? do you know that MILLIONS of people were put in institutions in this country because of mental illness/retardation, physical handicaps, deformities, and because they "didn't fit" society's mold of what was "right".....did you know that as late as the 50's and 60's homosexuals where place in these same institutions so that they could be "heterosexualized" because they were considered "evil"? if that's the moral code you want to go back to...then have fun with that plan