Violent video games blamed for Virginia Tech slaughter

[zekrahminator]

We can all agree that the tragic incident that happened at Virginia Tech was horrible. However, now is the time that we have to figure out what caused someone to kill this many peers, and how we can prevent this in the future. Unfortunately, as we've seen in the techPowerUp! Forums, this is something that people do not exactly agree on. Professional lawyers, as well as the highly acclaimed Dr. Phil McGraw, are quick to blame violent video games for the killer's maniacally depressed rampage. Currently, there is no evidence that the killer even had access to a video game console, let alone play violent video games. A much more likely possibility is the way the killer reacted to his anti-depressant medications. Instead of the anti-depressants calming the killer down, like they were supposed to, they made him violent and erratic. And so, this instability could easily have caused him to snap when the killer's girlfriend dumped him.

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[DR.Death]

i wish they would leave the gamers alone we are not all like that they are assuming again

 

[anticlutch]

"Professionals" need a scapegoat to blame for this and since they don't want to make people believe that the medicines are ineffective, they go and blame the next best thing - violent video games. This pisses me off because if people were already messed up, games would do nothing to them; if they were normal, games would still have no major effect on the individual's behaviour.

@ Dr.Death - Well you know what they say... by assuming you make an ass out of u and me.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Problem is that violent videos and violent games DO affect 90%+ of the population BUT not to an extent other than the person becoming "desensitized" to what they see. It doesnt make them act differently. The question is that if an "at risk person" - who responds in action to how they perceive things - is desensitized, do they become more "at risk". And the answer is, probably, and unfortunately, yes.

It's very tricky. It's not affecting you or me. But it IS affecting somebody out there. And so it's a game of odds... and politics.

 

[mandelore]

FFS, NO, a psychotic lunatic was to blame not frikkin games

 

[Alcpone]

More and more is emerging about this loner, alot of the blame imo is lying with the authorities and the stupid gun laws of virginia!

 

[wazzledoozle]

I cant wait to find out this guy never touched videogames so I can laugh at all these idiots on the news.

I hate Dr. Phil, Jack Thompson, and all other opportunists in the media these days. My message to them: get a real fucking career.

 

[Wastedslayer]

I heard his girlfriend was made up the cops questioned a bunch of people and none had ever seen or heard her, so how could he snap if she dumped him when he made her up

 

[jurrasstoil]

He didnt have a girlfriend as far as i heard

Prozac for everyone!

@wazzledoozle i read something like "fan of videogames, Counter-Strike player, yada yada yada"... the usual "LET'S BLAME VIDEOGAMES"-crap...

ah, here:

Several Korean youths who knew Cho Seung Hui from his high school days said he was a fan of violent video games, particularly Counterstrike, a hugely popular online game, in which players join terrorism or counterterrorism groups and try to shoot each other using all types of guns.

 

[pt]

i think i will start a killing spree on every guy that says it's 'cause of games after watching dull shows like phil ..something..., and say it's the show fault

 

[Nemesis881]

Weren't one of the columbine guys on anti-depressants? I say stop blaming video games and go after the drug companies.

 

[pt]

@wazzledoozle i read something like "fan of videogames, Counter-Strike player, yada yada yada"... the usual "LET'S BLAME VIDEOGAMES"-crap...

what about let's ban politicians they sent ppl to war (some of them) making ppl die, i bet more ppl die in foreign wars than duo to a crazy kid that "supposedely" play a game with guns

 

[Conti027]

i say blame TV shows but thats cause i hate tv and i play fps cause i know that i cant just go on a killing spree in real life but in games you can thats what so great. i think you have to prove that your stable befor you can play games

 

[Sent1nel]

what about let's ban politicians they sent ppl to war (some of them) making ppl die, i bet more ppl die in foreign wars than duo to a crazy kid that "supposedely" play a game with guns

and what games to politicians play ? ............................

war games

sorry couldnt help it

 

[jocksteeluk]

id like to slap the taste out of Phil McGraw's mouth and he can put that action down to him talking bollocks without proof, why is it never the fact that guns being readily and easily accessible is never to blamed?

 

[jydie]

Sadly, I think the kid is getting exactly what he wanted... infamy. Thanks to the media, the killers ALWAYS get more attention then the victim(s).

As for video games causing people to go on killing sprees... I do not buy it. Back in my youth, I remember teens getting blasted for playing D&D (Dungeons and Dragons). I spent a LOT of time playing it, and none of my friends or myself had any negative emotions or desires because of it. I also remember playing cops and robbers... cowboys and Indians... and that never led to anything more then having fun.

Maybe... just maybe, these violent games can actually help people quench those negative feelings in a virtual world, rather then the real one??? Now, that I would believe.

 

[Random Murderer]

JACK THOMPSON!!!!!!
bastard...

 

[Grings]

Currently, there is no evidence that the killer even had access to a video game console, let alone play violent video games.

violent video games blamed for blahblahblah, why is this absolutely no surprise? i think i'll start a few of my own

violent video games to blame for high price of cigarettes
violent video games to blame for global warming
violent video games to blame for my local supermarket being out of stock of chocolate milkshake
violent video games to blame for aids

tosser, i bet he's an anti violent game campaigner who's using this to promote his fearmongering of games, regardless of whether they had ANYTHING to do with it or not, heck, people see atrocities like this as something to use to their advantage, it disgusts me how low people like this will go for 'their cause'

 

[Protius]

typical, blame it on video games

 

[Death Star]

More blame on video games? Pure bullshit.

While the medication malfunction may have been a cause, or at least partial cause, I would dare bet my life it was a result of some psychological anomaly vastly unrelated to video game violence. Dr. Phil, as a clinical psychologist, should know the roll any particular psychological disorder can play in a persons thought patterns or behaviors. Not being a stranger to such issues myself, it's not hard to see what's most likely behind this (though of a less severe and completely non-violent nature ). They are much more real than many believe and generally seem to be the last investigated.

 

[Captn]

More blame on video games? Pure bullshit.

I agree.

 

[skane]

My vote is bad parenting. And maybe he got kicked around too much and didn't have an adequate support structure. Bottom line, an exceptionally sick messed up loser, and no excuse will be good enough for what happened.

Millions of people play "violent" FPS games and watch horror/slasher/shooter movies every day; there's no epidemic happening, and no mention if he gamed at all. As for blaming guns, he could just as well drove a car through a crowd, or used some other means to whatever sick ends was in his mind.

Seems there were already a lot of red flags raised on this guy (stalking, intimidation, mental problems), and he slipped through the system. Judging by the "multimedia" package he sent to ABC, one wonders how this piece of crap was loose in society in the first place.

 

[wazzledoozle]

Here's the video of Jack Thompson being a moron, as usual-
http://kotaku.com/gaming/jack-thompson/

 

[DR.Death]

sorry dude we dont mean to afend you

 

[strick94u]

Seeing the film he made this guy was seriusely in need of help damn!