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Warriors Of Freedom Prompted Rampage Attempt?
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Philadelphia Inquirer article linking videogames to an alleged spree killing attempt. According to the article, "Investigators suspect the three teens arrested.. as they allegedly were about to launch a killing rampage in the small town, found inspiration in violent computer games.. [police] learned that the name the three reportedly had given themselves - Warriors of Freedom - is also an Internet-based combat game." But only a few media reports mention that the violent game connection was made by Jack Thompson, a Miami lawyer and outspoken critic of violent video and computer games - is this a case of shameless Googling to find any obscure game with a similar name and make a connection, or is there genuine evidence here?
And just because I go around building towns near gold mines and harvesting lumber doesn't mean the game has affected me.
In a recent study, 100% of teenagers that went on killing rampages were found to have significant levels of testosterone in their bloodstreams, irrefutable proof that testosterone causes violent behavior! I think we should demand that testosterone be immediately banned in all highschools!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
...you'd get high, play pacman.. fist a bag of doritos, and that would be the end of it. C - - - -
Do nethack players go on a ) wielding killing spree?
I guess we shall never know.
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Seriously, before video games, there was no war, no violence, and everyone loved each other. The crusades were caused because of the church's addiction to Doom. World War I, well, that was Duke Nukem. World War II was cause by the release of Quake. It is time to put an end to these horrible inventions now, before Doom 3 comes out and World War 3 starts.
today is spelling optional day.
As a psycho killer, I am outraged that you don't think I can enjoy Oregon Trail as much as non-psycho killers, or non-psycho non-killers.
Next you'll be saying we don't like Commander Keen.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
I've been stuck at work for the past fourteen hours, and I'm about ready to kill someone right now. Maybe we should look into getting work outlawed as well?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Therefore, NetHack players either do their deed and get away with it, or they're the people we hear about on the news who get killed by kittens after eating bad jelly.
when i was a child (i was born in 1939)
we would take large pieces of lumber and smash frogs on the head.
we had no video games back then.
With all the changes to the language, I'm confused... are these kids from France or something? If so, how do they justify using the moniker "Warriors" ???
Therefore, NetHack players either do their deed and get away with it, or they're the people we hear about on the news who get killed by kittens after eating bad jelly.
Nitpick: eating a rotten jelly corpse could cause death by food poisoning, NOT a "killed by XXX while helpless" death. You're thinking of getting killed by a kitten after hitting a floating eyeball.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
when i was a child (i was born in 1939) we would take large pieces of lumber and smash frogs on the head. we had no video games back then.
When I was a teen (in 1993) we would get an old 3 wood and launch cane toads down an imaginary fairway (it's okay cause they're a pest).
"She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
- a boy who grows up in a nudist family won't think anything of seeing naked women
Such a hypothetical kid (don't you guys all wish you were him!) would probably not be *alarmed* to see a naked woman, nor would he think it was particularly UNordinary to do so in his nudist setting.However, same kid would still be affected by such a visage in the same way that a non-nudist-colony kid would -- that's programmed in the neurons, er, somewhere.
Following your analogy, and assuming a cycle of 3DRealms - id Software - 3DRealms, the next big war will be caused by the release (not of Doom 3 but of) Duke Nukem Forever. I guess i can sit pretty for a while =)
Ouch! Mod this up as "insightful", not funny! I mean, wait until they try to tie the first killing spree to AA!
Yes, he was a quiet kid, kept to himself, played a green beret captain in the U.S. Army on the Internet...
I hear America's Army is a great game, but I won't play it until there's a mod that lets me go AWOL in the jungle of southeast asia, become a living god to a tribe of natives, build up my own private army and keep a freaked-out photographer as court jester...
Reminder: find a new sig
> They will blame everyone and everything, except the two causes:
> 1) the people who teased them to death for years.
I thought people who suffered excessive childhood teasing grew up to be programmers.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
"But I also enjoy playing non-violent games, such as SimCity 4."
You've never played god and struck down a megalopolis with natural disasters, have you?
...when you need him?
I'd like to see Broderbund brought to justice for Number Muncher's role in the mental anguish and derision I suffered as an elementary-school math dork.
Co-founder of GerbilMechs
I think the *real* motives of Jack Thompson should be obvious to everyone. You see, he thinks his game was poorly recieved, and he's merely trying to exterminate all the competition.
Wait, you say you didn't know he was in a game? Haven't you ever played The Bermuda Syndrome?
The Bermuda Syndrome basically chronicles the adventures of pilot Jack J. Thompson . . . Final Grade: D
A shoddy disguise at best - all he did is remove his middle initial! Who was he hoping to fool, anyway?
(Moral: You can find facts to back up *anything* on Google.)
Breaking Into the Industry - A development log about starting a game studio.
How many more must die due to this dangerous scourge of freedom which takes over the minds of young people like a hideous drug??
I demand that we put an end to freedom!
To quote David Cross
"What was that video game that Hitler played and then gave to the entire German populace?"
oh come on, we all know that the bison died out because the settlers played too much oregon trail.
Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
Look at the photo, and read the caption. I bet that guy called "Elizabeth Robertson" hates his parents.
http://jesus.everdense.com/
oh great, someone's going to make a hellmouth comment now. Jon Kats save me!
Support Israeli punk bands. Man Alive.
Guns don't kill people, tetris does
Well, you have to be especially careful with those text-based games. The rapid pace of typing can give the youngsters who participate in such outrages unbelievable manual dexterity, dexterity that translates directly into shooting people with astounding skill. Rumor has it that evil terrorist organizations regularly train on such murderous classics as "Zork" and "Ms. Marple's Manor".
Maybe you'll be lucky enough to have Michael Moore as your neighbor if your home gets invaded in the middle of the night. Of course he won't have a gun, but he might be able to sick fee-fee, his poodle in the pink collar, on the intruders.
when i was a child (i was born in 1939)
we would take large pieces of lumber and smash frogs on the head.
we had no video games back then.
So it was like a precursor to Frogger, eh?
is the universe's sense of irony.
I played GTA3: Vice city for 2 weeks straight..
Then my car got stolen from the mall.
Really.
you already know what kind...they're called teenagers.
Yeah, well the bastards should be round up and shot.... oh wait..
When I see a psycho killer attempting to Bunny hop, wielding his knife, to run faster then I'll know he was influenced by video games.
... are an obvious counterexample to the idea that naming yourself after a violent video game means you're a violent group.
;-)
You sir, will never have sex.
"it won't work, and you WILL be cleaning toad parts out of your potato launcher for weeks if you try it."
man, i have never in my life been more frightened by the sound of sad experience...
ed