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Everquest Connection Alleged In Child Death

Posted by simoniker on from the addiction-and-loss dept.

Thanks to NWAOnline.net for their story regarding a mother facing manslaughter charges which may relate to videogame addiction, following her 3-year-old daughter's death after being left alone in an overheated car. According to the piece, "Authorities said [Mary Christina] Cordell and her boyfriend, Eric Long, 21, may have been so fixated with the interactive game EverQuest that she neglected to pay adequate attention to Brianna's whereabouts on Aug. 8, the day the child died." The article also points out posts to the Spouses Against Everquest mailing-list from Cordell, one of which is controversial, but tragically prescient: "Verant is also an enabler by providing a type of 'entertainment' that requires an inordinary amount of time to do basic functions of the average role playing games... I'm afraid that eventually many more people will be hurt or even killed by this 'service'."

3 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Don't confuse the cause for the effect by Quixotic+Raindrop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People who would be addicted to Everquest are addicits, anyway. Blaming the developer and distributor for the psychological problems of the player places the blame in the wrong place.

    --
    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. (Einstein)
  2. Nothing to do with Everquest by SteWhite · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This child died because the parents neglected it, simple as that. What they were doing doesn't matter.

    Just because they were playing a computer game, it makes the news. If they were distracted watching TV instead, we would never have heard about it.

  3. When life hands you lemons... by Dr.+Bent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...sue sombody because it's not your fault.

    What the fuck happened to the concept of personal repsonsibility! Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ!

    "I murder people because I was abused as a child."

    "I rob people because the system keeps me poor."

    "I'm addicted to drugs because nobody will give me a job."

    BULLSHIT!

    It's not the government's job to take care of you. It's not Verant's job to take care of you. It's not Nabisco's or Microsoft's or Anyone's job to take care of you...except you. And if you can't take care of yourself, I'm sorry; But that's no excuse to drag the rest of us down too. If we keep heading down this road, eventually they'll be nobody left but laywers and 'victims', and modern civilization will grind to a halt.