D&D Blamed For Stabbing Deaths

Grymalkin writes "A man is in custody for allegedly stabbing 3 people to death in King of Prussia, PA last week. Now it appears that the district attorney believes there may be a link between the murders and the Dungeons and Dragons RPG. From the article: 'I mean, you have many, many stab wounds and those 'Dungeons and Dragons' fantasy games involve swords and knives and daggers and things of that nature. There may be a connection but I can't say for sure.'" Wow. There are a lot more D&D players than I thought there were, what with all the stabbings and all.

Comments

Somebody is stupid...

[Suhas]

...and nothing to see here. Move on.

Well atleast its not computer games this time

[FidelCatsro]

"I mean, you have many, many stab wounds and those 'Dungeons and Dragons' fantasy games involve swords and knives and daggers and things of that nature. There may be a connection but I can't say for sure."

? How the hell did this man get a law degree , Seriously it may have something to do with D&D , though the evidence is um ,well,, if that is all they have to link it to D&D, then may i sugest the motive could have been related to pumping up a football , as that has lots of thrusting motions involved if you use a hand pump.

On a more serious note , The man obviously has some serious psychological issues of which i have no doubt contributed to these murders , the only reason the D&D link should be brought up is in establishing motive if you want to have the man released to the care of a mental health ward .

Games do not turn people into psychotic killing machines , they may however shape the style but if it was not the game it would have been some other influence .Jack the ripper was never known to play counter strike ,Charlie manson Never played Mortal kombat.

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[dasunt]

Everyone knows that D&D only caused murders in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, it was metal music.

In the post-2000 world, Grand Theft Auto is the cause of all crime.

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[Anonymous Coward]

How the hell did this man get a law degree

Don't forget, you're living in a country that encourages its lawyers to twist any legislation available to their advantage (and there is a ton of legislation to choose from), encourages poor standards of education that help guarantee (amongst other things) putting twelve idiots into jury boxes, encourages near-radical anti-anything UnChristian to help whip up the public fervour about such an issue, and also involves a cult of personality surrouding a leader who's putting people with this sort of ideological bent at the TOP of the legal food chain.

The idiot with the law degree is a symptom of a MUCH bigger problem.

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[Seumas]

Fortunately, good old religion never causes people to do strange things like this. If we must restrict by age or ban entirely games, movies and pencil and paper RPGs, then we must ban bibles of every religion as well.

There are countless recent events where people have directly claimed that religion and/or religious material lead them to the violent acts they took.

There's the guy who held a gun store up by knife point so he could use the stolen gun to go rescule Terri Schaivo. He said, to the gun store owner, that god was with him and that he was either with god or against him in rescuing Terri.

Then there's all the people in the last couple of years who have chopped off their children's arms and legs, filled a little girl's stomach full of bleach and then sat on her until she died (for having sex), stoned a girl to death, chained a girl to a treat as punishment for sex and that guy who offed his wife, child and himself because he believed the end is near. All in the name of religion.

Any time some conservative or religious nutcase tries to tell you all of these other things must be controlled, suggest to him that the same applies to his own propaganda and that he should settle up his own house before hypocritically lobbing grenades into the camp of others.

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[grub]

Superstition is the lazy way out of reason. I get that insignificant feeling when looking at the stars through my telescope, that doesn't lead me to believe that there's an invisible man deciding the fate of all those points of light.

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[agraupe]

I don't believe that entirely. I will say, however, that organized religion is a clusterfuck of insanity. I think that if you work it out for yourself, you should be free to believe in whatever you have found. I suppose that qualifies as spirituality more than religion, though. Spirituality, I have no trouble with, unless it causes you to do stupid, irrational things. Religion is, as Marx said, "the opiate of the masses."

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[theMerovingian]

Hmmm... I am both a Christian and a video gamer/D&D player. That stuff is just inane fun, and it only adversely affects people who have trouble distinguishing fiction from reality. I can guarantee there have been crazy people willing to kill, steal, rape, and commit heinous crimes LONG before the advent of RPG's. To assume otherwise is a logical fallacy.

In the same vein, some of these very same crazy people mentally associate themselves with the forms of religion. Jesus even said that there is a parallel between the amount we forgive others, and the amount that God forgives us. Obviously it is not scripturally accurate to kill or steal with a perverse notion of social justice.

I guess with this long-winded reply that no one will probably read, I'm just saying that certain people are willing to commit violent crimes, and will make up reasons to justify it in their head.

Ultimately, the best we can do as a society is to raise our children well, help those in poverty, and make sure that our prison system is focused on reform and individual improvements rather than simple incarceration.

It makes me sick to see people treat others so poorly, and you are right to be horrified at these violent crimes. It is in no way keeping with the teachings or life of Jesus, and in fact Jesus would be among the first to condemn such actions.

Re:Well atleast its not computer games this time

[UberGeeb]

Religion doesn't cause erratic or neurotic behavior. In the first case, that person had something wrong with him in the first place. He let his emotions of sympathy get the best of his rationality.

Of course. But, the point is, D&D doesn't cause erratic or neurotic behavior either. And, the same non-causal arguments that are used to implicate D&D, video games, whatever can also be used to implicate religion.

It's a goddamn form of expression

[bersl2]

Had this person not been exposed to D&D, he would have expressed his wish to kill in some other way.

I can't quite refine this one, but: If one has natural musical talent but no formal training and no wide exposure to many different forms of expression, one will make music according to pre-existing patterns and experimentation.

Is this example not similar?

Not Surprising

[TiredGamer]

It was only a matter of time before D&D became a target again for those looking for reasons for homicidal mania... other than the person being a homicidal maniac. Perhaps the same lawyer going after Rockstar will start a new suit against Wizards of the Coast for the families of the deceased individuals. Somewhere in the shadows I can hear Jack Chick cackling...

Re:Could Passion of the Christ cause stabbings?

[QMO]

Quote: "If you buy into the watching-violence-causes-violence thing"

What amazes me is that many people believe that what we watch DOESN'T affect us.

If only there were real, irrefutable, evidence of that then television, radio, newspapers, and internet would cease to exist as we know them.

The fact is that there is plenty of very good evidence that what we see/hear/read affects us. That's why you can make HUGE amounts of money by advertising. It would be irrational (IMO) to believe that what we see affects us only in how we spend, and not in our other behaviors.

Note that this doesn't place the blame for bad behavior (or the praise for good behavior) on the people that create stuff for us to see/hear/read. (ie. It's not my fault if you kick the dog after reading this.)

Re:Need more data.

[ostermei]

Note that DA Castor says that there might be a connection, or there might not. He's not demonizing D&D, nor are either news agency making it their headline.

Actually, D&D is being demonized by this because of the way it's being handled. You're correct in that the media isn't coming right out and saying "D&D made him do it, it's bad and needs to be destroyed," but Mr. Castor even mentioning it when there's possibly no link whatsoever is just irresponsible. If it turns out that D&D did have something to do with it, fine... they should tell us about it when they have proof. Until then, dropping a product's name as being "possibly" involved with a murder is, in fact, demonizing it in the public eye. If you notice, the only time D&D gets media attention is when it's being mentioned in situations just such as this. When was the last time you saw/read D&D getting any sort of positive mainstream media attention?

Dupe.

[SoCalEd]

Wasn't this same article posted in 1982, 1983, 1986, etc.? (Oh, wait....)

Seriously though, I clearly recall my mother freaking out over my playing because of crap news like this back in the very early 80's when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Its amazing how this "D&D is the root of all evil" horseshit keeps coming back.

Next we'll be back on the Proctor and Gamble has satanic symbols on their product witch hunt...

Re:So that means...

[Keith Russell]

No, I mean Sears Point. I also mean Candlestick Park, Comiskey Park, Laguna Seca, Jack Murphy Stadium, and Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Fsck naming rights. They didn't pay me to call it some corporate name.