A Unique Perspective on a 'Game-Related' Tragedy

Megnatron writes "Penny Arcade has a letter from the stepmother of one of the kids who was recently charged with killing a homeless man. Her article is an extremely sobering tale of the problems dealing with troubled teen. She explains how, in this situation, the parents did everything they possibly could. And, in a refreshing twist, she absolves the games industry of any blame for the tragedy these kids perpetrated. From her missive: 'Video games DID NOT make this kid who he was, and it's unfortunate that the correlation is there. The thing that really gets me with this whole thing is that the kid knows full well that by equating what he's done to a video game, that he will generate controversy and media coverage. It makes me sick that the media is jumping all over this, because that is exactly the result that he wants. The only good thing (if there is such a thing) that has come out of this whole ordeal is that the kid is behind bars. That is exactly where he needs to be.'" Her letter is a passionate, troubling story, but well worth reading.

Comments

Re:Gabe's Original Take, Her Response

[umbrellasd]

Reminds me of my childhood, *chuckle*. That kid was fiercely independent and they spent years trying to control him. "Oh, it's for his own good." "We tried, punishment, rewarding, and every other form of manipulation possible." It may sound like I'm siding with the kid, but I'm not. I am saying, that with a child like that, the things this woman describes (trying to fix him) is exactly what would drive him farther and farther over the edge of wrecklessness in a desire to say, "I do what I want."

It surely isn't all roses when the parental figure is describing how this is the only person in the world that they hate and how they fought with a minor for the minor's entire adolescence. What kind of adult will that create? Someone that is trained to fight and fight and hurt people. Nature vs. Nurture indeed. That kid didn't get even close to the same environment as his brother. He got the authoritarian "try everthing under the Sun (grounding for a month, ha!) to manipulate this child" environment, while his brother very likely was out of the spotlight almost all of the time due to their attention being centered on the other one.

She's absolutely right that it has nothing whatsoever to do with playing video games, though.