Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ Kelsey Bjarnason ] on Thursday 19 April 2007 05:17 \__
>
>> [snips]
>>
>> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:01:12 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> Thompson Targets Microsoft in Latest Crusade
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable the harm done at
>>> | Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news
>>> | that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to
>>> | kill.
>>> `----
>>>
>>>
> http://www.gamealmighty.com/story-individual/story/Thompson_Targets_Microsoft_in_Latest_Crusade/
>>>
>>> This is harsh. Another news agency wrongly said that CounterStike is a
>>> Microsoft game. I saw that ysterday. Also in the news:
>>
>>
>> Err... umm... no. It's a game, folks. If this were enough to compel
>> people to run out and kill, we'd be seeing this sort of thing every day.
>> Games involving guns, shooting, killing, even fairly realistic ones
>> involving first-person-perspective and "life like" targets are hardly new.
>>
>> If that's all it took, then this would have been happening regularly for
>> years... and every single user of the game would be out on a killing spree.
>>
>> It ain't happening. Gimme a break.
>
> I beg to differ. I don't want to name any game maker here, but these games
> are clearly addictive and they lead to an immersion of the mind. The same
> goes for all virtual 'worlds', even Second life. IIRC, a guy in Korea died
> last year after a long gaming marahon. China and India (IIT) have embraced
> enforced regulation to combat the epidemic of Net/gaming addiction as well.
> Meanwhile, in Germany, there are talks about banning some games, I think.
> Studies are showing that people who play racing games drive more
> dangerously, but let's not deviate from the main point here.
Well, I think this could well be a part of the main point. Virtual
worlds (of which the internet in general offers many, including usenet,
as well as such as second-life and so on) clearly have a significant
"escapist" element to them, at least, so long as you consider the 3D
world to be the "normal" world. For people who are struggling in the 3D
world for some reason or other, these escapist worlds offer solace of
some kind, in much the same way as religion, spiritualism, recreational
drugs, amateur sports, book reading, or whatever.
Would we consider the person who spends 8 hours/day reading novels as
addicted? In need of treatment? Maybe, maybe not, but my point is that
this kind of "addiction" is nothing new, and is not particularly a
function of the internet or games, rather, it's a function of people in
general.
>
> These shooter games lead to a 'gun happy' mind, which has probably led to the
> increase in people who wish to join the military. It's a recruitment tool.
> To some, going to war with a gun is like fantasy becoming a reality (but I
> very much doubt it, or at least want to believe so).
I think it probably depends a great deal on the kind of person as to how
much impact their entertainment has on their interactions with the 3D
world. For example, someone who spends all their time reading
action-adventure stories perhaps might be more inclined to join the
military than someone who had not.
>
> In any event, this particular shooter was generally disturbed in his mind and
> he was advised to seek counselling. They looked at his essays and attitude
> towards people. Is it possible that the /PC/ led to degradation in his
> mental state?
>
If you look at the person involved, he was a very long way from home,
his family had emigrated to the US for a "better life", but they didn't
know anyone. Clearly he was having major problems fitting in, but then
his cultural background was so different to that of the US that some
problems were probably inevitable. I've no idea how well he was doing
on his course, or whether that would have an impact. I'm sure all
aspects of his situation contributed to his difficulties. I'm also sure
that so long as the US continues to make guns available to people in a
poor mental state, these events will continue to happen.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
|
|
