9 year old boy commits suicide, videogames to blame....really?

[VoidProphet]

If videogames cause your kid to kill themself, that's natural selection. They're overly impressionable and obviously unstable (Or at least extremely easy to make unstable). Cave men had dying of pneumonia because you forgot to light the fire, the information age has video games.

 

[Small Waves]

Or worse, Fallout 3, the game that is appropriate for adults but would be really depressing for a child due to the nature of how children get treated in the Fallout series?

There aren't a lot of children in Fallout 3, and it's quite easy to avoid meeting them (until you meet the town full of children). F3 is a crapsack world that takes place after nuclear fallout. It's more gloomy than depressing, and children playing it won't really care much because of they're too busy getting in headshots like fucking badass beasts.

If you want to talk depressing themes, Persona 3 has that by the boatload, especially by the two-thirds point.

 

[martin's a madman]

Note the talk show host reporting about a suicide while complaining that content on TV isn't uplifting. I love you Irony.

 

[Motti]

I like how she outright says "we don't want to blame the family."

So it seems we've moved beyond blaming videogames into outright exonerating any other possible effects outright.

Exactly, because in no way could it have been the parent's fault. It must be those dastardly VIDEOGAMES. At least the videogames can't sue us if we blame them.

 

[Erana]

So... violent video games at an early age cause you to ask a teach to go to a bathroom, and to hang yourself? It just sounds ridiculous.

With my father exposing me to Heretic as a toddler, I do wonder what it did to my mind...

Other than the occasional nightmares of evil, pixelated demons, of course.
I mean, I play video games now, but when playing an older DOS game, like Tomb Raider, I get this sense of shock when the protagonist dies.
I'm trying to get over that fear now, but in retrospect, I have to wonder how much of it is the video games as it was my father and how he's been so terrible to us for most of my life.

 

[Nannernade]

Uhm... violent videogames according to my roommate two seconds ago would cause him to bring a gun in not hang himself.

 

[wolfgamesstudios]

its the dumbass parents for mistreating him and letting him play violent games and watch violent movies. im going to say its only 10% games and movies 90% home/ family life. or the fact hes in the hospital. little bit of the story cut there. you choose.

 

[Rhade]

I saw that it happened in Texas and then just TL;DR'ed it.

 

[Tdc2182]

When I saw the topic I was about to say is it really so hard to believe that a kid took a game to seriously, but in this story(unless I am mistaken) the child has absolutely no link to videogames being part of his suicide. Not even a logical guess, she just stated she believes video games are to blame for his death. She took something completely unrelated and made it about videogames.

I mean, even the Topic poster gave her to much credit

The thing is, there is no actual way of pinning this child's actions (while a tragedy indeed) to video games directly, and yet she pretty much did just that.

Not even indirectly, this lady brought up a completely unrelated scapegoat. That is a prime example of control.

Bear in mind I'm from the UK, but what is it with american media and scapegoating

Yeah, we do have it pretty bad over here. But BBC is actually the most unbiased news you can get, so it is hard to compete.

 

[Lostpropht]

oh man i lost count how many video games required me to hang myself as an objective.. yea i think i lost count at.... 0! SHUT UP PSYCHIATRIST!!

 

[Helimocopter]

lost all credit when she mentioned the talk show host thing and mentioned oprah

 

[brunothepig]

If games really do make people do things like that, they already had something wrong with them. Since every gamer doesn't commit suicide, or go on killing sprees, there's something else wrong with those that do have problems. And I'm guessing that, most of the time, it's their parents/childhood.

 

[BaerXIII]

So games made the kid lock himself in a bathroom to hang himself?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

That and I'm not sure what games really do anything related to suicide. Besides there's probably much more to this then the parents and the media aren't letting us know considering when your 9 your supposed to be care-free not emo.

 

[Romaru]

They make a much stronger (albeit completely invalid) point about GTA being a murder simulator teaching kids to kill.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure there is no game on the market where the idea is to kill yourself by hanging yourself in a toilet...

 

[Rpground]

my question is HOW DID HE MANAGE THAT!?!?!? when i went to school there was NOTHING you couls hang a rope or anything like a rope in a restroom even in highschool there are no hooks no nothing.so how did he manage to hang himself on what im guessing nothing? also this is BS its just more Jack Thompson wannabes that are sadly trying to do what Jack Thompson did.he failed SO bad,yet nobody wants to admit that he was barred from media.it just sickens me too see when stuff like this happens they blame video games. -.- cause it would have been only and i mean ONLY THE INFLUENCE OF THE EVIL VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY THAT KILLED THE BOY!!!! /sarcasm
cause couldnt be stress or family/school issues at all,am i right? /sarcasm
when parents are being lazy and not taking care of their children properly DONT BLAME VIDEO GAMES/TV! BAH!

 

[Chewster]

My thoughts are, that there are a number of people/groups at fault. First and foremost, the parents for giving him access to this quality of media, and on such a constant basis.

Then, more abstractly, the state is somewhat at fault, for allowing the economic situation get bad enough that parents have to rely on such electronic media to occupy their children's time, while they work long hours.

Next, is the advertising industry, that incessantly pushes people more and more to work longer and longer hours, so they can live lifestyles that are not only nigh impossible to achieve, but also full of longing and emptiness as opposed to satisfaction and basic contentment.

But this is getting more and more abstract. Primarily, I tend to think the parents are at fault, though I'm sure there were many factors involved, and I tend to think that while no society is perfect, one in which this can freely happen, has problems. Laying blame in one place (be it strictly gaming or the parents), as a way of explaining things, is always dangerous. No one should be quick to jump the gun.

 

[Zombie Pie]

What the hell is wrong with that psychologist she said the kids games made him hang himself. What fucking game was the kid playing where the object was to hang yourself in a bathroom. If the kid had stolen a car and shot some police I would still say the games are not to blame, but at least she would have an argument. Saying that he took his life because of a video game really doesn't make any sense.

 

[Flos]

People just want to blame everything on videogames don't they?

How the fuck would playing games in which you kill people make you want to kill yourself?

That doctor's a goddamn retard.

So how do family traumas lead you to have an unstable mind? How to books give you ideas? How do movies entertain you? How does discussion broaden the mind? How does our interaction with the world shape us? How do the chemical imbalances in our heads make us do stupid things (from rushing into traffic to save a child to drinking to running from a threat)?

Are you seriously so dense that you can't comprehend that, yes, the entertainment and ideas this child got from not just games, but the world around him, lead him to suicide?

Of course you are. You're no different than the hypocrites you hate (whether it be of religion or authority or crazy fans). No, nothing can taint your precious games and you'll be damned if you take another person's opinion into consideration.

gee don't blame games , blame the media ... kids are brainwashed into thinkiing violence and disrespect are acceptable behavior

I can name twenty games that promote violence and disrespect. Doing a little research, I could find as many as I'd need. Rephrase your statement or elaborate on it. Anecdotal evidence is not acceptable.

 

[Plurralbles]

... kids hung themselves or killed themselves in other ways since the dawn of time. To say otherwise is laughable. Video games are not getting SANE people to kill themselves, though I'll admit an addict or emotionally terribly unstable person might get damaged but then again, my toothbrush could cause a suicidal person to hop the fence if it's bad enough.