DotA Trash-Talking Results in Real-Life Beatdown

[Weaver]

On the plus side, I'm pretty sure this is one less trash talker you'll ever run into online.

 

[cobrausn]

For the record, I don't condone violence, especially not over something as insignificant as winning or losing a videogame. That said, I think maybe it's time to review one of the easy-to-remember yet ever-so-useful rules for good living, both online and off: If you're about to say something to someone online that would get you punched in the mouth if you said it to their face, don't say it.

For the record, this statement explicitly condones and encourages violence. You are justifying face punching(violence) by claiming that some words are so powerful that their utterance it the same level of threat as physical force. And that people should cower in fear and censor themselves on the offchance some violent thug might be listening.

Wouldn't it be better to say "No matter what someone says it doesn't justify violence" Or the how about "The thugs that jumped the kid are chickenshits who couldn't handle losing a game, this act has proven that their penises are extremely tiny"?

No, what he's saying is 'Don't be an idiot', which is not condoning violence. People tend to be somewhat violent, and you don't know what the guy on the other end might do.

That would be like telling women not to walk in the park alone at night because they might get mugged is akin to condoning mugging.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

That Constable seems pretty intelligent though. Hopefully we don't get some crazy media story out of this.

 

[Harrowdown]

I wouldv'e laughed a little if the kid had just got a tad roughed up. We all hate loudmouths in online play, after all. Getting a gang together to cripple a kid and force him to grovel however, is a pretty sadistic, even sociopathic thing to do. Less funny, especially with gamings otherwise unsolicited reputation for inciting extreme violence. Nice of that constable not to jump on the 'gaming is evil' bandwagon, though.

 

[KiKiweaky]

Make sure you know who your insulting online........

I would say what a load of shi* but clearly it's not anymore :/

 

[thepyrethatburns]

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen"

-Samuel Adams

Something to remember about free speech. Back when the Founding Fathers created the First Amendment, there was limited anonymity. People who were bound and determined to piss others off did face real-world consequences for that which made for more civil discourse than we have now.

I know that I should say something about violence being wrong here but, frankly, given how often I've wished that one of the trash-talking, team-killing, prepubescent trolls on Xbox Live would get curb-stomped, I can't but grin at this story.

 

[Lma0nade]

YEAH!!!!

 

[Snarky Username]

Part of me is afraid that this will only add fuel to the video game violence fire, but the other part of me thinks that the kid probably had it coming...

 

[MomoHime64]

That's a good point actually, and your right I may have misread the intent of the paragraph. Probably just the tone and timing of the writing, which came across to me as gloating, after someone was viciously attacked just left a bad taste in my mouth. I think there was a far better way of writing this article, highlighting the point you raise rather than saying he deserved to have his fingers broken.

Still it's also the nature of the attack that disturbs me. It didn't sound to me like a case of a someone who snapped after being psychologically abused for years. This wasn't a suicide, or even someone acting out in the heat of passion. First of all, they had to backtrace the IP and then either drive or fly to the area, implying that this was a meticulously planned and not something done on the spur of the moment. Second, the fact they forced him to kiss their shoes doesn't speak to someone who was suffering from low self-esteem, quite the opposite. Third, he wasn't alone, he had three or four friends assist him and they didn't use fists, they brought batons with them. Fists or using an item close at hand might indicate that they only came to confront him, and things got out of hand. The fact they brought weapons means they always intended to come to brutalize him.

I can see your viewpoint here. Yes, the planned-out nature of the retaliation outrages me as well. It's not like the guy who broke the kids' fingers had a "moment of passion" - and I totally concede that point. I didn't mean to defend that aspect of the brutalization. And maybe what I saw in Andy Chalk's point about words being as harmful, potentially, as physical abuse could have been worded differently. So - I guess we've met in the middle, and both of these people were wrong for what they did, and the point about physical and verbal abuse could have been made with better phrasing. But hey - this was a great discussion. Thanks!

Can I speak for the both of us when I say I'm pleasantly surprised about the police officer defending the majority of gamers in this incident though?

 

[thepyrethatburns]

you think this kid deserved to be crippled by a gang because of trash talk on DOTA, no not at all,

wow after reading this story I suddenly have the urged to go register a handgun before playing DOTA again wow do i love America for being able to make that statment.

Exaggerate much? If you really feel so threatened by what might happen to you on DOTA, I would suggest that you not run your mouth or give out personal information when you do so.

As for the kid, what is right and what is deserved are often two different things. For example, if Mark Hurd had been shot by one of the MANY employees that he laid off during his tenure as HP CEO, it wouldn't be right but I also wouldn't be able to say that he didn't deserve it. Was it right for the kid to get curb-stomped? No. Did he deserve it? Probably.

 

[Enkidu88]

Can I speak for the both of us when I say I'm pleasantly surprised about the police officer defending the majority of gamers in this incident though?

Yes. Yes you can.

Because it was awesome .

That was really the only part of the article that showed any decency in mankind , I could hug that cop.

And yes, it was a good discussion, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[SaintWaldo]

For the record, I don't condone violence, especially not over something as insignificant as winning or losing a videogame. That said, I think maybe it's time to review one of the easy-to-remember yet ever-so-useful rules for good living, both online and off: If you're about to say something to someone online that would get you punched in the mouth if you said it to their face, don't say it.

Um. No. Not even close. Never, ever, ever is it OK, no matter what was said, to turn anger over words into violence. None of this "watch what you say" stuff. You have absolutely NO right to physically harm someone for what they say, period. Beat them at the game, retort with something better, or leave.

I'm going to go out on a limb and posit that you're not a very nice person yourself if you think that anyone could ever say something that actually deserved this level of premeditated physical violence in relation to a video game. I suppose that means I should be beaten, or perhaps some other scale of retaliation?

 

[ReyBlade]

Seriously, if trash-talking in a damned video game makes you literally assault somebody and break his fingers, you are officially a psychopath. This is a story that gives gamers, and gaming in general, a horrible reputation. No amount of WORDS is an excuse for actual, physical violence upon somebody's person.

If you can't handle a few taunts from some jerk, grow thicker skin or hang up the damned headset and find a new hobby.

 

[lukey94]

["It's something that is exceptionally rare, given the number of people who play videogames. Most people can separate reality from online fiction."

Finally we get at least some good mention in the media!

 

[munx13]

Would be nice if those guys were on XBL more often, I bet there would be a big decrease in all those 13 year old "gangstas".

 

[Retosa]

Okay, I'm sickened by the number of people on "The Escapist" who believe that it was OKAY that this kid was forced to kiss the feet of these four or five assholes, before they broke his fingers. For trash talking in a game. Are you people serious? Do you really believe that a couple insults over a game legitimizes broken fingers and intense humiliation at school?

I am outraged and disgusted.

A "valuable life lesson"? Yes, insulting people repeatedly is bad juju, but there's a large difference between doing that in a seedy biker bar with a drug deal going on in the corner, and doing it on a computer game where people have a LOT of time to calm down. Instead of calming down, these people decided to put in the effort to FIND this guy, and then GO to his school and torment him in a large group.

There's nothing this kid could have done even if he DID know how to fight. This isn't an anime or something where one guy can take on 4-5 people with no trouble. Even someone who's a decent bit stronger than one or two of the opponents isn't going to be able to take on a large group like that.

This is unacceptable and pure bullshit that people are actually saying this kid had it coming. I'm very disappointed.

Kudos to those of you who noticed how digusting this was. Shame on you to those of you who said he had it coming.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

O NOES I LOST I BETTER BEAT THE GUY UP OR PEOPLE WILL THINK MY PENIS IS TINY.

I'd say that he's just proven how tiny it is by his reaction to the verbal abuse, and then needing both a group of tiny penised 'friends' AND weapons to take on ONE kid.

However, part of me hopes that kid logs on tonight and utterly trounces them all, even with broken fingers, tho hopefully this time he'll keep silent when the win screen comes up.

I'm torn, part of me thinks any violent reaction to words is a failure in the civilised mind, but then I think how insults and abuse can really hurt, far more than the actual intent sometimes, and maybe a smack in the face would balance things for those who can't verbally spar with someone intelligent but evil, taking pleasure in psychologically destroying someone thru mental abuse. However, I'm advocating a single smack, or a kick in the nuts, or the like, not a gang beating with weapons. If you can't take someone on one on one, then go study til you can handle em on vent instead.

Essentially, both sides were being dicks, one ended up injured, the other's probably ending up in court.