Man Stabbed in Internet Cafe, Gamer Plays On

[Auron225]

You'd think getting sprayed with blood would incite some reaction o.o I frequently pause whatever I'm doing if anyone walks into the room, regardless of what I'm playing. I'd like to think I'd take the time to at least call an ambulance if someone was dying in front of me.

EDIT: Thought I'd actually watch the clip rather than settle for reading thr article!

I find it really hard to tell exactly whats going on from the footage (especially with them blurring the stabber out). It's a very brief clip as well so I don't think it seems that strange. I doubt anybody that saw it was expecting it and so there may have been a few moments of shock, and then reaction.

If they had ignored him for a whole minute or something, then that would be tragicly unusual!

 

[antipunt]

OK I thought I've seen everything but...

 

[knight steel]

The disturbing thing is that the news is in plural, not singular, by that I mean the bystanderS did nothing. I knew many people that suffered from this addiction to gaming, not unlike the addiction to gambling I dare say, people who would gladly miss BIG events to "defend a castle", people who'd totally discard a real life relationship in order to get more gaming time, and in a much less worrying level (but very annoying) people who'd somehow "lose" their ability to communicate in society, by that I mean talking about non-game issues or even talking in a coherent manner at all. If anybody is interested in a very fucking touching view on the subject, go to Penny Arcade > Extra Credits, I ddon't know the episode sorry, but one of the big guys behind the show declares how he suffered from this very form of "alienation from society" and the extremely bad impact it had on his life and that of people who cared for him.
Please: I used the term addiction broadly here...

Usually, in situations like this (murder before ones eyes) people will just freeze, maybe run away, they'll seldom help, and maybe that's because they get too damn scared by something that is alien to them. But it's a far stretch from FREEZING to downright IGNORING the event in order to, I dunno, not missing you score? I remember a video, you guys can check it out in Ganglands, and probably on Youtube: it's a cassino in Las Vegas and everyone is there totally glued to those pickpocket machines, that's when a Mongol MC member walks in (a President I think), like just walking apparently, suddenly the room fills in with Hells Angels and they stab the guy to death, more Mongols show up, but then the cops also show up and the killing stops, POINT is, the people stepped the fuck away, they didn't act like heroes (and I don't blame them AT ALL) but at least they reacted by running away, screaming, or even watching but FROZEN IN TERROR, not just like "fucking bikers, I'll keep playing my game..."

I say this is sad, it indicates a person with a fucking huge hole in her life, one that she's filling with fantasy (a game in this case, but it could be a book, a TV Show, whatever, it would be just as bad), and in such despair that she ignores the real world, no one died by her side, the real world matters not to her, only the game, where MAYBE she feels she's part of.

And what's wrong with ignoring reality for a fantasy-if you haven't noticed reality has a lot of horrible things in it death-sickness-breakdowns-it's only natural that we escape to a fantasy in order to cope with it all and if by doing so we are able to cope and live better lives who are you to judge.
You can argue that one must accept reality at some point and that fantasies indulgent can go too far,but you don't know what these people have gone through this might be there only way to cope it easy to say from your position-they have a problem and should fix it-but not everyone can fix it,and why should they when the alternative-fantasy-has so much more to offer them.

 

[nexus]

Some people don't understand.

During intense crimes, and traumatic events, the typical person will will continue what they're already doing unless it directly affects them. They will continue standing at the counter counting change, they will continue looking at their newspaper, and most likely being completely still and 100% compliant as it's instinct to not become a victim themselves.

Bullshit news.

Maybe the people sitting at their computers didn't otherwise hear or see what was going on. It wasn't exactly their prerogative that day, to look over their computers to make sure every movement in their peripheral to see if someone is getting stabbed.

Fuck everything about this sensationalist trash.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I'm going to say something quite controversial here, so prepare yourselves:

From what I can see in the video, it honestly seems like that entire half of the table just didn't notice anything was wrong at the moment instead of flat-out not caring or being struck with fear. In all honesty, I could see how a stabbing could initially go unnoticed from the other side of the room when you take into account that there was a clear wall-like barrier in the way that separates both sides of the table and blocks a lot of the person's sightline, the reasonable possibility that she was wearing a headset (blocking out all outside sound almost totally), and the inherent nature of people to naturally block out any outside sights or sounds they do hear while playing an immersive game. We can't say how much blood actually got on the idle woman and it's entirely possible to not notice a few drops hit your clothes. The video makes it clear that those on the same side of the table saw what happened and reacted fairly quickly, and those on the other side barely noticed. The actual stabbing also seemed to be done in as unnoticeable manner as the attacker could muster (it seemed like he just walked up, stabbed, and walked off), though the very poor quality of the video combined with the attacker being blurred out makes it very hard to tell exactly what happened. Without more info and maybe the ability to speak / read whatever the national language of Taiwan is, it's just impossible to say exactly how noticeable the whole incident was and how much of the incident could actually be reasonably noticed by the woman.

 

[Akytalusia]

i dunno. i watched the video and it looked like the people who saw it reacted appropriately. those who didn't probably just didn't notice. noise canceling headphones, outside peripheral vision blind spots, other sensory distractions; it's very easy to lose most of your awareness of your surroundings when you're immersed in a game.
i do believe anyone who sees this event and reports it as a deliberate act caused by a desensitization to violence is overreacting for sensationalist sake and not considering all the possibilities.
for shame.

 

[Baresark]

If you have ever watched Taiwanese news... this shouldn't surprise anyone. There seem to be no other societies on the planet that are that disconnected from reality. As a taste of what I'm talking about: Their national news had a news story that said gas prices in the US were rising because of all the planes the fly in the air here. It's crazy stuff that comes out of this country.

 

[klaynexas3]

I'm not surprised really. While I might have done something(I have a big hero complex that will probably get me killed someday because it is one part pride, 9 parts stupidity), I don't expect all people to be so willing to jump into the situation. Plenty of people would simply ignore it, like a mugging on a subway or so. And these people are already in the middle of something that can be more immersive than any other form of media out there, they might have just decided that the best way to stay out of it totally is to block it out, like a reader might hide his face in his book, or someone listening to music might turn up the volume. And again, this is in the one of the countries which raises its populace to simply stay out of it(isolationism at its most extreme), so this is all the more likely to be the reaction of the bystanders, ignore it until it goes away.

 

[BlackFlyme]

The "doing nothing" response isn't too uncommon depending on the scenario. In cases where someone is in trouble and there are multiple people around them, it's actually not unlikely that no one does something about it, because everyone else thinks the person beside them will do something. However, in those cases the people around a victim are at least still likely to react that, indeed, something is going on.

The name of this sadly common phenomenon is the bystander effect. People are more than happy to ignore what's around them if they feel that it would inconvenience them in the slightest way. However, in an instance like this, it is more along the lines of risk vs reward, and most people would not risk their own life for that of a stranger's.

Spoiler: A video detailing the effect

Edit: The video didn't want to work, so I put in a slightly longer one. Skip to 1:30 if you want to jump to the experiments.

 

[Siege_TF]

I've heard of similar phenomenon in regions with out of control mafia, and saw a video of a mob hit in... it was either Greece or Italy in a regular old cafe in which the patrons simply ignored a gunman walk in, shoot a patron several times, and walk out. This story would surprise me greatly if it was in, say, North America, eastern Asia, or western Europe, but Taiwan? No, not really.

 

[Yan007]

For westerners living in Asia, especially China, this kind of news is absolutely NOT surprising. Apathy and money are the highest values here. Moreover, apparently it is also illegal to defend yourself and your family when 4 strange men come into your home to threaten you and your wife. If you defend yourself you'll get jailed for a year (if lucky) and then deported, even if: no one died, the "victims" did not call the cops, you did and so on.

http://www.echinacities.com/news/Australian-Foreigner-Locked-Up-For-a-Year-After-Fending-Off-Intruders

 

[Micalas]

look up ?Peng Yu case? some time. Old woman fell off a bus, broke several bones, good samaritan Peng Yu helped her, got her to the hospital, paid her medical bill... & she sued him... and the judge ruled in her favor

It's my understanding that this case is pretty fresh in the minds of the Chinese public

Oh, you mean this one? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-17/china-s-infamous-good-samaritan-case-gets-a-new-ending-adam-minter.html

 

[Marik2]

How about conducting an experiment with the same premise, but in USA or Europe? How much people reaction would differ?
But yeah, that's kinda fucked up. Thinking about it, some people won't even notice their own death while playing.

There have been some similar experiments and it shows the same results

 

[Milanezi]

The disturbing thing is that the news is in plural, not singular, by that I mean the bystanderS did nothing. I knew many people that suffered from this addiction to gaming, not unlike the addiction to gambling I dare say, people who would gladly miss BIG events to "defend a castle", people who'd totally discard a real life relationship in order to get more gaming time, and in a much less worrying level (but very annoying) people who'd somehow "lose" their ability to communicate in society, by that I mean talking about non-game issues or even talking in a coherent manner at all. If anybody is interested in a very fucking touching view on the subject, go to Penny Arcade > Extra Credits, I ddon't know the episode sorry, but one of the big guys behind the show declares how he suffered from this very form of "alienation from society" and the extremely bad impact it had on his life and that of people who cared for him.
Please: I used the term addiction broadly here...

Usually, in situations like this (murder before ones eyes) people will just freeze, maybe run away, they'll seldom help, and maybe that's because they get too damn scared by something that is alien to them. But it's a far stretch from FREEZING to downright IGNORING the event in order to, I dunno, not missing you score? I remember a video, you guys can check it out in Ganglands, and probably on Youtube: it's a cassino in Las Vegas and everyone is there totally glued to those pickpocket machines, that's when a Mongol MC member walks in (a President I think), like just walking apparently, suddenly the room fills in with Hells Angels and they stab the guy to death, more Mongols show up, but then the cops also show up and the killing stops, POINT is, the people stepped the fuck away, they didn't act like heroes (and I don't blame them AT ALL) but at least they reacted by running away, screaming, or even watching but FROZEN IN TERROR, not just like "fucking bikers, I'll keep playing my game..."

I say this is sad, it indicates a person with a fucking huge hole in her life, one that she's filling with fantasy (a game in this case, but it could be a book, a TV Show, whatever, it would be just as bad), and in such despair that she ignores the real world, no one died by her side, the real world matters not to her, only the game, where MAYBE she feels she's part of.

And what's wrong with ignoring reality for a fantasy-if you haven't noticed reality has a lot of horrible things in it death-sickness-breakdowns-it's only natural that we escape to a fantasy in order to cope with it all and if by doing so we are able to cope and live better lives who are you to judge.
You can argue that one must accept reality at some point and that fantasies indulgent can go too far,but you don't know what these people have gone through this might be there only way to cope it easy to say from your position-they have a problem and should fix it-but not everyone can fix it,and why should they when the alternative-fantasy-has so much more to offer them.

I'm not judging, I'm stating a fact. Fantasy might be better, and it must be or it won't sell. But you can't deny reality or it WILL impact you and your fantasy world by consequence. Want to live in Fâerun or post-apocalyptic Las Vegas for the rest of your life? By all means do it, but if YOU don't pay the bills that fantasy world is gonna go bye-bye on your face. You don't have time to feed your pets and children to keep on defending the dungeons, you go ahead, they'll starve to death and you'll see the side of bars that are NOT easy to lock pick. Reality will always come back to bite you in the ass, maybe you're to young to see this, but you have no idea the friendships lost or the opportunities lost, due to "extreme" escapism. Everybody escapes at times, what do you think I am doing when I'm reading the latest comic book released, or playing a game (even those that try to emulate real life situations)? I'm escaping because it entertains me to do so. But it lasts for only as long as in some way reality comes calling, it lasts until I get ready for a romantic dinner with my girlfriend, or going to bed so I can wake up in one piece for work the other day, or even to simply take a bath.
Do you really think, because I honestly think you didn't interpret my post right (after all you were the SINGLE one person to say anything), that it's a healthy escapism when it reaches a level where a person next to you is MURDERED and you just keep on playing? You don't run, you don't go into shock, you don't scream, you just keep on playing.
We don't live in the Matrix, where escapism is strong enough to actually keep any impact from the real world at bay, the ignorance of reality here can have very violent effects. Ignoring the existence of fellow men can lead from a harmless alienation of what's happening around the world (and believe me, this the way that everyone prefers, one less person to compete with) to very serious implications, criminal and psychiatric implications even.

Edit: a video that will show what I'm talking about http://youtu.be/sOtbjz4T-Lk if you don't trust the link, just go to penny arcade > extra credits > season 3 > episode 05

 

[Xarathox]

Maybe she was in a cutscene? I mean you can't pause a cutscene as I'm always having to explain to girlfriends

More and more games are now featuring pause-able cutscenes these days. So, you're excuses are starting to dwindle a bit. Sorry for that.

 

[Vareoth]

However gruesome this story obviously is, I must say that the bystander effect continues to fascinate me. I wonder how I would react to such a situation. Maybe then would I finally be able to decide if it is some inherent self defensive part of the human psyche or a simple case of weak will.

 

[Darks63]

So who else thought Asia before they even clicked on the story?

Maybe the women was farming gold and had to hit her quota or no bread for her?total Jk

Right, because there was no way she was pretending to play so as not to attract the murderous attention of the knife-wielding maniac killing someone right next to her.

Agree It could also be the "please dont notice and kill me" reason too.

 

[knight steel]

snip

snip

I'm not judging, I'm stating a fact. Fantasy might be better, and it must be or it won't sell. But you can't deny reality or it WILL impact you and your fantasy world by consequence. Want to live in Fâerun or post-apocalyptic Las Vegas for the rest of your life? By all means do it, but if YOU don't pay the bills that fantasy world is gonna go bye-bye on your face. You don't have time to feed your pets and children to keep on defending the dungeons, you go ahead, they'll starve to death and you'll see the side of bars that are NOT easy to lock pick. Reality will always come back to bite you in the ass, maybe you're to young to see this, but you have no idea the friendships lost or the opportunities lost, due to "extreme" escapism. Everybody escapes at times, what do you think I am doing when I'm reading the latest comic book released, or playing a game (even those that try to emulate real life situations)? I'm escaping because it entertains me to do so. But it lasts for only as long as in some way reality comes calling, it lasts until I get ready for a romantic dinner with my girlfriend, or going to bed so I can wake up in one piece for work the other day, or even to simply take a bath.
Do you really think, because I honestly think you didn't interpret my post right (after all you were the SINGLE one person to say anything), that it's a healthy escapism when it reaches a level where a person next to you is MURDERED and you just keep on playing? You don't run, you don't go into shock, you don't scream, you just keep on playing.
We don't live in the Matrix, where escapism is strong enough to actually keep any impact from the real world at bay, the ignorance of reality here can have very violent effects. Ignoring the existence of fellow men can lead from a harmless alienation of what's happening around the world (and believe me, this the way that everyone prefers, one less person to compete with) to very serious implications, criminal and psychiatric implications even.

Edit: a video that will show what I'm talking about http://youtu.be/sOtbjz4T-Lk if you don't trust the link, just go to penny arcade > extra credits > season 3 > episode 05[/spoiler]

Going to responds to this in section look at the highlighted bits and their order:
1-Oh then we really don't have a problem-although is it possible for the mere stating of a fact to be in and ofitself judgment?

2- Unfortunate but true still with the right preparation you can keep reality at bay and sometimes the consequences of reality are not worth breaking free.

3- And here were we get to our first disagreement-maybe their escaping because there are no friendship's or opportunities waiting for them in reality only pain and suffering or perhaps said friendship/opportunities aren't worth what they cost

4-By what standard are we measuring health-that of what society deems normal or by that of the person,it could be healthier for her mind to retreat and not react than by being aware which could of caused god knows what reaction.

5-Seen the video before even posted a similar comment to the one I gave you-his experience can not apply to all people,he say's that "reality will always except you back' BULLSHIT it doesn't always except you back his friend is proof of that [the one he tried to help but then abandoned after it got to difficult].

 

[Nouw]

How is this gaming news?

Escapist is becoming more and more like Kotaku every week

Ironically, there hasn't been a thread covering an internet cafe related crime in ages; I even thought it was a necro'd thread from the past. There used to be so many of them >.>.

EDIT: Noticing some discussion going on about the bystander effect. Nostalgia oh god.