Minecraft: Video Game Violence's Latest Victim

[MysticSlayer]

Completely ignore the fact that his perception of reality is so screwed up that he actually wanted to reenact a character from a game in real life.

He's NINE YEARS OLD. That's what they do.

I have a nephew around the same age, and I can easily see him pulling something like this. It's why we don't allow him anywhere near weapons or even heavy tools around he house.

Lemme reiterate that. Young boys (possibly girls, too) often like to imitate the actions they see on TV, video games, etc. It's not that they don't know the difference between TV/games and real life, they're just playing. He doesn't think he needs to defend himself from zombies, he's just pretending to be Steve, packing up the tools and gear he needs to survive digging for diamonds and redstone in the center of the Earth.

I understand that his age has something to do with it. However, there also comes the point in which children should understand what is and isn't allowed for their reenactment, and he simply does not understand that divide. My friends and I used to re-enact characters from games all the time during recess when we were this kid's age, but we also understood not to sneak out a butter knife to help improve the experience, much more something even more potentially dangerous. Maybe he'll eventually grow out of it. But still, there comes a point where parents need to be aware of when their child doesn't fully understand the divide between what they are doing in the game and what they are doing in real life and have a talk with them about it before they potentially hurt themselves or others in their reenactments. Reenactment isn't bad (psychologically speaking, it actually helps development), but it can become very bad if the child's lack of understanding causes them to take things too far.