Seven-Year-Old Girl Murdered for Videogame Money

[Magicman10893]

Protesting against video games is exactly like drugs or alcohol - once people get addicted, they feel they have to have it. There are always certain people who will get addicted to a drug, and in bashing video games, I estimate it's about 99% to 100% of people.

 

[Fbuh]

I've heard of similar stuff happening concerning WoW. What actually needs to happen is for the parent ot go over to the kid, switch off their console/computer, and say "Go play outside for a few hours."

 

[SteewpidZombie]

ANYTHING can be addicting. Food, Alcohol, Drugs, Television, Working out, Getting a adrenaline rush, it's just the feeling of relief or satisfaction that is addicting. Talk to ANY addict and they will literally tell you that it isn't the physical addiction like drugs that gets ya, it's the mental addiction of wanting more.

If you've EVER felt the NEED or WANT to own a videogame, that is literally classified as being a addictive trait. It's not a huge problem to most people, usually you'll just put aside a little cash and save up for a particular game. Yet some people who have addictive personality traits, just cannot resist doing whatever it takes to get what they want.

So while people can go on and on about needing proof or evidence of it leading to addiction, just think about the fact that in the last 50 years that Smoking used to be acceptable and encouraged by some, and now it's found to be extremely addicting and harmful to a person's health. Plus you need to consider the fact that if there are several BILLION people on earth, and several MILLION may have addictions of certain kinds, then it isn't surprising that ONE person may be unable to hold themself back from doing such extreme things.

 

[ultrachicken]

What sensationalist bullshit from Woolsey. Because their child committed suicide, and played video games, it must be because video games are addictive, and not for any other reason, like school or home environment!

 

[oathblade]

Because someone has an addictive personality does not mean what they like to engage in is addictive.

This is a horrible argument for regulating and can be used against anything people enjoy. TV, music, food, clothes and so on.

 

[McMullen]

We estimate 87.6% of Elizabeth Woolley's facts are not actually facts.
See, my made up percentage has a decimal point to it, so it sounds WAY better than her made up percentage!

So now I can say that one source I contacted with years of experience with games and the people who play them stated that at least 87% of Elizabeth Woolley's facts are not actually facts. [1]

1)

 

[MetalGenocide]

Aaaaaand, the proposed "solution" is.....*drumroll please*.....to give government more power....
Because they are handling things so well, right?

How about no.

 

[PandaPoster]

Sigh.... i think that they need to give people a test to make sure they are sane or stable before they are allowed to play video games, you know just so we don't have to put up with these bull shenaiagans...

 

[Inkidu]

Are video games addictive. Yes. However, I think it has less to do with the substance and more to do with the person. Some people just have addictive personalities. It fill some void in their psyche and they just have to have it. Some people fight addictions and some people turn into this guy, or dare I say worse.

It's not the games, that guy could have been addicted to kissing unexpired parking meters and still killed that girl for money. More realistically, gambling. It's him, not it.

 

[Cyberjester]

Video game addiction is not the same as drugs or alcohol. Games are psychologically addictive, not physically addictive.

All addiction is psychological. The feeling people get when they spike, pop, sniff, drink, smoke, whatever. It's all in their heads. Granted, some substances can create a.. Need in the body which gives the psychological addiction a physical representation. But those chemicals merely reinforce the psychological addiction.

On topic, dude needs to die. Slowly.

This is awful. I'd be almost fine if he just punched her in the face and took her earrings, but killing her was way over the line.

Violence is okay, but killing is wrong. Read that again and tell me how it works. Violence is violence. If you can hit 'em, you can kill 'em. And the dude "shouldn't" have done either, according to my moral compass anyway. Which may or may not be horribly deformed

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Video game addiction is not the same as drugs or alcohol. Games are psychologically addictive, not physically addictive.

All addiction is psychological. The feeling people get when they spike, pop, sniff, drink, smoke, whatever. It's all in their heads. Granted, some substances can create a.. Need in the body which gives the psychological addiction a physical representation. But those chemicals merely reinforce the psychological addiction.

On topic, dude needs to die. Slowly.

This is awful. I'd be almost fine if he just punched her in the face and took her earrings, but killing her was way over the line.

Violence is okay, but killing is wrong. Read that again and tell me how it works. Violence is violence. If you can hit 'em, you can kill 'em. And the dude "shouldn't" have done either, according to my moral compass anyway. Which may or may not be horribly deformed

You morality seems alright to me. A reaction of anger to a horrible event, shown though words. Very normal.

Also, yes everything that is addictive has a psychological addiction reason to it, but not every addictive thing causes physical (or rather chemical) "problems" to the mind and body. Games do no such thing. An example of this would be say, cocaine. Cocaine "physically" causes the brain to release Dopamine causing feelings of well-being and euphoria. While playing a game you can get some dopamine to be released if you are enjoying yourself, this is true of everything enjoyable, but drugs can deplete you of dopamine through over use or useing VERY strong forms of the substances. This causes you to not only mentally need it, but physically as well.

Also physically being addicted to something is, in my opinion, FAR more terrible than JUST being psychologically addicted to something, because the reason your addicted to it is because you mentally crave it, but if you no longer want it then it becomes much simpler to give it up. However, if you are physically addicted, even if you don't mentally want the thing, your body still craves it. For those JUST psychologically addicted to something, the problem is not so much the thing they are obsessed with, but the addicted persons mental state.

I think that what we need to be trying to do is seeing things like this coming before anyone is dead. To make it so we notice early signs of mental problems earlier, and not just blame something that is used by almost everyone. Yes, some crazy kid killed a little girl to get a game, but how many times in comparison has someone killed for (or because) of drugs?

On topic: The sad truth is that for people who are truly criminally mentally unstable, the only real options we have to stop them is to lock them up, or kill them.
>_< It is....Pathetic. This has been how the problem has been solved for what seems like forever, and it shows no real sign of changing any time soon.

 

[Fidelias]

I liked it when the people who committed the crime were actually blamed and held accountable for their actions, instead of trying to find some excuse as to why they acted that way.

This kid is just messed up. He was a time bomb waiting to happen.

But I digress...

That poor girl. She was seven, SEVEN! Kids that age shouldn't have to deal with monsters like this, it's just wrong.

I really hope they figure out how hand out some justice in this case.

 

[TheEarthSheep]

Someone else briefly mentioned this, but I'll state it more clearly.

There are a lot of things that the human body is wired to release endorphins (i could be wrong on the specific chemical, but it's either endorphins, dopamine, or something) to reward doing certain things (e.g. eating) so people will do it, and not die. There are things that aren't actually positive to a human that are rewarded anyway, due to glitches and things. One of these is self-mutilation. Drugs are another. In fact, any positive experience (or at least, any experience that makes you feel better) will release this chemical.

Now, some people with certain mental and biological factors (I don't think we know which is more powerful, nature vs nurture, etc) are predisposed to become addicted to this chemical. If they do any one thing enough times that they realize they can get it from it (e.g. drugs, eating, or yes, even video games) they may become addicted. Drugs and cigarettes will be more addictive, as they also have other chemicals in them, that achieve the same purpose.

So, one can be addicted to pretty much anything they take pleasure in. Very few people (relatively, at least) are actually addicted. The difference between being addicted to something, and merely liking something, as some of you have been arguing about, is whether you are seeking the effect of the action, or the action itself. For example, I have moderate allergies. I take a Zyrtec every day. I cannot function very well without one. Am I addicted to Zyrtec? No, because I am trying to alleviate my symptoms, I'm not just trying to get a Zyrtec in me. With an addiction, it's different. Let's take the classic video game example. Say I enjoy playing World of Warcraft. This may be because I'm just bored a lot, or maybe I am one of the less lucky among us, who doesn't get as much social interaction as I would like (which there is definitely no shame in). Either way, let's say I play WoW for a few hours a day. This is not addiction. However, as soon as I cross the threshold from 'I don't want to be bored for the next few hours' or 'I want to talk to my guildies' to 'I want to play World of Warcraft', I am addicted.

Wow, this was longer than I thought it would be. Either way, I learned all of this from Stuff You Should Know, so if it's wrong, blame Josh and Chuck, not me.

 

[daemon37]

I'm going to be a father soon, and if something like this happened to my son I know exactly what I would do if I caught the murderer, and it is far too graphic to detail on this website...

 

[daemon37]

I really hope they figure out how hand out some justice in this case.

Public humiliation followed by execution perhaps? It worked for the dark ages.

 

[Akytalusia]

time to introduce him to seppuku.

 

[Nikola Brankovic]

I don't think there's something wrong with gaming inherently; rather, the people who commit crimes "because" of the games are the ones with the problems. Games shouldn't be blamed for the horrific actions of their players.

This is pretty much what I wanted to say...

 

[lacktheknack]

It's very easy to blame the games. But what about the kids parents? His upbringing? His environment he lives in? Or the mental state of the kid himself?

This story would end exactly the same if he was addicted to Skittles and wanted money to buy Skittles.

No one's ever done that before with Skittles, though.

Personally, I have no qualms with limiting internet cafe usage to eight hours a day or so. How much goddamn time do you need? It might help stop some of these tragedies, as well...

 

[TimeLord]

It's very easy to blame the games. But what about the kids parents? His upbringing? His environment he lives in? Or the mental state of the kid himself?

This story would end exactly the same if he was addicted to Skittles and wanted money to buy Skittles.

No one's ever done that before with Skittles, though.

Personally, I have no qualms with limiting internet cafe usage to eight hours a day or so. How much goddamn time do you need? It might help stop some of these tragedies, as well...

But how do we know that no ones ever killed over an addiction to Skittles? Because the media has never reported it? That's because if a newspaper had two exact stories about an unfortunate murder, one they can blame on video games, one they can blame on skittles, then video games are going to be their choice every single time!