Teenager Kills Mother, Commits Suicide Over Gaming Argument

[Cmwissy]

Hey this is South Korea's problem, not the United States'.

Has that ever stopped the United States getting involved before?

OH I'M SO SATIRICAL HOHOHO.

 

[SinisterGehe]

So this is finally a reason to ban all video-games everywhere!
Umm... Money, alcohol, drugs, religion, politics, ethics, fundamentalist, insane people, gangs, what do all of these have in common?
Or, New-classical era of books, realistic era of books, movies, comics (graphical novels, whatever...) Internet, What do these have in common
(If you don't know, pick-up a history book)

Her brother had been playing violent videogames "for the past two to three years,"

What a beginner. I got career of hold on... I played first time at the age of 4, I got my won computer at the age of 6, I learned to speak english at the age of 7½ (thanks to games). So I got a career of 14 years of gaming and I have never physically attacked anyone, not even in defense. (Tho, if you would had defended I might have not ended up in hospital...)

Hmm... I wonder.
Populism anyone?

 

[Syrus Vikeruce]

I lol'd.

 

[Neferius]

I think Korea should focus more on it's chem-addicts instead of following-suit with the West by Demonizing the Internet and Computer Games ...or was that Thailand :-?

 

[superbatranger]

I get the feeling we're not getting the entire story here.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

"I was scolded for game playing and did what I shouldn't have done to my mother," it read. "I am sorry."

The police apparently suspect that the boy committed suicide because he felt guilty about murdering his own mother

Ace detectives working this case.

-m

Must've called in, Batman the World's Greatest Detective!

 

[Natdaprat]

This will get attention. I heard it on english radio earlier. Funny thing is that when people kill because of drugs, you don't hear much about that.

 

[lvl9000_woot]

I guess since we're talking about Korea, StarCraft is implied.

Damn Ninja.

OT: My condolences to the family.

 

[bojac6]

Cue Fox News in three... two... one...

Seriously, why the heck does this crap keep happening?

Maybe because there might actually be a pattern?

I second this. I'm starting to think that games may actually be causing harm. With the amount of violence that can actually be traced directly to games.. it's sort of hard to just say "don't blame games" anymore.

It really isn't hard to say "stop blaming games." You're drawing your conclusion from a small sample of crimes that make the news on a gaming site.

I don't have data for South Korea, so here it is for the USA.

There are, approximately, 45 murders per day in the USA. How many of those are blamed on video games? At most one a week or so. That's a pretty low rate. But let's ignore that. Let's just look at raw numbers.

Since 1993, violent crime rates have been dropping like a rock. In 1993, there were over 24,000 murders, 100,000 rapes and over a million reported instances of violent assault. Now, in 2009, there are over 50 million more people in the USA, but last year there were 15,000 murders, 89,000 rapes and 800,000 violent assaults. That's not just a drop per capita, that's a drop in total instances. Statistically, that's huge. To put it another way, the last time assault was this law was in 1985, when there were 100 million fewer people. The last time murder (again, not the rate per capita, but the raw number of murders committed) was this low was 1969, when there were 150 million fewer people.

Violent crime is falling, crime rates are lower then they've been for decades. Rape is higher percentage of violent crimes than it has ever been before, but I don't really know if that has any relevance to this discussion.

Now, I'm not drawing any direct correlation between video games and violence. Violence hit its peak in the USA in 1993. That's shortly after the release of SNES and Sega Genesis. Coincidence? Probably, actually. But any correlation between crimes and the popularity of video games can only show one trend, as more people buy and play video games, fewer people commit violent crimes. Again, not saying there is any reason to suspect one has any influence over the other or are related by anything.

All I'm saying is that despite the number of reports about violent crime being the highest it's ever been, and despite the fact that The Escapist only reports on violent crimes that are related to video games, crime rates are down in the USA.

While I don't have the numbers, I do know that while crime is down and falling in the USA, it is climbing steadily in Canada, The UK and Japan. All of these countries play video games. I'm forced to conclude there's little to no correlation, just hype.

 

[Kenko]

One less moron to worry about. Why are people feeling bad for this twirp? Score 1 to the genepool I say.

Only downside to the whole thing is that it gives the media more ammo.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Clearly, this individual was well-adjusted and in control of his emotions...
which is why both he and his mother are dead.
Clearly... fucking idiot.

I lol'd.

You're an example for us all.

 

[DayDark]

Her brother had been playing violent videogames "for the past two to three years,"

What a beginner. I got career of hold on... I played first time at the age of 4, I got my won computer at the age of 6, I learned to speak english at the age of 7½ (thanks to games). So I got a career of 14 years of gaming and I have never physically attacked anyone, not even in defense. (Tho, if you would had defended I might have not ended up in hospital...)

Hmm... I wonder.
Populism anyone?

I agree, I don't even understand why they felt they needed to point that out, so what, I've been playing violent way past 2-3 years, and I haven't murdered my mother, hell I haven't even been in a real fight.

 

[Random berk]

Goddamn media sensationalism. Almost every friend I have play video games, and while we're all a little crazy, thats got nothing to do with games, or violence. The trouble is, the media aren't interested in the millions of completely normal everyday gamers out there. Violence sells, and they're all in it for the money, not for their duty to broadcast the truth. This is not a videogame problem. In the big picture its not even an unusual issue of violence. Its just the media twisting information to fill their bank accounts.

 

[KiKiweaky]

Ugh these stories are really unsettling, there was another one in the news section before where some kids dad took his keyboard away from him. The kid then beat his dad to death while he slept(his wife was right next to him while this happened), he turned to his mother and calmly asked for the keyboard back. Then returned to playing computer for the rest of the evening before going to bed himself.

I mean O.O wtf is going on, are these people alreay mad? Or is playing a computer game becoming more important to some people than human life?

 

[Simulated Eon]

And I can only think about the millions of gamers that don't do this kind of shit but we only see a tiny fraction of who the gamers really are. And sadly it's the murdering/psycopath fraction that we see the most of.
(Sorry if this have been said before didn't go through all the pages)

 

[Elijin]

If violent games turned us into murderers, wouldnt there be well y'know, more murdering happening? I mean how many copies sell of COD and SC2 and CS and AC.....you get the idea.

 

[Carlston]

Love how it's just "violent video games"
Which basicly proves this is a BS call...

Boy is unstable to begin with.
Mom scolds him.

Boy kills mom (not a normal reaction)
Boy kills self.

I sense a deeper disturbance in the force than him playing video games. But hey...gotta blame something else in these cases...not the unstable kid who murders someone for raising their voice... yep only the video games. Hey check his cd player...maybe he had Asian Gangsta rap to. Blame everything but the kid...

 

[SsilverR]

jesus that poor little girl! .. fuck the whole "another story to prove games make people insane argument" this is the saddest story i heard this year!