Violent Video Games "Warped" the Dark Knight Rises Killer

[TimeLord]

Which paper was this?

Honestly I've seen this before and they rarely last more than a week anymore.

Daily Express.

]maybe you should stop reading the kinds of newspapers where every page is 100% covered with pictures,
and advice others to do so as well.
(first thought; sorry if that sounds offensive, but I think newspapers like these influence people to be more drama hungry and less well educated, considering the truth density of their content)

Most newspapers are like that. If I had to choose between the Sun, Mail, or Express. I'd choose the paper that doesn't tell me that literally everything in my home will give me cancer and one that tries to be a serious paper by having half naked girls on the third page. Yeah it's still crap, but it's one of the lessers of the crap.

That paper looks like the Sun or Mirror. I'm not surprised, they're nearly as bad as the DM.

It looks to me like the Mail or the Express. OP only has themselves to blame for their choice of reading material.

The only difference between the Express and all other papers is their obsession with Diana. All papers are crap but you have to choose one unfortunately.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

Read the same in the Sunday Times, although it was only a short sentence (leading on from nothing related though).

It is hoped Holmes's computers will provide details of his activities in recent months, notably the extent to which he may have played violent videogames

I really don't get some reporters. I think the reporter had no other idea on how to get the paper sold/interesting.

I'd like to point out the extent at which people's stupidity would go to blame video games.

"He watched batman, killed a cinema full of people watching batman, and called himself the joker"

"ah, so the batman films encouraged him?"

"no"

"well what did?"

"world of warcraft"

Spoiler

Haha this hits the nail on the head^^

Not that I want an argument on violence in films to start up, cos I doubt you'd go on a rampage without having some predetermined thing in your brain which would allow you to do so, but I wouldn't be surprised if the motive that sparked this particular attack was mimicking The Joker's chaotic and baseless motives in TDK, especially since so far there seems to be little other motive aside from "depression", and he likely has an undiagnosed mental illness.

There will always be sickos out there.
Blaming video games/films/books/whatever will not stop that. People need to understand this and stop trying to scare parents and old people away from buying video games.

 

[Crazycat690]

Games aren't making me violent, people who keep blaming video games for crimes such as this is. It's a paradox really, people that ignorant should be punched in the face, but as a long time gamer I can't do it because then that would kinda proove them right.

 

[Erttheking]

He played world of Warcraft and league of legends? Oh yeah that makes total sense, fantasy based MMOs made him buy a bunch of modern weapons and use them as well as rig his place to blow. I might consider this explination for a fraction of a second if he had used a sword but I'm getting the feeling that they're not even trying anymore. It's only a matter of time before Mario is blamed for a murders. Also the fucker is completely nuts, why the fuck do we need a scapegoat when HE can take all the blame.

 

[FalloutJack]

Again, this might only be as provable a thing as the video game violence thing itself and be just as inconclusive. The tenuous thread connecting it all is understandably tiny. It's a case of having two cords and no adaptor and the rest is just duct tape. Myself, I find it more believeable that the person is at fault because something's wrong with their head, because there are plenty of people out there who have issues. I will never accept that the instrument of fun is a maker of violence.

It would appear to me, that various societies either currently or throughout history have had very different levels of violence, and that this seems to point to societal causes for violent tendencies. If people can be swayed by propaganda and advertising, if most people hold to the religion and social norms they were brought up with, why can't cultural things such as videogames affect them?

You could try to make that argument, but I'm fairly certain I've covered it on some previous occasion (in another thread). And that is...gaming is indeed with an underlying purpose besides entertainment: To make the people selling it filthy rich. Yes, advertising and propaganda are made to create certain reactions. It's indeed influential. Still, only the crazy extremists will go attack people because of this kind of thing, such as something political he saw on the news.

Propaganda made to rally people to a cause will DO so if the people are so inclined, but it ain't torches-and-pitchforks time if they don't make that choice. Consider some of the more unpopular military actions of the US, despite all attempts to make them go with it. Where's the fighter's bell now? Nowhere. Video games aren't designed to stir people into a frenzy to go kill each other. That is a completely unwanted reaction insofar as companies, who need customers that will pay money. The game cannot control reaction nor is it made to stir reaction into violence. It is made to influence the user to BUY MORE THINGS, the bottom line.

Take a bunch of randomosity in gaming climate and personal climate and you might get in a few people - less than the factor for the Reavers of Firefly and Serenity - where all of these kind of meet in the park by osmosis, but they don't conspire to create a phenomenon where gasmask man shoots people for having a good time. The pieces will never fit, so please put away the scissors and glue.

 

[Sexy Devil]

It's interesting that they don't even bother trying to pin it on Arkham Asylum/City. Just go straight to WoW. Incidentally, I am legitimately surprised that the media hasn't dubbed the shootings as "The Dark Night" yet. Don't know whether they're being surprisingly sensitive or if they're just not clever enough to think of it but it's surprising.

 

[axlryder]

There have been situations in the past where I think it was at least reasonable or understandable why someone might draw a correlation between video games and aggressive behavior. This is not one of those situation. This is about as retarded as:

"sometimes when he was supposed to be reading or something I would see him go bike riding."

"SO IS BIKE RIDING RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE KILLINGS!?"

fucking stupid, but also totally expected and not worth the outrage.

 

[SextusMaximus]

If there's ever a case of the news media making a bad situation worse, this is it.

Your avatar pretty much sums up my reaction.

 

[ProtoChimp]

Which paper was this?

Honestly I've seen this before and they rarely last more than a week anymore.

Daily Express.

]maybe you should stop reading the kinds of newspapers where every page is 100% covered with pictures,
and advice others to do so as well.
(first thought; sorry if that sounds offensive, but I think newspapers like these influence people to be more drama hungry and less well educated, considering the truth density of their content)

Most newspapers are like that. If I had to choose between the Sun, Mail, or Express. I'd choose the paper that doesn't tell me that literally everything in my home will give me cancer and one that tries to be a serious paper by having half naked girls on the third page. Yeah it's still crap, but it's one of the lessers of the crap.

That paper looks like the Sun or Mirror. I'm not surprised, they're nearly as bad as the DM.

It looks to me like the Mail or the Express. OP only has themselves to blame for their choice of reading material.

The only difference between the Express and all other papers is their obsession with Diana. All papers are crap but you have to choose one unfortunately.

What about the independant? I heard that one isn't very shit. I just watch the news on TV. Plus being from Liverpool the Sun isn't welcome in our city.

 

[Akimoto]

*snip* he yelled "For the Horde!" before doing the shooting.

At least he didn't go 'Leeroy Jenkins!', that would be gallows humor.

OT: I kinda expected... no I think we all expected the media to finger games sooner or later. Even after publishers pander to the masses and make games more 'majority-friendly' we're still seen as outcasts, just waiting to act out our sick, depraved fantasies.

Please, let's not get into the argument over the legality of firearms here - we've just been used as a scapegoat again. I don't know how, but it has to stop. I just read the New York Times and one of the articles mentioned that just a week or so before another shooting took place in a bar with a few dead. It was not reported just because it was not sensational enough.

The shooting was shameful. Calling him the 'Joker' or any reference to the Batman series is shameful. Fingering games and gamers for the blame is shameful. Who is more bloodthirsty, us or the media?

 

[Daverson]

You see how it ends in a question mark? That shows that it's, at best, speculation. I mean, you could equally say "Was the 'Joker' warped by global warming?" or "Was the 'Joker' warped by illegal immigrants?"

There's a few newspapers round here that are great at this sort of thing. [http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/toys/dailymail/]

(Actually, come to think of it, is that the daily mail we're talking about here? It's mentioning WH Smiths on the cover, so it's definitely a British paper...)

 

[HardkorSB]

Why must the media hate video games so much? It's getting out of hand the number of times video games are blamed for influencing awful crimes

Because when you're playing video games, you're not watching TV or read the news which in turn means less money for them. That's one theory at least.
The other one is that they're just bad journalists and they don't know how to get people to read their shit otherwise.

I remember when I was in primary school and both the media and the teachers warned us about Doom, Diablo and Mortal Kombat. According to them, Hannibal Lecter should have nothing on me.
I guess something went wrong. Maybe it's because of that common sense thing I keep hearing about.

 

[The Last Nomad]

I suppose violent films like the Dark Knight Rises had nothing to do with it then?

... I doubt it, but it does seem a lot more likely than video games but we all know video games corrupt people and not films.

Batman is strongly anti guns, and against anarchist fuck wits, so yes, their is a slim chance this idiot identified with Heath Ledger Joker, but odds are Batman had NOTHING to with this shooting other than being the venue, or possibly some psychopath figuring that a lot of people would be in one spot during The Dark Knight rises.

I wasn't trying to say anything bad against TDKR, just tryna point out the hypocrisy about saying video games result in violent behavior and not other forms of art.

And I think I should also point out something my brother just posted about on facebook.
Aparantly there is a part of the Dark Knight Returns (the comic on which aspects of The Dark Knight Rises is based) where a lunatic shoots up a movie theater during a film.

 

[llubtoille]

hahah WoW & LoL aren't my first thoughts when it comes to violent video games,
they're pretty much the cartoons of the gaming world XD

they do deal with violent issues and at their core they are about killing, but you could pretty easily say the same about a lot of G rated cartoon TV shows - roadrunner etc

 

[Phasmal]

Eh.
While I find it completely insensitive of the media to try and `blame` videogames, I'm not going to get all offended. The media is sensationalising, oh no. That's what they do, and us reacting all angry and uptight about it is just going to make them think they have a point.
Just ignore it.
Basically the media is just trolling us, and they will feed off of a reaction. Don't give them one.

 

[Ragland]

*facedesk*

*facedesk*

*facedesk*

 

[shrekfan246]

All papers are crap but you have to choose one unfortunately.

I'm not so sure about that, I don't read any newspaper.

Gamers should embrace these types of stories. It strengthens the medium.

Just look at how many acts of violence are due to politics and religion.

See gamers? You're on par with politics and religion.

: )

Spoiler: A bit large image.

But I laughed.

Yeah, I can't really muster up enough energy to care about this. We've heard it all before, it makes no more sense than it did before, eh.

 

[DugMachine]

I've played WoW since day one and I haven't gone on violent shooting rampages... arg this whole mess is just annoying. I'm so sorry for the families involved but this is just shit. I saw all this being blamed on movies/videogames a mile away.