Another "blame it on D&D" story

[Chainsaw]

simple, inflammatory news sells better than objective, full-story news. such is life!

 

[Windjammer]

wow...that was just plain bad writing. Wonder if WoTC would have a libel case?

Libel isn't their preferred way of dealing with these things. They're too polite and, I'd say, above the folly of these things to take them on in those terms. Have a look at how they handled the McCain/Goldfarb smearing in 2008 here, and the result thereof.

Let's be clear about this. It's not just Dungeons and Dragons that caused this murder, but the FOURTH edition in particular. This never would have happened if WotC had just kept updating 3.5. At least we have Pathfinder now, which personally saved my cat from a burning building. You know who set the fire? A copy of the 4e boxed set. Those things are evil.

To the contrary! The article is quite clear on the subject:

Bishop, now a University of Alabama professor, and her husband James Anderson met and fell in love in a Dungeons & Dragons club while biology students at Northeastern University in the early 1980s, and were heavily into the fantasy role-playing board game, a source told the Herald.

The blame here goes to the OSR crowd. I always suspected there was something fishy about those guys, but now we got unassailable evidence.

 

[Mournblade94]

In the past I have considered murdering people and the only thing that has kept me from doing it is that I do not want D&D to be unfairly blamed.

Since they released 4e that check is off. WOTC needs to really consider how their marketing decisions can affect the lives of others. I may just kill people now.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

I take no responsibility for the Herald! It was a laughing stock even before this.

I''ll second that.
You wouldn't see something like this in the Globe!!

 

[Janx]

that was just a crappily written article. It's traditional, that the opening paragraphs summarize the crime, before going into the background of the accused. Thus far, I have no idea who she killed or why or even when.

All I got from that article was she is accused of killing somebody. Just like somebody in an unrelated and older case killed somebody. And they both had the same hobby. And somebody said something about the hobby or the murdered, though it was unclear who it was directed at.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Don't worry. Did you read the comments section? As far as I can tell people won't take this kind of reporting seriously.

Yes, what I read of the comments was pretty good to see. It's good to know people see through this kind of thing

Here's a blogpost at the Boston Phoenix about the Herald article, btw. Not much to see there, but it does call out the Herald out for shoddy journalism. Go figure.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Libel isn't their preferred way of dealing with these things. They're too polite and, I'd say, above the folly of these things to take them on in those terms. Have a look at how they handled the McCain/Goldfarb smearing in 2008 here, and the result thereof.



To the contrary! The article is quite clear on the subject:



The blame here goes to the OSR crowd. I always suspected there was something fishy about those guys, but now we got unassailable evidence.

...and were heavily into the fantasy role-playing board game, a source told the Herald.

See, a board game, it MUST have been 4e!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

that was just a crappily written article. It's traditional, that the opening paragraphs summarize the crime, before going into the background of the accused. Thus far, I have no idea who she killed or why or even when.

All I got from that article was she is accused of killing somebody. Just like somebody in an unrelated and older case killed somebody. And they both had the same hobby. And somebody said something about the hobby or the murdered, though it was unclear who it was directed at.

This article about Amy Bishop Anderson, the Alabama prof who shot & killed 3 other faculty members, apparently triggered by being denied tenure. Several others were wounded. As she was being arrested, she reportedly kept saying something to the effect of "This didn't happen. They're still alive."

Clearly, the woman went bonkers.

She also has a past laced with violence. She shot & killed her brother- apparently an accident- and was investigated and cleared in connection to a bombing. Some of the police investigating this new event are considering re-examining those past incidents.

They brought up McDermott on the supposition that he and the Andersons may have known him from their brief simultaneous attendance at Northwestern...a school with around 16k students enrolled. Which is kind of like someone asking me if I knew all of the other black people at the last Dallas Stars game.

Very nice journalism, indeed.

 

[Janx]

Danny's post is better written and more informative than the original article.

Thanks!

 

[Relique du Madde]

So the reason she killed her fellow teachers/staff did not have to do with the fact that she is jealous psychotic lunatic who was denied tenure, had a history of violence and coincidentally was suspected in the murder of her brother? It's because she liked DnD? According to that logic my love of playing hangman must mean that I would be likely to lynch people or that the average World of Warcraft player is likely to become an axe murderer.