D&D possible cause in Murder case again.

[Malic]

I did read Dr Awkward's post before sending - I think that was what prompted me to ask, after already being confused about the thread. "That's what they've always heard"? "think that running around with knives and swords is playing D&D"? That's so far from my limted and foreign experience I just had to ask, "For real"?
Anyway, thanks guys, looks like the answer is "Yes".
Wow.
Wow, that's just sad. I didn't know the game's image was quite that bad.

 

[Trainz]

My opinion, for any who might be interested, is that it has become common practice over the years to accept "D&D COULD BE A CONNECTION" as a statement that doesn't need further explanation - just as "(DOOM, QUAKE, GTA, etc.) MADE HIM DO IT".

Except that no-one said that D&D made him do it, but that his OBSESSION with D&D *might* have made him do it.

Replace D&D with, say, carebears. Instead of slash wounds, the 3 victims have carebears stuffed down their throats. Then a detective dude comes in and says "The murder investigation is also considering those facts and the fact that the killer has a collection of 300 carebears".

Would anyone in his right mind think the carebears have anything to do with it ? That they should be taken off the market, or they might induce murder tendencies ?

No.

I have no problem in accepting that this murderer's obsession with D&D might be the cause. Not considering that aspect in view of this crime would be very bad detective work.

Don't worry guys, this case doesn't hurt the hobby one bit, and we will sadly still be considered nerds, not killers.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I have no problem in accepting that this murderer's obsession with D&D might be the cause. Not considering that aspect in view of this crime would be very bad detective work.

Except the obsession is not the cause, it is a symptom of the cause or underlying problem. What that cause is, we don't know yet, it has not been revealed. We may never know. In fact, the murder itself probably is a symptom of a larger underlying problem. The killer obviously has psychological problems. Something caused those problems. But I would be willing to bet it wasn't D&D, obsession or not.

 

[Nathal]

It looks just as likely to me that he wasn't going to put up with the standard relationship B.S., got that B.S. and did what he felt he had to do.

That wasn't funny in the least. That man murdered two sisters and a little 4-year old girl. You seek to make light of that? She was a member of my friends' larger social circle, had dated one of my friends in fact. There is nothing funny about it.

 

[RithTheAwakener]

"Due to the extremely tanned and healthy nature of the corpse-- death notwithstanding-- police are now on the lookout for a killer armed with a Sunblade."

"Good lord! He's been beheaded!"
"Vorpal Blade. I'd bet my life on it."
"Excellent detective work, Jim."

LOL!!! hahahahahaahahah
wow that is hilarious, thx for making my day

 

[Dr Awkward]

Except that no-one said that D&D made him do it, but that his OBSESSION with D&D *might* have made him do it.

What you quoted from me there was a general statement about the "D&D made him do it" soundbite. Actually, the gaming references in the original article match the statement I made closely:

...but they are also looking into some sort of connection with the fantasy role-playing game ”Dungeons and Dragons”

...There may be a connection but I can’t say for sure.”

No mention of an "obsession" to the media - just a possible D&D connection, which is the boilerplate for these sorts of stories. Which was my point - it has become acceptable to print a phrase like that without stopping to ask "Wait a moment - how could a game make someone kill?"

Would anyone in his right mind think the carebears have anything to do with it ? That they should be taken off the market, or they might induce murder tendencies ?

I'm not sure I get your point. I can't imagine the Care Bear defense at all - but if someone had been beaten to death with a Dungeon Master's Guide, you could bet you'd see the same old story all over again. The Care Bears haven't been the subject of 26 years of urban legends and media misrepresentation.

Which is totally unjustified, in my opinion. Those dang things creep me out.

- DocAwk

 

[Trainz]

What you quoted from me there was a general statement about the "D&D made him do it" soundbite. Actually, the gaming references in the original article match the statement I made closely:

...but they are also looking into some sort of connection with the fantasy role-playing game ”Dungeons and Dragons”

...There may be a connection but I can’t say for sure.”

No mention of an "obsession" to the media

Ah. The quoting game. Can I play too ?

Thus, what concerns me is not the game itself, but his preoccupation with it. Clearly the game didn't cause the murders. What I want to explore is whether his fascination with it blurred his sense of reality because of his own emotional and personal problems.

You see ? Exactly what I said.

The Care Bears haven't been the subject of 26 years of urban legends and media misrepresentation.

Which is totally unjustified, in my opinion. Those dang things creep me out.

On this we can agree.

 

[Dr Awkward]

Thus, what concerns me is not the game itself, but his preoccupation with it. Clearly the game didn't cause the murders. What I want to explore is whether his fascination with it blurred his sense of reality because of his own emotional and personal problems.

You see ? Exactly what I said.

What you quoted there was not a public statement, but a private email message. Which is not the point here - we were discussing the statement he made to the media, which did not mention obsession.

- DocAwk

 

[Mark]

What you quoted there was not a public statement, but a private email message. Which is not the point here - we were discussing the statement he made to the media, which did not mention obsession.

- DocAwk

Unaccustomed as he might be to public speaking, he might not have been semantically keen to the difference. (The title of this thread is just such an example, IMO.) It might be wise for him to pass such statements through a PR person before addressing the media in the future. Obviously, from the private communication, he has some sense of the difference and the investigation is seemingly on the right track. I think we all know how the media likes to spin things in favor of sensationalism. I'd chalk this one up to it just getting away from a public official who will hopefully clear it up when he has less blood and whatnot to handle. They may well be busy digging through some other old cases and seeing what else this jackass has been up to.

 

[Banshee16]

OK, let's take a good loooong look at what I actually wrote:



His fascination with the game could have triggered his hacking spree. Meaning, some psychosis was just waiting for anything to trigger it, and something was the focus for it (Teletubbies, FPS, Mel Gibson, whatever).

It's possible. I'm not blaming the game at all. I'm blaming this dude's funky neurons.

Just to be clear here......and possibly my response was not....but it was intended at the quoted story...not at your own comments.

I find the entire article a tad flaky

Banshee