[News] Role-player decapitated (drug addicts arrested)

[Buttercup]

because I find it very hard to believe if this wasn't some very bizarre and unfortunate accident, that whoever did this wasn't mentally disturbed before they started gaming.

It can't possibly be an accident. I mean, come on! The kid was dismembered. That pretty much guarantees it was deliberate. "Oops! I ripped your arm off! Dang. Sorry dude! Yikes, there goes your head. Crap." I just don't see it.

And of course the murderer was mentally deranged. You'd have to be to dismember someone, friend, foe or complete stranger. RPing is at the most incidental to this horrible crime, I'd say.

 

[Mordane76]

There's still some conjecture as to the exact nature of the body -- I've heard simply decapitated, and I've heard completely dismembered... so I'm still leaving in the possibility of a horrible accident.

 

[Gunslinger]

I think this Dork Tower comic sums up the persecution of role-players (and video gamers) perfectly, and in a humorous way.


http://www.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?nextform=viewcomic&id=414

 

[trancejeremy]

Sheesh - Ananova has a whole category devoted to Vampires, though it only has 10 stories in it.

Anyway, this is pretty common in today's world - rather than thinking that people are to blame when they do something bad, the media blames some aspect of society or culture.

Same thing (sorta) happens with electronic/dance music. Just because some people who like it take drugs, and sometimes end up dead (or some such) by doing something stupid while on them, it's all the fault of the music. This has resulted in the poliec arresting everyone at a party in some cases, even when they didn't do anything illegal.

I won't even go into video games, though just a couple days out, one of my local TV news anchors blamed 9/11 on the video game Vice City....

 

[Kilmore]

I won't even go into video games, though just a couple days out, one of my local TV news anchors blamed 9/11 on the video game Vice City....

Oh, really? Who and what station? I'm in Cahokia, by the way.

 

[William Ronald]

I find the story distressing, but there is a possibility that the victim was killed by friends. At least in the U.S., you are more likely to be killed by someone you know as opposed to a complete stranger.

I think educating the public about what gaming is about is the best approach. My advice to the Swedish gaming community is to use resources such as CAR_PGa to gather facts and to maybe be ready to discuss the misperceptions people might have. (Maybe the head of a local RPG league in Sweden might be a good person to counter the misperceptions.)

In any culture, there will be some people who are a bit disturbed. Are there people who have trouble separating fantasy from reality and should not game. Yes. Just as there are people who can become obsessive about gambling or sports teams or any number of other subjects. Most of these people are harmless, but some will be violent. (For example, there were two baseball fans in Chicago who attacked the coach of an opposing team.)

It is very common for people to blame something for a problem or a crime. Games and music are popular target. However, it is a person's problems that drive him over the edge into unacceptable behavior. I hope that the police will do a thorough investigation of the incident. There may or may not be a gaming connection. The best thing is to wait, and for intelligent, reasonable gamers to be ready to respond to any questions people might have about our hobby.

 

[dkilgo]

Resond by holding your head up high and saying, " Yes, I am a role playing geek, and I like it! All of you ignorant ass clowns can kiss my buttocks!"

I think that I would respond similarly.

 

[Maldur]

What ever happened: either murder, freak accident or something else.

Still a Gamer died. So Ill raise a glass in salut.
I mean the guy probably didn't want to, So we did lose a person and a fellow roller of dice.


Bad publicity be damned, that is/was a person.

 

[jdavis]

Isn't it always how it goes, kid with a history problems and a broken home, looses his girlfriend and his job, has a drug probelm and plays D&D, gee it must be the D&D (actual case from where I live in the '80's). The kid commited suicide afer he lost his girlfriend and his job and he had several problems in his past, when they found him in his car he had some D&D books in the back seat, so the conclusion that was drawn was that his character in the game must of died so he killed himself.

I think the biggest falsehood to the whole arguement on RPGs is that they cause this kind of stuff. D&D or any other RPG doesn't cause you to have problems, these people had problems a long time before they got into gaming, there is a big difference. It's sort of like saying that bacon causes people to become killers, the proof is that people in prison eat bacon, that's media logic for you. It's all about finding something to blame to get some headlines no matter how silly it actually is.

 

[jdavis]

Okay -- maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe the masses aren't the sheep I take them for. Maybe we aren't as villified and evil as I've heard them say we are. Maybe I'm just the unfortunate one who's had the bad experiences with the non-gaming community. Maybe I'm paranoid.

I just get so upset when I hear people who are "experts" go out and bash Gaming to a public I know is eager to find someone to blame for such a heinous crime. It's not like we're dealing with assault or some form of larceny -- this is a descipable murder. Everytime something like this comes up, it gives people like the 700 Club more bile to spew at the masses. I know the stigma I had to fight when I took up gaming from my parents ---> I had to convince them that Satan was taking me to Hell for paying these games, and they still to this day (even though I live over a thousand miles away) worry about my hobby taking over my life. This is the kind of imprinting that I worry about; another generation hearing the nearly urban legend-like stories about gamers and their 'evils.'

I apologize if I offended anyone with my rants... I just got a bit worked up about the topic.

Been there and done that, of course I live in the bible belt, I expect that kind of silliness here. You are not alone but you should not let it bother you. A good line that works with Parents is "do you really think I am that stupid, do you have no faith in my judgement at all, do you think I am so moronic that I will be sucked into a evil cult due to a silly little game?" They either have to admit that they think you are a idiot or give you the benifit of the doubt. It worked real good for me.