[OT] Sniper plays D&D?

[Creamsteak]

Deleted By Piratecat

Sorry Piratecat - CS

 

[kenjib]

Does anyone else think that this sniper could be a terrorist (Al Queda or some other group)?

Nope. A piece of evidence that was leaked was a message saying "I am god," or something similar. That's not a terrorist thing to say. That's a psycho mass murderer thing to say. The terrorist would leave a very different kind of message, if any.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Leaving this silliness aside, something far more serious has happened here in Germany:

You see, there has been a sad case of kidnapping and murder. A 27-year old law student has kidnapped the son of a rich banker, strangled him, hid the body, and demanded a ransom for one million Euros. He did get the money, but the police caught him soon after.

The murderer still hasn't confessed, but his guilt is pretty clear from all the evidence. The whole nation has been in uproar over this case, and as usual, some people have called for the re-introduction of capital punishment. You can read some of the story in English
here.

The police is still trying to reconstruct how all this happened. It is clear that the law student had "befriended" the boy and several of his friends before the deed. Now this is where this gets relevant:

I read today in my local newspaper that the murderer allegedly got the boy to come with him by inviting him to a fantasy role-playing game...

I will keep you informed as I get more news, but all this is pretty worrying.

 

[Mark Chance]

I'm confused...

Leaving this silliness aside, something far more serious has happened here in Germany:

I'm confused. A sniper shooting several people apparently at random is silly?

* snip summary of kidnapping/murder *

Now this is where this gets relevant: I read today in my local newspaper that the murderer allegedly got the boy to come with him by inviting him to a fantasy role-playing game...

So the only reason this is relevant (i.e. important or noteworthy) is because it might involve a FRPG? Meaning there'd be nothing to be concerned about if the kidnapper/murderer had used, say, candy to lure the victim?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Re: I'm confused...

I'm confused. A sniper shooting several people apparently at random is silly?

No. What is silly are any claims that D&D might have contributed to the sniper's behaviour.

So the only reason this is relevant (i.e. important or noteworthy) is because it might involve a FRPG? Meaning there'd be nothing to be concerned about if the kidnapper/murderer had used, say, candy to lure the victim?

It is notworthy in many ways. But it is relevant to this board because it seems there is a real link between RPGs and this murder. And this seems to be far more harmful to the image of role-playing games in general than any so-called "experts" talking on CNN about things they don't understand.

If I have offended you with my previous post, then I am sorry. This certainly wasn't my intention.

 

[chatdemon]

This is typical reaching by the media to explain something that they have no frikkin clue about. They don't know who this guy is, they don't know what kind of hobbies or pasttimes the idiot is into, but they don't want to admit they don't know. So what do we get? A bunch of speculation and fear association (fear of this sniper being tied to fear of D&D, which the masses think they understand, as opposed to fear of the unknown .) Apparently the tarot connection didn't connect with people the way they hoped. I'm sorry people. The residents of those towns dont need wacko theories and stereotyping to make them feel better, they need to be afraid until this bastard is caught and punished. Giving them a false sense of security is just going to get more people killed.

Next we'll be hearing about how this guy was abused as a child or somesuch crap and how we should feel sorry for him.

You want to know how to catch this idiot? Put a bounty on him and let the more civilized military enthusiasts get him.

(In all fairness, the idiot could be a her, who knows?)

As for the tarot card thing:
The police and government of the area are baiting the guy calling him a coward, he's obviously sending back the message that that tactic won't work.

Let's all hope they catch this nutball soon, before any more innocents are killed or wounded, and then send him down here to florida, our lethal injection machine is primed and ready


Edit 1: clarified an incoherent thought
Edit 2: removed inflammatory political name calling

 

[Buttercup]

Re the sniper playing D&D, I would think it would be much more likely that he plays first person shooter computer games. After all, they aren't called murder simulators for nothing.

Also, if he's playing D&D, that means he has some social connections. This guy's actions look more like those of someone who is completely alienated. Not to mention psychotic, of course.

I wonder if all the sharp shooter clubs in the area are taking a close look at their member rosters.

 

[Nightfall]

No offense to anyone here, but NO ONE here has any better idea than any one else except the shooter himself. So media hype, what ever. The fact of the matter is this. D&D or no D&D, there's still evil in the world. Or at least a reasonable fascimile of it.

 

[Henry]

Buttercup has a huge point: Unless someone can correct me, I don't recall any killer who went on their sprees while active players of D&D. Even the guy in (Boston, it was?) who shot up his coworkers in the computer company, played in the past, but wasn't an active player. It seems these types tend to cut most of their social connections a while before they commit their crimes.

But yes, D&D and RPG's in general would appeal to someone who prefers to live in a fantasy world more than a real one.

BUt then, individuals that that much dementia don't need to be watching Television, much less playing an RPG.

 

[Buttercup]

BUt then, individuals that that much dementia don't need to be watching Television, much less playing an RPG.

You got that right, Henry.

As an aside, I saw on TV this morning (Today show or MSNBC, not sure which) that profilers are suggesting that the killer has been involved in playing first person shooters, possibly online.
They were showing several sniper websites. This makes far more sense to me than the opinion of Connie Chung's profiler.

One of the things that really chills me about this situation is that this sniper has been walking around in the world, interacting with people, and no one noticed that he had serious problems. Or they noticed, but failed to do anything about it.

You know, we all encounter people from time to time who we think are scary-crazy. Do we do anything about it? I'll wager we don't. Should we do anything about it? That's a harder question, isn't it?