Gamers Grapple With VA Tech Shooting

I imagine it's been a hard week for a lot of people; gamers in particular have been jumping to defend their hobby from the likes of Dr. Phil and Jack Thompson, both of whom were quick to link gaming and the tragedy in Virginia. Despite their vigor, it seems like game enthusiasts can breathe easily this week. As far as most people can tell, gaming was in no way involved. Even the mainstream media is coming to realize that gaming isn't always the right place to turn when youth violence grabs the headlines. Just the same, some activist gamers are still trying to make sure their hobby comes out of this unscathed, and at least some folks think they may be overdoing things: "While I'm all for activism for one's beliefs, I really think this may do more harm then good. As gamers, we feel a need to defend our passion, but we run the risk of ending up looking no better than those seeking to shift blame, while further disrupting the already-mourning. I say that the thing to focus on at this point is simply remembering those lost and cherishing what we still have. Now's not the time for political vendettas, and gamers need to step down and just humbly accept the fact that blame will always be shifted to the popular youth activities: be it a KISS concert, a video game, or something else."

Nugent is smarter

[WaxParadigm]

Ted Nugent has a little more common sense than Jack Thomson when it comes to finding things that contributed to this event...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/commentary.nugent /index.html [cnn.com]

...And Rush Limbaugh defends video games

[Anonymous Coward]

as Ars Technica points out [arstechnica.com].

Re:Indifference

[laxpeter]

Except for the fact that many people tried to help him all along the way: College suitemates inviting him to dinner and trying to talk to him, one on one attention with professors, etc. Society repeatedly tried to reach out to him, and he coldly ignored us.
I'm really at a loss for where you're getting this idea of him being ignored, or even picked on, when all of the reports have shown the exact opposite - someone who forcefully ignored the rest of the world's attempts to include him.

Re:Indifference

[soft_guy]

I wish I had mod points because you are right. I haven't heard anything about him having been picked on.

CHO DID NOT PLAY VIDEO GAMES!!!!!

[CPE1704TKS]

One of his suitemates was interviewed by Chris Matthews of MSNBC. Matthews was blatantly trying to get at the video game angle, asking the suitemate if he ever saw Cho playing video games, but the suitemate said emphatically "No". He never saw Cho do anything on his computer except type stuff on MS Word documents.

MAYBE WE SHOULD BAN MS WORD INSTEAD.

What I found striking was that the suitemate said there was never anything aggressive about Cho ever. He never got excited or angry, and even when they tried talking to him, Cho never reacted with disdain or disgust... he was simply emotionless. He said he never saw him do anything violent ever, and he only saw him either in his room or watching tv (wrestling and SpikeTV).

MAYBE WE SHOULD BAN WRESTLING AND SPIKE TV.

Re:Indifference

[SatanicPuppy]

Anti-social behavior is considered a hallmark of "insanity" (a term which no self-respecting psychologist would ever use). You can be rational, and still be seriously mentally ill.

I don't think there is any question that he was rational. He acted very rationally all the way through, with tons of forethought and advance planning.

Does that make him sane? Fuck no! He was nuttier than a fricking squirrel convention. Just from what I've read about the guy it seems like he fits the DSM-IV definition of a Sociopath quite well. I don't know how the hell they committed him and missed that.

Re:Jesus is to blame!

[SatanicPuppy]

Their own gun? I punched a guy in the face with his own gun after he shot out a window in my office proving that the safety was "on".

Re:Jesus is to blame!

[Creepy]

He also says the Columbine killers were his heroes, which pretty much tells me they were his influence. The Columbine killers were likely influenced by postal rampages [wikipedia.org] that started in the 1980s, but just changed the venue to a school.

It's also not the first time some whackjob serial killer has said he either was Jesus or was some kind of prophet. Take Jonestown founder Jim Jones, Branch Davidian David Koresh, or remorseless murderer Charles Manson.

Re:Jesus is to blame!

[bouis]

You've passed into that mode where you're arguing just for the sake of it, and doing a very poor job at that. It's painfully obvious that you've never even handled a real rifle, or pistol for that matter, much less carried either around all day. If you ever get the chance, try running, or even walking at a brisk pace, with that "SMG" strapped to you. Now try it with both hands free. Imagine grocery shopping with it, or cutting your grass, or drinking coffee, or cooking dinner, or working on your car, etc., etc. I can do all of those things without a second thought while carrying my pistol, but all are impracticable or dangerous with a rifle bouncing around.

The idea that imaginative poseurs like yourself might actually influence some other naive soul is depressing.