next »

[BMcC]

Holy crap.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070416/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting

EDIT:  "The deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history."

[ravuya]

Yeah, this is super horrible. It still seems unreal.

[Derek]

Oh no...

[AdamAtomic]

i've been sick to my stomach for half the day, not just because of the tragedy itself but because of the inevitable string of horrible things that always follow events like this.  Security contractors will have a new excuse to start fleecing schools again, the news will exploit this for ratings for weeks and weeks, every pyscho-babble jackass out there will get their 5 minutes to explain how video games and movies (not parents and environment and genetics) were responsible for this poor victim's actions, it will distract from the 30 or 40 or 50 innocent people that die every day in Iraq, meanwhile the families and friends of these people are left with no answers and no help.

but on the brighter side, SCMRPG is on the front page of TIGS...

EDIT - filthy disgusting leech of society jack thompson has already had his five minutes apparently, and he blames counterstrike.

[BMcC]

but on the brighter side, SCMRPG is on the front page of TIGS...

Ugh, yeah...   

I think now might be a good time to post a string of happy games.

[Terry]

The video game scapegoating has already started.

Kotaku: Breaking: IDIOT Thompson Blames Va Shooting on Games

It makes me sick. How does that guy sleep at night?

[BMcC]

Like Adam said -- I feel terrible already, but there's only more to come.

Jack didn't waste any time.  He seems to revel in stuff like this.  What a monster.

[AdamAtomic]

Would it be possible to design a video game that helped people grieve or deal with great personal loss?  Is it insulting to even suggest this?

[xix]

Would it be possible to design a video game that helped people grieve or deal with great personal loss?  Is it insulting to even suggest this?

Yes and no.

But also, there are other better memorial pieces you could do than a videogame.

[lowpoly]

It makes me sick. How does that guy sleep at night?

on a large stack of money.

He's an opportunistic, ambulance chaser so this is his gig. It takes a special kind of person to murder at that kind of level, I don't see how anyone could possibly tie this to anything outside of the deranged actions of a psychotic killer. But I'm sure they'll try. 

[Alec]

Yay, America.

[Anthony Flack]

If I understand correctly, Jack Thompson has blamed Counterstrike for this, before any details of the killer's identity have even been released?

Seems a little presumptuous, even for him.

[Xion]

I'm with Adam. I really don't want to go through this process of people exploiting this horrible terrible insane tragedy for profit, while ignoring/avoiding finding answers for what happened and solutions to keep it from happening again. I just wish I could sleep for days and wake up and have everything sparkly clean, all accusations forgotten, all families consoled. I wish I could ignore the onslaught of hatred against interactive media, and people acting dumber than humanly possible until another big story pops up. I just wish I could surf the nets without hearing a word about Jack. Against or for him. I just don't want to even think about such terrible people.
I wish I could.
But I can't.
And I can't.
Because it's hardly even begun yet. But it has. And it's still only today, with months to go.

[Alec]

Yeah. There's Jack Thompson.

Then there's the fact that 33 people are dead for no apparent reason.

You know, maybe video games are partly responsible. Maybe they're part of society's gradual acceptance of this kind of violence. So many kids play shit like Counter Strike 24/7 to get the rush of killing people - trying to kill the most people possible. Is it going to turn them all into serial killers? No. But it helps create an environment where the idea of killing innocent people with guns is not only accepted but held up as a great achievement.

Jack Thompson is shit, and its unfortunate, because there may actually be something to the whole idea of violent games holding some responsibility, as part of the larger picture.

[Keops]

This is very sad and tragic...

Jack Thompson's already at it... In fact I read somewhere that since the identity of the killer/gunman is apparently asian, he said something about asian gamers being dangerous (the report was citing his interview in Fox News I believe). When will the media notice this dude knows shait about games/psychology/whatever and just ignore him?

Once again, very sad news. My sympathies to all those involved in this terrible tragedy.

[moi]

This has nothing to do with videogames.
It's a trend, the more these things happen and are talked about on the media, the more it gives ideas to psycho teenagers. It's like emo kids making suicide attempts because they hear about all other emo kids doing it. It's a trend.
It's a very sad and worrying thing, but this is not the last occurence of it.
Society has to change, the most obvious move would be to put huge restrictions on gun circulation, but it will probably not be made.

[Alec]

Chris Matthews vs. JT

"video games are art imitating life" - JT

Yay, video games are art.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I agree with Alec. Jack Thompson is ridiculous enough that he's harming his own cause, because he makes it easy to dismiss his side of the argument, he's a living straw man.

I don't think overly violent games should be banned, but I don't have much respect for people who make them either, especially the type that's just shooting realistic people with realistic blood and death and nothing else to the game besides that.

[ravuya]

I think the media is on him now because he's no longer a "good crusader". He's passed that boundary where he's an underdog and gone straight to a whiner kind of status.

It also doesn't help that he harasses 11 year olds on the Internets.

[Chris Whitman]

I hear he finds them on MySpace.