Thursday, April 19, 2012

Brace for the stupid, gamers.

The headline article at CNN.com reads
Anders Behring Breivik, who admits killing 77 people in Norway last summer, used a video game as training for his shooting spree, he testified Thursday at his trial for homicide and terrorism.

He played the game "Modern Warfare 2" for practice, he said.

Breivik, who boasts of being an ultranationalist who killed his victims to fight multiculturalism in Norway, also went through a period of playing the game "World of Warcraft" up to 16 hours a day, he testified.

World of Warcraft? Seriously? I mean, he certainly generated plenty of aggro, but there was a distinct lack of fireball-casting going on, so maybe that portion of his alleged digital boot camp didn't quite pay off.
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30 comments:

Stuart the Viking said...

Oh great... it's going to be like the "D&D causes suicide" thing all over again.

s

Woodman said...

He must have been using that mod that made everyone run and hide instead of attacking him.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Not to Worry! They'll be some kind of Faked Outrage, and some Congress Critters will DEMAND Hearings on the "Danger of Video Games!", and the MSM will do "Special Reports" on the "Shocking New Trend!"

Then someone from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will make a Phone Call to the Video Game Trade Association (or what ever they call themselves), and say, "You know, I understand you have a Problem. You know, we can make this Problem go away for you. But, you know, it would really help us if, you know, you could send a Donation of, oh say a few hundred thousand Dollars to this Super Pac. After all, like my Grandpa Tony used to say in Chicago when he was working for Big Al, "You got a Nice Store here. Be a shame for something to happen to it."

Then we can all go back to wondering who would be a Better President because of their ASPCA Rating.

Kit said...

How can they write an article like that and leave out the most important issue: "Horde or Alliance?"

SGB said...

Blame everything but the INDIVIDUAL who did the crime. Typical.

Noah D said...

Hey, after seeing a pink-pigtailed gnome death knight dual-wielding two-handed uberswords, I wanted to murder dozens of people, too.*

(Says the guy who played a blue space goat paladin...)


*Dear DHS Surveillance: NOT REALLY. It's hyperbole. And seriously, have you seen these gnome death knight types? Awful, awful design. They're just ridiculous.

Noah D said...

Hey, after seeing a pink-pigtailed gnome death knight dual-wielding two-handed uberswords, I wanted to murder dozens of people, too.*

(Says the guy who played a blue space goat paladin...)


*Dear DHS Surveillance: NOT REALLY. It's hyperbole. And seriously, have you seen these gnome death knight types? Awful, awful design. They're just ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

WoW would have only taught him to avoid standing in the fire.

-HL, Clean for two years

Brad K. said...

I wonder if "Bourne Supremacy" influenced him. Or Daffy Duck.

Or John Wayne.

I shudder to think what would have happened if he had read the US Constitution, or "War and Peace".

I bet he applied for a drivers license. Or paid taxes. Or saw commercials interrupting TV programs. (Actually, that has deranged a lot of unsuspecting people, some call it ADHD, etc.)

He probably watched "Cops" on the sly. And maybe NCIS, or Mary Poppins.

gack.

Anonymous said...

Goober beat me to it. Killed white people to fight back against the influx of brown people. Huh.

Verrrry subtle. Unless it's meant to distract us from the fact that shooting up unarmed kids from your own pacifist culture is a lot less hazardous than going after grown men from a culture which sort of tends to reward revenge killing.

Mike James

RL said...

"Video games lead to murder"...Says the fat-cats who were hooked on Mr. & Mrs. Pacman.

Kristophr said...

Noah D: If that pink pigtailed little gnome girl was dual wielding a pair of claymores, she would be a Fury-specced Warrior, not a Deathknight.

That, or a lead in a Joss Whedon TV show.

HL: Most WoW players insist on standing in the fucking fire. If you stop healing these retards, your job as a healer suddenly becomes easier.

instinct said...

Start the Viking -I remember in the 80's some stupid ass TV movie about kids who played D&D.

One of the characters started believing that it was all real and he was some sort of wizard or something.

After that, all us kids who gamed were being approached by teachers and principals to "talk to us" about the dangers of D&D.

The big scare was some 'study' that said if you played roll playing games it could cause multiple personalities because gaming would fragment your psyche.

Kristopher - That's why I don't do healers, I'm usually the one setting the fires.

Anonymous said...

Actually, his actions were quite logical in a twisted fashion. As a member of the far right, he was trying to kill the current and future leaders of Norway's far left.

From the opposite side of the political spectrum, it would be as if an Occupy Wall Street-type had decided to shoot up a summer camp for College Republicans as they will become either the future "1%" or their political defenders. As a bonus, they hoped to catch a visiting speaker like Karl Rove or Rush Limbaugh.

Tamara (remotely) said...

And which video game causes that?

Stuart the Viking said...

instinct - Oh the good ol' school days. I got a tripple dose of it since I played D&D, listened to "The Devil's Music", AND I was an anti-social loner mis-fit who liked to think for himself. Needless to say, I heard a lot of "We just don't know what to do with you" (they didn't like the answer "leave me the fuck alone" for some reason).

s

Anonymous said...

I think the movie was "Mazes and Monsters". Too lazy to look it up. I think Tom Hanks was in it.

-HL

LabRat said...

...Now I'm just fundamentally confused as to how a guy who despises the vast majority of humanity manages to play sixteen hours a day of a game that requires you to tolerate a seething mass of everyone on your continent with a subscription. I mean, maybe he could turn off all channels and eschew every cooperative activity in the game, but that wouldn't leave you with much left to DO?

It's a lot easier to imagine him as the guy screaming racial and sexual epithets at "campers".

Anonymous said...

Last week we turned the clock back 20 years and had some true early '90s style anti-gun hysteria over the Trayvon/Zimmerman shooting. This week apparently we're doing the whole "video games are too violent" thing. Is this '90s Nostalgia month? You watch, next week, we'll relive all the drama of a cartoon camel selling cigarettes to children.

-Alec

JFP said...

Let me guess, his war chant was "more dots, more dots!".

Noah, even funnier is a gnome chick with pink pigtails tanking. I think the new Panda expansion is jumping the shark though. Perhaps PETA will protest.

Anonymous said...

I think as a youngster Charles Mason played Chutes and Ladders and look how he turned out.

Gerry

mongo78 said...

Shorter version:

"Crazy person is crazy"

Justthisguy said...

77? That's quite a score. I'm sure he's at at the top of some list on Encyclopedia Dramatica. I would load ED, but every time I do, it seems some annoying scripts get planted on my machine. Effing /b/tards!

Justthisguy said...

P.s. All else aside, I still really do liek teh Mudkips.

Kristophr said...

JFP: I tank for The Horde, dammit.

DanH said...

That's a 50 DKP MINUS

Joe in PNG said...

I get the feeling that a good majority of people are about to do a synchronized eye roll at this modern attempt at a "twinkie" defense.

Blaming video gaming back during the late '80's- sure.

Blaming gaming back in '98 or so when only geeks played games... plausable.

Blaming video games when pretty much everyone and their Grandma is playing something... not gonna work, and will be seen as the despirate attempt at a Chewbacca defense that it is.

Hell, even the Jack Thompsons of the world are shaking their heads and saying "LAME!"

RabidAlien said...

*sigh* And you know, somewhere, at this very moment, there's a prospective jury member who is thoughtfully nodding his/her head and muttering "yes, that makes sense, RPG/DnD/VideoGames/etc are evil" to his/her cats.

The dude is nuts. And he's not "insane". He knew what he was doing. You don't just happen to walk up to a gov't building one day and oops, your backpack spontaneously exploded, which caused you to go to an island conveniently populated by a ton of unarmed kids and one guard....that takes planning. Lots thereof. Which requires forethought. Yup. He knew what he was doing, and is now trying to throw smokescreens and misdirection to either a) cop the insanity plea, or b) pass some of the blame off on someone else. I still say drag him off into a dark alley, ducttape him to something very large and heavy, and give every friend/family member of a victim a good, solid baseball bat. Sell tickets, and you can raise a lot of funds for a memorial or counseling for survivors, etc!

Will said...

RabidAlien:

He would last longer as a pinata.

RL said...

The Obesity epidemic is beginning to makes all kinda sense now...

Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Thanks Hasbro. Thanks alot.