Boy Kills Homeless Man and Blames Video Games - Stepmother Speaks Out

[Optimus Prime]

My roommate will be graduating this Fall with an Honours Degree in Economics with a specialisation in Finance. His older brother, has his Masters in Economics, and just got his Chartered Accountant Certification a few months back. Then there's the younger brother, stopped after High School, and is now on unemployment and plays video games all day and shops on EBay. Mind you, I've met the guy, and he's got quite the witty personality, but I wouldn't exactly call him the College type anyways.

Someone can grow up in a perfectly normal household, and develop a completely different moral compass than others in the same household.

 

[Engar]

@Sandstorm..

First, I'd like to make it clear that you aren't the first to doubt the credibility of the source. I had my misgivings at the start too, and I'd surely love to see some real evidence behind the email, but for now I'm going to accept it. And not just because it supports what I personally believe.

I'd trust the source because, whatever your personal opinion may be, Penny Arcade is a big deal these days. Their entire business stands on what the gaming community thinks of them and they cannot afford to lose face over such a complex topic. How big is Penny Arcade? That post was made two days ago and half of the gaming community already knows about it.

Maybe I'm wrong to trust it. If it turns out that it was all a hoax then I'll put my hands up and admit I'm a fool, just like I hope everyone else will. But if the media can spend months pulling up out of date studies on the violence video-games encourage I feel I can spend five minutes on one woman's story.

And as for that supposedly 'balanced' suggestion that it was all the parents fault I'd suggest that you go back and read the email again. And, while your doing that, try to put yourself in the position of a parent trying to deal with a child over whom you have no control. Someone for whom boundaries are there to be broken and emotions to be taken advantage of.

This family actually sound like they were doing things right. They tried to relate to the boy. They tried to help him through whatever was bothering him. They didn't just lock him up in an empty room or ship him off to some hell-hole. They tried to deal with the problem, where the typical solution would be to just pretend it wasn't there.

@Everyone..

We're always accusing the media of a cookie-cutter response to this sort of thing. "Video Games, Video Games, Video Games," like a damned parrot. But we're just as bad. Our answer is "Bad Parenting," and it's no less of an automatic response. What we all need to remember, what I needed to remember, is that these things are never as clear cut as we'd like them to be.

 

[Sandstorm]

See, right there, you're trying to force me to change my opinion, and and believe this email. I've already stated, I don't believe it. Until it's written by an official source (and no, Penny Arcade is ****, I'm not going to trust them) I won't believe it.

It's just so convenient that one of the parents of this child is a long-time reader of Penny Arcade? Sure... Maybe Gabe and Tyco will buy a heater during the summer from me too.

 

[Hibiki]

There wouldn't really be any point in faking an email.

But since its clear you just don't trust it because you don't like PA then theres not much to say.

 

[Chakra-X]

The guys that make Penny-Arcade know the Internets, which is full of sources with bad credibility, so for them to take the letter seriously must mean something.

 

[sub]

I have a confession to make...

I.. I wrote that email. I'm sorry. In other words, I believe the email was real. I'd love to see some concrete proof though, the thought that it was fake was in the back of my mind.

 

[Sandstorm]

I have a confession to make...

I.. I wrote that email. I'm sorry. In other words, I believe the email was real. I'd love to see some concrete proof though, the thought that it was fake was in the back of my mind.

Indeed indeed...

 

[[S]]

What exactly do you mean by, "calling you out"? you make it sound like we were attacking you.

I meant to say you guys thought i was living in fantasy land when i said that it's not the parents fault. I guess i mean to say you guys felt my opinion was wrong then and Sub thought i hadn't read it and was blaming the parents so i was trying to tell him I've been firm in my belief that the parents aren't too blame.

 

[MF29]

Is it impossible to say that the child had an anti-social personality disorder?

http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-pe04.html

Diagnostic Criteria

1. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others
6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another
2. The individual is at least age 18 years.
3. There is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years.
4. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode.


Note the kid wasn't 18, but it could be the beginning of anti-sociality.

 

[sub]

Well, if he went out and killed a homeless man and, if the email is to be believed, got in trouble with the law countless times, he had something mentally wrong with him.

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Well firstly: I sit in a newspaper office for way too many hours every week and never got wind of this. So it must not be getting a lot of media attention. Which means two things:

1.) It's fake.
2.) It's not fake but it is very cut and dry, i.e. there's no story to tell.

If the dude killed someone and is going to be tried as an adult, they have definitive evidence, etc...then chances are the media would ignore it on such a small scale, unless they wanted to really play up the games made me do it angle, which most newsroom bosses would be too ****ing stupid to have a clue about either way.

At any rate some people are just bad ****ing news. This dude seems like he was.

As for Penny Arcade, I dunno about them. They seemed to have all these brave responses to Jack Thompson back when he was in full swing, and they seemed to have a lot of emails directly indicating them, which seems odd. If he's so uneducated about games themselves why would he know about Penny Arcade? Moreover, why would he single out Penny Arcade--ultimately, a comic strip and not much else? Who knows? Maybe they faked it all to amp themselves up on the front lines. Maybe it's all true. Regardless Thompson is a douchewax candle and thankfully the flame that propagates his stench is nigh extinguished.

But either way this dude seems like he was bad news from the start. You'd be surprised how much some things can drive a human psyche away from normalcy. Somewhere in the thread someone mentions that their father's parent claimed they never really loved them. Now, you can be a great parent, you can be nice to your kid and treat em right and raise em with values and punish em when they're bad...but in the end if there is no parental bond, then it will shine through somehow. In my family, I feel distant from my parents...but in my case, rather than become a miscreant as a cry for help, I instead focused myself more toward my own independence.

In the end it actually really helped my relationship with my family, for what it's worth.

Either way I think we can all agree this is not video games' fault. Moreover, I was people would stop saying "Video Games" and start saying "That overrated crap series from Rockstar" so that people understand a little better that not all games are GTA.

 

[~*Logan*~]

Those parents were true troopers. For the real mother to fear for her life for her own son to be near her is frightening.

If they gave me money for a plane ticket, I'd hapilly fly down there, buy a baseball bat, and break both his arms and legs, take a piss on his eyeballs, take a dump in his mouth, and finally drag him all over the street as he clings for dear life while he's hanging off a rope tied to a truck.

I really don't think the parents would press charges. :yes:

 

[Optimus Prime]

Well firstly: I sit in a newspaper office for way too many hours every week and never got wind of this. So it must not be getting a lot of media attention. Which means two things:

1.) It's fake.
2.) It's not fake but it is very cut and dry, i.e. there's no story to tell.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/19/homeless.attacks/index.html

 

[Spunky]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/19/homeless.attacks/index.html

Whoa, they've even got a video interview with the guy. Man, what an idiot...

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Seems like that is a big problem.

A friend of mine once boxed a homeless guy but that was cause he was heckling him and following him and stuff. My friend doesn't look like a boxer but he was a local champ; he gave the dude a jab and then a quick right cross and the guy was on the ground, then he got the hell out of there.

Otherwise that's as close as its come around my way, at least.

 

[[S]]

Well firstly: I sit in a newspaper office for way too many hours every week and never got wind of this. So it must not be getting a lot of media attention. Which means two things:

1.) It's fake.
2.) It's not fake but it is very cut and dry, i.e. there's no story to tell.

If the dude killed someone and is going to be tried as an adult, they have definitive evidence, etc...then chances are the media would ignore it on such a small scale, unless they wanted to really play up the games made me do it angle, which most newsroom bosses would be too ****ing stupid to have a clue about either way.

At any rate some people are just bad ****ing news. This dude seems like he was.

As for Penny Arcade, I dunno about them. They seemed to have all these brave responses to Jack Thompson back when he was in full swing, and they seemed to have a lot of emails directly indicating them, which seems odd. If he's so uneducated about games themselves why would he know about Penny Arcade? Moreover, why would he single out Penny Arcade--ultimately, a comic strip and not much else? Who knows? Maybe they faked it all to amp themselves up on the front lines. Maybe it's all true. Regardless Thompson is a douchewax candle and thankfully the flame that propagates his stench is nigh extinguished.

But either way this dude seems like he was bad news from the start. You'd be surprised how much some things can drive a human psyche away from normalcy. Somewhere in the thread someone mentions that their father's parent claimed they never really loved them. Now, you can be a great parent, you can be nice to your kid and treat em right and raise em with values and punish em when they're bad...but in the end if there is no parental bond, then it will shine through somehow. In my family, I feel distant from my parents...but in my case, rather than become a miscreant as a cry for help, I instead focused myself more toward my own independence.

In the end it actually really helped my relationship with my family, for what it's worth.

Either way I think we can all agree this is not video games' fault. Moreover, I was people would stop saying "Video Games" and start saying "That overrated crap series from Rockstar" so that people understand a little better that not all games are GTA.

You work at a newspaper wouldn't it be obvious to you why Jack is against PA it's all over the net.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051019-5458.html

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

If it's not on the Associated Press or Reuters news wire services I don't usually catch wind of it till after the fact. Also, I usually don't do entertainment sections, so unless someone's dead or on trial over it I don't get all the details in the video game world from the wires.

Either way it's usually pretty busy, writing about murders and crime and taxes and the big dig and all that crap around here, so I never caught wind of what started it all, only the feud afterward. As much as the Jack Thompson thing is news to us, on the wires he and his antics are surprisingly indistinct. You know the adage; if it bleeds, it leads. So I never knew why he was all over Penny Arcade or why they were all over him. It makes a lot more sense now.


I'm glad they stepped up and stuck it to that douche.

 

[Morpherex]

Those parents were true troopers. For the real mother to fear for her life for her own son to be near her is frightening.

If they gave me money for a plane ticket, I'd hapilly fly down there, buy a baseball bat, and break both his arms and legs, take a piss on his eyeballs, take a dump in his mouth, and finally drag him all over the street as he clings for dear life while he's hanging off a rope tied to a truck.

I really don't think the parents would press charges. :yes:

:laff: I have a hunch that the parents did infact have part of it. The divorce?

 

[Eon]

Is it impossible to say that the child had an anti-social personality disorder?

http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-pe04.html

Diagnostic Criteria

1. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others
6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another
2. The individual is at least age 18 years.
3. There is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years.
4. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode.


Note the kid wasn't 18, but it could be the beginning of anti-sociality.

To sum that up, that is also called being a ****ing idiot. (Excluding Schizophrenia)

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Yeah. I love how there's diagnoses for every variety of human existence these days...