Chinese Teen Burns Classmate, Blames World Of Warcraft
By Earnest Cavalli EmailDecember 21, 2007 | 2:27:18 PMCategories: Legal Matters

Firemage After losing a schoolyard fight, a 17-year-old boy in Beijing recently covered a classmate with gasoline and lit him on fire, claiming he “had lost himself in World of Warcraft and when he committed the crime he had transformed into a Fire Mage.”

The boy has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay the victim and his family a restitution of 760,000 RMB (approximately $103,140 USD).

In light of the recent “Mortal Kombat killings,” we’re hesitant to believe the claims of any youth who says they have been influenced by a video game into violence. In this case, though, we believe him simply because China lacks our American legal system that allows people to claim “games made me do it,” and subsequently shift all blame to the game’s creators.

While this crime is both shocking and bizarre, we have to applaud the Chinese officials for offering a sane punishment as response. Had this occurred here in the United States, the blame would have landed squarely on Blizzard, and a multi-million dollar lawsuit followed by a governmental inquiry into the evils of World of Warcraft (possibly helmed by Tipper Gore) wouldn’t be at all surprising.

via: blog.wired.com
and: bbb.typepad.com

“had lost himself in World of Warcraft and when he committed the crime he had transformed into a Fire Mage.” <– OMG

Taking police stereotypes to new levels, the donut devourers will now sit on their asses indoors all day, associating with people who engage in online rape, online prostitution, online human sacrifices, and my personal favorite, online summoners of dildo storms. These are the people that the police are willing to hire to solve online crimes — the people who are usually responsible for them. Not the well organized World of Warcraft guild members. Instead they’d rather start their online exploration in a world full of weirdos and sexual deviants. I can’t wait to see headlines in six months when they hire a hacker who infiltrates their own database to pull off a real world crime, and then frames the police officers as the prime suspects.

via: thelastboss.com

I am not really sure what to think. Mostly it seems to me that the comparison between rape and cyber-rape is offensive in it self, which Regina Lynn actually writes:

But I have a hard time calling it “rape,” or believing it’s a matter for the police. No matter how disturbed you are by a brutal sexual attack online, you cannot equate it to shivering in a hospital with an assailant’s sweat or other excretions still damp on your body.

but goes on:

That’s not to say I dismiss the trauma a person suffers after being raped online. Virtual rape is not just a prank, one the target needs to get over or expect as part of a role-playing world. (And if you are inclined to pooh-pooh this, first read author Julian Dibble’s chapter about a rape that occurred in a text-only MOO in the early ’90s.)

A virtual rape is by definition sudden, explicit and often devastating. If you’ve never immersed yourself in online life, you might not realize the emotional availability it takes to be a regular member of an internet community. The psychological aspects of relating are magnified because the physical aspects are (mostly) removed.

Well, it’s just a very very odd article… Maybe people are just taking the whole on line think a bit to seriously.

I haven’t read wired for a while (since I don’t like to pay for 50% adds…) and I find that the quality of the product has dropped.

Teen put in hospital by 36-year-old man as a result of stock shortages

While it’s normally hardware launches that prompt violence and silliness, it would seem that recently reviewed title Gears of War reached such a level of hype that some customers were actually prepared to use their fists to secure themselves a copy.

According to reports currently floating around the internet, a 15-year-old boy was attacked and actually put into hospital by a 36-year-old man who kicked off in a queue outside a branch of Gamestop in Detroit.

Apparently, the argument developed after store clerks informed the crowd that stocks were running out, at which point the 36-year-old customer attempted to cut in line and when challenged swore at and repeatedly punched the 15-year-old who was to receive the last copy of the game.

Naturally the police were called and the man was arrested for aggravated assault and is currently awaiting arraignment at a local correctional facility.

The kid on the other hand was so badly beaten that he had to go to hospital for treatment to wounds on his face, head and neck. The real bummer though is he doesn’t even have his rightful copy of Gears of War to play as he mends either – this is currently being held by police as evidence.

via: 360-gamer.com

WOW – imagine that. The weird thing is that now I need to try that game, if it has that much emo-impact, it could be addictively good – or maybe the man just forgot to take his medication?

A guy makes a fumble. Nothing too bad, but he messes up.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Second one far worse – these geeks are having a funeral online (for a person that died in real life)….

Click here to view the embedded video.

jonnym2006(5 days ago)

its funny what they did but its cruel aswell, and all you fuckers who say its sad to have a funeral in game how could you say good bye to some who died and you never knew them outside the game, its a cool thing to do but go alliance that was completly ownage

More comments on: youtube and here

Seems reality and gaming are converging. Then its not a game any more is it?

Here is the link to the raiding clans forum beware here be foul language.

One member of that forum speaks of e-terror:

Last I checked, we didn’t suppress unarmed, nonviolent protesters with gunfire and tanks because they weren’t big on Communism.

Last I checked, we didn’t explode packed discos in Tel Aviv because we believed the Jews were squatters on our turf.

Last I checked, we didn’t herd people into boxcars to be funneled into ovens because a house painter with a funny mustache believed that they were the reason he was poor, shiftless, and couldn’t get laid by blonde women.

No matter what you may think about the funeral, comparing its perpetrators in proportion — that means in sheer scale of disaster, and by implication BLOODSHED, and BODY COUNT — to the perpetrators of the acts described above is stupidity beyond words. If that was not the logic you meant to imply, you chose your words poorly at best.

It was a childish thing to do, yes. Perhaps I’ve simply been jaded by seeing many more, equally immature acts of e-terror perpetuated on the Internet, and have lost what society would consider a normal perspective on electronic memorial disruption. But comparing a bunch of chuckleheaded twenty-somethings behind keyboards with headsets to the greatest mass murderers in the history of man — that’s messed the fuck up.

I wasn’t even at the damn funeral and I still get tells every fucking time I boot the game up from self-appointed crusaders of justice about what a horrible human being I am. It’s like people believe they can make up for the fact that they can’t yell at Hitler, or Stalin, or the imperial Japanese of World War II, or the 9/11 hijackers about the far more heinous things THEY did because I’m only a /w away. At times I find it amusing, but now I’m mostly fed up with it. I am not an accessory to e-murder. I am not an apologist for a bunch of amoral punks on the Internet. My name is Benjamin Reed, and I play a goddamned video game.

Now get the fuck over it.

And one of their clan leader via: www.serenity-now.org

New and Improved!

Dear Guest No. 297,410,628 to our forums:

Before you make some assinine posts either praising what a few people in our guild did, or bringing your “new” perspective on why it was terrible and the people responsible will burn in hell forever, please be aware of the following things:

1) THIS IS OLD FUCKING NEWS.

This happened a long, long time ago. We have heard EVERY possible perspective on why its good, why its bad, whatever. If you think that you are bringing something new to the discussion, FROM EITHER SIDE, you’re wrong. Everything that can be said has already been said.

This event has become a fascinating study on the time delay of things spreading across the internet. Here at “ground zero”, this was pretty much a dead topic the day it happened. But then every one of you retards with a modem and an internet browser stumbles across it on a forum somewhere and thinks its hot-off-the-presses and urgent. If you are just now hearing about this – ESPECIALLY if you play the game World of Warcraft – you are in the internet cultural equivalent of Wyoming. Congrats on finding out this hot information – while you’re at it, go buy some zippered parachute pants and some neon clothing…I’m sure they are in style where you live.

2) THIS WAS NOT A TOTAL “GUILD” ACTIVITY

You saw 20 of out of a possible 250 or so characters in our guild. Believe it or not, this wasn’t some grand scheme by our guild leaders, who stayed up all night in their hotel in the 7th layer of hell plotting it. This was by a group of people, who also happened to be in our guild, that were trying to prove a point. The players in SN that weren’t involved are NOT guilty by association, or likewise we are not “OMGWTFYOUGUYSAREAWESOMEWILLUSIGNMYYEARBOOK?!?!” either. Credit or fault, whichever flavor you are after, should be directed to the people involved.

For the record, some of us (me included) weren’t really wild about it. But just because I’m in a guild with them doesn’t mean I have to the right to tel lthem what to do, or judge them. I don’t have to quit the guild because of what they did. It doesn’t change who I am as a person in real life. Believe it or not, I remain good friends with most of the people who were involved, even though I was 100% against it. I know, an amazing concept I’m sure.

3) WE DON’T CARE.

No really, see #1 again. We’re over this. If you’re gotta vent to make yourself feel better or resolve whatever emo bullshit this sparked inside of you, do it I guess. But you will accomplish nothing by posting here. We’ve moved on. The people against it have probably even moved on at this point. The only people who could legitiimatlyhave a right to give a crap have already spoken their minds.

4) NO, YOU CAN’T JOIN OUR GUILD.

You think because some of our members crashed a funeral that this is what we do ALL the time? Not even the sickest member of our guild is fucked up like that. What the hell is wrong with some of you? Yeah, its great that you thought it was awesome that we wrecked a funeral…we’ll be sure to accept that level 1 night elf rogue RIGHT FUCKING NOW. We have really good players, with good raiding gear, that we turn down all the time….what makes you think we want some freakshow like you? Go away.

5) BONUS FOR THE 5% OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE AND ACTUALLY HAVE THE ATTENTION SPAN TO READ THIS WHOLE THING:

Please summarize this message for your dumber friends into easily digestible Cliff’s Notes, and send them scurrying back to whatever hole they came out of. Those of you who are smart can stay.

————————————————-

OTHER OPINION:

I enjoy the attention. No, you can’t join our guild. Whatever you post here, we’ve heard before. And the UI mod used by every single player in SN is cosmos. If you don’t think so, just read the readme for cosmos, the info is in there.

Amazing – WOW is just a game, and yet it has IRL implications that is way beyond what we have seen before in gaming.

Thats simply so wrong but God almighty it is also really really cool :D

A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software “bots” to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash.

The Chinese exchange student was arrested by police in Kagawa prefecture, southern Japan, the Mainichi Daily News reports.

Several players had their characters beaten and robbed of valuable virtual objects, which could have included the Earring of Wisdom or the Shield of Nightmare. The items were then fenced through a Japanese auction website, according to NCsoft, which makes Lineage II. The assailant was a character controlled by a software bot, rather than a human player, making it unbeatable.

Whole story @ newscientist