Nicklas Johnson · morons.org - Weak Attempt to Link Maryland Sniper to Video Games Already

Morons in the News: Weak Attempt to Link Maryland Sniper to Video Games Already

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The media and the insane "for the children" people are already trying to link the recent Maryland sniper shootings to video games...
Posted by spatula on Oct. 10, 2002 18:04 UTC
52 comments from readers. Join the discussion!

Sorry I don't have a URL on this yet. I hope to have something confirmable later, but I wanted to get this out. Consider this unconfirmed stupidity please.

Someone's already been on CNN trying to link the recent sniper shootings in Maryland to first-person shooter games. I think we all expected this would happen eventually, but it seems like folks usually wait until after the killer is caught or kills himself or the killings stop before they start blaming everything on music, video games, and movies.

I've only heard this in passing, but the theory seems to be that because most first-person shooters have a "God" mode, and this guy left a tarot card that said "I am God", that must mean there's some kind of connection. What utter nonsense. Next they'll be taking the terrorist attack angle and saying that the guy learned to shoot by playing video games (last year we were supposed to believe that the terrorist pilots learned how to fly with Microsoft Flight Simulator).

As soon as this lunacy hits the online version of CNN or some other paper, I'll post an update.

---Nick

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Posted by In_Flames on Oct. 10, 2002 18:19

*laughs* I can't aim while taking a piss after 2 hours of video games so what is this fool talking about? Anyways, lets have an Amendment Face-Off. Right to Bear Arms (Automatics and Long Range Rifles) against Freedom of Speech (Video Games). While this is taking place, certainly the NRA will continue to hum loudly and and keep it's hands in it's pockets.

doggiebiscuit: But remember, a while back a judge ruled that video games were not protected...

Squidface: Don't forget, the ruling was based off of three of the more violent video...

doggiebiscuit: They probably botched the title of Resident Evil, but yeah.

Posted by Aragorn from Colorado on Oct. 10, 2002 18:58

here's some linkage for you.

Yeah I can't see how learning to shoot with a keyboard and a mouse would help you with the real thing. It just doesn't make sense...of course, the people who don't like viedo games don't make sense either.

Posted by MusingMelpomene from Sacrafuckingmento on Oct. 10, 2002 19:30

I'm waiting for them to say "see, told you Tarot was EVIL!" and ban tarot cards.

AntiSane: Good thing my favorite deck is years old...

jre: YOu have a Tarot deck? TERRORIST SYMPATHIZER!

Posted by Mom23bouncers from Missouri on Oct. 10, 2002 19:32

huuuuummmmmm I have m-16 training guess I could do this to. ACtually I think I would be more likely and able to than a teen that has been practicing on a video game.

Posted by LordDaMan from Pittsburgh, PA on Oct. 10, 2002 19:52

They are all nuts. By thier standreds, I shoudl have shot up this town quite a few times by now (I started on *gasp* doom) Sure sometimes the videogames are the basis of actauly simulators (battlezone was used by teh army, hard driving was a alternative to the old driving simulators of the 70s), but using it to traint o kill someone? Firing a gun is far far differnt in real life, epsecilay a high powered sniper gun. Just can't get that feeling form a videogame.

Lets also go over the fact this is pulled out of thier asses with abosulty nothing to back it up, no troubles child playing doom, nothing of the sort..

anthacker5: eh, to be fair the gun he using isn't high powered at all. .223 = not very good...

Griff: I agree, but he is making do. .223 or 5.56 is an intermediate round with an...

GWTPict: 5.56mm is standard NATO calibre so I don't think it really counts as...

Squidface: Maybe they refer to all chemical rifles as "high-powered," as opposed to...

H0lyC0w: NATO ammo is preferred because it's so easliy available. I've won gold medals...

LordDaMan: Ok, I didn't read up onw hat gun it was. Still though, doesn't chnage the fact...

Posted by splorp! from Milky Way on Oct. 10, 2002 20:01

Video games have no effect on people. Hell, remember Pacman? If it had an effect on people, there'd be a lot of pill-popping and moving around to repetitive music.

(stolen. can't remember original source)

splorp! Evil Bastard

In_Flames: I created a reasonance cascade after playing Half-Life.

plugh: So THAT'S where raves came from.

Griff: Pill poping or people running around eating ghosts.

Tonyschmo: Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd...

Posted by 42_23 on Oct. 10, 2002 20:05

If all this 'video games make people kill' stuff was in any way legit, why wasn't there a huge uproar over the government-funded "America's Army"?

In_Flames: Ah, the good ol' American double-standard.

Posted by fatNINJA on Oct. 10, 2002 20:38

Guns bad! bla bla bla Video games bad! bla bla bla.

Freedom bad! (Coming soon to socialistic USA near you.)

Pansy Bedwetter: yeah, becasue we're allowed SOOOOOO much freedom from our captitalistic...

fatNINJA: Well that should be an indicator that the feds dont respect our authority. Does...

Phalamir: The sentiment that citizens can overthrow the govt is in the Declaration of...

Posted by kallahan from wyoming, michigan on Oct. 10, 2002 21:12

hehe, I've played MS flight sim, and I've piloted an aircraft (same aircraft in game too Cessena 180) and the experiences were totally different. by the by www.beapilot.com for 50 bucks per halve hour flight with instructor it is not only cheap but is increadably cool, it was the best day of my life.

Posted by plugh from US on Oct. 10, 2002 21:50

Just today, I saw a little flyer showing a map of the DC area, and all the locations of the various shooting areas connected by a yellow Hi-Liter in such a manner as to kinda sorta resemble a cross. The caption on that was along the lines of "See? Christ's wounds reflected in the DC area shootings. God is good" or something on that order. There was even a crucifix shown next to the little map so people could make a comparison for themselves.

Shit. Fundies. More Jack, please.

Rusty-Nail-In-Tacked-Up-Hippy: UNDER GOD!

Pansy Bedwetter: **laughs** God is so good that he/she/it is painting out a message over a map...

hypatia: If you've read the OT carefully this makes perfect sense.

Posted by slv138 from Madison, WI on Oct. 10, 2002 22:26

Too bad. Something Awful beat them to it this time. They had this article up last week already... quite amusing.

Technogeek: And the forums were even better, with the bit about the 'I am God' message...

Posted by Shadowen on Oct. 10, 2002 23:37

They didn't even mention that players generally can't enter "God mode" in multiplay, and those who do or those who hack so they can are looked down upon, appropriately, as cheating fucking bastards.

And the "one-shot, one kill" thing comes from some players just thinking, "Ya know, I shouldn't be able to keep running and shooting after a rocket went off two feet to my right."

Oh, and that a lot of games have the anti-terrorist angle these days.

Posted by Kunzite on Oct. 11, 2002 24:04

The major argument isn't so much that you can be invulnerable, one way or another, in a game. It's generally that it desensitizes people to violence and the idea of a person dying. The idea being that the more realistic it is when you pop up the sniper rifle and plug the guy in the watchtower in the head, if you do it enough you blur the line between reality and fiction and the horror doesn't sink in, leading you to think violence is an easy solution blah blah blah. I don't really buy it. To some extent, yes, it may desensitize people. But to cross that line in reality, that's another step entirely. Humanity is a violent species. We kill to protect our own. I don't think that kids in the Balkans or Palestinian bombers have a lot of access to the Navy SEALS game, but they don't have much of a problem shredding their enemies like meat. A culture of violence will beget violence, and to that extent children who receive no counterbalancing guidance may end up with warped ideas about society from their entertainment choices. But it's not an inevitability. It comes down to a conscious decision and lack of self control. I too grew up on Wolfenstein and Doom, and I delight in playing Goldeneye. But I can clearly demarcate my fantasy adventures from my conduct in real life (no matter how much I may think someone deserves a shot to the kneecap ^_^v). And any rational, thinking adult should be able to do that as well.

Posted by SMOKE POT on Oct. 11, 2002 01:09

I play Counter-strike all the time. It and other games put out by Sierra are probably the best, most accurate, most violent first person shooters there are today. I PLAY THESE GAMES.

I ALSO HAVE SHOT REAL GUNS.

A real gun is in no way like a vidrogame. A video game can give you semblance of reality, but you do not have the movement, sights, aim, or state of mind when firing a real gun. Video games and real life are both very, very different. Any link to shootings and videogames is pure bullshit.

Random Guest: I have Doom, Quake, HL, and AvP. I also have rifle merit badge. While FPSs...

Posted by gr00vey on Oct. 11, 2002 05:49

Although I doubt a causal relationship, and even if there IS one, there is no reason to ban games or anything ( I am a serious gamer myself) however, there ARE alot of parallels. There are also alot of parallels to differing works of fiction though too. As far as "desnsitazation", I do think to some degree it can occur, but once again, this is no reason to ban any games.....

Posted by dryfly from Annapolis, Maryland on Oct. 11, 2002 09:45

I mean why would we want to blame the PARENTS for not raising their children properly and keeping them away from such games....

I suppose some of these people would LIKE the government dictating their lives for them.

Derrrr...

Posted by Zpeed on Oct. 11, 2002 09:46

People play violent video games because humans are violent by nature, they do not become violent because they play video games. History is full of violence, it is not full of video games.

Posted by Pansy Bedwetter on Oct. 11, 2002 10:21

Crap. Forgot to log in. Hellrat here.

Yeah, link to video games my ass. Quick, cheap, and stupid excuse for a complex problem.

I used to play Counter-Strike all the time. A little bit of QIII and UT here and there, but primarily CS, which is modeled after 'real' weapons.

First off, I'm a gun owner. A handgun, in fact. Anyone who thinks one can learn how to shoot properly (with any hope of ever hitting anything) from a video game is definitely NOT drug-free. Rifles are pretty simple to use and easy to aim with, but 99.9% of video gamers couldn't hit a cow in the ass from 100 yards with most rifles, nevermind from the outer effective reaches of many rifles (500-600m).

And hanguns, ha! The same percentage of people would struggle to hit a man-sized target from more than 50 feet. It takes a lot of practice with the same weapon to get really good at it. A LOT of practice is needed to hit moving targets from a few hundred yards with any weapon. This guy did not learn how to do this from a video game.

And about the Flight Simulator/Terrorist correlation: Ha! My game of choice (CS) was long ago replaced by IL-2 Sturmovik, a fairly 'realistic' flight simulator. I have also taken the yoke of my uncle's Piper and rented Cessnas a few times, although I'm not a licensed pilot. The two have little to nothing in common. Flight simulators are so dummied down compared to their real-life couterparts (airplanes); you can simply not integrate ALL of the control functions on a WWII aircraft, let alone a modern airliner into a gaming stick and a keyboard. You can start to understand the basic dynamics of flight with a simulator, but little else.

Posted by Shadowen on Oct. 11, 2002 10:58

Figured I should throw this in.

I have played (ahem): Unreal Tournament, Quake I, II, III, Doom shareware, Doom II, Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast, Deus Ex, Half-Life, Morrowind, etc.

Last summer I went gopher hunting with my dad. All was fine until I saw one gopher crawling away, its intestines hanging out. I was pretty much half-hearted for the rest of the night, deliberately missing each shot, and I didn't go gopher hunting again.

Tonyschmo: I hope to gawd you don't eat the gophers you shoot.

Posted by magenta on Oct. 11, 2002 15:23

That's a pretty weak argument. They could at LEAST try something relevant, like citing the game Silent Scope or something.

Posted by Guy in front of a computer on Oct. 11, 2002 15:59

I find incredibly impossible to learn how to shoot a gun by playing videogames. Most games already have bad targeting systems (GTA3 anyone?) and toy guns can hardly take the place of a real one. Of course things like this is always an opportunity to get rid of something and advance one's political career.

Posted by Squidface on Oct. 11, 2002 16:29

I play video games and dont kill people! Blah blah blah! I don't read the other comments!

Yes, we're all aware that video games are almost nothing like real life. You don't need to chime in that video games aren't anything like *your* experiences, either.

Posted by hypatia on Oct. 11, 2002 17:58

Since sociopathy has been directly linked to early childhood neglect, shouldn't the FOR THE CHILDREN, UNDER GOD start thinking about what's wrong with the foster care system already?!?

hypatia: that's the FOR THE CHILDREN, UNDER GOD *crowd* my bad

Posted by Pariah from Silicon Valley on Oct. 13, 2002 16:16

All the Moore reason to go and see that new movie 'Bowling For Columbine', eh?

'Video games causing violence'? Heh; try, 'Video games letting people blow-off steam before they do something horrible in the real world'.

Try this link on for size: http://www.dansdata.com/psycho.htm

I remember back in the Columbine freak-out days putting-up a bunch of these posters at a local high-school. Principal tried claiming that the public school was private property; good thing I'm a tax-paying citizen and I know my rights. A shame that the posters I put up didn't stay up longer; the principal had his Hitler Youth Group (oops, I mean, Christian Club) take them all down to get around my right to post on public property without interference.

Oh well.

Posted by Purple Proze from Central Florida on Oct. 13, 2002 20:30

Like the great philosopher Chris Rock once said..."What happened to just plain CRAZY??!"

Posted by Someone_Here on Oct. 14, 2002 11:05

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62921-2002Oct8.html

link to a story about various stories, quite humorous