Comments on this news story...

[Brueskie]

This may be old news, but I just came across it myself:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar02/31536.asp

I figured this forum is as good as any to post it in.

Do you guys 'n' gals know anyone like this in any - including AO - mmorpgs you've played? Are you one? Were you one? I think I was borderline when I first started playing UO about 4 years ago. I've always had a pretty happening social life, and I think I'm a fairly attractive guy, but I still got sucked in, and friends and girls be damned. I probably played a good 40 to 50 hours a week at my worst. It was all just so new and exciting... and maddeningly addictive.

After the "wow" factor wore off - I'd say after about 4 to 5 months - I started playing less and less. Now I turn to mmorpgs to fill the gaps in my life when I just don't feel like going out, or the weather is ****ty or something and I want something to do (never been much of a TV guy). I still log on for at least a few minutes everyday, but I probably play no more than 10 hours a week total now.

[_________RK2 Descend]

See that is messed. If a dude is that addicted then his mom should have done something instead of justsitting back and watching. Its obvious the guy had other problems if he killed himself. They can't blame it all on EQ. that woman was just extracting her anger and sadness on EQ because she refuses to see the truth. She obviously was an irresponsible mother and instead of admitting the truth she just blames it on an easy target. i hope all y'all agree.

[Crazin_Azin]

A game, responsible for her kids suicide?

Please. Thats retarted. How about bad parenting? Stupid people? He was probably all coked up, and trippin on...something.


Why can people never accecpt faults? Like when some kids go shooting up their school, its "rock/rap that caused them to do it?"


HOW?! so rock, grabed this person, screwed up their perfectly sane, polished brain, and corrupted it? Oh please.


If some moron wants to kill themselves, its because they're screwed up in the head already. Playing a game might have been something they did, but it didn't make them go nuts, they were already there.


I love driving. I love it alot. I love cars. I read tons of car magazines. I have a stack of over 80 sitting here in my cubicle at work. If i drove my car around, and then killed myself, woud it be because of cars? HELLO NO. IT'd be because i was a moron, and obviously a supporter of darwin. Taking myself out of the gene pool.

People need to learn to think, and take respnosability for their own faults.


...buts thats just my 2 pesos

[_______________Forth]

(from the article)
"Shawn was playing 12 hours a day, and he wasn't supposed to because he was epileptic, and the game would cause seizures," she said.

Well, then. No case.

Show some responsibility.
Don't blame the game.

(sarcasm /on)

I love driving. I love it alot. I love cars. I read tons of car magazines. I have a stack of over 80 sitting here in my cubicle at work. If i drove my car around, and then killed myself, woud it be because of cars?

heh. of course not. obviously it was the fault of the magazine.

(sarcasm /off)

[_____________Krystka]

Ok sorry to be insensitive here.. but how can anyone blame a game for their own problems. Sorry I dont buy it.. and maybe I dont buy it because I dont have low self esteem.. and I have a social ring of friends who all play it (and got me into it) which I hang out with all the time.

I can admit to playing incessantly.. but thats usually during the week.. on weekends I usually go out.. because I have more tmie to do things wiht my friends. After a day at work.. I dont feel like going out.. so its just that much easier to have fun in AO.

Warning labels.. why not put warning lables on Pastacheo nut bags too. I think I have cut my fingers more times trying to open those than I have had problems because of a computer game.

[Brueskie]

I just wonder if the guy did kill himself because of something that happened to him in game as the doctor in the article speculates. If he really did off himself because he was unable to retrieve his corpse or something completely trivial like that, then, my god.

If it hadn't be EQ, it would have been something else, that's for sure.

[Zarrot]

Warning labels, hahahahahahaha

Do they stop smoking?
Do they stop drinking?
Do they stop kids from buying CD's with Explicit Lyrics?

Of Course, Not. It a pathetic attempt to make some money off her sons suicide. Is this any different than blaming Ozzy Osborne or Judas Priest for their music making kids kill themseves in the 80's?Or kids who thought they could fly after playing AD&D? You cannot blame someones psyciatric problems a song, a game or a TV show.

It is a way to avoid accepting responsibilty for poor upbringing, not stepping in eary enough, or any number of guilty feelings; real or imagined. It so easy to blame someone or something else to make those feelings go away.

My thoughts...

Darwin was right. Evolution marches on..survival of the fittest. If he couldn't sepearte Real Life from Game Life, I am glad when he went he didn't take anyone with him.

[____________Dr. Pain]

warning labels aren't there to prevent anything but future lawsuits.

I think it's something that will eventually come about however.

I personally have little sympathy for those who commit suicide.

one of my best friends that I'd known since I was five years old killed himself a few years back. I was sad, but I think it was stupid, and a bit cowardly.

I also feel that it's not what a person is addicted to that's the problem. it's what drove them to be addicted that needs to be addressed.

that's my 2 creds.

[garudaprime]

When i first read this article I thought many of the same things that have been posted above. However upon a little further reflection i would ask you to let me say something that may not be right in the truest sense, but is more sympathetic than above posts.

A mother lost her son to suicide.

try for a second(although im sure not to many readers are mothers) to put yourself in her shoes. Im not justifiying what has happened nor do I have have all the facts, but I would think seriously about this as a simple human tradgety rather than an excuse to call a bereaved mother or her dead son morons or moronic.

Can you imagine what the loss of your child to suicide might feel like. Personally it makes me sad. Perhaps his mother is irrational in a lawsuit, but we see she cant understand what EQ is or how it really works. and verant doesnt seem to be helping her to understand either.

I just like to look at things from both sides, I dont think eq is to blame but I also dont feel anger towards a woman whos son took his own life, and now wants an explanation. Was she a bad mother? who knows, I dont and neither do you. So have a bit of compassion.

As an aside i found the best part of the article to be the endorsement of d&d as a social activity more healthy than a video game. So few positive things get said about the mother of all roleplaying games.

[Bystander]

From the article

" A psychologist diagnosed him with depression and schizoid personality disorder, symptoms of which include a lack of desire for social relationships, little or no sex drive and a limited range of emotions in social settings.

"This fed right into the EverQuest playing," Woolley said. "It was the perfect escape.""

Surely if he was trying to avoid social relationships playing an MMOG isn't the way to go. After all MMOG(s) unlike games like Quake are not about skill/reward gratification. The level/mission treadmill may attract some people. But if someone gave you a copy of AO that was played offline where everyone else was computer controlled and you still had to pay monthly I can't imagine you'd last more than a day. Hmmm!

Also this quote cracked me up,

"The manufacturer of EverQuest purposely made it in such a way that it is more intriguing to the addict," Parker said. "It could be created in a less addictive way, but (that) would be the difference between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine."

Ooh you nasty, cynical, exploiters Funcom!

[Engineress]

"Parker said people who are isolated, prone to boredom, lonely or sexually anorexic are much more susceptible to becoming addicted to online games. Having low self-esteem or poor body image are also important factors, he said."

Insult the boy, go on.

Oh and us.

[Zarrot]

Originally posted by diatribe
Surely if he was trying to avoid social relationships playing an MMOG isn't the way to go. After all MMOG(s) unlike games like Quake are not about skill/reward gratification. The level/mission treadmill may attract some people. But if someone gave you a copy of AO that was played offline where everyone else was computer controlled and you still had to pay monthly I can't imagine you'd last more than a day. Hmmm!

Think about it this way... You have a low self esteem in RL. Say you are overweight, balding, and stutter in RL. You have a hard time meeting people and making friends because of your low self image.

Now, in MMOG, you can be whoever and what every you want. Plus, the fear of rejection is less because it is not a face to face rejection. He was probably very social in game. He probably did many things in game that he was afraid to do in RL. At first it was a game and if anything went wrong he could chalk it up to being just a game. Then eventually game life became better than real life and the line disappeared.....

See that one college psych course wasn't a complete waste of time

[Psyonis]

Oh no.. Not this again.

Remember the days of D&D where stuff like this happened.

Anyone remember the movie Mazes & Monsters with Tom Hanks, it was based on this sort of thing where someone goes crazy due to being addicted to D&D.

[____________Dr. Pain]

I remember that movie!

it sucked

my younger brothers took things like that to heart and threw out their whole collection of books and lead figures. they still wish they hadn't done that to this day.

[_______FeloniousPunk]

Originally posted by Garuda
I just like to look at things from both sides, I dont think eq is to blame but I also dont feel anger towards a woman whos son took his own life, and now wants an explanation. Was she a bad mother? who knows, I dont and neither do you. So have a bit of compassion.

Look, I feel for her loss and am very sorry that her son took his own life. I have experience with the problem of suicide and I know just how it can devastate a family. However, the process of grieving does not include being awarded the right to go and meddle in other peoples' legitimate pursuit of happiness. She has every right to grieve; she has no right to get some sort of compensation at the expense of gaming companies and millions of their customers. If she's not adult enough to realize that personal loss doesn't give her special social rights, she will unfortunately learn that lesson at the hands of the cruel, cold world. Peoples' sympathies will turn to (justifiable) anger.

As an aside i found the best part of the article to be the endorsement of d&d as a social activity more healthy than a video game. So few positive things get said about the mother of all roleplaying games.

Positive? Those remarks were a bit cheeky considering the source. These statements come from the same ridiculous reporters and quack shrinks who made the exact same accusations against D&D 20 years ago. Go back and look - the things they accuse video games of doing now, was all D&D's fault back in the day. Laughed myself silly reading that.