India Broadband Forum

Evander Leopold

The following is an excerpt from BBC NEWS :
17:52 GMT, Tuesday, 13 January 2009



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A US teenager killed his mother and wounded his father in revenge after they took away his violent computer game, a judge has ruled.

The defence team for Daniel Petric, 17, had argued his addiction to the Halo 3 game, in which players shoot invading aliens, had made him insane.

But the judge rejected this, saying he had planned revenge for weeks.

Petric, of Ohio, was tried as an adult and faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole.

On the night of the shooting in October 2007, Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9mm handgun and the game, the court heard.

His father Mark, who was shot in the head and survived, testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."

He said he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from the gunshot.

The Associated Press news agency reports that Microsoft, which owns the intellectual property for the game, declined to comment beyond a statement saying: "We are aware of the situation and it is a tragic case."

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link: BBC NEWS | Americas | Teen killed mother in Halo 3 row

Admin

That is well out of order... does anyone here play this game is it that addictive?

sb21pro

as far as i remember its for consoles only , wat a dude , killed a parent for a game, wow!!

Evander Leopold

This game is for consoles only (xbox and ps3). There are much more addictive games than this one.

We cant blame the game for this tragic incident. Its the mental state of kids these days. I think the current social environment is driving us to such an uncertain future. Such incidents have happened throughout history, but the raise in numbers is our concern.

ShAdOwCoN

^ Not true

Halo[xp] and Halo 2[vista] are present for PC also

I have played these games ..... Yeah its a good game but not addictive

Its not the best game i have ever played or anything like that

shocking news .....

Evander Leopold

HALO 1 & 2 have been released for PC but HALO 3 has not been released for pc yet. The game in question is HALO 3.

ShAdOwCoN

ok

udayan

Haven't played Halo 3, but if it is anything like Halo 1 or 2 then it is certainly not going to be addictive or ultraviolent. There are many other games which qualify: Postal 2, Blood, Soldier of Fortune etc. In Postal 2 you could behead someone with a spade and then set the head on fire with gasoline and a zippo.

This kid here must be soft in the head or must have been on somethin' like meth or harder. No point in blamin' games. I like to blow heads with a Dragunov Sniper Rifle in PC games but can't stand the sight of an accident victim in real life. Its all mental.

ShAdOwCoN

^ They have a word for that i think ... squeamish

sb21pro

i played halo pc versions as well, its not that addictive

StarK

i only play race simulation games and unreal tournament goty edition sometimes... nothing else.... at least he himself dint die , he will be playing in jail now ,

there r blokes in china or somewhere who died after playing continuously for hours on end...

just how addicted can some1 get... it just keeps getting grimer n grimmer...

maybe in future some1 will go on a killing spree just to recreate a game in real life!

pjaveed

luckily Indians (even kids) are more mature, or at least I like to think so...

I certainly think there are other factors behind kids shooting others, least of which will be addiction to a video game.

You guys are right, Halo (1/2/3) isn't that addictive in single player mode. In multiplayer mode it is!

saurav_k

these kind of criminal activities inspired from games have happened in the past also ... this reminded me of a news (few months old) - a gta addict stopped a taxi in malasiya , and took control of the car ... hitting a few other vehicles and killing a few on road ... after this and probably a few other incidents like this in the past GTA has been banned in malasiya Malaysian Consumer Group Calls for GTA Ban | GamePolitics

StarK

yup i too remember the news... gta is very addictive.

saurav_k

GTA is no doubt addictive .. but doing criminal activities on playing a game is a psychic behaviour and games should not be banned for such behaviour of a few individuals

Mr.Tooth Fairy

its basically the childs mentaliy rather than the impression for addiction for such games.. i agree with evander. ..

Evander Leopold

AHhhh.................someone please lend me a shotgun !!!!! I think i just saw a zombie, or maybe an alien....... quick, hurry up !!!

vikramjb

Being addicted to a particular game or habit is directly related to how much will power one has. In this case, the kid had done. And moreover he is 17 and so is capable of thinking maturely, its just a overload of the game. One other aspect to be considered is the fact that most of the kids are socially reclusive. They tend to pretend having larger than life attitude in the game life but not much of it in real life. The constant battering to his mind (maybe a loss in the game) might have been the reason for this.

There are de-addiction clinics present in some countrie's to counter measure this kinda disability. In his case, he just crossed the final phase.

Yeah, the next we know would be terrorists being recruited from these game servers

puchu

Well I have been playing games since I bought my PC, I have played Farcry,Crysis,HALO,Hitman,GTA VC and SA, all of them are bloody and violent,and believe me,I play so much that my hands go numb and I have to sit back for two minutes before I start over again, but I think its not the game which affects,its the age and the nature of the person, the ability of reasoning.

saurav_k

you mentioned the exact three reasons for such behaviour. but actually, psychos dont really need any reason.