Video games don’t make our industry look bad, gamers do
Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 1:12pm by Boss Hog
What’s the first response from wise-crack gamers after two, drunk and cruel, teenagers from Colorado killed a 7-year-old girl with supposed Mortal Kombat moves? “Flawless Victory” said one Digg commenter. “Fatality” said another on Kotaku, admittedly in bad taste.
How about showing some class, my fellow gamers? Maybe I’m extra sensitive, being that I’m the father of two little girls, but c’mon. Games don’t make our favorite hobby look bad, gamers do.
Mortal Kombat named in teen killing of 7-year-old girl [GamePro]
December 20th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
GOURANGA
December 20th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Mortal Kombat moves? I’ve heard of tragedies involving wrestling moves and such but this is just ridiculous.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
“Maybe I’m extra sensitive”
Hell no, this is a tragedy (and is certainly this pair of assholes fault, not Ed Boon) and anyone making fun of this does not have the right call himself human.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
finish her! OPPS BAD TASTE
December 20th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
What I don’t get is that the article stated that they kicked and punched the girl…… Doesn’t EVERY fighter do that? In fact, doesn’t pretty much every action movie do that? I think its another media propaganda against the industry.
On the gamer note, yes, the same people who made those tasteless remarks are probably the same people that participate in “e-thuggery” and make racial remarks. And if you are over 20 years old making those remarks…. That is just sad. Really sad
December 20th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I understand how you feel Blake. Being the father of two myself I certainly don’t find anything funny about the death of this young girl. This is a real tradgedy and should definately not be treated as a joke.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Every fighter does do that, but the “babysitters” cited Mortal Kombat (or rather, “Combat”.) I don’t know whether to believe that they truly were acting it out or whether they’re trying to pass the blame onto videogames, but either way both deserve major jail time.
“Games don’t make our favorite hobby look bad, gamers do.”
More like, “Games don’t make our favorite hobby look bad, irresponsible scum and media bias/agendas do.” If you think a few comments in poor taste are the thing to focus on with this story, you’ve got the wrong idea.
My heart goes out to the parents and family of the girl, and I’m also saddened (but not to the same extent) that this story only got noticeable attention because of its “link” to videogames.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
“Yeah, she told me to stop,” he said. When asked why he didn’t stop, he replied, “I don’t know; I was drunk.”
Regardless of content in the game, the only people responsible for this death are these kids and the poor choices they made. Accept responsibility. I don’t even know if you can blame parents on this one.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Why couldn’t he do a Friendship? A drunken breakdance with a slap would have been perfect. I blame this one Armageddon, it only had fatalities, but I think this situation would be much worse if he tried to do a babality. More like rapality.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
This is just horrible. A damn tragety. Why aren’t there as many programs againsed teen drinking as there are groups of people blaming video games for violent actions?
December 20th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Yeah. As pointed out in the IGN Video Mailbag, we have the super-conservative politicians pointing their fingers at gamers and then the gaming community backlashing with useless flaming and neither sides have any proof for anything.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
To gojiguy: The super conservative politicians you say? I don’t really think conservative has anything to do with it. I understand the point you’re making but I think the liberals have been pointing even more fingers than the GOP.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
“…anyone making fun of this does not have the right call himself human.”
“And if you are over 20 years old making those remarks…. That is just sad. Really sad”
I can understand wanting to point out the immaturity of these people, they were immature, insensitive comments, funny or not. But get off your god damn high horse and get a sense of humor. I can’t stand it when people try to act more adult than something else by declaring a topic off limits to comedy. Nothing is off limits and for anyone who was offended by what a bunch of nameless, faceless gamers said anonymously online, well… That is just sad. Really sad.
This was a terrible tragedy, and being the parent of an 18 month little girl, I feel awful for the girl’s parents. But you have to be tough enough to be able to laugh at just about anything in this world and nothing is ever off limits. I didn’t read a single comment anywhere where a gamer mentioned that girl’s death in a positive manner, just some jokes about how the crime was linked to Mortal Kombat. I was happy to see those comments. For me “FATALITY!” just about perfectly sums up how absurd this entire news story really is. I can’t wait for the special episode of The O’Reilly factor.
In fact, the first thing I thought of was, “You mean people are still playing Mortal Kombat? Why?”
December 20th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
“This is just horrible. A damn tragety. Why aren’t there as many programs againsed teen drinking as there are groups of people blaming video games for violent actions?”
+10 points to Jake for saying exactly what I was going to say.
-3 for misspelling “Tragedy” and “Against”.
But yeah: the real reason behind this is drinking. “Why did you not stop?” “I don’t know, I was drunk”. They have no direct quote claiming anything about video games, or even more specifically, Mortal Kombat.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
What year are we in?! SERIOUSLY IS IT 1995 AGAIN?!
THIS IS NOT NINTENDO RELATED NEWS, NOR IS IT VIDEO GAME RELATED AT ALL.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:24 am
@boisv
I don’t think it unfair to say that if it was you, you wouldn’t be so kind to say that it’s free game to make such inappropriate remarks at your own misfortune.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:57 am
This has nothing to do with gamers, it’s just people who like to make offensive jokes. There is for exampel an entire site dedicated to jokes about a “retarded” little boy who was murdered by his parents after being tortured by them his entire life.
Since there are so many people making comments from all over the world when you are online there will sooner or later be comments of that nature. I recently read about someone who pissed on an old lady as she laid dying of a heart attack and people like that use the internet to.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:10 am
I just read the article and…wow. I’m still wondering where they got Mortal Kombat from. This is a disgrace to sane gamers everywhere.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:23 am
@boisv:
I really hope something like this never happens to you or your significant others, so you don´t have to test your sense of humor.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:32 am
So uh, when are you guys going to get your wits back and realize that this article shouldn’t even be here?
December 21st, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Wow, I was expecting a much angrier response from people. But in response…
1. Keep in mind that I wasn’t one of the people who said those awful things. I am merely defending their right to free speech. I can’t stand pseudo-ethical political correctness.
2. Thank you. I hope that nothing happens to my family too.
3. In addition to my other points, I really doubt that anyone affected by this tragedy (i.e. her family) is reading Kotaku or Infendo or any other website and getting all heated over a blunt but relevant comment about how absurd the entire sensationalized news story is.
December 21st, 2007 at 2:55 pm
4. And if this happened to me, I wouldn’t be reading about it on the Internet anyway. That’s because I realize that my tragedy wouldn’t affect everyone accordingly. If I were in her parents’ shoes i’d be directing my anger at the news networks who are skirting the real issue here. How did that kid get alcohol?
December 26th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Guys, please read the full report:
http://www.denverpost.com/extremes/ci_7789370
The thing that amazes me the most about the reporting of this incident is how much highlighted was the “Mortal Kombat” reference when the back history of what happened has nothing to do with video games or teenagers out of control… as you can read in the news story above from the Denver Post, it is all about parental neglect.
The mother had already been called to court on an abandonment charge (she failed to appear in court, surprise, surprise…). She had six children from four different fathers, and sometimes would go out on a date leaving the children, aged three to sixteen, with a babysitter without returning home until the next day!
I’m also a father of two girls (my second girl was born within ten days of Blake’s own second girl, by the way), and I can see the irrelevance that video games have on these stories…