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In a recent tragedy, a gamer took his own life. The following is from www.gamepolitics.com

"This is one of those tragic stories we wish we never had to write.

Reports - and a lot of misinformation - are circulating concerning the death of a 21-year-old hardcore gamer who killed himself while talking online in a gaming forum. Surprisingly, the U.S. mainstream media hasn't picked up on the story, although it has been reported in France, Bulgaria and Australia. Friends of the victim, however, take issue with the European coverage, claiming it is inaccurate, insensitive and sensationalizes the tragedy.

The story began on the evening of January 2nd on a private forum at Metal Gear Solid: The Unofficial Site, an MGS fan site created by a Bulgarian designer but hosted in the United States. The site is known as "TUS" among devotees. One of TUS' regular users was "Kuja105", real name Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Steukerjuergen, a journalism major at Western Illinois University.

Mitch, apparently beset by financial and housing problems, posted a message with the subject line "Bye guys." He related that he could no longer go on living, had chosen a painful way to die, but would continue to post on the board as long as he could. Apparently the troubled young man had consumed a combination of anti-freeze and pills. He concluded his message with, "It was a blast knowing you guys. I'm getting kinda scared about it, so it would be great to see some good things posted."

And, In his normal way, Jack Thompson was ready with his agenda to try and rub salt in the wound. He posted this soon after on www.metalgearsolid.org

"Your "gamer friend" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that.

There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with combat games. The playing of these video games is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you gamers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one.

The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one fellow. There are literally millions of young people and young adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless.

All of you gamers need to put down the controllers and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid "gaming" really is.

You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this "culture of death?" Of course not. Hey, let's all play MORE games, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives.

Let's pretend to be shocked that a gamer might descend into deeper depression, as his gamer "buds," knowing he was killing himself, couldn't figure out how to call 911 themselves for him. That would have involved leaving their computers I guess.

Sad. Sad for all of you."

With that, the Admin of MGS:TUS were quick to respond to the hateful letter.

"Once again, Mr. Thompson, you've proven that your ignorance knows no bounds. We're not going to participate in this war you wish to wage against us -- we're bigger than that. We're bigger than you.

This is a case where our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions. The fact that you want to exploit the loss that both we and his family have suffered to forward your own selfish, religiously driven ambitions speaks volumes about the integrity (or lack, thereof) of your character, and it only serves to strengthen our resolve.

You can continue to try and discredit us and insult us, though no true man of God would do such a thing. We pity you and your ignorance, and only hope that someday you can come to terms with and mature away from your biggotry. As Metal Gear Solid fans, we have learned to believe in the best of individuals. We've learned to show charity. We've become better people, and through the loss of our friend, we've become a closer-knit community.

We forgive you, Jack, and we hope that God will do the same for you."


Discussion: Why is Jack Thompson such a b***h?
Is it right for him to push his agenda during an emotionally sensative time?
Do video games make you a sucidal maniac?
Why -is- Jack Thompson such a b***h!?

Wow, that guy is a major a*****e. Why? Who knows?

And no, video games do not make people into suicidal maniacs. Neither does D&D. Except for being a little nerdy, all my friends are perfectly normal, even in the presence of about 20 D&D books, a PS2, Gamecube, Super Nintendo, and a Sega Genesis.

He's a Christian 'crudsader' who's trying to destroy video games. He's had repeated encounters with people over this, most publicised was his argument with the creators of 'Penny Arcade'.

You can learn more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson

Sidenote: This is pretty funny too - http://wikidouche.ytmnd.com/

I think there are alot more video game related suicides then are known about. I am not implying causation however. I think that virtual worlds tend to attract people who are off the wing to begin with.

I witnessed this firsthand back when I played EQ. I can honestly say that there were a disproportionatly high number of crazies playing online games. And I don't mean sexual crazies or garden variety crazies, more along the lines of homocidal and antisocial crazy. I don't think "violence in video games" caused this phenomenon because relatively speaking this wasn't a violent game.

It makes sense too. People who don't fit in to society because they have mental problems can be whoever the want in on a video game, and gain prestige and admiration within that community.

The then game becomes more appealing and rewarding than real life, and so RL problems become exacerabated. Once their habit can no longer be sustained, I believe that many of these people consider suicide.

This guy is looking at the process all wrong. It's not the violence in the video games that inspires suicide, it's that video gamers are a more demented population to begin with.

While true, this guy didn't kill himself -because- of a game. He just posted it on a messageboard dedicated to Metal Gear Solid, where they had a tight-knit community.

And I do have to agree with Cathl on this, to a point though. Not everyone who plays videogames is a nut-case, but games do seem to draw a large amount of those types towards them.