Psychosis and Bad Internet Connections Do Not Mix

Posted by | October 13, 2009

In a grand display of a lack of self control—the type that Jack Thompson and his ilk would have loved—a teen in Sweden went berserk and stabbed a girl when he couldn’t connect to Starcraft.

An 18 year old Starcraft player has been reported as attacking a 15 year old girl. The gamer became angry when his internet connection wouldn’t work and picked up a kitchen knife and headed into the street. When there he came into contact with a 15 year old girl who was on her way home from a party and laughing with a friend. He attacked her with the knife but despite several stabs her injuries were not life threatening.

The troubled teenager has now been sentenced to psychiatric care by the Nacka court for these actions, his first offense. The gamer’s thoughts apparently grew dark as a result

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Challenge Draws Gamers, Not Gore

Posted by | January 17, 2009

A study drawn out of the University of Rochester and Immersyve Inc., shows that gamers enjoy, not the gore of violence of games, but, well, the game part. The fun factor in games, especially those that layer on the carnage, doesn’t magically appear from a well-crafted arterial spray, but the challenge of mastering the game mechanics, overcoming obstacles, and discovering new tactics and strategies. Violence is, at best, window dressing and may actually turn gamers away from a particular title.

However, the study also mentioned a certain percentage of gamers do play for the violence, although this segment tends to be more aggressive overall than the typical player. Even for these aggressive gamers (you know who they are, they killed your poor level 35 character in Stranglethorn 20 times one day with their own level 80 draped in 2000 gold worth of player-killing weapons and enchants), violence and …

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