February 16, 2008 -
The New York Post, a daily tabloid, has a story in this morning's edition with this screaming headline:College Killer Crazy for Violent Vid Game
The article, written by a pair of Post reporters, claims that NIU rampage killer, 27-year-old Stephen Kazmierczak, was "obsessed" with Counter-Strike, which the paper describes as "an ultra-violent video game."
The Post quoted a former dorm mate of Kazmierczak's, Ben Woloszyn:
He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud.
The Post article appears to draw a linkage between the player's actions in the game and Kazmierczak's shooting spree:
In the game, players use imaginary money to buy shotguns, pistols and other equipment they need to move around an imaginary world in which they're constantly under threat of being killed by roving terrorists.
In real life, Kazmierczak - who had become "erratic" recently after shunning medication for an undisclosed illness - purchased weapons like those used in Counter-Strike, including a Glock handgun and a pump-action Remington shotgun...
Down near the bottom of the article, the Post also mentions the killer's very short-lived stints in the Army and as a corrections officer. These episodes appear to suggest an unstable nature.
GP: While the Post article seems to confirm other reports indicating that Kazmierczak had significant mental health issues, exactly why the paper chose to focus on his past video game play is not clear. Personally, I'm far more concerned about a disturbed person with a gun than I am about a disturbed person with a video game.
We should note that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News, which, as GamePolitics readers well know, frequently uses sensationalized reporting to smear video games.
Is there a connection?
Hey, as they say on Fox, we report. You decide.
I'd be remiss not to point out that game violence critic Jack Thompson alerted me to the Post report via several e-mails, one of which arrived under the subject line:
Screw Dennis McCauley and Hal Halpin and the ECA Donkey They Rode In On...
I kid you not.
Full Disclosure Dept: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.
UPDATE: A piece in the Northwest Herald also mentions the shooter's Counter-Strike play:
Kazmierczak often would play the video game Counter Strike, a first-person shooting game, the roommates said, but they were quick to add that the game was nothing unusual for dormitory halls.
Comments
JT attacks games as the cause and we all know that playing a videogame doesn't make us violent so we attack him. This issue is not games or whether normal people will kill others because of them. The issue here is that there are disturbed people out there who ARE violent. Naturally these people are going to be attracted to violence, whether it be movies, music or videogames. However a predisposition to violent media also does not mean that you are a violent person. The problem here is that some deranged people WILL use some games as some sort of murder simulator (if they see it that way). And some MAY be set off by violent media, but some people may also be set off by a chair.
This is an interesting clip in which Dee Snider talks about how Tipper Gore sought to find bondage and sodomy in his song about foot surgery:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ILc5FGVJxRQ
But because a very few messed up people just happened to play videogames doesn't make the games the culprit. The conclusion here is that Jack Thompson is obviously such a deranged person and should not be allowed near a video game.
This guy had alot of things going against him. A recent break-up with his girlfirst, going off his medication, and purchasing fire arms with intent. Just to name a few.
I do not know Illinios laws regarding the purchase, ownership and usage of firearms. I am annoyed the firearm salesman was in shock that his guns were used in the commision of murder. What did he think his firearms would be used for? Sewing a Quilt?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IvtQo9f4pI4
I'm waiting for hover boards, and future-music to be invented so that all the old farts can start blaming all our problems on them instead of video games.
I mean seriously. With Virginia Tech it seems like the media went on the "Violent Video Games Did It" blame game before the fact went out. But now the fact cames out pretty much after it happened and its still the god damned video game industry's fault. How the hell can anyone read that and still think violent video games did it after hearing that he didn't take his medication?
Its god darned mind boggling!!!
Has anyone ever killed anyone *with* with a videogame?
Anyway its Saturday night. I'm off to drink whisky, and let out my sociopathic character.
Actually I'm not.
And on a completely unrelated note, I watched a mum tell their kid to put canis canem edit [Bully] back on the shelf because it was rated 15. I wanted to go shake her hand, but she may have thought I was hitting on her. What with me being a grown up and all...
Plus, Thompson's been trying every dirty trick in the book just to keep his precious license.
@ jccalhoun graduate student
The judge Jack Thompson should sue the soon-to-be-ex-attorney Jack Thompson for giving him a bad name.
Please do the world a favor and vent your rage, frustration and twisted sense of pain at game critics and TV news producers (bonus points for those of the Fox variety). Additionally, prior to your deadly deeds make sure to make a video and write a note about how all the violence, murder and mayhem on TV, in the news and movies has pushed you over the edge. Try to do some good at least once in you life during your sorry existence.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that there are people out there who actually believe this because it is in their main source of news. Does being in the public eye cause your intelligence to drop or something? This is beyond simple media bias, this is a gross misuse of power. This controversy is going to be far worse. Now, they are going to act as if video games are bad for everyone since he is an adult. I may be against video game legislation, but since I am an adult I figured it wouldn't affect me too much so long as nothing is all out banned. Now they are going to hijack and I'm too pissed to type anymore.
Then post it on youtube. Imagine what would happen? thousands of videos posted, it would get on the news, (not fox but other news) and out voices would be heard. But it will probably never happen.
You have the right Idea, but please don't say it'll never happen. that type of thinking just isn't constructive. I for one think there will be a breaking point for gamers. When we all have had enough, right now we all just shake our heads and grit our teeth at what we know as sheer stupidity of it all.
I'll still post my discontent with all the flat out lies I've been seeing on news sites and papers. I'll point out the massive holes in their so-called reporting and point out the facts. My video won't get that many views I'm sure, but with those who have watched we go away knowing more about the situation.
But that's just me though, I'm optimistic to the core.
1st time poster, long time reader. Thank you for reading.
BANE XXIII
Minneapolis, Mn
In all honesty, though, I'm disgusted with how they do this to games in the media when something like this happens. The guy played games, most college guys have, or do, play games. Just like they go to class. And read. And eat. And breathe. So on.
As was said, I'm more distrubed that he dropped his meds and could get guns, rather then him getting CS.
yea, after I posted that, I was like wait a second, that does not make sense. But it was to late. But you get the idea. I'm sick of the media using these school shootings to advance there own agenda.
This, obviously does not surprise me, but it is still disturbing how a newspaper gets people all afraid about a Videogame instead talking about the more serious issue about the person himself/herself.
sad, but seriously I would love to see Bill Gates take a stand and try to protect Videogames against this sort of shit that goes on.
Because Microsoft is part of the Videogaming Industry, and people are more likely to listen to Bill Gates instead of us gamers because people still think we are just kids...
THAT WOULD JUST MAKE MY GODDAMN DAY.
I think we have a correlation between loud things and murderous rampages.
I have friends that go to NIU. All these bottom feeders coming out of their cracks to feed on the blood of the innocents absolutely disgusts me.
If you want to see the flyer the wingnut Westboro Baptist Church is distributing, here it is: http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20080214_northern-illinois-un...
There's a group organizing a counter-protest to their planned protest. Unfortunately, I'm in Arizona right now and can't join in. And remember, any and all action against the WBC should avoid any physical harm or threats of physical harm. They need lawsuits to bankroll their "church."
I think this says it all. Taken from the same school newspaper which brought us the Counter-Strike quote. I blame the U.S. President.
These people are lucky I'm a Christian. Thats all I have to say. What a bunch of idiots.
We should NEVER give up, so what if they say we can't accept critcism, that's a much better alternative then to let thme have their way.
Oh and we are not losing we are winning, Grand Theft Auto sill lets you kill cops, Insomniac said they'd put more churhces in Resistance 2 etc. Jack Thompson will indeed get disbarred, and time is on our side. Eventually the scapegoating of video games will die down, and people will accept it for the harmless fun it is. It's happened time and time again, with rock and roll, with comic books, with violent movies, and a whole mess of stuff we now consider harmless.
Do not worry about those insignificant idiots who shout to the peaks about the false link between video games and school shootings. Despite how gamepolitics may make the picture look very few major news outlets (other than Fox) have reported on the video game link.
Gaming isn't the exception, it's the baseline... if they DON'T play games then it's notable, not the other way around.
video game penetration is roughly equivalent to TV penetration nowadays... it just amazes me people will blame stuff on games whilst ignoring TV...
(not that i think either has anything at all to do with violence, but thats a different story)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080217/ap_on_re_us/niu_shooting
yup it's the video games fault, not anything else. Typical crap from thompson and the rags from rupert murdoch (including fox noise).
It should read "Screw Dennis McCauley, Hal Halpin, and the ECA Donkey They Rode In On..." Commas are your friend, remember that. Unless you think the commas have some sort of conspiracy against you. Come to think of it, that would be kind of cool, being spied on by grammatical functions.
The cessation of his medication may have put him in a different frame of mind than what he had been in for almost 3 decades."
Cessation of medication ALMOST CERTAINLY put him in a different frame of mind. If he'd been on meds for 3 decades and stopped, he completely screwed himself. He may as well have pulled the trigger on himself the day he stopped.
I like how Jack pulls all this crazy shit over and over and finally has to go through the proces of loosing his licsence.
When some other Lawyer only has to do one deed to go to court to defend his lisence.
That title is so wrong. Seriously.
It's like--"Blind man didn't see it coming!" or "Deaf woman hasn't heard from estranged husband."
[2] I see your godhatesfags hate site, and raise you a www.godhatesfigs.com parody site.
[3] Really, I just want to link to Sniper, which is only tangentially related to the above topic. I think some here may be interested--it's a song about a 1966 school shooting, and you can be sure there was no Counterstrike or Pong involved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5_N-D5sv0
I think we have a correlation between loud things and murderous rampages.
Uh oh, those horn blast studies were actually CORRECT!
I'm sure as hell staying away from sports stadiums from now on....
Makes you wonder what Jack Thompson would do if he's disbarred.
... you buy weapons in almost every rpg. Oh CRAP. I'm playing an rpg RIGHT NOW!
DAMN YOU PHANTOM BRAVE! DAMN YOU FOR TRYING TO TRAIN ME TO BUY A WEAPON BUYING KILLER!
And summoning spirits.
And living on an island where I get my mail sent to me buy sentient bottles.
DO THESE GAME MAKERS HAVE NO MORALS!?
You know what? I'm pissed off! When am I going to get the benefits of "training" on my "simulators"?!?! Seriously, I've played through Final Fantasy VII , like, 20 times and I still haven't been able to summon Knights of Round, much less Ifrit. I've been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance recently and have played through both of the X-Men Legends games. Do I have any kind of super strength, flight, teleport abilities or even a healing factor? Heck no!!! And for some reason even through I can play every song on Hard for the guitar on Rock Band I don't have any record companies trying to sign me! What gives?
*End satirical response*
Seriously though, this whole "training" thing is getting (has gotten) quite ridiculous. The point I'm trying to make is this...If you can supposedly train to kill from a game like Counter-Strike or Doom or (insert other game here), why doesn't it work for other areas? Wouldn't be so much easier for NFL teams to just play the latest iteration of Madden instead of going to all the trouble of training camps and practice sessions? Instead of at least 7 years of college and med school why can't doctors just spend some time with Trauma Center? Could I get my law degree simply by playing through the Phoenix Wright games? Does the military seriously need boot camps anymore if all it takes is a little Doom to get the same results as months of physical training, conditioning and drills? If someone can give me a logical answer to this one they earn a cookie. And not just any cookie. One of those cookie monster things from Mrs. Field's. You know the ones I'm talking about :)
First, people STILL play Counter-Strike?
Second, people still blame games for school shootings over GODDAMN MEDICATED MENTAL PROBLEMS?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080217/ap_on_re_us/niu_shooting
If they're smart they're playing TF2 now. But seeing as I play the Doctor class 95% of the time does that mean I will have a predisposition to run into public areas and deal out a mass healing of ailments?
The guttertrash do flock like some out of control skin virus, don’t they?
John Bruce, FOX News, LaRouche too probably (if not yet, then soon).
But, gee, look at the guttertrash that has joined in:
http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/index.html
Press Releases > Other press releases tab:
“Thank God for NIU Carnage. Thank God for the Shooter. Thank God for 6 dead. ”
Sick perverted Mental Molesting bastards.
Nightwng2000
NW2K software"
...
I.
Hate.
Fred.
Phelps.
I've always hated him. Always. And now, even more.
Also, how is this relevent to his "cause"?
now this would perhaps not be completely out of the question, however, so what? how is it any different from when abortion clinic bombers study the bible before blowing up a building. the game itself is not causing the crime, and the guy clearly made the choice himself (though his reasoning was likely impaired due to him being off his meds), and even without the games he'd have still likely committed the act
to outlaw a game because somebody may train on it psychologically (physical training on a video game as we all know is impossible) makes no sense, as you would have to outlaw any form of creative thought or expression with it, as it could also be used to prepare ones self for a crime
If people knew how to spot somebody with problems, and alert the relevant authorities (perhaps university counsellors in this case) then perhaps the tragic events like those at NIU could have been avoided.
As it is, people who (through no rael fault of their own) develop mental illness (its actually WAY more common than people realise) are often shunned. Passers by will walk to the opposite side of the road, move seats on th bus to sit away from them etc, just because its somthing they dont understand and (again through no fault) have some fear towards that person. Its nobodies fault. People naturally fear what they dont understand, and i knw from personal experience that interacting with someone with a mental illness for the first few times can be scary.
But once you get past the urban myths and stigma, you realise they are people like anyone else , that sometimes just need to talk to someone and deal with the problems that we all have.
Perhaps each time this kind of tragic event happens (and look at the frequency of mental illness ... e.g depression -> schizophrenia often (although by no means always) when it does) fox news should put up some reports on mental illness, understanding the symptoms, what to look out for and ..more importantly HOW TO HELP THE SITUATION.
When we fully address that issue, im sure it will have a far more noticable effect than 'banning violent games'.
All the press reports do it whip up fear and half truths. How on earth can students look out for the next event like this (and yes they are actually very rare despite how it seems) when they are told that anyone playing violent games could be a killer. I mean seriously. are 97% of students killers (taken from an ECA report that 97% of people under the age of 25 have/do play games). I think not.
All is doing is making the situation worse, and causing unneccassary panic. And amongst that panic and misinformation is where the real problem indiviuals manage to slip by detection. *sigh* i wish people would realise this and actually help the situation.