March 13, 2008 -
A footnote in the video game violence debate has been sentenced to die by an Oklahoma jury.As reported by the Associated Press, jurors deliberated for eight hours before passing a death sentence on Kevin Underwood, 28. The same jury had earlier found Underwood guilty of first-degree murder in the horrific 2006 killing of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin.
So what is Underwood's connection to the game violence debate?
In a 2006 hearing before the Louisiana Legislature, Rep. Roy Burrell cited Underwood's heinous crime as an example of the supposed negative effects of violent video games. Burrell was, at the time, attempting to persuade his colleagues to pass Louisiana's Jack Thompson-authored video game bill. He succeeded, although the law was later ruled unconstitutional. As I wrote for Joystiq at the time:
Burrell related [to his colleagues] the story of an Oklahoma man accused of the horrendous murder of a child. Why he chose this example... remains unclear, since the 26-year-old suspect was no kid, and the "violent" game he played, Kingdom of Loathing, is a non-retail, non-industry, online product in which stick figures – stick figures! – battle one another... His bill would have no impact on the very example he raised to support it.
A defense psychiatrist who argued that Underwood's life should be spared testified that the killer had cannibalism fantasies, "gave up on being normal," and suffered from deviant sexual disorders, deep depression, a socially isolating personality disorder, and bipolar disorder.
But, probably it was the video games...
Comments
This was a terrible crime, just as immigration is a real problem, but it was so obviously a case of once again trying to use distraction techniques from the real facts for the sake of armchair quarterbacking. I'm glad to see this criminal and his 'disorders' receiving justice.
That comment was a mirror of how some things, no matter how irrelevant, slips through the mind of some people skiing on thin ice.
So yeah, I'm joining the facepalm bandwagon.
*facepalm*
Death penalty is by ethics, bad. But if it gets abolished, wouldn't would-be/current criminals be happy and the crime rates might go up again? Just a thought.
Riiiiiggggghhhhttttt.......
The guy is a psycho and clearly has problems. But we really don't have the right to end his life. That makes us murderers, and I'm not a killer.
Can none of you see the blatant hypocrisy in killing someone who is found guilty of murder?
They should just send him to the loony bin.
The guy is clearly mentally ill, and should be treated and held in a high security mental hospital. OTOH it's much cheaper to shoot/gas/behead him (no idea which of those they're planning). It also gets *great* TV ratings.
Canada abolished death sentence and it's crime rates are quite low compared to the US.
"You hamstring the (name here) for 50 HP points!"
"You clobber the (name here) for 80 HP points!"
I'm going back to my campsite to buy an evil burger from my arches. Then I'm going to nap and restore my HP and spend the rest of my time in the Haiku Channel.
Whoever said Kingdom of Loathing is "violent" needs to get their head out of the sand.
They might have had a case for KoL having an "influence" if he smacked someone with a stainless steel shillelagh and then plunged a sabre-toothed lime into his leg, but as it stands who the HELL are they to blame a site in which the most interactivity there is within its interface is "click on text" as the cause of a horrific murder?
Fangamer
If fantasies alone were enough to send someone to prison or to their death, then my fantasies would cause me to get the death sentence in every country. Most of humanity would also join me in the gas chamber. Fortunately, the majority of us don't allow our would-be-illegal-if-it-happened fantasies to actually be played out (other than consentual roleplaying in bed).
Also, "normal" is defined as "the average level of fucked-upness in your society". Everything we have today--art, technology, science, advanced math, and so forth--was brought about by someone who wasn't "normal." It used to be "normal" to burn people alive for witchcraft, if the winter stuck around for a little longer than it should have. Don't let the term "normal" fool you. It means nothing.
And maybe he's deeply depressed and isolated BECAUSE he's suffering from a sexual disorder? If you can't get it up for whatever reason, you can damn sure bet that you're not gonna be thrilled about it.
We need to building and burning straw men. He did it--not his fantasies or illnesses. A person who does something as sinister as this does NOT need to be reformed and released back into society. He's not worth the risk. This isn't a fishing trip. "Catch and release" does not apply.
And, FYI: Industrialized prison and death sentences were never intended to be punishment for a person's crimes. They exist so that the rest of society doesn't have to become that person's victim again--for some time, at least. Somewhere along the road, we forgot what punishment is, and we started to think that giving a person access to premium cable, a Nintendo Wii, "three hots and a cot", excersize equipment (so they can get beefier and more easily commit crimes...), and fresh air, was somehow punishment. I don't have a Wii, premium cable, or an in-house gym. Prisoners get treated better than I do! Where do I sign up?
I AM JUST SAYING.
I don’t have a Wii, premium cable, or an in-house gym. Prisoners get treated better than I do! Where do I sign up?
Wasn't that the plot to an episode of Pinky & The Brain? Or was it Ren & Stimpy? Perhaps both...
Curiously on topic, it sounds like this guy (the murderer person, not Kris O) well & truly earned his fate. Goodbye and good riddance to him.
I SO hope that was facetious.
It is nice to know your posts in other places are just the same as in KoL.
In other news, I'm sure the news is at least bringing in interest in KoL. How in the name of barbed-wire fences can this game be seen as violent? Have they seen San Andres?
geesh.
I don't recall, but it sounds like something Bart Simpson might try to pull off.
Around two weeks ago, I caught a news story (that may or may not have been local--I don't remember) that was telling of a handful of prisons that were buying Wiis for inmates, because they needed more of both exercise and entertainment. When I heard the word "entertainment" used in the same sentence as "prison," I sighed heavily. I then listened to the reporter state that the inmates also get to watch HBO and Skinemax.
Even letting these guys work out (read: get stronger, so it's easier to break down a door or pin a girl to the floor) is a bit of a "dee-dee-dee" stunt. Instead, they should be forced to play Zero Wing for 8 hours each day.
"Like BDSM, the state's idea of punishment can be quite a bit of fun!"
This is just ridiculous that they'd even think of linking a spoof browser based game to a murder like that.
My faith in humanity is now steeply declining.
This is a game that challenges the brain. I have yet to feel the calling of Jick to cause me to commit murder.
Giving the devs a smack on the side of the head is the closest to vioilence that this game is likely to cause. Being an annoying wiseacre is the worst KoL might cause.
For me, that happened long before the game.
It's ridiculous. It's not even funny.
I HATE when people don't get their facts straight and try to be all elite and all-knowing. And also when the "experts" are liars and sensationalists.
All KoL is is whacking goths, emoes, bums, procratinator giants, penguin mafia, goblins, cans of vegetables, wimpy demons, misspelt skeltons, spamming noobs, drunk goats, mining dwarves, and other monsters with a sense of humor.
I mean, if KoL does influence people (It's a freaking text game, there are things called violent novels, and the pictures are there as humour, and are still. It's like reading with a few pictures here and there.), then so do novels, the media, pop culture, kiddie games (Such as not being able to die no matter what) and much more other stuff. Even real life will make people go homicidal, as when people realize they're going to die anyways. I declare this accusation as EPIC FAIL.