Chinese Killer: My Game Addiction Made Me Poison My Parents
Chinese Killer: My Game Addiction Made Me Poison My Parents
November 11, 2008
This week China's Health Ministry recognized Internet addiction as an official disorder.
It didn't take long for a convicted murder to take notice and attempt to exploit the new policy.
As reported by the Shanghai Daily, 22-year-old Hu Ange, on Death Row for poisoning his parents, is claiming that his online gaming addiction made him criminally insane:
The [appeals] court heard [that] Hu was addicted to the online game Legend. His parents gave him 50,000 yuan (US$7,353) to support his seafood business in March 2007, but he spent it all on the online game. Legend is an online game where players can buy virtual weapons and equipment with real money.
The report said Hu bought 20 packs of tetramine on July 14, 2007, and poisoned his father Hu Ming the next morning. His father was saved after emergency treatment. Hu Ange then bought 45 more packs of tetramine on July 20 and mixed them with beef on July 24. Both his parents were poisoned after eating the beef at lunch. Hu Ange's mother asked him to call for help but he stayed in his room to play Legend, the report said.
The Times Online explains the Chinese government's assessment of those who suffer from Internet addiction:
According to Chinese estimates, about 10 per cent of young users suffer from addiction and of those about 70 per cent are male. Dr Tao says that the condition is often merely a symptom of deeper psychological problems. Almost all child addicts have behavioural problems, which are then aggravated by their addiction. Before they came to the internet, they may have turned to crime or drugs to cope with their feelings of alienation, he said. Some were suicidal.
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Posted 07/04/09 at 03:48am
Michael Chandra: I missed out on Jack? =(
Michael Chandra: I missed out on Jack? =(
Posted 07/04/09 at 01:52am
Escanor94: hmm, looks like when someone gets banned all their comments are automaticly deleted
Escanor94: hmm, looks like when someone gets banned all their comments are automaticly deleted
Posted 07/03/09 at 11:46pm
Arcanagos: aww, did i miss the JT party? :(
Arcanagos: aww, did i miss the JT party? :(
Posted 07/03/09 at 11:00pm
Leet Gamer Jargon: Where's the recent JT bullcrap? Which comments section has he vomited on? EDIT: Nevermind; it's in the "Radio" thread.
Leet Gamer Jargon: Where's the recent JT bullcrap? Which comments section has he vomited on? EDIT: Nevermind; it's in the "Radio" thread.
Posted 07/03/09 at 09:17pm
BearDogg-X: I wonder what the Metropolitian Moron of Miami said in response to my comment saying that he got a dose of his medicine on the SGC09 Debate thread?
BearDogg-X: I wonder what the Metropolitian Moron of Miami said in response to my comment saying that he got a dose of his medicine on the SGC09 Debate thread?
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:51pm
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: He gets offended with a bunch of flowers.
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: He gets offended with a bunch of flowers.
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:49pm
GoodRobotUs: LOL He takes offence at the fact he might have *chosen* to be crazy?
GoodRobotUs: LOL He takes offence at the fact he might have *chosen* to be crazy?
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:47pm
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: He warned me to get a lawyer after I called him "crazy by his own choice"... that´s libel for him
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: He warned me to get a lawyer after I called him "crazy by his own choice"... that´s libel for him
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:45pm
HilaryDuffGta: "libel" what did he threaten now?
HilaryDuffGta: "libel" what did he threaten now?
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:44pm
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: Was fun to be threatened for "libel" again.
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: Was fun to be threatened for "libel" again.
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:26pm
HilaryDuffGta: hey so what did i miss??? the usual spam of "crap"
HilaryDuffGta: hey so what did i miss??? the usual spam of "crap"
Posted 07/03/09 at 06:15pm
FlakAttack: Jack ruined his chance to have civil debates with us here. Glad you banned him (again).
FlakAttack: Jack ruined his chance to have civil debates with us here. Glad you banned him (again).
Posted 07/03/09 at 04:04pm
Krono: Unexpected is probably the best word to describe it. Particularly as no decent reason is given.
Krono: Unexpected is probably the best word to describe it. Particularly as no decent reason is given.
Posted 07/03/09 at 03:59pm
GoodRobotUs: Just heard about that myself... kinda unexpected
GoodRobotUs: Just heard about that myself... kinda unexpected
Posted 07/03/09 at 03:58pm
Krono: Huh, apparently Sarah Palin is resigning.
Krono: Huh, apparently Sarah Palin is resigning.
Posted 07/03/09 at 03:34pm
GoodRobotUs: Sounds like he's been mainlining the Angel Dust again
GoodRobotUs: Sounds like he's been mainlining the Angel Dust again
Posted 07/03/09 at 01:50pm
ezbiker555: I'm back. Just in time too, my Jack Thompson sense were going wild
ezbiker555: I'm back. Just in time too, my Jack Thompson sense were going wild
Posted 07/03/09 at 01:47pm
DarkSaber: You mean "playing with himself"? :-P
DarkSaber: You mean "playing with himself"? :-P
Posted 07/03/09 at 01:16pm
Matthew: Oh, Jack's back? I guess he got bored of playing single-player.
Matthew: Oh, Jack's back? I guess he got bored of playing single-player.
Posted 07/03/09 at 01:05pm
Andrew Eisen: I'm leaving most of his comments up but he'll be banned again shortly.
Andrew Eisen: I'm leaving most of his comments up but he'll be banned again shortly.
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
Somewhere an idiot crackpot ex-lawyer is fapping away in delight....
Jesus fucking christ.
Can we go an article without mentioning jack? Or are these just withdrwal symptoms?
Where is the troll? WHERE IS HE?! I need me shot of ignorance asap. o_O
jesus does that with christ? damn he's sick...
is it such a crime to crack jokes at someone?
if ya don't like the humor then ignore it.
dont we all... dont we all... (now what part am i talking about)
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Nido Web Flash Tutorials AS2 and AS3 Tutorials for anyone interested.
Financial Calculator
HUR DUR DUR. JACK IS FAPPIN. LOLZ GUYS I'M FUNNY HUR DUR DURRRR.
Yeah, really funny.
The really funny part is that if you hadn't drawn attention to it most of us probably wouldn't have paid attention either. You're the one making a big fuss!
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
"Can we go an article without mentioning jack?"
No.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! Do these damned anti gaming people see what the hell they've done!?!?!?
"Dr Tao says that the condition is often merely a symptom of deeper psychological problems. Almost all child addicts have behavioural problems, which are then aggravated by their addiction. Before they came to the internet, they may have turned to crime or drugs to cope with their feelings of alienation, he said. Some were suicidal."
sounds like he doesn't blaim the games but only states that deeper problems and previous phsyc issues are to blaim, the games merely enhance the issue.
In that retrospect can't they also be used to correct the problem? as it is i don't see how a game involving guns could push to poison... the connections kinda weak but then again i don't know much about that game.
Dr. Tao: Video game addiction is a symptom of a deeper mental disease.
China: "Video game addiction is a... disease." - Dr. Tao
i wouldnt be so quick to judge the doctor my guess is he spoke in his native language and then it was translated (can you say "lost in translation")
He wasnt judging the doctor. He was judging the way China misrepresented his words
If this happens in the States, I would be scared not only for the first amendment, but for the safety of myself and others. If something happens to me or anyone else, the perp can use this silly (and often failed) defense.
In the hypothetical case where I'd live in the USA, have a driver's license, have access to and training with firearms, and someone would use this as an excuse anywhere within a 100-mile radius from my place, I'd totally go out and go Kill Bill on his ass.
Sincerely,
Hypothetical Michael Chandra
Volume 1 or Volume 2?
1's more Kung Fu movie, 2's more spaghetti western.
He said gun. so 2 may be more his style.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Whichever hypothetically involves hypothetically gruesomely killing hypothetical people. =)
Looks like he didn't even wait ten seconds before taking advantage of this. Funny how that works, isn't it?
He is stupid for doing so. The doctor clearly stated that addiction is only a SYMPTOM of people with physcological problems, it isn't the cause.
It would be the same as if he was saying, "I didn't mean to kill my parents, those damn trees kept laughing at me."
Well at least they acknowledge that it's a symptom rather than a single causal factor, better than what a lot of people manage...
Unfortunately, that will probably be the last we ever hear of the bit about underlying problems. After all, it doesn't support the agenda and it doesn't support sensationalism. So that bit of information will quickly find itself gathering dust.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000 has also updated his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
'It didn't take long for a convicted murder to take notice and attempt to exploit the new policy.'
Says it all really.
In twenty years people will be saying, "Remember kids, never do drugs or play a video game."
Pah! In 20 years, a new scapegoat will have been born. It usually happens about every 20-30 years. An old ad of the Playstation theorized about a PS10 that involved early holodeck tech. Rest assured it will be the new evil. If VR headsets had become as popular as the consoles, I gaurantee the headsets would be to blame for a number of crimes.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000 has also updated his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
I can't wait for the new scapegoat to get here! Finally, they will leave my video games alone. Of course, by then the games industry will have been creatively eviscerated the way the comics industry has been.
I'm starting to feel like it's well on its way already. This year's been pretty lackluster, and despite being a lifelong Nintendo fanboy my library of Wii games is surprisingly small. I only have a couple of 360 games too. Nothing really jumps out at me as interesting.
I've started replaying the Prince of Persia series though so I can keep myself entertained. *goes back to killing sand zombies*
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
Can't agree with you, in the past 3 weeks there have been like like 15 games released I want. Perhaps you should get yourself out of the nintendo fanboy rut, there's a lot of great stuff out there not done by nintendo...
Damn... when I killed my parents I blamed You Can't Do That On Television... this is a MUCH better idea!!!
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin
Haha, my parents banned me from watching that show. Now that I look back, it wasn't such a big deal of a show to need a banning.
I don't know *gets slimed*..... I don't think this would fly here since I think, as long as there's some sort of defense (which I doubt China allowed) it'd be clear that this doesn't hold water. *Gets doused with water*
Dammit!
LMFAO
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin
It looks to me like this guy simply wanted his parent's money, and saw poisoning as a simple way of getting it. We'll likely hear more about Gaming Addiction as more people see it as a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
What I want to know is how come Alcoholism isn't seen as an excuse for drunk driving?
same reason they have braile on drive-up ATMs
岩「…Where do masochists go when they die?」
That thought always did frighten me. Theres enough people that aparently can't drive worth a good golly g%^#*!n as it is.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Well let's see the Americans with Disabilities Act makes them have ATMS with Braille, and either it requires all ATMs to have Braille or the banks decided 'why pay for two sets of ATM buttons?' and just stuck with the braille buttons. I don't know which.
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"What for you bury me in the cold cold ground?" - Tasmanian devil
People tend to assume it's the second.
''What I want to know is how come Alcoholism isn't seen as an excuse for drunk driving? ''
EPIC point.
Even if you buy 'game addiction', the fact that alcoholism isnt an excuse for drunk driving, and thats both a physiological (addicitve chemicals) and potentially psychological ( people use alcohol to cope) addiction just shows what a load of crock it is.
Even if 'game addiction' were 100% proved, it isnt physiological, so in one sense its a 'lesser' addiction than alcoholism.
Even if it WERE (i dont know how, perhaps you mnay believe future games will come with nicotine IVs you hook up to your brain or something), no other addiction is seen in law as a 100% get-out-of-jail-free card, so why should game addiction be any different.
i plan to blame all my crimes on what ive read about lawyers on the aba journal ethics page lol
To make it short and sweet: he's lying.
Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets, Jack Thompson can geaux chase a chupacabra.
Well, the Chinese government has somebody saying game addiction is real. Doesn't that pretty much make the entire idea bunk? It is China; their government isn't exactly known for being the most honest bunch around. Just take a look at how they rigged all the stuff in the Bejing Olympics. My guess is that the Chinese government is trying to make it look like games cause all (or at least some of) their problems instead of admitting that their "perfect" country has loonies in it.
Lucky B**tard. Your pics show up, while I just get a question mark.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
Use the most up to date version of IE (the one with the tabbed browsing)
I found that Firefox, Opera and older versions of IE don't like picture cut/paste...
I've always believed that game/internet addiction is real, because I've seen it. But the real important thing to take from this article is that they say tha the addiction is usually a symptom of deeper psychological problems. Which is true of most behavoral addictions (not to be confused with chemical addiction).
However, yeah, I definitely can see this being used as a "get out of jail free" card, so criminals can get shorter sentences or trips to a cushy mental hospital. Bullcrap. You commit a crime, like killing your parents, then you should be punished fully. I've never considered psychological problems as a valid excuse (it pisses me off to no end when I hear that a mother that killed her children got off because she had post-pardum). Especially for a 22 year old. Come on, I don't care how zoned out he was on Legend, he still knew that killing another human being was a bad thing!
MY GOD...
I dont understand why people arent pointing out the obvious stupidity here..
Where these parents brains transplanted with that of MR T from the A team or something?
MR T: "I aint gettin on no plane..."
ATEAM: "uh.. ok have this hamburger...." *passes drugged hamburger*
MT T : "Thanks" *OM NOM NOM .... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
** 1 week later **
MR T: "I aint gettin on no plane..."
ATEAM: "uh.. ok have this hamburger...." *passes drugged hamburger*
MT T : *conveniently forgetting about last weeks episode* "Thanks" *OM NOM NOM .... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
and this case...
DAD: "I'm Hungry..."
KILLER: "uh.. ok have this pois... err totally tasty food...." *passes poisoned food*
DAD : "Thanks" *OM NOM NOM .... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
** 1 week later after life saving treatment in hospital**
MR T: "BOY AM I Hungry...especially after a week in hospital after you giving me poisoned food"
KILLER: "uh.. ok have this pois... err totally tasty food...." *passes poisoned food*
DAD : *conveniently forgetting about last weeks events* "Thanks" *OM NOM NOM .... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
i mean im sorry.. but
a) i dont understand why the kid wasnt arrested after the first incident
b) why the heck would you eat food that had been anywhere NEAR somebody who had tried to poison you
c) where in the game does it teach you to feed poisoned food to you parents..?
What is it about on the combination of kittens and guns that I find hilarious.
AAAAHH! NOO! Don't shoot the kitty! If someone must be shot, shoot me!!
Please tell me the hand w/gun was Photoshopped in....
Game on, brothers and sisters.
So I've been thinking about this since yesterday and it makes even less sense to me than it did when I read it.
Even if it was online gaming that somehow inspired him to kill his parents, he must have realised at some point that they wouldn't drop any good loot.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin
Good lord, that's going in my sig.
Or maybe they would!
"You're out of my will! The diamond mines are going to your brother and the dire mace + 3 is going to your niece!"
Let see. Four words for this whole incident.
1. Epic Fail
2. *face palm*
Also
Funny how JT somehow missed this but didn't miss the article on penny arcade.
*legendary fail*
Can we haz likn, plox?
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
I mean the article Dennis posted today on Penny Arcade.
IMO, it is sad that accountability is so flimsy these days.
Yes some are impressionable but in reality it comes down to alot of factors and only one, in a small way, is games.
It's china,
Everything is slanted through their government, they'll be using this to beef up the great firewall of china and control their citizen's internet access with a much tighter iron fist.
I think it’s unfair to associate this persons psychotic actions with online games too heavily, I doubt the game displayed messages telling him to ‘kill his parents to advance to the next level’. People like him are clearly insane without any addiction to the internet or drugs etc.