On Monday GamePolitics noted that a 17-year-old boy was on trial in an Ohio courtroom for shooting his parents after they banned him from playing Halo 3.
A local Ohio newspaper is now reporting that defense attorneys are basing Daniel Petric's defense on video game addiction. According to the Chronicle-Telegram:
“Danny was very mild and meek,” said his paternal grandfather, Michael Broeckel, who [testified] that Daniel was a normal teenager, albeit one addicted to video games.
Holly Petric, Daniel’s other sister, said her brother became obsessed with video games because of a back injury which... limited his physical activity... the infection was so severe that any extreme physical activity could have caused his spine to snap, leaving him paralyzed.
“He’d just play (video games) nonstop whenever he could,” Holly Petric said.
[Daniel's friend] Jon Johnson... said he and Daniel would play video games, particularly “Halo 3,” up to 18 hours a day.
Jon said that while he liked video games, Daniel was addicted, even going so far as to push his friends to play the games when they wanted to do something else.
The case is expected to wrap up today. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has additional coverage.
UPDATE: The Chronicle-Telegram reports that Petric's attorney argued this morning that the teen's supposed obsession with Halo 3 contributed to rendering him insane at the time of the shootings:
Daniel Petric’s attorney argued this morning that his client should be found not guilty by reason of insanity for the shooting death of his mother and wounding of his father last year in part because the 17-year-old was obsessed with the video game “Halo 3.”
James Kersey said Daniel, who is being tried as an adult, went looking for the sci-fi video game, not his father’s 9 mm handgun on Oct. 20, 2007. The boy’s parents, Sue and Mark Petric, had taken the game away from the boy less than a month before the shootings.
Comments
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Eh, you're both sort of right. I cobbled together my spirituality from a variety of sources, mostly because I couldn't figure out how to slot myself in with an established system (the "any club that would have me" mentality) but also partly so I could make smart remarks. :D
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Shameless self-promotion, much?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
It's just a signature, bro. GP doesn't delineate its comments very well.
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The Mammon Industry
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
So how many injured or paralyzed athletes go on to murder their parents and try to make it look like it was a murder-suicide? The kid obviously knew what he was doing when he tried to rearrange the crime scene to make it look like his dad killed his mom and them himself. There's no way to get around that. Hopefully any jury can look past the ridiculous game addiction theory and see that.
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Oh God, This is utter B.S. , There couldnt be no way a game addiction or Halo 3 could have made him do this when he acted this on his own free will, Not to mention, The last topic i've seen, It said he never actually played the game, When did the excuse of a "Back Injury" Get involved, Unless he had Scoliois then thats a different story. (I apologize if im going to far dennis or Ezk, Just give me a message or warning, Thanks.)
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
IF you read the last story and the associated links, you would have learned that he was homebound due to a back injury gained in a snowboarding accident. Being home bound can cause a lot os stress. IT is called Cabin Fever.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
My bad, I read the Links.
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Cabin Fever does not justify that they're blaming video games.
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
I wasn't saying that it was a justification for the game connection. I was just clarifying that he had a back injury that kept him homebound.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Lots of people get injured. How many try to kill both of their parents and then try to frame one of them for it?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Yes a lot of people do get injured and a lot of people do end up homebound. A lot of those people don't have constructive activities to keep their minds occupied. Very few of them get violent as a result, but violence is a known symptom of svere cabin fever.
Now this kid probably wasn't suffering from it as bad as otehr people as teh news story linked to yesterday claimed he was able to leave the house. But he still probably had a lot of stress from not being able to do all he could do before. Added on to that not being allowed to do something he was physically capable of doing, that could have increased his stress levels.
I am not trying to find a scapgoat here. I am saying that this could have been prevented by properly caring for him while he was homebound.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Scarier spin on the question: How many have SUCCESFULLY done that?
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
MASTER CHIEF CHARGED WITH MURDER
Details at 6.
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
LOL...
Wouldn't that be closer to genocide?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
What?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Video games mass kill people -> mass killing people is genocide -> Master Chief is a game character, so -> Master Chief commits genocide
I think that's what he's getting at (the person above you). Am I right?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Likely somthing to do with hordes and hordes of Covenant you kill while playing Halo, I'd think.
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Considering Bungie have the UNSC Campaign kill count which stands at 8,619,132,895 at the time of writing, I think it would be genocide.
Although, you could dicard the kills made by players using Elites. And hey, a lot of that is Spartan vs. Spartan, so would that be some form of assisted suicide?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
8,619,132,895 = like 6.5 billion dead Grunts. Multiplayer kills wouldn't be counted in that. That's how many Covenant have been killed since Halo 3's Campaign was being played on live.
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
...or that *sometimes tends to overthink things*
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
I thought they said he shot his parents because he WASNT allowed to play halo 3? Locked away in his parent's gun box i recall?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Yes, That was the origional story. So I guess someone is making things up.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
This is the negative aspect of video games. Somany boys are addicted with the game. They cann't define the difference between gaming world and reality.
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Spoken from someone who obviously has never been forced to stay in bed for weeks or months at a time. Being bedridden is more likely the cause. Temporary insanity comes to mind.
When I broke my knee i had to stay in bed with my leg in an immobilizer, they didn't put a cast on. I couldn't do anything for quite a while and it sucked real bad. I only had to do it for a month or so and it was pretty depressing that i couldn't play DDR like i used to. The pain killers made me all woozy and it was a generally suck experience. I can't imagine being like that for a year. The compulsion to play games most likely stemmed from the desire to be active again and he most likely snapped at some point. i doubt the games caused it.
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
I had a similar experience in high school, I had to spend two weeks immobilized in a bed due to back surgeries (I couldn't even get up to take a walk). Lucky for me the hospital has an N64 on a cart and I was able to play a little bit each day. It was a painful experience, both physically and emotionally (withdrawal since I had a bad reaction to morphine), and video games helped me escape my situation, even just for a little while.
It's possible he had untreated emotional issues outside of addiction, I know I had mild PTS and insomnia following my situation.
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Except given the circumstances it fits with cabin fever 1000 times more easily than video game addiction. Now go somewhere and get an education on the subject, then return when you actually know stuff about it. Dont waste our time feeding out bullshit you don't know anything about.
You are not as bad but in the same direction of a religious nutcase saying the universe is 6000 years old with no scientific background, and no proof other than the BS you learned on the internet. If that is your belief fine, but there are people that still believe the Earth is flat, so it sure as hell does not mean you are right. Either way, people like you waste mankind's time with stupid arguments that are out dated just because of your non-scientific ideals.
If mankind had no one holding them back with stupid crap like this, then we would be a bit further than we are today, which would mean a lunar station, and possibly even a station on Mars, countless scientific research that could help medically, and people would hate each other less in this world without people like you, because less people would hate gays, hate blacks, and hate other groups, then they just can not grasp the bigger picture and logically work their way through it.
So I hope to hell that you are just kidding, because if not, WOW!
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How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Someone's a little upset... nothing says we're kind caring gamers like blaming a large portion of our community for all of the world's ills - I was completely unaware I hated gays, blacks, and other groups though so thanks for the heads up... now I'll have something to tweet about...
What perplexes me most about this case though is that his spine would apparently "snap" but he was mobile enough to shoot someone but not mobile enough to go to some sort of physical therapy? What are the exact details anyways? I thought he had never played Halo3 and had gone out and bought it and his father took it away then....
Even so - there must be other mitigating circumstances like predisposed him to take such action. Not to mention the actions he supposedly took after make it look like, while he may have been "out of his bloody mind" (to use the latin) at the time it almost seems premeditated or at the very least he was in control... someone trying to make the crime scene look like a murder/suicide doesn't just "happen" because you can't rough up a few Covenant is all I'm saying...
Still - my heart goes out to the family that has had to go through this ordeal...
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Yeah, I decided to just let it all out after a build of of hearing a couple human stupidity stories/pots, so yeah... I was just saying the person who is blaming it on game addiction is in the same group as homophobes, racists, and other groups because of not understand what he/she is talking about in the first place.
Cabin fever is a mixture of depression, claustrophobia, and radical change in activity.
Basic symptoms of cabin fever: inactivity, crankiness, sleep loss, and simply feeling down in the dumps
He was forced into the first one, the second is obvious, the third is most likely, and the last I would say is more than most likely. They need to make it against the law for there to be these "it was the video game's fault", and force people to do real research that proves their point.
He planned it out a little too well to be a knee jerk addiction type reaction. He thought about it well enough to say, close your eyes, I have a surprise for you. I am sorry, but that is proof alone of pretty major psychological problems beyond what any non-chemical addiction case I have seen, especially to someone's own family.
Nido Web Flash Tutorials AS2 and AS3 Tutorials for anyone interested.
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
How to set Xbox 360 Parental Controls
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Obvious Troll is obvious. Begone.
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"Game on, brothers and sisters." -Leet Gamer Jargon
"A Chrono Trigger is anything that unleashes its will or desire to change history!" -Gaspar
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
And you cite precisely what evidence that Daniel Petric was unable to define the diference between "gaming world" and reality?
Hell, do you have any evidence that anyone is unable to make that distinction?
Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Easy tigers. Looking at the links that this poster included in their post, I'm inclined to believe that this is a tongue-in-cheek "Post of Irony(tm)".
But, I may be wrong of course.
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Re: Defense Blames Game Addiction in Shooting of Parents by Teen
Are you serious?