Halo 3 player gets 23 years...

[viruszero]

In the videogame addiction thread, one of the parts of the article (on the first page) references a boy who murdered his parents after they took his Halo 3 away.

This is what the results of that trial are:
Source

So now what do you think, will anti-videogame activists use this to fuel their campaigns? Will this affect gamers at all? Will this cause gaming to take on a negative stereotype again? (Instead of nerds, gamers are deranged psychopaths waiting to kill.)

And of course, will this become a new excuse for people to use as a scapegoat for the reason they commited an offence?

And just speculative, but do you really believe that this boy sees the error of his ways or is he lying?

[VileMKII]

well being as this is the first time I have heard of it this could easly blow over. However I do think that thsi could pose a threat to oncomeing convicts makeing actions and blameing a game.

and for the record, who kills over being grounded?

[Storm]

Video games may function as a catalyst, but the problem must've already been there. I don't see how simply playing a video game could cause a person to become a psychotic killer. I'd understand if he'd simply gotten extremely agitated and lashed out in blind rage, but last I heard, a head shot takes a wee bit of aiming. Either that, or it was a lucky shot.

Now, surely we've all been mad at our guardians at some point, but ask yourselves the following question: Would I point a gun at them, aim for their head and then pull the trigger? Chances are, the majority of people are gonna say "hell no".

The kid was f'd in the head to begin with. Caring for a video game like that stems from outside the video game itself, possibly from the boy's past experiences and such. That doesn't relieve him from the guilt, however. The things he's done are brutal enough to convince me that he is now simply lying to get out of trouble, acting like a cornered animal.

He's a psycho killer who's using the video games and the media's attitude towards them as an excuse, and he should be locked up.

[VileMKII]

However Storm can we prove that? Within the tirals of law its all about proof. Was there a tendence to lash out while/after playing a game? Did show too much emotion for when if comes to playing it, let alone haveing to turn it off? Thats where your anwser is going to lay.

The sad fact is that this can be turned around and thrown into the face of the game. These games are violnent (I don't think Halo is but in general) and much like a stream of horror movies it has the potental to mess with ones head. I for one can admit that when I play an RPG for a good while, I have a tendence to think that a fights going to happen like it would in-game. The main diffrence is that I laugh and know its not going to happen like that. Why the story? Because this could happen with any game, and with one like halo he could have just thought he was Master Cheif and that nothing would happen once he pulled his stunt.

Weather or not that is going to over blow like the forth of july, I think that another issue would have been his crowd. I know not to judge a book by its cover but judgeing by that picture of him, I would think he's a thug or one of those wanna-be gangsters. If he's hanging with a crowd who has that sort of ideal and thinking, it could turn out bad.

As one final point, they should really take a look at this kids diet. I would think that being a teenager he ate out alot, which if horribal and messes with one's own self. the hormones in that food make repulsive body changes, as well as they can cause depression and temper control.
(For teh record I am against fast food. I worked there, I made the food, and I read the ingertense. Trust me not good. And most nutritiouns will tell you to only eat out about once or twice a year)

[Silver Stryker]

I agree with what Storm said. This ain't Halo, where guns are lying around for the taking. If he had enough control to go to wherever his parents kept the gun, seek them out, aim, then fire, then Hell's got an open spot just for him. I honestly think this has nothing to do with the game.

Plus he told them to close their eyes because he has a present for them....? Who does that in rage? XD

No. This isn't funny. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. This might've been different if this was a kid less than 12 years of age, but c'mon...