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Videogames cited as possible trigger for Akihabara murder spree

by Steven Williamson on 13 June 2008, 12:13

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Japanese media are suggesting that a murderer who went on a rampant killing spree last week may have been influenced by 'violent' video games such as Dragon Quest, Eternal Fighter and Chantelise.

Tomohiro Kato, aged 25 from Tokyo posted warnings on the Internet before he took to the streets of Akihabara and killed seven innocent people.

Media claim that Kato was heavily into video games as well as an avid surfer of the Internet. In Japan they're using the case to push legislation forward to clamp down on certain forms of online expression, but it could also lead to a tightening of law around apparent 'violent' video games.

The role-playing game, Dragon Quest has been mentioned as one of the possible triggers for Kato's murder spree , with Japanese media claiming that the knife he used to carry out the attack was similar to the one used in the game.

It sounds all a bit too convenient to me, especially when the case allows the Japanese to push forward an agenda to curb people's Internet freedom. Isn't the same thing happening over here and in the US?

It seems the whole world is banging on about how video games and the Internet may be to blame for many of the nutters on the streets and of course the government's answer is to restrict, deny access to such materials and monitor our everyday usage of the net.

Which side of the fence do you sit on? Do video games sensationalise violence? Are they too blame for the rise in knife and gun crime? Do you think the whole subject has been blown out of proportion? Is there an agenda to curb our freedom?

Let us know your thoughts in the HEXUS forums.

Source :: Techradar


HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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I cannot but help feel angered by this - where yet again an unstable young person's actions are blamed because he/she plays too many computer games or views such stuff on the internet. Quite frankly, I think such a view is a load of bull; created by people who, quite obviously, have never played computer games for a significant amount of time in their life; and when they see such acts like this one mentioned they go for the easiest target, the Computer Games Industry.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that games have no influence at all (that would be foolhardy and wrong), but one should point out that the majority, nay, the overwhelming majority of people who play games realise that they are, above all, a work of fiction. A fake, with no real connections to the world. Now there are some who are obviously more impressionable than others, and indeed I imagine that young man is one of these people; but using him as an example to show that Computer Games induce violence and antisocial behaviour is biased and above all ignorant.

I may as well counter this anti-games lobby with something much more tangible and dangerous. Alcoholism - which, I might add, is far more damaging than Manhunt or Dragon Quest, will ever be. That being said I don't think I should bar people from drinking it, as the majority of people I'm sure are sensible around it (some less than others).
If the people behind such legislation really believed in it, then shouldn't they be worried about the millions of angry manic gamers who will be gunning for them?
They have it the wrong way around, people who are prone to sitting in their basement playing video games are also prone to psychotic episodes. The fact they play video games is a symptom, not a cause or trigger for their behaviour.
I've played violent games for years and years.

I'm going to stab you.

Obviously.
Lucio
They have it the wrong way around, people who are prone to sitting in their basement playing video games are also prone to psychotic episodes. The fact they play video games is a symptom, not a cause or trigger for their behaviour.

Exactly. Now the question becomes did becoming politicians make them stupid, or were they stupid beforehand.