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Online Game Rivalry Ends with Real Life Murder |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 21 January 2008 |
There is another sad but real story. Two Lineage players of warring clans meeting face-to-face in the city resulted in violence and death.
This is the third murder crime relative to MMO in my memory. Several days ago, I have reported a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering and robbing an 81-year-old woman for money to play online games in Vietnam, and a 17 year old Chinese boy lighted classmate on fire to be a Fire Mage. At this time, the tragedy happened in Russia.
The website of russiatoday reported it with a meaningful title "Online game rivalry ends with real life murder". Is MMO-related crime a serious social concern? What should government and MMO developer do? If you have an opinion on this news, feel free to leave a comment.
The details are as below:
A young Russian man has been charged with murder after an internet game jumped off the screen onto the street. It's alleged he killed an internet gaming rival after they met face to face in the city of Ufa.
Violence on screen isn't harmful to anyone. But when virtual reality and real life collide an innocent game can end in tragedy.
It all started when two clans, the Coo-clocks, made up of mostly students, and the so-called Platanium with more experienced gamers of over thirty, started fighting to wipe out each other on screen.
33-year-old Albert used to spend hours in front of his computer. On the web he had his own clan and a dozen of warriors. Just days before the New Year in a virtual battle his clan killed a member of the hostile Coo-clocks.
Days later the enemies agreed to meet literally face to face in the real world.
Their confrontation led to tragedy. Albert was badly beaten and died from his injuries on the way to hospital.
"I think they have confused the game and reality. And after we buried him on December 31, they continued to threaten us," Albert's sister Albina says.
The alleged murderer hasn't shown regret and hasn't justified himself. 22-year-old student just calmly explained why he killed his opponent.
On the web each of the clans had its own hierarchy and rules.
"Beat everything that moves, and everything that doesn't move - move and beat!" this is one of the rules of the Coo-clocks clan.
In this case the rule applied to real people in real life. Members of the internet Coo-clocks clan continue to harass the family of the murdered man, threatening to kill his sister, who hasn't turned on the computer for days.
In an unrelated case another gamer in his twenties came to Moscow from Ukraine to meet his rival. The confrontation ended in with the Moscow man being beaten to death.
And a twenty-year-old from Petrosavodsk killed his grandmother after she interrupted his game calling him to eat.
However, internet experts say these cases shouldn't be lumped together just because some people can't handle the situation.
"Not many talk about the benefits of internet games for disabled people who don't have a chance to communicate with others like themselves or able-bodied people. Nobody mentions the benefits the internet can offer in education," says Aleksandr Kuzmenko of a computer game magazine.
With more and more people logging on to get their fix of virtual reality the experts say incidents like these are rare, and want it to stay that way. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 January 2008 )
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China Hunting Down Undesirable Online Games |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 21 January 2008 |
After Brazil bans Counter-Strike and EverQuest to avoid violence crime, Chinese authorities recently announced that they are stepping up the crackdown against what they deem as undesirable online games.
China said it would issue new rules cracking down on "undesirable" elements of online games amid fears of growing Internet addiction as the number of players soars, state media reported on Thursday. Reuters reports.
The number of online game players in China rose 23 percent to 40.17 million last year, Xinhua news agency said this week, citing an industry survey. Regular subscribers, accounting for over half the players, soared 30 percent.
The demand propelled online games sales to top 10.57 billion yuan (1.46 billion) in 2007, up 61.5 percent, the agency said.
The industry's growth comes amid media reports of soaring rates of online addiction, and officials blaming Internet obsessions for the majority of juvenile crime.
"Although China's online gaming industry had been hot in recent years, online games are regarded by many as a sort of spiritual opium and the whole industry is marginalized by mainstream society," Thursday's China Daily quoted Kou Xiaowei, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication, as saying. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 January 2008 )
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Brazil Bans Counter Strike and Everquest to Avoid Violence |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 21 January 2008 |
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Today, AFP released that Brazil this week imposed a ban on popular role-playing computer games "Counter-Strike" and "EverQuest", claiming they incited violence and were "harmful to consumers' health." If they ban Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt 2 or something, I get with it. Are Counter-Strike and EverQuest violent games? I'm was puzzled. According to the AFP report, both games ( Counter-Strike and EverQuest) allow players, typically teenage boys, to connect online to fantasy worlds where they interact with other players, form groups and carry out joint missions usually involving combat. "Some psychologists have described them as addictive as drugs. A few players have turned professional, earning money from powerful characters they sell, or from the auction of hard-to-win virtual items." The ban was ordered in October 2007 by a Brazilian federal court, but was not immediately implemented. The judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, ruled that the games encouraged "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security." Should Brazil Ban Counter-Strike and EverQuest? What's your opinion? |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 21 January 2008 )
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