February 10, 2008
Eric Hall, a former Marine who was badly injured in Iraq, is missing from his home in Florida.As reported by Tampa Bay Online, Hall's family fears that the 24-year-old's post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may have been aggravated by playing the intensely realistic Call of Duty series:
[Hall's cousin] said that before Hall went missing he also played the video game "Call of Duty." The family said the game may have triggered some unpleasant war memories. Hall's best friend was killed in the same battle in which Hall's leg was injured. He was nearby when the friend was decapitated.
Friends and family have organized a search effort. They believe that Hall may be living off the land. Since being wounded, Hall has been involved in a dispute with the Veterans Administration over his benefits.
GP: While the article refers to Call of Duty, the original game is more than four years old. We're assuming that Hall's family is referring to the more recent, highly popular and very intense modern-day shooter, COD4.
Comments
I second your comments. COD4 was more of an additional symptom if anything.
Are you ok
You feel better
You sure you ok
I get they are trying to grasp why he left but when people are depressed you tend to care more so for all we know he left cause no one would leave him alone?
I could be wrong but coming back from a tour thats all I would get asked of me.
If Eric's family wishs to blame his current events and hardships on a game like COD4, then they are very deeply, not understanding him. An that would be very unfortunate.
So, again, I really do hope and pray, Eric is found, alive. An any help that can be directed his way, is sent. Not for COD4's sake, but for his sake!
The Bastards.. The British Army still owes me a rather large amount.
It is really unfortunate that people's first reaction is to get defensive about video games, instead of sympathizing with the family's concern for their loved one.
I hope they find him in good health, and are able to get him the help he needs.
I hope he is found soon and found well,hopefully hes gone into hobo mode and is merely shunning society because living in the wilderness means gators galore...
PS:charcoal tastes like dirt >>
PSS:the rich bastards in charge can always find money for war but none for vets, its one thing to be frugal and dispute the disability of a normal citizen but when i comes to vets don't question it if the elites in washington can get inf money for health care and raises for themselfs why in the hell can they not do more for vets..
Wow.
Whoever made that game did a DAMN GOOD JOB, I must say. Kudos and congratulations to whatever design team put it together. And whoever wants to play that kind of game (within reason,) let them.
But could something like that game freak out someone who's coming back from a real combat zone? Yeah, having seen what I did, I could very easily believe that. It's not really such a stretch. I hope they find the poor guy that's gone missing and he gets help and it all ends well.
But as someone noted above, watching "Saving Private Ryan" could have had the same effect. Media is media. The fallacy is in thinking that ALL media everywhere HAS to be palatable to everyone equally and individually.
"Support the troops"....BS....
I've heard stories in the past where War Vets....exspeically injured ones who are entitled to benifits don't get them or have a really hard time getting them...
That sounds a lot like Medal of Honor: Frontline to me. Brilliant game.
Fangamer
Hey, another Marksman! Put 'er there, pal (no pun intended)!
While I do hope that they find him very soon and I do understand that war-related material may be able to push someone who has been in war over the edge, I think it's a bit early to make any assumptions that the may haev caused anything. At least they said "may" rather than jump the gun and say "did".
Call of Duty 2 did the same thing. Every battle would start with a loading screen that had a soldiers diary on it.
Never thought I'd see the day
You too? Bloody outragious mate!
Personally, this sounds more like retaliation for the response by gamers to FOX regarding the Mass Effect story.
Basically, FOX News is thumbing their noses at the industry AND consumers "we'll report HOWEVER we want, and lie and deceive as much as we want and you can't do squat about it!"
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
May his family find him before something happens; as a soldier, he is one of the nation's finest... it's a real pity most vets who come back alive don't usually get treated as well as they should...
And nobody's blaming the game. If the report was about someone with an allergy and they said "drinking a peanut butter milkshake might have cause his allergy to flare up" nobody would be whining. It's annoying how gamers just jump on the 'IT'S NOT THE GAME'S FAULT GRRRR' bandwagon when something like this happens. There are more important things at stake here.
The fact he was in a debate over his benefits suggests that he was already under a lot of pressure, like the Vets from vietnam, their biggest problem wasn't the horrors of the war, it was feeling like their efforts were being totally ignored when they got back home, that led to quite a few withdrawing from society and living a hermits life, because they could no longer function properly in society and were not getting the support or understanding they needed from their own army.
Without knowing the details, I can't say for certain, but I'd certainly say it was a good bet that he wasn't debating that he was getting too much money from the Army.
I can see Call of Duty setting this off indirectly, after all, we can already assume he felt his sacrifice wasn't appreciated, maybe, on some level, he felt that his life was much like the game, you fight, you see terrible things, and then you get turned off and forgotten about until you're next needed.
My Grandfather, after his time fighting in Burma during the second world war, used to fight Japanese paratroopers in his sleep for pretty much the rest of his life... my grandmother used to say she had to roll out of bed from time to time to avoid getting hit across the throat.
My father, having served ten years in northern Ireland during the height of the war there, bursts into tears randomly when drunk, and anything about the peace process gets him angry if it shows up on the news.
And those are mild reactions, I've met or heard of several people with far more violent or destructive reactions even decades after the events they witnessed during wartime. I can't say that its a shocking suprise that today's war games, with so much emphasis put on realism in graphics, tactics and special effects, would trigger someone's problems.
I feel sorry for the guy, and his family.. anyone for either side, who attempts to exploit this situation in any way needs to get their priorities straight.
Fake video violence doesn't make people crazy. Real violence does. This man has been up close and personal with about the worst of it, and yet we're gonna blame the video game? Nonsense.
BTW, COD4 is not realistic. Please show me in real life where a highly trained soldier can unload an M60 from a distance of 5 feet and not manage to kill the guy standing right in front of him. While your at it, show me the soldiers who have their health recharge 15 seconds after being shot 4 times. And the ones that infinitely respawn on the battlefield after death.
There is nothing in the article suggesting it is a combat simulator, what it meant was that by playing COD4, it may have possibly reminded him of the harsh time he had in his own time of battle. Let's face it, COD4 is probably one of the most realistic war shooters out there, so I wouldn't be surprised if it brought back unfortunate memories, especially some of the levels with the Iraqish invironment.
@Steve
It may not be realistic, and it may not have made him "crazy", but it does not need to be a real situation to trigger something like this.. nobody is ultimately to blame, and pointing fingers will help nobody, this is a tragic situation for all involved and could have been triggered by any number of things, or nothing but memories.
Dramatic Experiences suffered during times of stress can resurface by as little as a familiar sound. (Lightning strike - artillery, News Chopper - Black Hawk)
So its not surprising that a video game could set this off. Then again, so would Saving Private Ryan, Rambo and the 1812 Overture (by Tchaikovsky)
It sounds more related to him thinking he's on a mission, especially since he was reported as shooting imaginary people with his hand.
The guy probably thinks he's in a mission and may not be found with ease, and what would worry me the most is how he'd react to being discovered. Would he attack the person who finds him? Either way, that's a scary thing, I hope they find him without him being hurt or another person being hurt.
Oh well, once the guy is found I think this will be the last we hear about this.
I think the family's account has more credence than anything.
@NW2K
What does Fox News have to do with this? Do you have a link to their story?
Oops, sorry, thought I put the link in there.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330225,00.html
"Missing Ex-Marine's Family Says Video Game May Have Sparked Disappearance "
And I hope people realize that this is really just a tragedy of war, not the evils of video games.. Such accusations would be insulting to the suffering and seriousness of those really have PTSD.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I hope that the Marine is found ok.