By the way unless he was REALLY stuck on the levels "Charlie don't surf" "War Pig", "Shock and Awe" and "Aftermath"... then I don't think that the Iraq war link is too tangible

Yeah, blame the video games. So easier than to blame the actual war...

@Ashton

I second your comments. COD4 was more of an additional symptom if anything.

I agree playing something, music, movie, picutures, video game, or his family asking him daily

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.

You can't blame the game for that. He shouldn't have been playing it then. That's why a lot of war vets don't even watch war movies or bother with anything war related, because they can't handle it mentally anymore.

I do hope they find Eric soon. Does not sound like his mental and emotional health is good. Its very disturbing the VA is in the sad shape it is, to help our veterans cope with so many problems. One would think our President would lead the charge, to make drastic changes and quickly.

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!

@Wa_Hi

The Bastards.. The British Army still owes me a rather large amount.

understandable. but game shouldnt be blaimed... war should

I don't think I would consider their statement to be blaming COD at all.

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.

When WW2 and Vietnam-era FPS games started coming into vogue a few years ago, I passed by a common room where someone was playing one, though I do not know which particular game it was. I noted the game used a soldier's diary as a means to frame the campaign and set up for the next mission, which I thought was a bit of a nice touch the way they did it. However, after noting this, I hung back and watched some of the action, and I was more than impressed. I was impressed to the point of near-fright. And I appreciated it.

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.

@Mark Dage

That sounds a lot like Medal of Honor: Frontline to me. Brilliant game.

Just to clear things up, the actual article doesn't blame the game in the least and only, in fact, mentions it int he one paragraph quoted. No need to get defensive here, guys.

@BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman

Call of Duty 2 did the same thing. Every battle would start with a loading screen that had a soldiers diary on it.

@SlyFox

You too? Bloody outragious mate!

Well, at least they only THINK Call of Duty did it, nothing about actually blaming the game. Although I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the game triggered his PSD.

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...

I've heard of war veterans duck for cover due to car misfires and refuse to watch war movies because of their PTSD ... decades after the fact. It's something that stays with them.

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.

Well, this is... different. But it still isn't something the game can or should be blamed about.

Extremely unfortunate. However, maybe they should look at the most likely cause. They saw him pretending to shoot imaginary people weeks before. Perhaps family should have put the effort in before he went missing. And of course there is the real cause, the real war.

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.

I should verify that I'm not saying anyone is trying to exploit it or suggest the game caused it.

@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.

The breakdown that this guy experienced is very unfortunate, especially considering the trouble he could get into while in this state.

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)

I don't think the COD guys could've seen this coming. Hmm out of all the 'games caused someone to do X' stories this one seems the most likely to be true. However any sane minded person would not blame the game but instead blame PTSD. It looks like the family is just saying that the game acted as a trigger and not a cause.

Oh well, once the guy is found I think this will be the last we hear about this.

Stop blaming the soldier for him playing the game. Understand that it might have or might not have triggered flashbacks or not, but don't blame the soldier for playing it. "Well, he should have realized the risks" isn't sensible. Say, if it was this game and it triggered the flashback, then the game is to blame, but given that it is an isolated incident I don't think that it would cause damage to the industry. Stop protecting the industry on issues such as this where we cannot rule out the possibility that the actual game might be accountable to a degree. There are other things involved of course, but I cannot and will not guess what they are.
I think the family's account has more credence than anything.

I wouldn't say blaming either, but if the family is saying that it could have triggered something, I'd believe it.

It's sad to see something like this happen. I hope they find him soon, because it would be beyond tragic to have him back from the war only to lose him again.

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.

Honestly, I can't understand why someone would play/watch anything violent after experiencing real war...

why do they blame the game
shouldnt....you know what never mind

I hope they find him and that he is ok. It is actually a bit plausible that the game could have triggered his PTSD. This isn't the evils of gaming and whatnot, it is something causing him to suffer from bad memories.

They showed this on my local news today, only they made no mention of the game.

I can see Fox News tomorrow though: "HEADLINES: SEXBOX GAME FULL OF GAY PORN AND VIOLENCE CAUSES PDSD IN MARINE!"

My father fought in Vietnam, and he tells stories of when he got home, how he was in a club one time, a car back fired and he hit the floor screaming for everyone to get down, memories of the war. It really messes with their brains, and sadly, we don't pay them nearly enough for what they do for us.

Hoorah. :-\

"Say, if it was this game and it triggered the flashback, then the game is to blame, "

Wouldn't that be the PTSD to blame and not the game?

This is very sad, I've heard a lot of stories about guys that come back from war. I really hope they find him soon. I have heard of a couple people that would realize that PTSD was coming on and would get away from people so that they wouldn't hurt anyone. and for the most part they would just wander around in the woods for days at a time and would usually turn up OK.

Pominator, read above what I said about my father. He was in a freaking club here in the US! It doesn't matter if it links to Iraq or not, its the imagery/sounds of war that triggers it, not exactly the imagery of a specific place.

hmm reading it again i do see they arent really blaming it i suppose... perhaps i am being too defensive!

Its just one of those things that seems to be said in a context very easy to distort. kind of like placing live ammo out there for JT n the other nutters.

Just as long as it isnt used like that i guess its okay.

I read through the article before having a knee-jerk reaction. Two paragraphs stood out like sore thumbs to me:

"Relatives believe he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. They say that before he disappeared, Hall was using his hand like a gun to shoot at imaginary people."

Alright, that right there is a very good indication that he is unfortunately experiencing mental issues, perhaps even showing preemptive signs of a full blown breakdown.

Birge 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.

I'm no journalist, but I am a frequent consumer of news and have been in the presence of several "on location" interviews and reports. Did anyone else get the feeling that these were leading questions brought up by the reporter and not the family?

In a time of crisis, I just don't see a concerned family member just bringing this up out of the blue.

Hypothetical situation:

Reporter: "Do you think he is dead?"

Courtney Birge: "He's a Marine," said Birge, who is married to Hall's cousin, Adam Birge. "He knows how to survive off the land and find food. We don't feel he is dead. We want him back with us."

Reporter: "Was he playing any violent video games?"

Courtney Birge:

It doesn't look like their bashing the game really, their just commenting that their sons PTSD had been effected by playing COD. Which is kinda no suprise really.
I've seen some incidents where just hearing the sound of the M1 Garand used in WW2 being fired in MOH, or COD, and a WW2 veteran went Alert, and started asking questions about who was shooting him, etc.
Wars, battles, even minor skirmishes for the newly initiated recruits can always be the most tramatic.
Yes, the VA is quite screwed up, problem is it sometimes is related to how it works...

Each people deal with things differntly. Some people will view COD as a relief others will view it as a bad memory That's my two cents.

And I hope Eric Hall's alright

This is the same old story. There is a correlation between video game play and psychiatric symptoms. But it's not the game content. It's a little known problem discovered because it caused mental breaks for office workers. The cubicle was designed to deal with the vision startle reflex to solve that problem by 1968.

The problem appears several significant places. Qi Gong, Kundalini Yoga, ICU Psychosis in hospitals, and in Landmark Education's seminar The Forum.