February 16, 2008 -
The New York Post, a daily tabloid, has a story in this morning's edition with this screaming headline:College Killer Crazy for Violent Vid Game
The article, written by a pair of Post reporters, claims that NIU rampage killer, 27-year-old Stephen Kazmierczak, was "obsessed" with Counter-Strike, which the paper describes as "an ultra-violent video game."
The Post quoted a former dorm mate of Kazmierczak's, Ben Woloszyn:
He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud.
The Post article appears to draw a linkage between the player's actions in the game and Kazmierczak's shooting spree:
In the game, players use imaginary money to buy shotguns, pistols and other equipment they need to move around an imaginary world in which they're constantly under threat of being killed by roving terrorists.
In real life, Kazmierczak - who had become "erratic" recently after shunning medication for an undisclosed illness - purchased weapons like those used in Counter-Strike, including a Glock handgun and a pump-action Remington shotgun...
Down near the bottom of the article, the Post also mentions the killer's very short-lived stints in the Army and as a corrections officer. These episodes appear to suggest an unstable nature.
GP: While the Post article seems to confirm other reports indicating that Kazmierczak had significant mental health issues, exactly why the paper chose to focus on his past video game play is not clear. Personally, I'm far more concerned about a disturbed person with a gun than I am about a disturbed person with a video game.
We should note that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News, which, as GamePolitics readers well know, frequently uses sensationalized reporting to smear video games.
Is there a connection?
Hey, as they say on Fox, we report. You decide.
I'd be remiss not to point out that game violence critic Jack Thompson alerted me to the Post report via several e-mails, one of which arrived under the subject line:
Screw Dennis McCauley and Hal Halpin and the ECA Donkey They Rode In On...
I kid you not.
Full Disclosure Dept: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.
UPDATE: A piece in the Northwest Herald also mentions the shooter's Counter-Strike play:
Kazmierczak often would play the video game Counter Strike, a first-person shooting game, the roommates said, but they were quick to add that the game was nothing unusual for dormitory halls.
Comments
I really don't have the patience to post a comment on all of these articles about the latest tragedy involving the media sensationalism, but I just wish we could do something more than commment here. As much as I hate to say it, I wish we could sue the bastards that report the lies that always seem to be told.
It just...disturbs me.
But that's an argument that will never be settled...
Couldn't someone sue Thompson for Libel and Slander for saying that Cho played violent video games? Honestly, they really could. Same with EA and Bioware for the Mass Effect incident. Sue for libel/slander, and eventually these people will be forced to get the facts right before slamming people.
It's incredible.
The case isn't over yet. The Bar hasn't issued its ruling.
..............oh godammit. Not those fucks. Not the Westboro Bapist Church. No no no no no NO!
LOL! Thanks much for sharing that site with me. I'll have to take a good look at it when I'm not weighed down by a need for sleep.
"…
I.
Hate.
Fred.
Phelps.
I’ve always hated him. Always. And now, even more.
Also, how is this relevent to his “cause”?"
He thinks EVERYONE is gay.
No, really, he does. He's basically using bronze-age bible-thumping to force himself to believe that he and his family are the only people EVER going to heaven, EVER, and everyone else is a godless heathen who deserves eternal damnation.
Yes, he IS that self-absorbed.
The killer was 27.
Counter-Strike was first released in 1999.
Since it is only February, let's assume that the killer hadn't had a birthday yet this year. That means that he would have been 19 when Counter-Strike was released. That means that if Jacko is telling the truth when he says that he doesn't want to ban the sale of violent games just the sale of them to minors then Jacko should not have anything to complain about because the killer was not a minor when the game was first released.
Moreover, as Counter-Strike was originally released as a mod, if such a law were to have existed back in 1999 it wouldn't have mattered anyway since Counter-Strike was free. CS was not for sale until years later.
So either Jacko should have nothing to say about this or he is lying when he has said that he doesn't not want to ban the sale of violent videogames to adults.
Why don't we just give up our hobby and start doing something else? Maybe then these people will keave us alone. I am sick and tired of this crap. If I don't fight, I'm wrong because I'm letting them win, if I fight, then I'll be in more crap about how gamers will never accept criticism.
But if I never play games again, they can't blame me anymore.
I wouldn't be surprised if they've thrown in the original DOOM as well.
See: http://www.northernstar.info/article/2354/
As ALWAYS, this is a case of a person with a psychological disease going crazy. Its much easier and more politically correct to blame something unrelated like games than to actually focus on mental illness.
Are we to believe that games made this guy crazy?
REAL FACTS which surfaced:
He was a B student.
He was seen as respectful to others.
He was not a loner (even having been a part of the chess club in school and having received praise from other college students).
He was on medication for an undisclosed mental condition.
He was released from the Army for an undisclosed condition.
He received praise for his college work, which included work with the criminal justice system, including prisons.
He lived with a woman at some point (haven't seen any interviews with her).
Neighbors say he was, for the most part, quiet.
His medication obviously was working decently with little to no negative side effects (hence, the previous positive statements about him).
His erratic behaviour began shortly after stopping his medication.
So, movies, music, tv shows, books, video games, magazines, whatever, clearly had NO significant effect on the first part of his 27 years of life. Not to the degree of violence he now suddenly showed.
So, what are the potential events that ACTALLY led to this event?
The cessation of his medication may have put him in a different frame of mind than what he had been in for almost 3 decades.
And with that differing frame of mind, some event occurred that set him off. An event which he may have actedly differently to had he been on his medication.
His reasons for going off his medication? Unknown.
The event that occurred during his being off his medication? Unknown.
Speculate all you want. The Truth, The WHOLE Truth, And Nothing But The Truth beats out agenda seeking guttertrash any day of the week.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
So instead of blaming the Army mentality they blame video games.
EVEN THOUGH the main purpose of any army is ultimately to kill and of course not be killed.
Why can't we place the blame on the person who committed the crime? Responsibility.
In other news, a drunk bum at the scene said he saw the devil posses the souls of the living, and that the pink elephant will never be able to play the piano again.
Why does the media not want to blame the individual who committed the act? Because "responsibility" doesn't sell, "sensationalism", at ANY cost, does.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
WTF?
The fact that you can go buy a shotgun at a store is the problem here. Not video games.
jeez
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/02/16/niu_shootings/doc47b5d88b455...
The post needed a juicy story and telling it how it is and what it is like well that is just not fun!
Bad enough the tabloids profit from tragedy, worse still the people who want to buy it
The point is not that the army should be blamed, but that actual military experience would probably have more of an effect than any video game experience.
Keyword: "Tabloid"
Why would I want anything written on my toilet paper/fire kindling seriously?
Now I'm really mad!
When a doctor saves a life and is interviewed THEY would never say "It was all possible from the video game training I received"
I'm betting that he had Schizophrenia. Based on what little information is available and the fact that his behaviour shifted erraticly after he ceased taking the medication that sounds like the most likely scenario. Especially if you understand why people in his position willingly stop taking the meds.
People with a chemical imbalance have a tendency to stop taking the meds because their behaviour evens out. They start to think that they are cured so they don't need the meds any more. This tends to lead into either a vicious cycle of starting and stopping or a tragedy like what happened here.
where are you from? LTIC there were waiting peroids and background checks.
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/02/16/niu_shootings/doc47b5d88b455...
Sullied in the comments section as Jack Thompson refuses to read this article and instead posts his press release. Thank you, Jack. This guy spending over a year in a mental hospital, his reluctance and refussal to come to grips with his mental illness, and his abrupt ceasing of medication (ask any psychologist what effect that has.... you know soo many, Jack. Or at least you quote them hap hazardly). Nor could this have anything to do with the killer having mimmicked negative behaviors in the past due to the exposure and attention it rewarded him with (mimmicking a fellow inpatients cutting behavior).
Nope, it's that fucking video game. Everyone who's played it is a walking timebomb waiting to explode. Well, with luck, this students killing spree took out five of his fellow timebombs. Sixteen just injured... shame. If he had trained a little harder he could have taken more of his fellow unstables out of the general population. Goddam, I feel so dirty for typing that. That's just evil... is this the mental condition you train yourself to exist in, Jack?
It's amusing how these school shootings get blamed on Counter-Strike, one of the most unrealistic shooters ever. You can get shot several times and run around like nothing happened, you can reload all your guns very quickly while jumping around, you can snipe people with 100% accuracy, as there is no scope sway....
That, and moving a mouse on your table and clicking is nothing like holding a gun and shooting it.
Unless you're, you know, playing as a terrorist.
Couple things to point out here:
-Counter-strike is a deathmatch game.
-While there are shotguns and handguns, there is no Remington or Glock
-The game characters where jumpsuits and vests. Kazmierczak's dress (or Steinhäuser's for that matter) aren't similar.
-There's no reward for killing hostages.
Andrew Eisen