I don't like the death penalty, but other than that, he deserves highest punishment under the law. Cut him no slack.

"the killer had cannibalism fantasies, “gave up on being normal,” and suffered from deviant sexual disorders, deep depression, a socially isolating personality disorder, and bipolar disorder.’

So…we should just let it go, even though he murdered a 10-year-old? Or…we should let him rot in a prison for the rest of his life…? Which would be such a good option, he would fit in soo well with Bubba and all the other inmates for what he did…I guess I’m slightly confused about what the defense psychiatrist was saying… "

Trying to get a plea of insanity...I'm guessin the psych is a pacifist or doesn't believe in the death penalty....

Hmm, KoL = A great game that should have no effect on these crimes.

I'm sure that many of the people that commit these crimes have played video games, so matching this crime with KoL should not happen.

From the Satanic Bible:
"Responsibility for the responsible."

ok... wait, WHAT? Kingdom of Loathing? really?

please, stick figures in a click-without-violence web-based game don't make you murder.

oh, also: KoL is free.

I don't remember. Did GP post a story on this case? If so, I certainly don't remember it.

He's getting what he deserves.

Why would this case be used as evidence of a need for video game legislation? There are so many other examples that would have been relevant. If he was 26 at the time of the murder and roughly that age at the time he started playing the game in question, how would legislation have "helped". Even if it was a game published by a major company for a platform or PC, it would not have prevented him from buying it. And if it would, that's presents a whole new set of problems.

Pong, or some other casual game. Peggle, maybe.

Ooo! Bejeweled!

@ Ebonheart

"Fifa 09 was so crap I just HAD to shoot up that football stadium!!!"

If videogames made him do it, shouldn't he get a free pass? I mean, wouldn't that make him an innocent victim of the game makers?

You can't have it both ways. Either video games (and by extension, the rest of the media) are harmless, or the jails should be emptied since everyone there was brainwashed and not responsible for their actions.

I find it odd that this has even received attention here. This case has been all over the news in Oklahoma for the last few weeks, but there has never been a mention of video games in any that I have read. Of course I don't read Fox News.

No local news outlets have chosen to play it that way. (pun not intended)

It's the 30 year old rule. If they are under 30 then anything they do wrong will be blamed on video games. This guy didn't even really play games, but he opened a flash game (or something similar) so it must have been games that made him do it.

I can see it now, a 29 year old charged with some horrible crime, medication, drugs, emo-poetry found at his house. All his aquantinences will say how crazy he was, his psychiatrist will say how the police were warned. He will have painted the crime on his wall with his own feces.

Then someone will find Peggle in his browsers history and he will be the Video Game Criminal on Faux News.

That man deserves death, and nothing else.

However, bringing games into this benefits no one, and if he is let off with it, common sense is done for.

First time I know about that game... WTF? Facepalm to the infinity...

"Trying to get a plea of insanity…I’m guessin the psych is a pacifist or doesn’t believe in the death penalty…."

Or he just believes that the guy's actions were caused by a medical condition he couldn't help having.

I don't know about Oklahoma law in particular, but it's likely that someone found not guilty due to insanity would be sent to a mental hospital until they were cured (which may well be never).

What he did was horrendous, and he should never be free in society again.

However, while I support the death penalty, I have no faith in the fair application of the death penalty in the state of Oklahoma. The state is notorious for denying defendants in capital cases the most basic protections and resources to ensure that a death sentence is arrived at fairly.

I recommend "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham. It is the true story of how a man in Oklahoma was railroaded by police and prosecutors and came within days of being executed for a murder he did not commit. After reading it, I cannot support any death sentence in Oklahoma until the state fundamentally reforms how it handles capital cases.

It is sad, because most of the time when people have bizare sexual fetishes, they also have a degree of maturity that only allows their fantasies to be played out in just fantasy alone, but never in reality.

But there are a few minority cases when a person like this one with a Cannibalism fettish kills someone because of their unstable state of mind.

But it is not the games or the fetish that is responsible, because he chose to do the crime. And he did not take any responsibility for his actions,

To blame his actions on Videogames or bizarre sexual fetishes is an overtly simplistic and a wrong thing to do because I know from my own life experience that my own fetishes are just fantasy, and only will ever be a fantasy. Just like the Videogames that I love to play.

Sadly not all people have a degree of what is fantasy and what is reality.

@ Whitsler

Doesn't Viacom own a part of Midway?

------
Anyway, as I stated/speculated when Dennis first editorialized Burrell's asinine testimony: "If it were to be found out that Kevin Underwood is related by blood/marriage to American Idol champ and country music star Carrie Underwood(and it's very possible as they're both from Oklahoma), would the same rhetoric that's heaped on the video game industry be heaped on Nashville(as it should, as they've cashed in on 9/11 more times than Jack has tried to cash in on youth violence)?"

Jesus. Didn't we already do this at least a dozen times already? GOD DAMN! THIS IS SO REPETTATIVE!!

@ BearDogg-X

No, Viacom isn't a major shareholder in Midway Games. Sumner Redstone, who owns a big share of Viacom also owns about 87% of Midway.

@ BearDogg-X

No. Viacom doesn't own Midway.

As a regular KOL'er, I would love to kick the moron in "the junk" that called the game "violent." If they had bothered to do the research and *gasp* maybe even play the game, they would know what an untrue statement they have made. Our characters cannot die in the game, we are "beaten up" instead -- yes, I know, EXTREMELY VIOLENT. *groan* I'm glad to see that at lease he will get what is coming to him. RIP, you sick bastard.

*shakes her head in disgust*

"Must...finish...this sentence..."

That comment was a mirror of how some things, no matter how irrelevant, slips through the mind of some people skiing on thin ice.

So yeah, I'm joining the facepalm bandwagon.

*facepalm*

Death penalty is by ethics, bad. But if it gets abolished, wouldn't would-be/current criminals be happy and the crime rates might go up again? Just a thought.

I'm suprised at how many people here are so supportive of the death penalty...

The guy is a psycho and clearly has problems. But we really don't have the right to end his life. That makes us murderers, and I'm not a killer.

Can none of you see the blatant hypocrisy in killing someone who is found guilty of murder?

They should just send him to the loony bin.

@White-haired journalist

Canada abolished death sentence and it's crime rates are quite low compared to the US.

I remember hearing about that back when I was playing KoL. Not a big proponent of the death penalty, but have to throw in my lot with Nekowolf.

They might have had a case for KoL having an "influence" if he smacked someone with a stainless steel shillelagh and then plunged a sabre-toothed lime into his leg, but as it stands who the HELL are they to blame a site in which the most interactivity there is within its interface is "click on text" as the cause of a horrific murder?

If fantasies alone were enough to send someone to prison or to their death, then my fantasies would cause me to get the death sentence in every country. Most of humanity would also join me in the gas chamber. Fortunately, the majority of us don't allow our would-be-illegal-if-it-happened fantasies to actually be played out (other than consentual roleplaying in bed).

Also, "normal" is defined as "the average level of fucked-upness in your society". Everything we have today--art, technology, science, advanced math, and so forth--was brought about by someone who wasn't "normal." It used to be "normal" to burn people alive for witchcraft, if the winter stuck around for a little longer than it should have. Don't let the term "normal" fool you. It means nothing.

And maybe he's deeply depressed and isolated BECAUSE he's suffering from a sexual disorder? If you can't get it up for whatever reason, you can damn sure bet that you're not gonna be thrilled about it.

We need to building and burning straw men. He did it--not his fantasies or illnesses. A person who does something as sinister as this does NOT need to be reformed and released back into society. He's not worth the risk. This isn't a fishing trip. "Catch and release" does not apply.

And, FYI: Industrialized prison and death sentences were never intended to be punishment for a person's crimes. They exist so that the rest of society doesn't have to become that person's victim again--for some time, at least. Somewhere along the road, we forgot what punishment is, and we started to think that giving a person access to premium cable, a Nintendo Wii, "three hots and a cot", excersize equipment (so they can get beefier and more easily commit crimes...), and fresh air, was somehow punishment. I don't have a Wii, premium cable, or an in-house gym. Prisoners get treated better than I do! Where do I sign up?

I want to write this guy in prison to tell him "They deleted your character, LOL!"

@Kris O.
I don’t have a Wii, premium cable, or an in-house gym. Prisoners get treated better than I do! Where do I sign up?

Wasn't that the plot to an episode of Pinky & The Brain? Or was it Ren & Stimpy? Perhaps both...

Curiously on topic, it sounds like this guy (the murderer person, not Kris O) well & truly earned his fate. Goodbye and good riddance to him.

@the7iv

I SO hope that was facetious.
It is nice to know your posts in other places are just the same as in KoL.

In other news, I'm sure the news is at least bringing in interest in KoL. How in the name of barbed-wire fences can this game be seen as violent? Have they seen San Andres?
geesh.

Maybe he got sick of waiting for rollover.

It's ridiculous. It's not even funny.

Maybe the Naughty Sorceress made him do it.

This is just ridiculous that they'd even think of linking a spoof browser based game to a murder like that.

My faith in humanity is now steeply declining.

SHows that geeks need a life.

I bet the player that got killed got the title 'Sentenced to death for idiotic bullcrap'. By idiotic bullcrap, I mean the *coughFAKEFAKEFAKEcough* reason why he was sentenced. >_>

Heh. Well, whatever. The last line is a good punch line to a joke of an article.

Give all oxigen breathers the electric chair!!! From this post it is platently obvious the the killer breathes oxygen... Is it not obviouse that the killer instinct lives in oxygen? He must be an Oxygenarian

Good God they were not joking on the forums.

Ye God they can't be serious.

No. Just NO. Not KoL. Not associated with a killer. No. This is a dream. No.

...methinks it's Rep. Burell that needs psychiatric attention, if he thinks KoL can contribute in ANY way to crime.