In a story coming from Vancouver, Canada, a teenager was beaten rather badly at the Eric Hamber high school last Monday over a bit of WarCraft III DotA trash talking.
The attack was prompted after the victim’s team was winning a match of WarCraft III custom map, Defense of the Ancients. The victorious team apparently engaged in some smack talk which the losers found insulting.
During the school’s lunch hour, the victim was attacked by a group of four, possibly five assailants, whom had tracked him down to his school. The attackers made the victim kiss their feet before beating him with batons and breaking his fingers. Vancouver police have yet to make arrests as they continue their investigation.
Vancouver police constable Lindsey Houghton said “It’s very unusual. I guess some people take these things exceptionally seriously. It’s something that is exceptionally rare, given the number of people who play video games. Most people can separate reality from online fiction.”
Lending his opinion to the debate on computer game related violence, Richard Rosenberg, computer science professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia said “There are some emotions that seem to be amplified in the online world. It’s one of the byproducts of the online world. Things that happen on the Internet that affect your status can be very serious.”
Rosenberg cited examples of teenagers committing suicide due to posts made on the Internet. MyGaming has previously examined cases where gaming madness has lead to real life consequences.
Do you have stories about video gaming related violence? Share on the MyGaming forum.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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