Marvin Fong/Plain Dealer
I’d like to start off by saying that this kid has more problems than just a video game addiction. That being said here’s the story:
IGN.com reported the title – “Halo 3 Teen Killer Didn’t Understand That People Don’t Respawn”
Daniel Petric, 17, claimed he didn’t understand that people don’t re-spawn in real life. He shot and killed his mother, and severely wounded his father back in 2007. The parents forbid him from playing Halo 3 and as a result they ended up dead. The judge at the trial was quoted as saying:
This Court’s opinion is that we don’t know enough about these video games…
It’s my firm belief that after a while the same physiological responses occur that occur in the ingestion of some drugs. And I believe that an addiction to these games can do the same thing…
The other dangerous thing about these games, in my opinion, is that when these changes occur, they occur in an environment that is delusional. Because you can shoot these aliens, and they’re there again the next day. You have to shoot them again. And I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea, at the time he hatched this plot, that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever.
Unfortunately gamers are under fire yet again. An unstable kid kills his parents and blames a video game. Games must be evil and we have to protect everyone from them now.
Columbine is another example of when games were blamed for the actions of mentally unstable individuals. Many other cases have had video games labeled as evil. The truth is that the games didn’t cause the problem the person(s) chose to do what they did.
Stereotyping gamers or video games has been happening for years now. The more these cases come up the more we’ll start to see the gaming world change. Should we blame all drug addicted teens problems on professional athletes that take steroids?
Frankly I think that kids don’t have much for role models today. Digital copies of themselves or heroes is far better than ones that think dog fighting is okay or ones that think tuna is really chicken.
The reality is that video games are what you make them. People that can’t separate fact from fiction should be receiving help. I think this case is nothing more than a sad, misguided youth who made a very stupid decision. Either way three people have lost their lives and gamers take another negative blow from the media.
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June 17, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Aegis
Meh.
The simple fact is this. If Game A causes Behavior B on Person C, then if Game A does NOT cause Behavior B on Person D, the only variable between those 2 instances was Person C.
In other words, this guy has a mental deficiency or some kind of psychological problem since he can’t even disseminate between actual reality and virtual reality.
Those with no moral fortitude quickly want to find a scape goat to take the responsibility of this, and video games have been such a scape goat for some time. I’ve come to not expect the public to take a realistic stance on subject matter that they have little experience with; what they usually end up doing is something along the lines of what we see here.
June 17, 2009 at 10:13 pm
ncowz
this is disgusting. i think that halo 3 should be banned from the shelves of book and game stores.
i am sick and tired of hearing all these horrible horrible things, recurcussions of video game violence. i think that video games should all be more like mario, although even then i still have quarrels with the violence involved. but that would be a step up from the current cesspool of filth, sex and violence that our children are subject to today as a result of other mind infected teenagers assuring us that video games are okay.
atleast he was just a kid though. i have heard a lot of stories about full grown adults spending hours a week playing video games. for some people it’s just time to grow up.
June 17, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Matt
I think it’s about time that people started taking responsibility for their own actions instead of always trying to find a scapegoat and blame something or someone else.
Halo 3 didn’t kill those people, Daniel Petric did.
June 18, 2009 at 1:13 am
WarpVis
I kill in games so I do not kill in reality
June 18, 2009 at 3:03 am
Raeguy
@ncowz
I swear that I don’t know what to say, your comment is so deliberately stupid that I’m at a loss of words. I wouldn’t want to get into a debate with you, because just from that comment I can see that you’re the typical idiot that joins of the bandwagon of “VIDEOGAMES ARE BAD” just because a RETARDED kid killed his parents. Just like Matt said, It’s the goddamn kid’s fault.
Following your raesoning, why shouldn’t we ban cartoons?
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_031008WAB_boy_buried_LJ.3e86c380.html
Why don’t we ban movies too? http://www.clickorlando.com/news/4307991/detail.html
Just try google “dies imitating”, and see what shows up.
Also, if you still think that videogames are kids’ stuff, that just proves me that you really don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
June 18, 2009 at 3:15 am
wat
ncowz, go back to play WIIfit, you fucking casual
June 18, 2009 at 3:32 am
Concerned Mother
If you ask me, it’s not just the video games making kids do this, but the actual companies that make them.
They see it as publicity since theres no such thing as bas publicity.
A kid plays Halo, kills some people and the media goes crazy. What happens?
People go out and buy Halo because its ‘racy’ and ‘hardcore’.
The companies just sit back and rake the cash in.
June 18, 2009 at 3:34 am
Cool_Story_Bro
He’s trolling the court.
He should be hanged.
June 18, 2009 at 3:34 am
Ben
It’s the mental deficiency of the player that causes things like this. It’s also the people around that person that do not PREVENT thoughts like this.
It’s not video games that cause violence. It’s the life of the person that lets it happen.
June 18, 2009 at 4:41 am
Profess
It’s incredible they manage to pin anything on video-games like this, in the end it’s just another medium that presents a fictional premiss (respawning)
…and I’m sure there are more reality defying concepts in books and films that could be hazardous if someone believed them wholly.
June 18, 2009 at 8:05 am
phluke
@ncowz
Your comment shows that you know nothing of the multi billion dollar game industry.
First off, you say “but that would be a step up from the current cesspool of filth, sex and violence that our children are subject to today…”
There are ESRB ratings for games, just like movies. Should we force adults to watch only G rated movies because R rated ones are full of violence and sex? I think not, people would go nuts about violating their freedom. How about people actually do a little parenting and take interest in what their kids are doing, weather it be sports or video games.
Second, there are literally billions of people(from kids to adults) that play video games. How many of those commit violent crimes? I guessing about the same percentage as people who don’t play video games commit.
Third, you say “i have heard a lot of stories about full grown adults spending hours a week playing video games. for some people it’s just time to grow up.”
I am 28 I spend about 5 hours a night playing video games on average. I’m sure you will be disgusted by this and think, “go do things with friends” and blah blah. Facts are that most games allow voice chat, so you make more friends(or play with real life friends) online. Video gaming is a hobby of mine and millions of others weither you like it or not, I’m not one for quilt making or going out to the bars everynight and you don’t see me trying to stop people from doing that.
Many games are developed and geared toward the 20+ age group(Adults), just like movies are, and if parents do their job these game wouldn’t be getting played by children.
Lastly, Just because a very small amount of adolescents that commit crimes blame them on video games does not prove that video games are to blame. Did Hitler play video games? What about Charles Manson or Jeffery Dahmer? I think not, facts are, we had violent crime and teens that shot each other and their parents long before there were video games. It just so happens that the media and judicial system has no idea(much like you) what video games are and what they are not. So kids who kill their peers or shoot up a school can blame it on video games knowing full well that naive people such as yourself will fall for it and they will get shown leniency.
People who kill have far more problems then playing video games.
June 18, 2009 at 10:28 am
Brian
ncowz – Before you go blaming all of this on the videogames, read the article below and the linked posts from Penny Acrade to get an idea how messed up some kids are and how they’ll just blame their actions on videogames because they know people (like yourself) will listen to them and believe them.
June 18, 2009 at 12:25 pm
JaegerSpider
sure, and the graind wasn’t growing ’cause a witch cursed the field.
June 18, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Josh
I have to say to ncowz that if you’re actually serious in your remarks, then you just proved that you have no idea what you’re talking about. Video games aren’t the problem. People that can’t tell the difference between dying in a game and real life have more serious problems than what type of game they play.
Its ridiculous the way these parents and other groups jump on the bandwagon anytime something bad happens. Myself and quite a few of my friends play video games. We’ve played halo and all those so called “violent” video games. You don’t see any of us going around killing people in the real world, oh, but thats because its a GAME.
Stop using video games as a scapegoat and get some facts. Video games don’t make people violent. People with violent tendencies may gravitate to the games, but thats not what causes them to commit these violent acts.
June 18, 2009 at 1:35 pm
mothergreen
This just another example of the “it’s not my fault society” People who blame video games for violence have a similar mental issue as this young man. People are always blaming someone or something else for thier problems.
June 18, 2009 at 4:23 pm
marine9077
When will ESRB step up?
June 18, 2009 at 4:27 pm
crmerry
Are you kidding? It makes me think of that “BOOM, Headshot” kid in the YouTube video.
“I was thinking of joining the military, but I heard they don’t have re-spawn in RL.”
Lame, lame, lame.
Back in the day, before we had too much time on our hands, people used to blame killing sprees on the 5 years of bad harvests and the death of their 8 kids thanks to dysentery. Sounds better than
“Halo 3 aliens don’t die, why should my parents?”
June 18, 2009 at 4:37 pm
moonsnugglegjstone
It’s part of the cycle of media and new media is now on the chopping block.
This has occured with t.v. (house wives watching soaps not being able to tell a character apart from his/her real life self, attempting to kill/harm them when they see them on the street/sending threats by mail…etc.)…
It is disgusting. It’s just another angle so that people can avoid taking personal responsibility for their actions. It’s a socially acceptable way to condem people enjoying a pass time that some don’t get.
I am not a gamer, and I don’t blame the games. I don’t believe it when some one blames “the game” they play- on a screen- for a real life action- not on a screen.
Why would a judge need to examine the game. The game is not the issue, the person playing the game is. At the age of 17 normal people can look up from a computer/t.v. screen and see that it’s not real…
Our day to day lives do not operate on computer generated filters, though it seems as though it may some day- that time is not now.
The lawyers do not help. I understand they want to defend their client, but the way they do it is degenerating to a subculture of our society and it’s unwarrented.
June 18, 2009 at 4:38 pm
sethb78
Brian is right. This kid knew that saying “the video game made me do it” would catch some peoples ear and he would have a chance to spend the rest of his life in a mental institution rather than getting ass-raped in prison. Either the kid knew exactly what he was doing, or he is a complete nut job. Either way, Halo is his patsy and legal defense to try to get away with it.
Before games, heavy metal was the patsy, or dungeons and dragons, or the beatles, etc etc etc.
June 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm
wvmmrh
this guy had bad mental problems lomng before he murdered his parents and before he began playing video games.i suppose if a movie triggered his actions,they’d be damning violent movies.who knows..maybe if it wasn’t the video games maybe it was some song by ozzy ozbourne..or worse yet…barry manilow. i know that president obama fills me with rage everytime i watch the news anymore..but i don’t go out and shoot my mom. i even lived through the entire bush administration without killing anyone. but ya know if i should decide to murder someone in the future,i’ll keep this video game thing in mind..it might be my only ‘out’ if i get caught.
June 18, 2009 at 7:54 pm
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June 24, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Floella
I remeber reading a story in the newspaper a while back that said something like
“a schizophrenic teenager killed his friend after he had been playing Grand Theft Auto”
The article also said he was high on drugs at the time.
So of course most people read that and are like “omg ban GTA it makes teenagers kill each other”
Um no he killed his friend because he was schizophrenic and on drugs, it has nothing to do with what game they happen to be playing at the time.
I’ve played many computer games over the years and still spend maybe 10 hours a week playing games, but I’ve never come of Warcraft and gone running into the local park with a big stick thinking I need to kill everything with my staff!
Everyone just comes up with excuses for kids bad behavior when most of it is just down to bad parenting.
July 27, 2009 at 2:37 am
Josh
People blaming these killings on halo 3 or any video game in particular is simply blame shifting because the person or people involved can not take the responsibility of the punishment. Maybe the kid did have some kind of mental problem, thats a big possibility, but, consider this….He was playing halo, possibly with friends, maybe he has no respect for his parents at all. Maybe his parents got tired of him playing the game all the time, so, they took it away….resulting in the kid getting so mad that he wanted to kill his parents…literally! Its called anger, people make stupid mistakes. I’m not at all trying to say the kid just made a stupid mistake and lets just forgive him and let him move on. No! Make the kid take responsibility and treat him like an adult. It was his fault, his decision, lock him away like every other murder victim, not because of video game influence, not because of insanity, because he committed a murder.
October 6, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Zach
ncowz,your an idiot. It’s not a games fault that a stupid kid killed his parents because “he thought they would re-spawn,just like the aliens in Halo 3″it’s the parents,and the kids, fault for letting him get addicted to it.And besides, I play halo 3 and love it. I’ve been playing the halo franchise since the first one came out when I was 14,and I still play it,and love it,but my parents would not let me get addicting to it,by having me play sports and go outside,and they tought me that games are fictional,and people don’t “re-spawn” in real life. And I think this kid just used video games as an excuse to get in less cosequences,such as saying that “Oh,the Halo 3 aliens re-spawned,so I guess my parents will re-spawn,after I kill them for taking my game away because I was addicted to it.” This kid,I think, is sick,and everything was his fault.He didn’t do it because a video game,he did it through his thought process and his thinking.So,what I’m saying is that we should not ban video games because and idiot kid doesn’t know right from wrong,and kills his parents.