In the latest saga over online gaming addiction in China, the parents of a 13-year-old Tianjin boy are suing the makers of World of Warcraft, blaming the game for the death of their son, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. The parents filed a suit against Blizzard Entertainment on Wednesday, saying their son jumped to his death while reenacting a scene from the game, the report said. The parents are backed by the anti-Internet addiction advocate Zhang Chunliang. Mr. Chunliang has spoken to 63 parents whose children have allegedly suffered from online gaming addiction and plans to file a class-action suit, according to the report.
[url]http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=14551&hed=Youth%E2%80%99s+Death+Linked+to+Game[/url]

Hrm, suing a video game company for the death of an obviously mentally disturbed boy, interesting.

Its like saying my parents could sue Virgin records for selling that death metal that has the lyrics "Slash my wrists, kill myself, slash my wrists, kill myself, worship the devil, slash my wrists!" Its just stupid.

Why would blizzard even bother showing up in China?

[quote author=Forged link=topic=13312.msg134906#msg134906 date=1132593490]
Why would blizzard even bother showing up in China?
[/quote]

???

If you are asking why they are releasing games in China, because it has the fastest-growing online game market in the world.

[quote author=Hazard link=topic=13312.msg134905#msg134905 date=1132592719]
Hrm, suing a video game company for the death of an obviously mentally disturbed boy, interesting.

Its like saying my parents could sue Virgin records for selling that death metal that has the lyrics "Slash my wrists, kill myself, slash my wrists, kill myself, worship the devil, slash my wrists!" Its just stupid.
[/quote]

I don't know of any death metal like that. Maybe more like, "Kill the bitch and drink her blood" or "Slash his throat and fuck the wound"... but what do I know?  [note: I did not intend to say the real lyrics, I know that it's not correct] :)

But anyway, yeah, that's ridiculous.  Parents hate taking responsibility for their own children, though, which is why they blame everybody else. 

It's actually a very similar situation to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

From that page:
[quote]Both Harris and Klebold were fans of violent video games such as Doom and Wolfenstein. Harris often created levels for Doom that were widely distributed, and can still occasionally be found on the Internet as the Harris levels. Rumors that the layout of these levels resembled that of Columbine High School circulated but have been debunked. [22] Some analysts argued that part of the killers' problem may have been a result of their constant exposure to violent imagery in such video games, as well as music and movies, theorizing that their obsession with these forms of media may have led them to have difficulty telling the difference between reality and fantasy. American media compared the massacre to a fantasy sequence from the 1995 film The Basketball Diaries in which protagonist Leonardo DiCaprio wears a black trenchcoat and shoots six classsmates in his school's hallways. Some eyewitnesses at the school compared the events to scenes from the 1999 film The Matrix. Several unsuccessful lawsuits against video game manufacturers were filed as a result by parents of some of the victims.

Blame for the shootings was also directed at Marilyn Manson and other rock music groups. However, an overlook of Harris' website showed both shooters disliked Manson and most other mainstream music. This claim was also backed up by close friends of the pair who have testified they were more into German rock bands, such as Rammstein. Upon release of this information, Rammstein came under heavy criticism from conservative and Christian groups in the United States, who claimed (among other things) that lead vocalist Till Lindemann's rolling Teutonic Rs were an imitation of Adolf Hitler's diction. In response, the band issued this statement:

[.....]

German-industrial band KMFDM received similar criticism. Harris' website featured lyrics to KMFDM songs and the shooting coincidentally occurred on the release date of their album Adios. KMFDM frontman Sascha Konietzko released a statement to the press the day following the shooting, expressing his own grief at the shooting, and emphasised their music is "a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others" and that "while some of the former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever." [23]

Detroit-based rap outfit Insane Clown Posse was also singled out for their aggressive and occasionally violent lyrics and the incorporation of black trenchcoats into their stage apparel.[/quote]

For Columbine, it seems like they blamed everybody in the world EXCEPT the parents..

[quote author=iago link=topic=13312.msg134945#msg134945 date=1132614619]
[quote author=Hazard link=topic=13312.msg134905#msg134905 date=1132592719]
Hrm, suing a video game company for the death of an obviously mentally disturbed boy, interesting.

Its like saying my parents could sue Virgin records for selling that death metal that has the lyrics "Slash my wrists, kill myself, slash my wrists, kill myself, worship the devil, slash my wrists!" Its just stupid.
[/quote]

I don't know of any death metal like that. Maybe more like, "Kill the bitch and drink her blood" or "Slash his throat and fuck the wound"... but what do I know?   [note: I did not intend to say the real lyrics, I know that it's not correct] :)
[/quote]
Could allways search up on a band named Cannible Corpse (probably spelt their name wrong)

[quote author=l)ragon link=topic=13312.msg134953#msg134953 date=1132618238]
Could allways search up on a band named Cannible Corpse (probably spelt their name wrong)
[/quote]

iago listens to death metal, if I recall correctly. :P

Although I know Cannibal Corpse is a violent death metal band, I don't know much more about them, so I decided to read up about them. Here's a link incase anyone else is interested:
[url]http://www.answers.com/cannibal%20corpse[/url]

[quote author=Shout link=topic=13312.msg134909#msg134909 date=1132594766]
[quote author=Forged link=topic=13312.msg134906#msg134906 date=1132593490]
Why would blizzard even bother showing up in China?
[/quote]

???

If you are asking why they are releasing games in China, because it has the fastest-growing online game market in the world.
[/quote]

I meant why would they bother attending the trial.

First thing's first:

[quote author=DeTaiLs link=topic=13312.msg134903#msg134903 date=1132591317]
their son jumped to his death while reenacting a scene from the game
[/quote]

Ha!  Haha!  Feel free to call me an insensitive bastard if you like, but I about died laughing when I read that.

Secondly:

[quote author=iago link=topic=13312.msg134945#msg134945 date=1132614619]
I don't know of any death metal like that. Maybe more like, "Kill the bitch and drink her blood" or "Slash his throat and fuck the wound"... but what do I know?
[/quote]

I personally prefer "Rip, and cut, and mutilate the innocent!  His friends, and again and again, and on, and on!"

[quote author=Newby link=topic=13312.msg134956#msg134956 date=1132619062]
[quote author=l)ragon link=topic=13312.msg134953#msg134953 date=1132618238]
Could allways search up on a band named Cannible Corpse (probably spelt their name wrong)
[/quote]

iago listens to death metal, if I recall correctly. :P
[/quote]

Absolutely!  Cannible Corpse was one of the first bands of that style that I listened to.  Some guy at work had one of their albums.  I missed their concert when they were here, though :-(!

I don't recall ever hearing lyrics about slashing wrists in a death metal song, though.  Slashing wrists just sounds too lame for death metal. :)

[quote author=iago link=topic=13312.msg135014#msg135014 date=1132678026]
[quote author=Newby link=topic=13312.msg134956#msg134956 date=1132619062]
[quote author=l)ragon link=topic=13312.msg134953#msg134953 date=1132618238]
Could allways search up on a band named Cannible Corpse (probably spelt their name wrong)
[/quote]

iago listens to death metal, if I recall correctly. :P
[/quote]

Absolutely! Cannible Corpse was one of the first bands of that style that I listened to. Some guy at work had one of their albums. I missed their concert when they were here, though :-(!

I don't recall ever hearing lyrics about slashing wrists in a death metal song, though. Slashing wrists just sounds too lame for death metal. :)
[/quote]

Too "emo."

[quote author=Explicit[nK] link=topic=13312.msg135042#msg135042 date=1132694119]
[quote author=iago link=topic=13312.msg135014#msg135014 date=1132678026]
Absolutely! Cannible Corpse was one of the first bands of that style that I listened to. Some guy at work had one of their albums. I missed their concert when they were here, though :-(!

I don't recall ever hearing lyrics about slashing wrists in a death metal song, though. Slashing wrists just sounds too lame for death metal. :)
[/quote]

Too "emo."
[/quote]

I took care to avoid using that word.  But yeah :P

remember when WoW made you stop playing to sleep, then people spazzed out and they pretty much removed the entire feature, that was a good decision.

Ugh. Linking violence to media directly is stupid. Sure, I beleive it can enhance somebodies mental instability (such as the Scream copy cat crimes) but a sane person should have no problems watching/listening to/etc. violent media.

For example: I fantasize about being a Mafioso, a Special Operations Soldier, and even a great Roman General. However, I'm not going to jump on a horse, equipped in armor and go ride through my school killing everybody with a sword.

[quote]Your entrails are displayed
Upon a rack we break the bones within you
Your fighters are dismayed and wonder if it is wise to continue
To resist my will
The babies that I bake fill a volcano
I'm clogging up the kill
My wretched baby paste requires Drano[/quote]

These lyrics make me want to bake babies and eat them.

[quote author=Thing [vL] link=topic=13312.msg135182#msg135182 date=1132785624]
[quote]Your entrails are displayed
Upon a rack we break the bones within you
Your fighters are dismayed and wonder if it is wise to continue
To resist my will
The babies that I bake fill a volcano
I'm clogging up the kill
My wretched baby paste requires Drano[/quote]

These lyrics make me want to bake babies and eat them.
[/quote]

Sounds like Gwar, if I had to guess. 


*checks*

Yep, Gwar.  Hah, I'm good! :-)

I was going to guess Cannibal Corpse. So I looked up a certain song that I thought could possibly be related to thost lyrics. I guess those lyrics aren't disgusting enough to be from Cannibal Corpse. Here's the song I looked up from them.
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/cannibal-corpse-entrails-ripped-from-a-virgins-cunt-lyrics.html
The lyrics to the song I was guessing it might be. These are [u]very[/u] disgusting lyrics.

Well the original 'death metal' lyrics posted sounded more like emo lyrics to me...

"cut my throat because you love me, slash my wrists for fun" etc etc...

actually cut my wrists and black my eyes so I can fall asleep tonight... but whatever. Thats Victory records and not virgin. Death metal is so much more brutal and awesome then that.

Cannibal Corpse sucks IMO... Morbid Angel and Death are way better.

Another band to check out for violent lyrics would be Dying Fetus
http://www.darklyrics.com/d/dyingfetus.html

[quote author=quasi-modo link=topic=13312.msg135233#msg135233 date=1132859881]
"cut my throat because you love me, slash my wrists for fun" etc etc...
[/quote]
That sounds more like hardcore emo to me.

[quote author=Yegg link=topic=13312.msg135237#msg135237 date=1132864076]
[quote author=quasi-modo link=topic=13312.msg135233#msg135233 date=1132859881]
"cut my throat because you love me, slash my wrists for fun" etc etc...
[/quote]
That sounds more like hardcore emo to me.
[/quote] It being hardcore or not depends on the playing style of the band, but you cannot say it is or not by lyrics alone. There are a few bands that use lyrics similar that are not in the least bit hardcore or metal, you might be able to make an argument for post hardcore and you can call hawthorne heights screamo because some of their songs have screaming. But I would not call that hardcore. When I think hardcore I think of it in it's original form, hardcore punk. That's is AFI, Thrice, etc. Bands that rely on more elements borrowed from metal are metal core. Killswitch, Zao, Atreyu would be be examples of metal core. Underoath today I consider to be post hardcore, their old stuff is metalcore but their new stuff is post hardcore.

In regards to the law suit, I think it's a perfect example of natural selection.