It is no wonder...

Video games have a baaaaad reputation, and from that: gamers have a bed reputation. Actually I think it is anything that forces you to use your imagination in some way, shape, or form has gotten a bad reputation.

There have been many cases of people doing stupid things and blaming it on Video Games, D&D, Rammstien, etc. All of these get a special case in the spot-light. However it kind of brings into question (from me at least) why?

Why are these things always blamed for bad things that happen? Everything causes things to happen: gambling causes people to die, football takes away a lot of your life, etc. I believe strongly in the fact that people blame it on video games because they need a scapegoat of some variety. If parents had to sit down and go "wow... our kid was just messed up..." it would be 'horrible' for them. So: they get some form of solace going "grrrr... video games made him do it" or "angry music made them do it". If more people started to realize that the human race is one fucked up entity, it would drive most people bonkers.

Lets see here. The kids that walked into the school and shot a whole bunch of people (featured in Bowling for Columbine) were fucked up kids in the first place. They had extreme mental problems and rage issues.

Brandon Crisp. Everyone is saying how he was completely obsessed with his game. Which he probably was kinda obsessed. However the prime thing is that he was part of a guild which required him to come on every day and play for a bit. That's apparently a huge deal but... does anyone realize that a football team requires you to do this as well?

Anyway onto the real point of this blog (it wasn't actually meant to be a rant). Stupid people play video games.

actual blog:

A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher finds herself in jail because she viciously committed heinous murder... virtually... in MapleStory. To make it worse, it was her virtual-HUSBAND!

If you didn't click the link I'll give you a little synopsis of MapleStory. Its a 2D free side-scrolling MMORPG. You go around and kill things and level up (in a very cute manner). The game also has a social aspect to it, the same as every other MMO. However this one has an aspect that very few others have: marriage. Sure World of Warcraft allows you to buying a tux, a wedding dress, a bouquet of flowers, and wedding rings (I just realized what Matt Davis should get his girlfriend for Christmas!) but MapleStory allows you to actually marry your "toons".

This woman had been virtually married for over a year to a 33-year-old Japanese man she had never met before. I am curious to know how these two love-birds met, if one said in general chat "Looking for someone to be my virtual boyfriend" and it just virtually advanced from there. Anyway so about mid-may (the news got to us late, and I got to blogging about it late) the man up and virtually divorced his piano teacher wife. He however didn't give her a reason at all. (I wonder if she gets 1/2 the experience and a steady flow of gold each month from him)

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,"

So what does someone do when they are virtually divorced suddenly? Do what normal people do and eat lots of ice cream (or in her case, virtual ice cream). Bah no! You commit virtual murder! She hacked into his MapleStory account, and deleted his character... from existence. Later she was arrested and is facing charges of virtual murder illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data. If she is found guilty she will face 5 years in prison and a $5000 fine.
So remember boys and girls. If one day you find yourselves virtually divorced: just go down to the local inn, spend about 50 gold on ale, and drink away your sorrows. Don't do anything harsh and virtually murder anyone.

full article here