A school shooting that took place in Germany yesterday is already being linked to videogames, with politicians in the typically game-unfriendly country pointing fingers at violent media exposure.
Tim Kretschmer dressed himself in black commando garb and opened fire at random at the Albertville-Realschule school in South Germany, killing nine pupils and three teachers, before fleeing the scene. He would later shoot another person near a psychiatric hospital, before hijacking a car and forcing the driver to take him to the nearby town of Wendlingen. Police eventually tracked him down and shot him dead, but not before a gunfight that claimed the lives of two more passers-by, and wounded two police officers.
Germany's already strict gun laws are being examined in the wake of this shooting, while politicians cluck about violence in the media and look at videogames as a possible cause. The country already has a reputation for banning outright any games that offend their censors, and a lot of material fails to (legally) make it to German gamers without heavy edits. This latest murder spree is not going to help matters at all.
[Thanks, Dexter]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
41 comments | showing # 1 to 41
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
8:40 AM on 03.12.2009
| 
First is was cigarettes. All cigarette smokers were evil. Now people need a new scapegoat for society's ills, so what better candidate than video games?
WORD OF ADVISE TO ALL DTOID READERS, WHO STILL GO TO SCHOOL:
if you have a strange dude in your class, who also plays tennis on wii sports --> duck and cover
Kretschmer said: "Everyone laughs at me. No one recognizes my potential. I mean this seriously. I have got a weapon here and tomorrow I am going to go to my former school and give them hell.
"Maybe I would escape, keep your ear to the ground. You'll hear from me tomorrow morning. Just notice the name of the place, Winnenden. Don't say anything to the police."
How can they blame video games on this when it's been the same reason people killed others in school since the beginning of time? "They laughed at me"
But yea, CNN took its stab at games as well: "Police said Thursday that 15 guns had been found at the killer's home and violent video games. The guns belonged to Kretschmer's father, who was a gun club member."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/12/germany.school.shooting.women/index.html
If their government actually responses to it, this will be a massive cock-in-ass for all European gamers...
There was a shooting in Kentucky here recently, and apparently "the worst massacre in the state's history." The guy apparently wanted to get revenge on those who "wronged him" and killed a large number of people, some of his own relatives included.
How long until someone points their finger at video games in this situation? He's an adult man (mid-30s, I believe) so he's not a teenager most likely to be exposed to video games. This was all premeditated. And, well, he recently lost his job I think, so "the economy" could be another thing to blame, but I'm juuuuuuuuust waiting for someone to say "oh lol he play murder simulator lmao" on the news.
Would Germans play games that revolve around shooting Nazis?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9c7_1236837917
The other 2% are too stuck up their own arses , intoxicated by metane.
I am reading this blog for quite a while now and due to the fact that I am a German gamer myself I found now it was the right time to register. The shocking school massacre yesterday set Germany on fire, that's for sure. And still it's all the same - the same cries for change, the same campaign against so called killergames. I wrote a longer article about yesterday's event, if you are interested check it out http://personalgaming.blogspot.com/2009/03/commentary-to-todays-school-shooting.html
and you run faster with a knife. These are all revered theories of modern science.
He didn`t shoot himself, somebody twittert the event. It`s a tragedy though, so pointless.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9c7_1236837917
-------
Um. Even that said he shot himself, mate.
There's nothing we can really do other than constantly talk about the ongoing problem of politics vs. video games.
Yup, it's obviously the video games that made him violent. It's never violent people who are drawn to violent video games. And, how hilarious is it now that video games are being mentioned alongside an arsenal of guns as a scare tactic? What next? U.S. Soldiers take Kim Jong-il's mansion and find his secret cache of nuclear weapons and violent video games?
1. Gun laws only prevent GOOD people from getting guns
2. Censoring games does not prevent people from being sick in the head
That text is fake, the media just did a very bad job and fell for someone's photoshop prank.
@Jim: I love the image you made for this article. Summarizes all of my feeling towards this subject.
We'll never hear: "Oh, I was just pissed off and decided to kill some randoms"
Also, who the HELL stands around to watch a shootout?
I'm sorry but if your a "bystander" to a shootout you pretty much knew that the bullets were going to fly at some point...stupid idiots.
@Niero
Dude but guns are MANLY
We all know this has FA to do with games, the dude was just a f'in nutjob and we all know it. he had gf issues as shown by the fact he seemed to of targetted only females.
which makes me wonder why germany banned the zombie nazies from gears of war.