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Thirteen-year-old kills himself after being told he could not play Wii photo

In an example of teenagers taking just about everything on earth much more seriously than necessary, thirteen-year-old Jake Roberts made a fatal choice to take his own life after an argument with his father and sister. The reason? Jake wanted to play his brand new Wii, acquired with his birthday money (his birthday had been a few days prior). He then retreated to his room, where he was found hanged by his own school uniform tie a few hours later.

His father commented on the incident:

The first thing I saw when I walked in to Jake's bedroom was all the paper he had ripped up on the floor during his tantrum.

The door was open with his bed to my left behind the door. I was going to tell him off when I turned. It took me a few seconds to register what I was seeing.

His school tie was round his neck and he was hung from his cabin bed. I tried to lift him and his tie was attached to a bar on the bed.

If someone casually told me that a kid killed himself because he couldn't play the Wii, I might laugh, because it sounds like a joke. Reading the real details, however, I find my laughs have pretty much dried up. I don't think it has a thing to do with the Wii itself, but I have no doubt tragedies like this will only provide more ammo for anti-games activists. 

[Via Daily Mail -- Thanks, Jonathan]


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211 comments | showing # 1 to 50

The-Excel's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:34
The-Excel
I don't know about that. If anyone tries to link an incident like this to video game violence, they would probably be laughed out of the court. I mean, the kid didn't even get to shoot anything yet.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:34
Jim Sterling
Jesus Christ.
Mr Wilson's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:34
Mr Wilson
Holy....fucking....shit
That's terrible.
bruceleethree's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:35
bruceleethree
LOL

if you kill yourself over something material and trivial as a game then you deserve to die as you're a waste on earth.

i lol'd
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:35
DaedHead8
Wow, just wow, I full understand the anger that goes along with not getting enough gaming in. However, this kid took it to the next level. There's no video games in Hell buddy, sorry.
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:35
RonBurgandy2010
I really have nothing to say. Half of me wants to say a few small quips, but that would be in bad taste. The other is stupefied, for more than one reason.
DarkTetsuya's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:37
DarkTetsuya
And yet this is somehow Nintendo's fault, eh Jack?

Talk about overreacting o_O
Shin Oni's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:37
Shin Oni
what's screwed up about this is that the boy just wanted to play his newly obtained Wii. seriously, was that such a crime?

what I think is messed up is that he killed himself over something so small of a matter.
Rockvillian's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:37
Rockvillian
"Andrea added that the family had watched an episode of the BBC drama Casualty together weeks, before which had featured a young person hanging themselves."

>_<

Poor family. My heart goes out to em.
robestyles's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:38
robestyles
This is terrible although I saw the words "suicide" and "Jake Roberts" and could only think of one other person that this article might be related to but I was wrong.
Tovan51's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:38
Tovan51
Whoa, that's just... wow, were there any other problems going on for him? The article made it seem like a nice enough family, no divorced parents or anything.
Zen Albatross's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:38
Zen Albatross
Man, if I was the father I would sure as hell feel like a fuck-up right about now. I'd love to know the reason he took his kid's Wii away.
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:39
RonBurgandy2010
@ bruceleethree Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you. YOU are what is wrong with the world today; it's people like you that are the reason that this world will never be at peace. Have come compassion for God's sake. You know what, just go.
blehman's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:39
blehman
My head, it hurts now.
EternalDeathSlayer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:41
EternalDeathSlayer
That's fucking horrible......
Anti-Everything's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:42
Anti-Everything
Not to sound insensitive, but if the kid is going to make that poor of a drastic decision, bad things were inevitable in his life. To himself or even someone else. Sad story, but still.
Rucksack's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:43
Rucksack
That's truly horrible. I can only assume that the kid really needed some help, and that the Wii final brought things to a head.

Also, please stop with the tasteless comments.
Milkman519's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:44
Milkman519
When I first say the story, I lol'd pretty hard. But after reading it...I'm a horrible person. =(
Milkman519's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:45
Milkman519
first saw*
foxhound009's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:45
foxhound009
wow... the father and sister will feel like shit for the rest of their lives... and little dude... he just ended his life
for next to nothing.

that just sucks.
Rabite's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:45
Rabite
@RonBurgandy2010 Agreed.

Of all the things you can do, that has to top my list of the worst possible things to your parents.
Yurimasa's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:48
Yurimasa
Anti-Everything, I agree.
I think it's fucked up when minors kill themselves over an ended relationship. This is something else...
Killing himself over having to wait a few hours to play the Wii. That's even more fucked up than, say, killing yourself over having to be away from your girlfriend for a few hours.

There could come a good South Park episode from this mess? Yeah. I went there...
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:49
RonBurgandy2010
I've heard some pretty gnarly suicide aftermath stories in my time (in terms of the emotional effects on the family, not the crime scene), but this is easily one of the worst.
Sirapak's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:49
Sirapak
FUCK YOU BRUCELEETHREE IF THAT WAS YOUR SON YOU WOULDN'T SAY THAT! FUCK YOU SIR! HARD! IN THE ARSE!
Tovan51's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:50
Tovan51
I can just imagine how the sister must have felt through that. Kinda makes you think about some of the minor things that can set some people off. Just goes to show you that some people do think differently than most other people, makes you stop to think about what you have done to people that seem so minor, so insignificant, but could have crushed them. I'll be the first to admit I laughed when I read the title, but when I read the story and saw the kid's picture all I could think of was what an ass I just was.
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:52
RonBurgandy2010
A round of applause for Colette for bringing the Dtoid community together.
heretrix's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:55
heretrix
I'm sorry, but what an insensitive little shit. You can't play a fucking video game so you do something that is going to completely scar your family for life? Fuck him. But my heart goes out to his family.
AngelsDontBurn's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:56
AngelsDontBurn
Wow, really? That's really sad. What an idiot.
Rucksack's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:57
Rucksack
@Sirapak

Just ignore him, "Bruceleethree" is probably all of about 11 years old.
Woocifer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:57
Woocifer
This is Darwinism at it's best. Hanging yourself because you can't play your Wii. That has to be the DUMBEST reason I have seen someone off themselves.

I have no remorse for this kid. What he did was so selfish to his family. And no I'm not coping the 'suicide is so selfish' thing here. I'm talking about how ridiculously irrational he was to a compromised situation with the people who basically did everything they could to keep him from being killed or dying, etc.

Bravo you dumb fuck. Snot nosed brat...

I wonder what the tv show was...even more so, would his sister have done that if she couldn't watch tv? Now you see how ridiculous this kid is?
Doomtrain's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:58
Doomtrain
That's horrible, of course, but I find it hard to be sad or sympathetic when someone kills themselves, especially over something this trivial.
kevvo's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:58
kevvo
I agree with heretrix, I honestly laughed. its fucked up really, but for the kid to do something like that over the wii? wonder what their parenting was like and if they should be concerned their daughter would do the same thing
wardrox's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 11:59
wardrox
This is from the Daily Mail. I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't actually exist.
harrmonica's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:00
harrmonica
anybody who think this is about video games, is a moron...
Tovan51's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:00
Tovan51
While I can agree with people that say it's an incredibly stupid reason and he hurt his family for it, don't go off and insult him like that, who knows what was going on in the kid's mind.
Rockvillian's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:00
Rockvillian
Woocifer... come on now.

And to everyone saying he had it coming: we ALL have it coming in some form or another. We're flawed HU-MAN-BE-INGS. Try some love for once, if you can.
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:00
RonBurgandy2010
@ Woocifer I've heard of 10 year old kids hanging themselves because of Pokemon cards. That is much dumber.
Zen Albatross's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:01
Zen Albatross
I'm gonna have to agree with Anti-Everything and Yurimasa. When you're mentally disturbed enough to equate the removal of a video game system with the end of your life, there has to be something seriously wrong in your upbringing.

It's not the poor kid's fault: it's the parents' for raising him to be a fucked up, spoiled ingrate.

Just like with the Violent Videogames debate, the moral of the story is 'don't suck at raising your kids.'
elemental150's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:01
elemental150
I doubt that the Wii really had anything to do with it. He probably had warning signs for a while but the family just didn't recognize them because they don't have any kind of mental health background to pick up on it. If the Wii thing tipped his hand that is even more tragic but I am willing to bet it actually has little to do with it
ThunderHeartXI's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:02
ThunderHeartXI
NOT FUNNY GUYS MY BROTHER DIED THAT WAY.

But seriously, this kid seemed like he was in a very fragile mental state and this event would have happened either way. Sigh, parents really should pay more attention to their children.

But I won't lie, I lol'd.
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:02
king3vbo
Honestly, I dont feel bad for the kid at all. What a fucking idiot. What a selfish, foolish thing to do.

On the other hand, I feel for his family. What an awful thing to go through
Gott's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:03
Gott
You people will believe anything won't you? You think maybe there could have been more to his suicide than not being able to play his wii? Ummm...yeah...
mightypotato's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:03
mightypotato
I think this kid was suffering from a little more than being denied his Wii. Perhaps his parents were abusive and this was the last straw for him. Unfortunately we'll never get to know his side of the story...
JACK of No Trades's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:03
JACK of No Trades
It's funny if you think about it. My games and consoles use to get stolen and pawned when I was younger then this idiot, but I never tried to kill myself. You would have to be pretty fucked up in the head to kill yourself over a Wii.......now if it was a 360 or PS3 then maybe....
ghets's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:03
ghets
@bruceleethree and Woocifer: Youre both fucking asshats. The kid was 13 years old. Everybody knows most teenagers are idiots that do stupid shit. But eventually they grow out of their stupidity and mature. Obviously that doesnt apply to you two fuckwads.
Zecahrai's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:04
Zecahrai
He wanted to play a game that he had just bought for his Wii?

I didn't realise the Wii had any games worth that much fury.
naia-the-gamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:05
naia-the-gamer
I think Gott is on to something. Clearly the kid was messed up. No rational, healthy child would have killed himself over something so trivial. The boy clearly had problems, and this situation set him off.

It does sound really ridiculous that any kid would behave like that.
J03yyz's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:05
J03yyz
thats really too bad for dad

but good about the kid. people that fucking stupid shouldnt be amongst the living anyway.
RonBurgandy2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:06
RonBurgandy2010
@JACK of No Trades This is not the time or the place, man. That's just not funny.
Chicken008's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/26/2008 12:07
Chicken008
And thats why school uniforms should be banned.
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