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Admitted Norway killer Breivik says he trained on video games

Was doing my daily news check, and came across this. just what the game industry needs more drama. I cant wait to see the ramifications from what this guy said.Here comes the blame train again im sure

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/world/europe/norway-breivik-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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  • Skillmister
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    Skillmister polycounter lvl 11
    Has he actually said that though? So far all i've managed to find is a few sketchy reports saying he admits playing the games which is a far throw from saying he trained on them.

    Also loldailymail

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132002/Anders-Behring-Breivik-trial-Norwegian-mass-killer-played-violent-video-game-Call-Duty-16-hours-day.html
  • EmAr
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    EmAr polycounter lvl 18
    Oh, not again... I remember him referring to Modern Warfare 2 as a military simulation game -_-

    BTW here's one article claiming he said that he trained with the game:

    http://kotaku.com/5824147/oslo-terrorist-anders-behring-breivik-used-modern-warfare-2-as-training+simulation-world-of-warcraft-as-cover
  • zicoV
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    Also while we're at it lets slap an age resriction on photoshop since he used it to create images of himself in knights templar uniforms.

    havn't we been down this road before so many times ? It seems everytime some lunatic goes on a killing spree the mordern shooter games gets to take the blame one way or another.
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Please, never gain read articles from CNN, the Mail or Kotaku. I'm dead serious.

    On the other hand: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/19/breivik-testifies-about-gaming-press-ignores-the-facts/
  • J0NNYquid
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    We all see how ridiculous this is, I just fear the backlash from the media, who occasionally sensationalize things. The guy is clearly psychotic, I just hope people see that, and realize that games or not, this guy would probably have done something violent.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Don't worry though, I don't think anyone in Norway has even bothered thinking about the possibility of them being any kind of cause.
    It's just a part of the procedure, since the games are connected to the case in certain ways.

    Now I don't know what kind of a knee-jerk reaction the US will get though.


    Fact remains though: playing first person shooter games improves certain parts of your brain that will help you when firing weapons, but those same parts applies to basically anything that requires reflexes and reactionary skills.

    Now killing people without remorse is not something you can train towards, that requires psychopathic tendencies, this is the root of what made him able to do all this.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    Breivik said he didn't like Modern Warfare but it was good training. I don't doubt that though. French and German arms manufaturers are basing training programs on CryEngine and UDK, although a spokesman from a French company said they'd tweak gun physics a bit for realism (they don't care about gameplay or "fun" there). Nothing new here though. I think the US army also used other FPS in the past for some training.

    With the way the Norwegians are handling this I don't think this will end up in a "games are bad" frenzy though. They're too clever to drag the discussion into this area.
  • nick2730
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    Im just worried about our stupid us media
  • Skillmister
  • cupsster
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    cupsster polycounter lvl 11
    Bvik is dickhead!
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    cupsster wrote: »
    Bvik is dickhead!

    It really does come down to that lol.

    Also I fail to see how cupping a f*ing mouse and right-clicking to ironsight for hundreds of hours in COD compares IN ANY WAY to actually firing a weapon effectively in real life.
  • Stromberg90
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    Stromberg90 polycounter lvl 11
    I am also fearing how the press will make games look after the trial.
  • Donavonyoung
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    Donavonyoung polycounter lvl 6
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    Please, never gain read articles from CNN, the Mail or Kotaku. I'm dead serious.

    On the other hand: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/19/breivik-testifies-about-gaming-press-ignores-the-facts/


    Unfortunately you are right!! All of those new sources listed are about as accurate as a blind squirrel firing an arrow at a pin head. Lies and propaganda is their game, and unfortunately Kotaku care more about getting hits then posting the truth.
  • MattQ86
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    MattQ86 polycounter lvl 15
    Exactly how much training do you need to shoot unarmed people you're holding at gunpoint or hit somebody by firing into a crowd? If he really did gain anything from playing Modern Warfare 2 it was likely because he initially had the motor skills and reactionary timing of a block of cheese. More likely he is, as somebody who apparently plays games, knowledgeable that talking such shit will get him the attention he wants in order to keep spewing his madness into microphones and cameras. Don't give this waste of carbon your attention.
  • Stinger88
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    Stinger88 polycounter
    I'm currently teaching myself to become a fighter pilot. I'm mostly playing After Burner and 1942.
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    CNN was saying he learned violence from WoW. Slow news day. :/
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Unfortunately you are right!! All of those new sources listed are about as accurate as a blind squirrel firing an arrow at a pin head. Lies and propaganda is their game, and unfortunately Kotaku care more about getting hits then posting the truth.

    Don't forget, also sexist!

    They post articles about 'women in video games' then follow it up with a Cosplay articles choke full of ladies wearing next to nothing (Lord forbid a single guy slips by, everyone will start commenting about how the guy is a douche).

    Then, they will follow up with a female writer, who she herself will post flame-bait articles, and keeps on referring on how she is a girl, and thus her opinion is 'radical' and out 'there' when I last checked, many ladies, just like guys, appreciate good video games and not on how much 'sex' you can have it, Dragon Age 2 or not.

    So yeah, I would really say avoid them, they're worse then 4Chan in many ways.

    As for the 'Case' itself, Norway will lose out one some games, which isn't a big deal since;
    A) Many gamers in Norway game on PC
    B) Many gamers actually import their games

    So yeah, as if any of this hulabulala is going to do anything.
  • Saman
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    Saman polycounter lvl 13
    Anyone with half a brain will be able to tell that shooting civilians with modern automatic weapons isn't the same as fighting dragons in some cave with swords and axes. Also, I'm sure they will stop blaming games sooner or later, the old generation will die or whatever and the next generation will take over... and blame some unrelated but to them not understandable hobby the next generation kids will have.
  • SnakeDoctor
  • MrOneTwo
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    MrOneTwo polycounter lvl 12
    This guy is delusional. Its really not important what he says. People who belive someone can become this kind of person thanks to videogames is delusional too. I really hope that if he goes to prison people there will treat him like a pedophile...
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    Kwramm wrote: »
    I think the US army also used other FPS in the past for some training.

    The US army have used Doom before as a training sim. I wouldn't be too worried about the concept of a game teaching 'mass murder'. They're used to teach teamwork and cooperation.
  • Vio
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    Vio polycounter lvl 6
    I don't know why people still try to flog this dead argument. Its been scientifically proven that people who do mass killings have the psychopathic gene. They will kill whether they play games or not. Psychopaths are simply diseased people where the brain is over active in the parts that control ego. They have extremely high egos which is why most of them are the can do people that end up in high positions in banks and so on as portrayed in hostel.

    Why don't all bank CEO's commit murder? In the position they are in their ego is satisfied leaving them feel they have nothing to prove. If they face humiliation however from something like a bad childhood its another story. In this idiots case he was a failure in life, he went bankrupted and coming from a rich neighbourhood he was humiliated and as a result resorted to what happens to all psychopaths when they feel they need to regain respect in any way possible even if it means getting people to fear you.
  • MainManiac
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    MainManiac polycounter lvl 11
    Hes just trying to get everyone somehow involved with his case. No biggy, he just likes the attention.
  • Andreas
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    Vio wrote: »
    I don't know why people still try to flog this dead argument. Its been scientifically proven that people who do mass killings have the psychopathic gene. They will kill whether they play games or not. Psychopaths are simply diseased people where the brain is over active in the parts that control ego. They have extremely high egos which is why most of them are the can do people that end up in high positions in banks and so on as portrayed in hostel.

    We should test for that shit, for real.
  • dfacto
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    dfacto polycounter lvl 18
    On the flipside, doesn't it seem intellectually dishonest to pretend that a lifetime of exposure to violent imagery has no effect on a person? Media doesn't create killers, but I'd be damn surprised if it doesn't give them ideas.
  • Mark Dygert
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    Considering President Obama is continuing support for educational games and research into games that crowd source scientific problems. I'm sure the media that opposes his point of view will probably go nuts at some point.

    "I don't want no devil science in my house!" He tweeted from his phone while watching 300 channels on the magic picture box.
  • ChaosEidolon
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    I bet he ate food too. BAN FOOD!!

    It's cool, technophobes are a drying breed...literally. The fact that people are still categorizing "videogames" as some singular entity is indicative of a generation gap. Fear of the new and all that, and the argument does sound more fringe and crazy every time it comes up, which makes me happy.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Andreas wrote: »
    We should test for that shit, for real.

    There is a behavioral checklist for psychopathy, no psychopath gene has been discovered. The paranoid delusions point more towards schizophrenia.
  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    Playing shitloads of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 made me an awesome skateboarder!!

    I trained for the Olympics by playing Track & Field for the NES.


    Guitar Hero also made me an awesome guitarist!!!





    I love this logic!!!


    :D
  • Vio
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    Vio polycounter lvl 6
    There is a behavioral checklist for psychopathy, no psychopath gene has been discovered. The paranoid delusions point more towards schizophrenia.

    Maybe not an actual code for a gene but there is evidence such a gene exists and plenty of brain pattern research that shows psychopath brains are different from normal peoples brains. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127888976
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Vio wrote: »
    Maybe not an actual code for a gene but there is evidence such a gene exists and plenty of brain pattern research that shows psychopath brains are different from normal peoples brains. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127888976

    yes, I'm aware of what psychopaths are - it seems like the public lumps them in with schizophrenics.
  • Neox
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    Neox godlike master sticky
    in german media they always talk about his background in wow, and that its pretty violent - oh well
  • Alberto Rdrgz
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    Alberto Rdrgz polycounter lvl 9
    what a douche!
  • r_fletch_r
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    r_fletch_r polycounter lvl 9
    dfacto wrote: »
    On the flipside, doesn't it seem intellectually dishonest to pretend that a lifetime of exposure to violent imagery has no effect on a person? Media doesn't create killers, but I'd be damn surprised if it doesn't give them ideas.

    true, but then what wouldnt. If you have a natural disposition to violence then an awefull lot of things are going to give you ideas.
  • Vio
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    Vio polycounter lvl 6
    dfacto wrote: »
    On the flipside, doesn't it seem intellectually dishonest to pretend that a lifetime of exposure to violent imagery has no effect on a person? Media doesn't create killers, but I'd be damn surprised if it doesn't give them ideas.

    That still side steps the fact that there were still mass murders before there were computer games. Think about it this way, before there was 24 hour news and press in the front line of war, most wars were considered a good thing for a nation to get into, it was socially acceptable.

    Now that the bloody truth and horrors of war are there for all to see, you can have protests over a million strong against wars. The point is the more people see how horrible violent death is, they want to avoid it more in real life.

    I never get ideas when playing a violent video game. It doesn't make me think "gee that would be fun to do to the neighbours tomorrow" it teaches me "thank god its fiction". Show the same to a psychopath, they would have known how to kill a person before they saw it.
  • seforin
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    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    Playing years of competitive street fighter made me master hand to hand martial arts. And especially with wrestling bears and doing 360 spinning pile drivers on them!


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