Folha Online reports that using Orkut, Google’s online social network, an armed gang of four 19-27 year old- kidnapped the world-leading Role-Playing Gamer of the game GunBound (boy plays violent video game; others become 
violent; psychologists, have at it). One of the gang members’ girlfriends lured the gamer onto a fake date at a shopping mall via the network. The gamer showed for the date but the girl didn’t. Her boyfriend appeared in her place (”Wha! Your voice didn’t sound so low on the phone…”), the gamer was kidnapped and held in Sao Paulo, with a gun held to his head for five hours.
The gang’s goal? To obtain the gamer’s password, which the gang planned to sell for $8,000. The game, however, didn’t give up the information. The gang, naturally, then let the victim go.
And go he did, straight to the police–Brazilian police saved the rest of the day, picking up the four thugs promptly.
If I’m linking to the right site, GunBound appears to be an anime type game. So not only is the gamer himself the victim (and not the violent one), but it’s not even realistic violence–it’s big, doe-eyed anime? Wikipedia reports GunBound is very similar to Worms.
C’mon. You’ve gotta be kidding me.
Yeah, it’s Duke Nuke’em that causes average Joes and Ginas to snap. Oh right, and also rock music, cars, radio, movies, and comic books. Recent studies have shown that stable personalities are unaffected by violent video games–it’s those who have pre-existing problems that show increases in anger levels. Average Joes and Ginas don’t snap, genius. It’s society, reduced to playing (no pun intended) according to the intelligence and capabilities of the lowest common denominator, it’s the egg-shell moralizers, spouting off yet again. As the Gadsden flag appropriately says: Don’t Tread on Me.
Lime out
Thanks to Gizmodo.
