<p>[Print</a> Story: Ohio teen convicted of killing mom over video game - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090113/ap_on_re_us/pastor_s_wife_slain_5/print]Print”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090113/ap_on_re_us/pastor_s_wife_slain_5/print)
The only thing he took after shooting his parents was his “Halo 3” game…
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<p>Yikes! Thank goodness my kids never had those kinds of videogames at home while growing up. Probably added years to my life expectancy.</p>
<p>FYI – linked article indicates the boy was about 16 at the time of the crime.</p>
<p>He was tried as an adult. His crime was premeditated. He tried to plead insanity.
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<p>There have been several threads in the Parents Cafe about boys “addicted” to these video games. This is hard to understand as a parent who does not permit any video games in my home, but is quite obviously, a serious addiction which must be taken seriously by parents struggling with this issue. So very scary…</p>
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<p>Yes, because clearly one case of a messed-up kid means that Videogames Are Bad, despite the vast numbers of kids and adults who play the same games and are normal and healthy*.</p>
<p>(I apologize if your comment was intended to be tongue-in-cheek.)</p>
<p>*I can just see, now, the legions of people responding to inform me that video game addiction is real. Yes, it is real. You can become addicted to tons of things. However, the large majority of people who play video games are in fact fine, and every case of some freshman flunking out because they were lazy and played video games instead of doing work is not an addiction.</p>
<p>My son played tons of video games. I’m alive and kicking and he did not become addicted. I know some people do, just like some people become alcoholics or drug or gambling addicts. Many others can play a video game, have the occasional drink, take a pain killer, and have the occasional flutter at the casino without being addicted. I can do all those things without having an addiction problem. Chocolate now…</p>
<p>He did not know they would stay dead. Really? Sorry, I don’t buy that for a moment. He was 16, not 6 (I might believe it of a 6 year old). My daughter had a much loved boyfriend die when she was 16. Believe me, a 16 year old knows that people stay dead.</p>
<p>It seems a little h</p>
<p>jessiehl, tongue firmly in place in cheek…</p>
<p>I can see how videogames can be addictive. CC is addictive and there is no shooting, scantily clad girls or overarching plot line. I can only imagine how addictive CC could be with a little jazzing up…</p>
<p>My biggest problem is that there are things I could be doing other than posting here on CC. Lucky for me, that doesn’t include working, going to college classes and studying.</p>
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What a ridiculous statement this is. They used to say watching the old bugs bunny and roadrunner cartoons would warp kids’ minds since they blew each other up and shot each other all day long but just bounced back. The said the same thing about the old westerns where everbody shot everybody. Some people still think young boys playing with toy guns will lead them to have a desensitized view and lead to violence in life yet virtually every kid I knew growing up participated in some of these and the boys in all of them and they never murdered their parents or shot anyone else. Now it’s the videogames that are being blamed to cause the same issues yet millions play them every day without ever commiting these acts. It’s a shame when a judge buys into this and will likely try to give a super light sentence as a result.</p>
<p>This is such an isolated incident and in no way represents mainstream video game players. I wasn’t allowed to purchase very violent games until high school, although several of my friends did in elementary and middle school (SOCOM, Goldeneye, Grand Theft Auto III, etc.) They didn’t turn out any different though. And I didn’t really miss out on much either because I was fine with sports and racing games.</p>
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<p>My apologies then. 
My Internet tone-reading abilities failed.</p>