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Newswire Misreports Gamer's Suicide 60

Posted by Zonk from the sad-but-not-surprising dept.
Asriel86 writes "Pulling from the AFP newswire, Yahoo, CNN, and others have been reporting about how a gamer broadcast his own suicide on a gaming forum via a webcam, and that members of the forum continued to ridicule the gamer while he killed himself. Gaming Horizon has just learned that this is completely untrue. The newswire reporter failed to check the facts, and in turn painted this simple gaming forum into cruel monsters. The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."
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Newswire Misreports Gamer's Suicide More

Newswire Misreports Gamer's Suicide

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  • *sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kelson ( 129150 ) * on Thursday January 19, 2006 @01:26PM (#14511322) Homepage Journal
    It seems there is no tragedy that can't be made worse by sensationalist media trying to make the story fit their preconceived notions of what will get them ratings.

    (Not that reporters have a monopoly on this sort of thing. Self-serving politicians looking to make a name for themselves are entirely capable of it as well.)
    • The solution to this is to vote with your feet. Boycott news agencies that fabricate this kind of bullshit. Trust must be earned.
      • Except that all news agencies that are advertising supported need to sell in order to stay in business. In order to sell, they make up sensational stories. Then people get upset at them, but nothing ever changes. It's just the way it is. Get used to it and read everything with a grain of salt.

        Of course, with public news sources, they are either corrupt government propaganda machines or they don't need to work hard for their jobs, so they are lazy and publish incorrect information.

        (Yes, there are probabl

  • Give AFP some feedback (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19, 2006 @01:27PM (#14511333)

    From the article:

    "If you'd like to contact the AFP newswire about their story, you can do so via this form [afp.com] and selecting the "Contact news department" option for the first drop-down."

  • What? (Score:5, Funny)

    by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Thursday January 19, 2006 @01:29PM (#14511351)
    The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."

    "Government agencies" can take down websites without even determining if a crime has taken place? Land of the free, hmm? I can see where this is going...

    "Hay guys, it's Bill again. I think that apple.com is actually a secret code for terrorists. You should close it for a few years until your investigation is done."
    • "Government agencies" can take down websites without even determining if a crime has taken place? Land of the free, hmm? I can see where this is going...

      I think the forum was hosted in Bulgaria. I didn't realize they were a land of the free, too...

      • Re:What? (Score:3, Informative)

        by ReverendLoki ( 663861 )
        I think the forum was hosted in Bulgaria. I didn't realize they were a land of the free, too...

        And that would be a "fact" garnered from the same article that got all those other "facts" correct. A quote from the article linked in the news blurb above:

        The article also claims that the site was Bulgarian, which it isn't. The company that designed the website is based on Bulgaria, but it is hosted and maintained in the US.

    • According to the article all the unnamed agency did was request that the site be taken down. The article could have it wrong and the agency had a court order and they ordered the site to be taken down, but assuming that the wording is correct then certainly the agency has the authority to request something like that.

      "Hello, Mr. Jobs? We've got reports that Apple.com is a secret code for terrorists and we'd like to request you take the site down until our investigation is done."

      "I'm not sure what medications

    • The article did say the website is based (hosted?) in Bulgaria. Is that near Montana?
      • That was just another fact AFP got wrong. The site was designed in Bulgaria, but hosted in the US.
        • The site was designed in Bulgaria, but hosted in the US.

          And outsourced to India, who second-sourced it to Thailand. See, it's getting close to Bulgaria all the time!
    • Come on, we all know it but just usually don't admit it: This country (the United States) is not really "free", nor is the rest of the world (anarchy isn't really free either). There is just enough of an illusion of freedom to keep the populace fat and happy. We can see where it's going too, take more and more freedoms...but just a little at a time with "reasons" that sound good. Eventually someone, be it a person or governing body, will have their chance at a power grab and take it, then we can kiss even o

    • Re:What? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )
      A government agency *recommended* it be shut down and the owner of the site did so. Nowhere does it say the government agency forcibly shut the service down, or ran into their offices with attack dogs and shotguns or anything like that. There's nothing illegal about a government representative saying, "might be a good idea to shut this down" and the site owner doing it.

      I think you're being more than a little paranoid. Save the rant for when our rights *really are* in danger.
      • if a "government agency" suggested you stay in your home for a few weeks, would you feel any better that your house arrest was merely a suggestion?

        Would you step outside? Would be be afraid.

        Sam
        • If my government "suggested" I stay inside with the intent of putting me under house arrest (as opposed to suggesting I stay inside during some kind of actual emergency) without the benefit of trial, of course I'd still step outside and, no, I wouldn't we be afraid. This is because I'm not worried that government agents are going to shoot me, beat me or imprison me if they're so unconcerned that they aren't bothering to initiate legal proceedings.

          When folks like you make comments like that, it confirms
          • And so... what if a government agency decided that you needed psychiatric care? It's so important, in fact the care of citizens health is more important that the temporary protection from terrorists - your government cares, you see!

            Sam

  • sounds like a slam-dunk slander case to me (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ender Ryan ( 79406 ) on Thursday January 19, 2006 @01:29PM (#14511361) Journal
    Sounds like a slam-dunk slander case to me, and considering how awful a thing the reporters did, I'd seriously consider taking them to court for it, considering it has caused damage already.

    I don't know how realistic that is though.

    • Not likely. They (the newsies) will print an (almost completely unpublicized) retraction that nobody will read, but it will cover them legally as having 'corrected' their 'mistake'. It sounds as though the interviewee - who might be culpable under U.S. law - must live in Bulgaria (as he's an employee of a Bulgarian web design studio). CNN, et. al., will say they were only reporting his words in 'good faith', and a gaming chat site will not have the resources to effectively sue CNN or Yahoo. Even with deep p
  • This may not be true, but the story is very similar to Brandon Vedas, who OD'd while on IRC. Google subject title for more information.
    • Agreed. I think the reporter either borrowed elements of that story or got his facts mixed up between the two. The story read like a mix between this suicide and Brandons.
    • In reference to Brandon Vedas: I just read through that entire chat log. It is some very sad stuff.

      The majority of people in the chat room seemed to be trying to help him, but there was one punk that just kept daring him to eat more and more. Then they decided to call him. So which one calls him? The punk, of course. I'm sure that helped. It's the guy named Smoke2k in the chat log.

      Point is, we don't have the original site to look at. We only have heresay. But I'm inclined to believe the original article

      • I don't know what kind of gamers you hang out with, but none of the places I hang out treat suicide or death as a joke. Even the lowest of pranksters will usually turn around when this sort of thing happens -- and believe me, NONE of them make fun of it when it DOES happen and it's been proven. I don't think ANY gamer (who maintains any sense of sanity) would laugh in the face of proof that a fellow gamer was killing himself, as the original article would have us believe.

  • Government takes metalgearsolid.org offline? (Score:3, Informative)

    by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Thursday January 19, 2006 @02:02PM (#14511750) Homepage
    The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."
    This appears to be true. The site is down and displays the message below. To me, the story here is how and why "Government agencies" (whoever that is) requested the site to be shut down. And the message appears to be from the ISP, not from metalgearsolid.org. Is this another ISP caving at the first request to shut a site down? Or is there something legitimate happening there? Shutting the site down, when there is nothing wrong with it, just adds to the sensationalism.

    Text below:

    This Account Has Been Suspended
    Please contact support as soon as possible. Your site could have been suspended for one or more of the following reasons.

            * Your site's paid service has expired. To check this, login to your control panel at bluehost.com. If your site is expired, it won't let you log in and will take you immediately to a renewal page.
            * Your site was sending out spam. Please note that many "safelists" are still considered spam. BlueHost.Com has a ZERO tolerance stance towards spam.
            * Your site was consuming too many resources. This happens on occassion to very busy sites that have inefficient scripts running.

    For information on restoring your account please call customer service toll free : (888) 401-4678
    Following is a link for our acceptable use and terms of service for bluehost.com : Terms of Service
    If you would like to reach our support online you may do so at the following link : Bluehost Support

    When/If you call our support help line, please have your site name ready.
  • Seems as though these *reporters*...; if thats really who they are, have apparently not ever read, much less heard of the story about "The Sky Is Falling"... et al.

    Typical monitarily biased media people...

    lol.

    Pretty soon it will be the crying wolf more than 3 times and no one will answer. Then there really will be trouble in paradise.

    Cheers
    Jeff

  • The real political leaning of the media (Score:5, Insightful)

    by arkham6 ( 24514 ) on Thursday January 19, 2006 @02:13PM (#14511875)
    I love how everyone on the right rails about the media being a leftist propaganda wing, while the people on the left call it a mouthpiece for the Bush white house.

    Both are BS. The press leans whichever way will make it the most money.

    The media exists to make money. Simple as that. They provide a service people pay for, and they temper their reporting to get the most exposure. Ever hear of "if it bleeds it leads?"

    This is simply another example of the media 'sexing' up a story to get more attention and interest. I mean, which sounds more dramatic, "kid kills self, net friends try to talk him out of it", or "kid kills self, net fiends egg him on and watch his deathtrows on webcam."

    The press leans neither left nor right, they lean towards $$$
  • If a guy says he is going to kill himself by say jumping of a bridge, when do I turn from a bystander into a criminal?

    I know it is usually illegal to assit in a suicide. But what exactly is the law?

    Say a slashdot poster, lets call him "Emo_Kiddy", said he was thinking of ending his live. If I do nothing and just ignore him is that a crime? Do I have a duty to report this?

    What if I suggest a few handy links with sure fire tips of how to kill yourselve.

    Am I allowed to call him a pussy who is to weakwilled

  • from TFA : "The story was picked up by AFP, "

    AFP i.e. French media. I wonder it was really horrible babel fish job.
  • Kuja was a contributing member member of LUELinks.net (completely private)

    His contributions are appreciated.

    There aren't many of us left. Carry on.

    *SaLUEtes*
  • Sounds to me like the AFP caught wind that someone who had internet access killed himself, then decided to combine the story with this [nydailynews.com] report, from 2003, on the death of Brandon Vedas [wikipedia.org].

    Astoundingly bad journalism...stealing detail from an unrelated past event and implying that they happened again.

  • more info (Score:5, Informative)

    by webwench_72 ( 541358 ) <webwench_72@yaho o . c om> on Thursday January 19, 2006 @03:51PM (#14512918) Homepage

    Kuja's posting on gamefaqs, with responders' posts:
    http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?bo ard=2000075&topic=25527152&page=0 [gamefaqs.com]

    One of the metalgearsolid.org's admins tells his story here:
    http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s= &threadid=1777029&highlight=metalgearsolidorg [somethingawful.com]

  • proper reaction? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by leland242 ( 736905 ) on Thursday January 19, 2006 @04:28PM (#14513227)
    Picture it - you're on a forum. Someone makes a post "i'm going to kill myself". Do you a) say no, b) say do it, or c, say nothing?

    I'd probably say nothing, assuming it was bullshit. If I was in a mood, I might provide a wikipedia link to suicide techniques or tell him to slash up, not across his wrist.

    Either way, would you honestly believe the posting and attempt to stop the person?
    • Depends on the person posting and the seriousness of the post. Not that you can really generalize well on suicides, as they are all a fairly unique case, but if someone who was a long-time member of a community isn't known for tasteless jokes, then you'd better believe I'd take it seriously! When people are ready to kill themselves, they often go to the places they feel most secure and 'say goodbye' -- Of course, these places are often internet forums or other outlets where the recipients can't interfere
    • I've witnessed such things online a couple of times, in MUDs back in the day. In those instances there were people who did indeed believe the individual and say something to them, dropping everything they were doing to go into "crisis mode". There weren't necessarily pre-existing relationships between the Distressed and the Comforters either, just strangers who happened to be on the same game. I tried to help out with one once too, I didn't know him but he was being pretty unreasonable in his stated motivat

    • It depends if the forum is Alt.Suicide.Holiday or not?

      Simon

  • The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports. A few people have made comments about the site being shut down by the goverment. I would like to point out that you misunderstand. It was shut down by metalgearsolid.org at the request of goverment agencies. If metalgearsolid.org had refused their wouldn't be much the goverment could do. I'm not a big fan of alot of the people in goverment but if your gonna harp about the firs
    • I would like to point out that I was also wrong it was shut down by the hosting co but still at the request, not order, of the gov.
    • The site's back up... what they said is that the hosting company was notified that they were being investigated (due to the nature of what occurred... I'd think it was some form of police investigation) - in turn the host shut down the site because they figured the site was in the wrong no matter what.

      From their boards it looks like their host is now trying to get rid of the forums on the site altogether.

  • ...of a man who suicides and the press tell us that the game kills another person. It's obvious that the game is not the problem, I saw a lot of stories about gamers that died after 4 days of gaming (no pause for food or sleep).

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