150°

Mob Blames Mass Effect For School Shooting, Is Embarrassingly Wrong

Kotaku - In the wake of the terrible tragedy in Connecticut, initial reports said the shooter was a 24 year-old named Ryan Lanza. Online, people quickly located a Ryan Lanza on Facebook and searched through his profile to see if there were any "clues" they could pin the shooting on. They found their clues...but the wrong Lanza.

Chuk54880d ago

Well,it's not like they can blame gun laws. Those aren't the problem, clearly mass effect is the trouble.

Gazondaily4880d ago

Good point but the Bowling in Columbine documentary comes to mind and the point about differences in the mentality of US citizens and Canadians. If I recall correctly, Canada has similar gun laws yet no where near the amount of gun crime as the US.

This is quite a deep rooted problem and I won't pretend to know the answers to it. But the knee jerk reactions against the gaming industry are unjustified and not conducive to understanding/preventing this sort of horrible act.

Chuk54880d ago

I'm actually from Toronto, and to be honest something of this magnitude just doesn't happen here. WE had a really bad shooting in a july, but it was gang related. Actually are gun laws and the procedures for handling situations exactly like this one are a little more vigilant.

Lvl_up_gamer4880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

I live in Toronto as well and it's true we just don't see these things happening here. However we also have to take into account that the stats population is 10x as large as Canada's. the more people you have the greater the chances of having a sick individual like this.

Anyone can get a gun. Guns are smuggled into Canada right across the Detroit boarder all the time.

It's really sad that that sick individuals can get guns so easily anywhere, not just the USA. Gun laws are not the problem, it's the easy access to the billions of guns that are unregistered and circulating within our countries. We need to focus more on getting them off the streets so that the mentally sick cant get a gun so easily.

Grap4880d ago

@Lvl_up_gamer
USA the real problem here. US guns are being smuggled into Mexico and Canada.

Irishguy954880d ago

Correction: if you live in the US you are more likely to turn into a psycho, than anywhere...except China. You guys should take a look at Chinese ****, every other day some nut goes on a spree with a knife/dagger. It's the society that is ****ed, not the gun laws.

MaverickStar74880d ago

I think people let the emotion of the situation cloud their judgment too much when something like this happens. Its quick and easy to blame guns first, then video games, movies, the internet. Anything they can find to try to reason what happened other than sometimes people are bad or evil. Because that evil is not a tangible thing that people can see or measure it becomes hard for people to rationalize that.

Take away the guns and video games and tomorrow it will be something else to blame. Its in mans nature and history that some people will be worse than other. I choose to focus on the person that made these decisions, and what drove them to these decisions instead of an object that is useless without a person behind it.

-Gespenst-4880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

You're so wrong MaverickStar7.

How can you have such a fatalistic attitude towards these things? There's nothing sophisticated or intelligent about your attitude. You're just being lazy. Thinking in such rigid binary terms as "good and evil" is pretty much the reason for most atrocities.

Lack of gun control and a poor cultural understanding of as well as a lack of facilitation for the mentally ill is to blame for this.

The USA was founded on principles of every man for himself under a veneer of unity. There's was a campaign that constructed false, illusory meanings about race and white superiority, and which gave birth to competitive, paranoid capitalism, and which incubated the ravenous, all-surface, empty consumer culture we know today. The American Dream is a fiction installed with paranoia and fear of the other.

America really needs to completely rethink it's shit if it wants to stop these absolutely awful things from happening. The world is already immersed in American culture. The last thing we want is to become carbon copies of America. America should not be at the helm of this world.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4880d ago
Sucitta4880d ago

crazy people get guns, legal or not.. Gun control would do nothing to prevent these types of people.

Now on the other hand, had one of the teachers been armed and trained, we might see less and less of this.

Do you know that in Switzerland, every male is given a gun and trained on how to use it by the age of 18. Yet they have one of the lowest gun murder rates in the entire world?

They also spend lots of money paying teachers to properly educate their kids. Their teachers make what our doctors make, they receive hours of recess and classes that teach social behavior as well as psychology, starting from grade 2.

They also have extremely strict Immigration laws, and very very very low poverty levels.

Wake the f*ck up sloths. Use the internet to do some research instead of just porn and games..

Thefreeman0124880d ago

Lol what? Giving teachers guns.... Are you retarded. How is putting guns into more hands going to make anything more safe. Plus what's to stop some kid from finding the teachers gun?

Brian1rr4880d ago

Guns are the reason why all this shootings are happening if this crazy guys was using knives it would of been harder to kill. Assault weapons ban needs to be implemented again

dark-hollow4880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

How about raising the awareness of mental illness instead of blaming it on stupid video games or gun laws?

All those killers have one thing in common, THEY ALL ARE MENTALLY UNSTABLE!!!

Depression, suicidal thoughts and abused or screwed childhood could turn ghandi into a serial killer.

soundslike4880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

"Depression, suicidal thoughts and abused or screwed childhood could turn ghandi into a serial killer. "

Saying shit like this will just start another type of witch hunt. People who are depressed, suicidal, and have had a screwed childhood are still PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE.

Thats all there is to it. There's nothing else to blame but the people who DECIDE to do these things.

-Gespenst-4880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

What are you talking about soundslike?

Do you even understand what mental illness is? Often people are impelled by their condition to do the things they do. They become a closed circuit- determined by their condition. In other words, they often don't have a choice, their minds are just completely gone.

Your attitude contributes to their fear and their isolation. We need to help people like this, not shun them and tar them with the "evil" brush.

On top of this, gun control IS an issue here. I don't know how you can say otherwise. If a seriously mentally ill person- who is trapped in a delusional, homicidal feedback loop in their mind- has unobstructed access to lethal weaponary, it's the logical next step that, impelled by their condition, they'll acquire such weapons. ESPECIALLY if those guns can be acquired with such ease.

Paranoia is deeply entrenched in American society. People think they need guns. They fear the other person, consider them a threat on some level. A threat to their own success and prosperity in a capitalist system. It's a value that stretches back to the founding fathers- is a bi-product of the so-called "American Dream" and it needs to be undone.

Anon19744880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

True, but there will always be mentally unstable folks out there. Just in some places they're more heavily armed then others. I'm not for a second suggesting that more can't be done for those suffering from mental disorders, but you only have to take a cursory glance at gun related deaths in countries with stricter gun controls (and bear in mind I'm not talking "banning" weapons, I'm talking stricter regulation and control) to see that the gun deaths in those countries pale in comparison.

When you look at the mass shootings in the US in the past 20 years, how often were those carried out with legally obtained firearms? That would be most of them, so to me it's obvious that there should be serious debate on what can be done to keep guns out of the hands of people who would use them in such a fashion. You'll never cure "crazy" completely, but maybe you shouldn't arm them. It's just a thought.

But somehow the issue has become completely polarized in the US, rational debate seems impossible. You're either dismissed as a crazy, leftist hippy who don't believe anyone should have guns or some hill-billy gun nut. There doesn't seem to be any in-between in the eyes of each party and for some, daring to suggest touching the second amendment sends people into frothing rage fits. And it's funny, because the Right to Bear arms was in order to keep a "well regulated Militia" "necessary to the security of a free State". I don't know how keeping a well regulated militia equals everyone and their dog should arm themselves, and this goes back 200 years and was written by men, who were fallible. How could they have ever foreseen things like private citizens owning automatic weapons? People love to say if weapons are banned, only criminals will have weapons but that's ridiculous as obviously law enforcement, the people trained to protect us ever day will still remain armed.

Personally, I don't understand the issue but I'm Canadian. I`m informed about US issues because we love you guys. You`re our closest neighbours, our family, and we want you to take care of yourselves. We had rifles on the farm growing up but as an adult male who's knocking on 40, I've never seen a handgun that wasn't attached to a police officer or security personal of some kind. I've also never known a single person who's been a victim of gun violence. Gun violence still happens, but it's so rare that when it does happen it's usually national news.

If I lived in a country where everyone was armed, I'd probably arm myself as well, but thankfully I don't. Gun violence is an unknown fear to me, and hopefully it'll remain that way for my children as well, but in the US they've already opened Pandora's box. Even if they wanted to, could they ever reign it in?

Doubtful. Looking at the US gov, could they be more dysfunctional? Just look at this fiscal cliff nonsense. It's like they're standing on the train tracks with a gun to each other's heads screaming "You shoot! No YOU SHOOT!" while the express is barrelling down on the country. It's beyond ridiculous that they can't even negotiate when the entire economy of the country is at stake, what chance do they have of ever creating working gun regulation that addresses any of the current problems the US faces?

Sucitta4880d ago

Every one of these shooters over the past 30 years has been on some kind of anti-depressant, yet all the media can do is gun control spin.

It's disgusting ignorance, shoved down your throat 24/7 by corporate owned media, sponsored by Pfizer, Eli Lilly and the like.

Side effects may include death..

tehpees34880d ago

It is a pity things get so out of hand.

Kid gets murdered in school. Parents blame Manhunt because their son was imitating things in the game. Makes sense.

Shooting happens. Blame Mass Effect because the person behind it liked it on Facebook?

Two very different scenarios here.

DFresh4880d ago

Government loves to blame any bad situation on any topic without just making an effort to solve a problem.

Government will blame anything from guns, music, TV, movies to video games.

Whatever happened to just being crazy?

Anyone who can kill 20 kids, both parents and not feel a thing clearly is crazy.

I'd also like to point out blaming guns and putting gun laws on people is only taking away from protection from normal people and giving criminals all of the power.

Do you think criminals care about laws?

No. They're criminals.

When it was said that more gun laws were going to be made guns/bullets have rose in sales.

Brian1rr4880d ago

It is the guns fault. I don't see someone stabbing 30 people and killing them all. The Asian guy last week didnt even kill 1 person with a knife

Conzul4880d ago

Only because he didn't know where to stick it, obviously.

DFresh4880d ago

No. If you don't pick up the gun it's harmless. If you pick it up and then use it it's now dangerous.

aliengmr4874d ago

And when a "responsible" gun owner makes a mistake, like shooting a bystander?

Do you really need multiple assault weapons to feel safe? 10/30 round mag? Explain to me the necessity of owning an AR-15 with multiple 10/30 round mags. Useless for hunting. Nearly useless for home defense.

Here's a thought, if its defense you're worried about, let's get rid of the weapons that are useless in that regard. How about we limit ones ability to amass an arsenal?

You make the excuse that gun laws take away protection, but that's NOT what this is about. The gun industry needs you morons to buy more and more weapons. AR-15s aren't sold for protection, their sold because they are cool.

Do you think all criminals would kill someone without a second thought?

World isn't black and white.

Chicago85064880d ago (Edited 4880d ago )

These sick bastards know what they b doing...
there is NO "scarded childhood," or "mental illness" to be considered!

strange how these assholes go out and commit crimes instead of good deeds when they become....."unstable.& ;quo t;

Blame it on gun laws, or blame it on the Pope, but "Good Parenting" can go a long ways @ preventing sh*t like this.

Its really a very sad occurrence, n I truly pray for those that r @ a loss.
I can't imagine what X-mas will b like for them.
May God keep them sheltered n heal their wounds.
Sad day n America, n this could b a notice to all who have loved ones! Appreciate the time u r given, or giving. Happy Holidays.

Game on.

Brian1rr4880d ago

You can't blame the parents for having a fucking psycho for a son

Conzul4880d ago

Yes you can.
Parents are the major formative factor in their children's lives. If you raised a psycho, you're somewhere in the blame pool.

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180°

Mass Effect - N7 DAY 2025

Bioware writes: "Like you, we’ve heard the rumors lately. You’ve made it clear you care deeply about what’s next. So let’s start by setting the record straight: the next Mass Effect game is in development, and EA and BioWare remain committed to telling more stories in this universe."

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blog.bioware.com
-Foxtrot169d ago

I expected nothing and I'm still disappointed

Like with Fallout, it's starting to feel studios are using TV / Film adaptations when they have no game info to talk about.

toxic-inferno169d ago

I feel the same way.

I mean, how difficult would it be for them to release SOMETHING of substance? Another short trailer? A couple of proper hints? A short story set during the original trilogy, but focused on fringe characters?

Hopefully they're working so hard on the game that they don't have time. But still, with every passing year and so little to show, the franchise will be slipping further and further from people's minds.

Profchaos169d ago

Yeah agree it's almost a cop out since Dev times are 5 to 10 years just throw out a few seasons instead you get them done in a year

jznrpg169d ago

I still haven’t beat Andromeda. I am waiting for a lull of good games in my backlog

P_Bomb169d ago

So the TV show will take place after the OG trilogy. I wonder which ending they’ll use?

Rebel_Scum169d ago

Should’ve just posted a picture of an Elcor saying “regretfully, we have nothing to share.”

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130°

10 RPGs That Defined The Genre

Thanks to their innovative approach to gaming, RPGs like Dark Souls, Final Fantasy VII, and Dragon Quest left a significant impact on the genre.

ApocalypseShadow1065d ago

Good games but no Phantasy Star?

merlox1064d ago

Why do people forget Phantasy Star? That is one of my favorite RPG series. Another ther good but overlooked series is ,Y's.

anast1064d ago

ES3 set things off, it's a shame they got greedy and decided to cut corners so the executives could get huge pay days.

60°

10 Best Video Game Companions

GF365: "A friend makes the adventure all the more fun. Here are the best video game companions that will keep you company."

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1237d ago