Once again, I take the back seat on this one as my former manager, Brian DeMarzo*, writes in with a new rant. This under the category of "People not taking responsibility for their own actions and suing corporations that had nothing to do with the tragedy".

I have entitled this rant:

"My granddaughter has had trouble with her spelling until EQ. It has improved over the year she has been playing. Did I mention she is only 9 yrs. old?."
- Pernia of the Titan Empire in Tarew Marr (Everquest Player, from the Everquest Homepage)

"Blame Canada!"
- Shelia Broslafski (Kyle's Mom) from South Park: The Movie (Bigger, Longer, and Uncut)

"Lock and Loaded."
- From any one of the Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, Shoot em up, games

"Better luck next time."
- From Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone Playstation Game (Gringott's Level)

April 29th, 2002

Poor Shawn Woolley's mother would like you to believe that video games - particular EverQuest, a "massive-multiplayer" game** by Sony - killed his son.

More specifically, Shawn - who was addicted to the game - killed himself shortly after logging on to the game, and left some obscure messages about the game in his suicide note. And in good American tradition, she has retailed a lawyer and is considering legal action against Sony.

I wouldn't doubt that Shawn was addicted to the game. According to reports, he was - quitting his job, stealing his mother's credit card to pay the game's monthly $12.95 bill, and denying her pleads for him to stop playing the game. All clear signs of a potential addiction.

Sometimes, people get addicted to things like alcohol or drugs. They quit - or lose - their jobs. They steal to get money to pay for their habit. They deny there is a problem and refuse to seek the help or hear the pleads of those who care for them. Sometimes, they commit suicide. But when they do, we do not blame the alcohol (or at least, we shouldn't); rather, the blame is on the person's inability to take change of their life, or to accept the help from the the support system around them.

It is a terrible tragedy, but not the fault of Seagram's or Johnny Walker (not the American Taliban) - but the person himself.

So why are video games different? Because it's exciting and new, and makes a good headline. How many countless people die from alcohol and drug abuse every day? They don't usually make headlines (unless they are rich or famous). How many people killed themselves allegedly due to a video game? One. How many people play video games? Millions. I'd say you're safer plugging in your Playstation than suckling a bottle of Absolut.

Back to Shawn.

Of course, most newspaper articles mentioned he was epileptic, but do not mention he was also diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia and was on medication for his ailments. His mother has one other argument - there are few support organizations for video game addictions. However this is not true. A simple Internet search found two Yahoo! clubs for video game addiction related directly to EverQuest, and both were founded back in the summer of 2000. And of course, a simple phone call to a doctor or mental health professional can help you find resources available. Clearly, if Shawn's mom was as concerned then as she is now, she would have pursued these avenues.

There are two tragedies: Shawn Woolley, who unfortunately did not have the capacity to handle the addictive possibilities presented by a video game (a trait the overwhelming majority of the population has in abundance); and Shawn's mom, who can't recognize the fact that the answers aren't always so obvious, and that you can't always jump to blame everyone else for a tragedy.

*- My personal note: As the game devloper for the Computer Simulated Fantasy Baseball League (www.csfbl.com), I am sure that this hits close to home for Brian as well. A shameless plug for my old boss. - Vikar

**- According to the Sony site, Everquest is a real 3D massively multiplayer fantasy roleplaying game. Players prepare to enter an enormous virtual environment-an entire world with its own diverse species, economic systems, alliances, and politics. They choose from a variety of races and classes, customize their characters, and begin a quest in any number of cities or villages throughout multiple continents. They Equip themselves for adventure, seek allies and knowledge, and experience a rich world of dungeons, towers, crypts, evil abbeys-anything is possible-even planes and realities beyond your imagination. They can meet new friends from around the world to face epic challenges. They can make themselves a noble human knight, a vicious dark elf thief, a greedy dwarven merchant, or whatever suits their desire. This is not a plug for the game as I have never played it. - Vikar