Hanoi - Police in Vietnam have arrested a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering and robbing an 81-year-old woman for money to play online games, a police official said Tuesday. Dinh The Dan was arrested on Sunday at his home in Nam Dinh province, 80 kilometers south of Hanoi, according to local policeman Nguyen Duy Duong.
Police say Dan strangled Mai Thi Mau, 81, with a piece of rope and took 100,000 dong (6.2 dollars) from her before burying her in a pile of sand in front of his house on November 10.
"Dan confessed that he needed money to play online games and decided to kill and rob the woman," Duong said.
"He is too young to be put in prison for the crime he committed, but we will send him to a reeducation camp, which may release him after he shows enough good behavior," Duong said.
In November last year, Vietnamese police arrested a 15-year-old boy accused of extorting money to play online games.
Trinh Dinh Thanh, of northern Vinh Phuc province,was arrested after he allegedly demanded some 300 dollars from a local businessman, threatening to splash sulfuric acid on the face of the man's 12-year-old daughter if he refused to pay.
Online gaming is wildly popular in Vietnam, with internet cafes typically packed with teenagers after school and late into the night.
The craze has prompted concern among parents and authorities - Vietnamese media even reported that one young boy died after sitting at a computer for three days straight, though any such death could not be confirmed by police.
Internet cafes have been instructed to limit the time that young people spend on computer games, but the rules have proved difficult to enforce.
Add to that the incidents mentioned in the article about the one who threatened a 12-year-old to get her dad to give him cash, or the boy who dropped dead from playing for three days straight, and we got a problem.
A question: What is the Vietnamese "re-education camp" like?
Currently, re-education camps are general juvenile penal institutions - camps and settlement camps.
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Trinh Dinh Thanh, of northern Vinh Phuc province,was arrested after he allegedly demanded some 300 dollars from a local businessman, threatening to splash sulfuric acid on the face of the man's 12-year-old daughter if he refused to pay.
Ah fuck no. Not even in Vietnam. What the hell is wrong with the people of Asia and their obsession with using chemical weapons on women ?
A kid named Dinh the fucking Dan steals 100,000 dong from an old lady (which turns out to mean 6 bucks and twenty cents in the US), all to play some shitty MMORPG.
I am so immature for laughing at this.
For serious, though: what kind of idiot buries his victim in his fucking front yard? And are MMORPG's like drugs to Asians? Honestly, it sounds like the same sort of problem we'd have in the US with cocaine trafficking or meth abuse.
I've generally seen a greater predilection for FPS games in western cultures, while MMORPGs tend to be more so in Asia, probably because of the greater emphasis of socialization in those cultures.
Battlehymn Republic wrote:That sounds like folk psychology if I've ever heard some.
MMO murders: the Eastasian answer to American school shootings.
Not really. These murders are simple murders for self-interest; the same thing that anonymous thugs do to each other in bad neighbourhoods all across America every day without making the national news, never mind international news. School shootings are a different beast entirely; there is no self-interest or material gain involved; these are sociopaths who have developed a seething hatred of all society.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
PeZook wrote:After all, there are RPG-losers in Europe and the US too, aren't there?
Yeah, but here they're too physical and emotional wherewithal to do something like this...meaning they're fat, asthmatic and shy.
I've generally seen a greater predilection for FPS games in western cultures, while MMORPGs tend to be more so in Asia, probably because of the greater emphasis of socialization in those cultures.
That, I don't get. Isn't sealing yourself away in the fantasy world of an MMORPG the exact opposite of real socialization with real people? I mean, I know you have to interact with other players, but you do so in a completely ridiculous context.
wolveraptor wrote:That, I don't get. Isn't sealing yourself away in the fantasy world of an MMORPG the exact opposite of real socialization with real people? I mean, I know you have to interact with other players, but you do so in a completely ridiculous context.
Yes, both are a sense of withdrawal, but the elements of status and group approval in more hierarchical social structures tend to permeate MMORPGs more often. A top player in an FPS game online gains notoriety and such, but they don't really inteact with other players like in an RPG, mostly just shooting the opposing players, same is true with clans setups. In an RPG, for example, there is the process of talking with other players for information, goods, and stuff, so in that sense it is much more of a substitute social framework.
wolveraptor wrote: Isn't sealing yourself away in the fantasy world of an MMORPG the exact opposite of real socialization with real people? I mean, I know you have to interact with other players, but you do so in a completely ridiculous context.
Not really; you are still interacting with actual people after all. The "exact opposite of real socialization with real people" would be someone whose "social life" consists only of interaction with computer controlled characters, I think.
As far as this incident goes, it's no stranger than someone killing someone else to support any other desire/pastime. It reflects much more on the person than it does on the pastime.
It's funny how, if you read a story like this, you will forever remember it as the "MMORPG murder". But if the kid had killed someone else for money, you wouldn't remember it as the "money murder". Then, it would just be a murder.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
As someone who has been playing RPG's for 30 years now (yes, three decades - does that make me an "RPG loser"?) I can say that the obsessive-to-the-point-of-dangerous player is nothing new. Back in the 1970's it was idiots getting way too involved playing Dungeons and Dragons in the tunnels under Michigan State University, to the point of getting lost for days or hurt. Now it's kids in Asia dropping dead from marathon on-line sessions or robbing people to pay for their habit.
In the old days of pencil-and-paper we largely dealt with the too-involved player by simply not telling them where the next party would occur. Nowadays - well, the more places you can get on line the harder it is to police these kids.
It's not the game itself that's evil - it's a game. It can actually create new social contacts (my WoW clan has hosted BBQ's where people can meet in real life and get to know each other outside of the game). It's fun. Most people involved understand it's a game and can properly prioritize it in their life
The problem here is lack of control, and if it didn't manifest itself in the game I'm sure it would come out some other way - drug use, gambling, whatever. As Mike pointed out, people rob people and kill them all the time. If it's for money it's not newsworthy, even if its the most common motive. If it's for a game, though, that's unusual enough to get attention. But, again - it's not the game that's the problem, it's a lack of control/perspective/etc.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
The perceived problem with MMORPG is it takes what otherwise would be "nerds" and A students and turns them into computer junkies. To succeed at them you need problem solving, teamwork, and sometimes planning and years of dedication which could otherwise be put into school. A physics major put it this way to me. Back in the "old days" there didn't used to be as much television or computers, so what was there to do, slam your head in a brick wall? Or do homework? Now compare the growing number of women graduates in university especially in science to the dwindling number of men, and consider that men are predisposed to this kind of gaming...
...BUT after getting to my final year, I have to say it's probably bullshit. The kind of guy who would throw away all his time on MMORPG would probably flunk university. Kurokenko put it best to me: university doesn't just test if you're smart, but also tests your time management skills. I know a girl who puts in hours and hours of work a day. She might not be as smart as the guy who puts in a few hours cramming the night before an exam, but she makes up for that with hard work. Innate intelligence only goes so far, and eventually you have to wonder just how "smart" is a guy who doesn't have any perspective and immerses himself unequivocally in a fantasy world.
Right - sure, the games consume time and energy, but so does any other hobby. When done in a controlled manner (that is, in a manner that doesn't interfere with work, family commitments, personal grooming, etc.) it's no more a "waste of time" or anything else than any other hobby whether that's collecting stamps, reading books, knitting, or, um, flying airplanes.
If it wasn't the MMORPG it likely would have been something else consuming these "victims". In the old days, before computers, people would get obsessive about other things - comic books, cars, sports, rock n roll, building elaborate models out of matchsticks...
One of the reasons that having a degree in anything is considered advantageous on the job, even if your degree is unrelated to the job at hand, is because in order to get one you need to actually have time management, planning, budgeting, and other skills that translate into many other activities in life.
The "A student" who "ruins" himself with MMORPGs (or other obsessions) was probably an A student due at least in part to being obsessive - at some point they worked obsessively on the school work, only to have it supplanted by a different obsession later. There are lots of A students who play MMORPGs without becoming obsessed because they're well adjusted people who can prioritize and manage their many interests and obligations in life.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
