Santa Barbara gunman was WoW addict

[cachemaster]

I know there is already another thread on the tragedy that occurred in California, however that thread is mostly filled with talk on gun rights an mental illness. I wanted to start this thread to talk about something I found pretty interesting about Elliot Rodger. He had a serious World of Warcraft addiction.

For those of you who didn't read his "manifesto" here are a few of the snippets pertaining to World of Warcraft:

My first experience with WoW was like stepping into another world of excitement and adventure. It was a video game world, but they made it so realistic that it was like living another life, a more exciting life. My life was getting more and more depressing at that point, and WoW would fill in the void. It felt refreshing and relieving. I was only able to play it for a few hours for my first session. It was all I would think about when I wasn’t able to play it.

The upside of moving to the apartment was that my mother acquired high speed internet. I was able to play World of Warcraft on her computer, along with Halo 2 on Xbox Live. This was the point when my social life ended completely. I would never have a satisfying social life ever again. It was the beginning of a very lonely period of my life, in which my only social interactions would be online through video games, with the sole exception being my friendship with James. The ability to play video games with people online temporarily filled in the social void. I got caught up in it, and I was too young and naïve to realize the severity of how far I had fallen. I was too scared to accept it. This loss of a social life, coupled with the advent of puberty, caused me to die a little inside. It was too much for me to handle, and I stopped caring about my life and my future. I even stopped caring about what people thought of me. I hid myself away in the online World of Warcraft, a place where I felt comfortable and secure.

Now that I was able to play World of Warcraft at my mother’s house with no limitations, aside from school and homework, I became very addicted to the game and my character in it. It was all I cared about. I was so immersed in the game that I no longer cared about what people thought of me. I only saw school as something that took time away from WoW.

After the first few weeks of high school, I concluded that my time at Crespi would not be pleasant at all. I withdrew further into the World of Warcraft, neglecting my homework and spending all of my free time playing it.

These recent events cause me to withdraw even further away from the world. I drowned all of my misery in my online games. World of Warcraft was the only thing I had left to live for. My grades at Crespi dropped dramatically. I just didn’t care anymore. I hated that school. I didn’t think about my future. The only thing I gave any serious thought to was my WoW character. I had become very powerful in the game, and I was in one of the best guilds. With this guild, I participated in lots of five-hour raid events to collect better gear and armor for my character.

This was the perfect set up for a World of Warcraft addict. After school, every day, I fully indulged myself in my addiction to WoW. My only social interaction was with my online friends and with James, who would occasionally come over to my house to play WoW with me.

(Talking about when he finally stopped playing)

But that was only a small part of the reason why I quit. The main reason was the disturbing new player-base. The game got bigger with every new expansion that was released, and as it got bigger, it brought in a vast amount of new players. I noticed that more and more “normal” people who had active and pleasurable social lives were starting to play the game, as the new changes catered to such a crowd. WoW no longer became a sanctuary where I could hide from the evils of the world, because the evils of the world had now followed me there. I saw people bragging online about their sexual experiences with girls… and they used the term “virgin” as an insult to people who were more immersed in the game than them. The insult stung, because it was true. Us virgins did tend to get more immersed in such things, because our real lives were lacking. I couldn’t stand to play WoW knowing that my enemies, the people I hate and envy so much for having sexual lives, were now playing the same game as me.

WoW addiction is a topic I'm sure a lot of us can relate to, myself included. How much, if at all do you all think that WoW developed him into, or at least moved him closer to the events that happened a couple days ago? Do you think if he didn't play WoW he would have had a successful sex life and wouldn't have killed all those people?

[Stop Pretending]

There is already a dedicated thread about this incident.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-Santa-Barbara

[cachemaster]

There is already a dedicated thread about this incident.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-Santa-Barbara

Did you not even read the first SENTENCE of my post? Jesus.

[Anevers]

Think of the other thread as a catch all for discussion on this topic.

[Stop Pretending]

Did you not even read the first SENTENCE of my post? Jesus.

When a mod closes this, and re-directs you i'll tell ya " told ya so "

[Calfredd]

Of course the guy was an addict and the shooter of the first Virginia Tech shooting also played WoW. I just think this whole thing is a bunch of bollocks. Also to answer your question, it sort of sounds like if it wasn't WoW, it would have been something else.

[KrazyK923]

He used WoW to escape from his shitty reality, as a lot of people had/do.

Your point? Don't start with this media bullshit that video games had anything to do with what happened here. Not only does he say he quit during Cataclysm and not mention it any further, but its clear all that WoW was for him was an escape, as I have said. And when his online life started mimicking his social life (As in, being an outcast), he stopped playing.

Hard stop. End. Finish. /thread.

WoW has nothing to do with what happened. This thread is little more than flame bait.

[4KhazModan]

When a mod closes this, and re-directs you i'll tell ya " told ya so "

This one is more to talk about WoW-addiction I think. We'll see where it goes, it could very well stay open.

More on topic though: Escapism isn't really something new. Back in the great depression, movies served as an escape for millions, and now many of use use video games. That being said, there are plenty of people as addicted to wow as he was, who are homicidal maniacs seeking revenge on society. He was an exception, not the rule.

[cityguy193]

WoW was his escape, and because the Devs changed the direction of the game, he lost his only anchor left before going crazy.

Technically the Devs are responsible for those deaths.

/sarcasm

[Romeothecat]

I highly doubt the lack of sex life is the cause of this gunman snapping that was HIS diagnosis from his video not a professional opinion so it doesn't mean shit. As for the WoW addiction? No conclusive evidence supports the opinion of violent video games causing violent behavior so it should never have even come to light.

[TITAN308]

Yup.

Ban WoW - if it saves just one life...

[ThunderPussy]

Time to shut down WoW for the good of humanity!

[Kasierith]

There is no need to have multiple threads over the same topic.

Closed.