Prosecution in Anders Breivik Case Attempts to Use World of Warcraft as Evidence

[Shawn Zipay]

Anders Breivik, the mass-murder from Norway apparently played a bit under seven hours of World of Warcraft every day between November 2010 and February 2011.

The problem is, who the hell cares? Apparently the prosecution in the case seems to think his playing WoW is somehow linked to him going completely off the deep end and murdering 77 people last year at a youth summer camp.

He has previously stated that he played Warcraft, as well as another "first-person shooter" game called Modern Warfare, for hours daily.(...)

According to prosecutors, Breivik played Warcraft under the aliases "Andersnordic" and "Conservatism."

Norwegian anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen, who was brought in as an expert witness for Breivik's defense earlier this year, said in an interview with the British network ITN that Breivik was apparently unable to separate games from reality.

"He does not seem to be very successful at distinguishing between the virtual reality of 'World of Warcraft' and other video games and reality," Eriksen said.

In a March 2008 post on a web forum devoted to the game, user "Andersnordic" posted that the game had been responsible for making him "300kg, bald and pale," and told the game's developer Blizzard Entertainment, "You'll hear from my lawyer!"

Really? You're going to try and say that World of Warcraft or even Call of Duty had anything to do with what this monster did? Get out of here with that crap logic.

(via)

[RYKUU]

Re: Prosecution in Anders Breivik Case Attempts to Use World of Warcraft as Evidence

The worst part of the whole 'Media V Game industry' is that members of the gaming industry (some players) also believe games like WOW and MW2 create these killers.

Clearly this is not the case and anyone calling FPS players 'potential murderers' should be disregarded immediately.

[jimykx]

Re: Prosecution in Anders Breivik Case Attempts to Use World of Warcraft as Evidence

What about the violent movies he probably also saw? What about the stupid crap on the tv he saw? I'm pretty sure someone would go on a rampage much faster after watching some of tv's stupidness than after playing games

[cikame]

Not excusing what he did, that forum post was probably a joke from the side of Breivik who is a fan of the game and shouldn't be considered a part of the trial. Back on point, there's plenty of other material for mentally disturbed people to take inspiration from other than video games. I realise they are trying to decide on his state of mind in order to deliver a verdict, but does anyone think a murderer of 77 people should be released at some point?

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Prosecution in Anders Breivik Case Attempts to Use World of Warcraft as Evidence

This is just another example of people trying to put choices made on something else.

Over the years it was the devil, your family, rocknroll, tv, and now video games. In the end its the choices made that determine what the outcome should be.

Do all these things I mentioned influence? It sure does, but at the end of the day, its on us as an individual that have to make the right choices.

[Vreki]

Re: Prosecution in Anders Breivik Case Attempts to Use World of Warcraft as Evidence

Personally, I am blaming the press for the massacres of the last decade.
The make the psychopaths into celebrities. Whenever I look at a newspaper I see Breivik this, Breivik that.
They are giving them the attention that they crave about everything else.

If they just limited it to one article after the trial, e.g. "Breivik found criminally insane" then he wouldn't serve as much as inspiration for the next nutcase out there.