Another Computer Gaming Arrest

[Taurothar]

Couple jailed after games addiction - [General]
Submitted by Forcefire on 9/1/2005 9:24:09 AM

A couple in Scotland who claimed to be addicted to computer gaming have been jailed for three months after admitting that they neglected their four children.
The father, 28, claimed to have become addicted to online gaming, and that his wife had also been affected. Arbroath Sheriff Court was told that the case was one of the worst ever seen by police and social workers.
Social workers were called after neighbours spotted two of the children naked on a window ledge. The workers found a baby in a heavily soiled nappy, and two of the children required emergency dental work. One had to have all her teeth removed.
Sheriff Norrie Stein said: "The reports say there is difficulty in identifying a community-based [sentence], and I'm afraid to say, for you two, there is no alternative to a prison sentence.
"This neglect appears to have occurred over a significant period and, despite extensive home support, clothing and laundry services, and parenting classes, you have clearly chosen to disregard your children."

Taken from Torrentspy.com's news articles, sorry if it has been posted before.

 

[Silfer]

lmao... Scotland. ._.






<= :x

 

[Fullerene]

Well, I can safely say, it wasn't my parents... :roll:

 

[deathsvengeance]

Ugh that's disgusting. I can't imagine anyone neglecting their children to play an online game.

 

[Kizaryo]

Sad to say but I guess its true...there are some idiots out there who put an online game first in their life, and neglect the important things in life such as family, kids, job, health, etc.

When they happened to be called out...all the excuses just come out flying at ya and they become pretty over dramatic, lol.

Overal that wasn't right of what that guy did. Oh well, he is now in prison with Bubba doing the humpy-hump by now, lol.

There is nothing wrong with playing any online mmorpg. They can be fun and its a good way to unwind, but the moment it owns you...thats when you gotta step back and take control.

I know this sounds silly since we always talk about pawning and owning stuff on FF, lol...but I think that MMORPG "owned" him. :-D

 

[CmdrFly]

Oh shit, that's right... my stove's been on for 9 months!

 

[Mokk]

These poor kids .... these stories kill me. Doesn't suprise me though, stupid people have been procreating forever. These stories are on par with the "i forgot the baby was in the backseat when i went to work" folks -.-


How the hell do you forget you're a parent first and everything else second?

 

[Elemmire]

I hate kids myself >.> but they don't deserve that kinda treatment x.x poor children.

 

[Acutie]

Gotta love those idiots who say Game>Life.

Right?

 

[Demonknightx]

jeeze guys come on, cut those parents some slack. I mean, i bet that party they got in was really good. think of the EXP! Or maybe that 1 hour - 5 week HNM was about to pop! gotta take these things from both points of view <_<.










(for you slow people out there, please note my online sarcasm <_<)

 

[Draiman]

I've heard a similar story about Warcraft made a couple neglect there baby and let it die. Then theytried to ban warcraft cause of it, something like that.

 

[Taurothar]

I've heard a similar story about Warcraft made a couple neglect there baby and let it die. Then theytried to ban warcraft cause of it, something like that.

Pretty sure that a country DID ban warcraft, or atleast institute laws about the amount of time you're allowed to play per week.

 

[Fellina]

It's China that's considering institutuing measures to limit the amount of time spent on online games, but it will only apply to games that have an official release in China, as they're going to have code tweaked in some manner so that your character becomes garbage after "too long" online, forcing you to take a break. The couple who left their baby alone, and led to that childs death, was in Korea, as was the guy who died of exhaustion after a Warcraft binge. Since this is in Scotland, it's apparent that obsessive gaming isn't isolated to just one area of the world.

However, things like this shouldn't be blown out of proportion either. It sorta reminds me of the "kid commits suicide over D&D" thing of 2 decades ago, where one or two incidents from unstable individuals colored the whole genre for people who wanted tomething to demonize.

Abusive parents (and neglect is a form of child abuse) exist regardless of what the crutch for their abuse is. Alcohol, drugs, gambling, gaming, whatever. Gaming addicts like these are getting a more sensationalized treatment from the media because the genre and concept is so new, in the relative scheme of things. If those kids had been found mistreated like that just because their parents were too busy laying around drunk and/or passed out it wouldn't have even made it past the local gossip chain.

Just as it was mentioned earlier in this thread, it all comes down to a lack of responsibility and personal culpability. As a parent who games, I can say that my daughter always, always comes first. I only play in times that I've scheduled for myself, which are almost always in the evenings when my daughter is unwinding with a video before bed (or already asleep). FFXI is a passing thing, just the most current way to have a little adult-oriented fun (which is something I need sometimes after a day full of toddler-talk at the local park, heh.) Getting RDM to 75 is an insignificant trifle compared to my daughter telling me "I luh you mama".

 

[asiamise]

Fellina rocks.

That is all ^.~