Lots more nonsense on the web today following the tragic events at Virginia Tech. According to Gamealmighty.com, Jack Thompson has issued an open letter to Bill Gates, blaming Microsoft for the killings, based on an allegation that Cho Seung Hui played Counter-Strike in highschool. From the letter:
"Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill. You knew five years ago that your on-line game, Counterstrike, so clearly figured in the massacre by a student in Erfurt that the event and the game impacted the race for Chancellor in Germany at the time!"
It is not clear whether Thompson plans to send a similar letter to Valve - the developers of the Counter-Strike brand. Microsoft acted as publisher, but only on the Xbox conversion. All irrelevant, of course, to the matter at hand.
Thompson references a Washington Post report on the murders, which, when it first appeared online, mentioned Counter-Strike. The report was subsequently re-posted with all videogame references removed.
Meanwhile, Gaygamer.net has posted details of the police search warrant on Cho Seung Hui's dorm room. No mention of videogames, the site points out.
Speaking hours after the horrifying events, mostly with gun control protestors in mind but no less relevant for that, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine said:
"For those who want to make this a political hobby horse they can ride, I've got nothing but loathing for them"
No-one is listening.
