Nutso WoW Player Threatens To Hijack Plane

yea my friend actually tried that in halo 2 when i went over to his house luckly he told everyone he was playing with he was just joking

SILVERAMMO

@GoonerVance: What are you a social worker? So understanding. I personally think the kid is an idiot. Was it a cry out for help? Don't know or care......

@SuperMarioPsycho: This has nothing to do with WoW, or gaming. Just as many idiots on Halo.

@GoonerVance: I'm just saying that he did something stupid and he should know better. There is an innate sense of what is acceptable and not in everybody. He knows what he did was stupid and not "right" yet he did it anyway. He even admitted to doing it to see if the police would really show up. He did it on purpose and knew that the consequences could be real.
Everybody's answer to situations like this are "try to understand him" and "he's crying out for attention." That isn't the answer to every situation like this. Then again, maybe the world really is so far demented that we have become desensitized to the consequences of our actions. Which would mean it's a sad day for all the world.

@SeraphX2: If only science had taken your approach and just classified everything that was misunderstood as magic, in the same way you classify people you don't wish to understand as "jerks".

GoonerVance

@Javert: ?????? In my world threats of violence...should always be taken seriously?

Attention Kotaku (and the rest of the internet): Not all gamers from Indianapolis and surrounding areas are this crazy / stupid. Way to make us look bad, ya douche!

@GoonerVance: Hahahaha! I went and saw it, and realized I had seen that, but a LOOOOONG time ago.

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi:Haha yes. But the problem is that the mooninite wasn't the stupid thing, it was the people who called in the "bomb" threat.

The Amazing Exploding-Man

And this is why I believe in abortion...of the parents!

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Congratulations on saying the exact words that will make you realize that freedom of speech is a lie, kid.

The Amazing Exploding-Man

He's 18 and still thought it'd be smart/funny to make remarks like that? Multiple times? Kid's a damned genius.

@GoonerVance: Even if it does seem absurd, you can't exactly ignore it. While the person posting probably wouldn't have been some sort of real "terrorist" since as you put it, it's a stupid idea to post you plans out in the open like that, they could easily be deranged enough to follow through. You don't need to be smart to be dangerous after all.

And can you imagine what sort of backlash there would be if the kid actually went through with it and people found out that Blizzard had seen the threats and just blown it off as an attention whore? Better to be wrong and overly pre-emptive about it than to end up having to deal with the PR nightmare of being the people who were warned it would happen and blew it off.

Kogenta

@GoonerVance:
Actually the U.S. is already targeting Online games as a potential organizing tool for terrorists. So, yes, they take this very seriously:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/02/nations-spies-w/

@GoonerVance: Distburbed young man, bah. The guy isn't disturbed, he's a jerk and needs to be treated like one. People don't get better from being coddled. The guy did something stupid, he pays for it like any other person. There aren't so many messed up in the head people that the disturbed, mental answer can be for everyone.

@Javert: I did come back and say as much. I'm just saying isn't this inevitable. I mean millions of players on WoW and you know some of them aren't all completely there. Of course society reacts, "Oh he is a crazy, good riddance", and that kind of reaction only lets the threat of violence become more likely to come to fruition. Ya' know I'm sure this kid has cried out in much smaller ways, but of course everyone ignores that because...well, it's not effecting anyone, but then he escalates it to something that will effect everyone and it's all hands on deck, get the national guard on the phone. Is that how cold our society has gotten? We spend a lot of energy trying to avoid and ignore problems and it leads to bigger problems.

GoonerVance

@Culebra: TEHRE ARE WPEAONS FO MSAS DESTRUTCION!!!111

Vidunder

@GoonerVance: Remember a couple of years back when somebody posted the bomb threats on 4chan? OK, this is very similar - with the amount of violence in the U.S. these days everything like this needs to be taken seriously, unless they read "ROFL ALLHAU ACKBAR ROFL".

@Tyber_Zann: I love you for this post :3

Deathbearer

Good thing Jack Thompson got disbarred or he'd have a fucking field day with this.

Deathbearer

@Culebra: maybe... just a disturbed young lad perhaps, but he might other wise be a prophet, we're in a way are all shut ins, collectively at least. we tag as crazy everything that happens, everything that might warns us of the way things are. these are i think social symptoms of a world who doesn't want to look at it self in the mirror.

He's a frak up no question about it, but who can blame him on this age of disenchantment? we're going to hell on a hand basket. perhaps im just reading the story different. asking different questions about the hysteria of a nation and the values that drove them off a cliff into paranoia. the jokes on all of us i guess.

bad joke

Francuzzz1010

@kerihobo: There's messing with people, and then there is going way over the line. This was going way over the line. If he wanted to mess with people, he could have said many other things besides that. I guess you are not much smarter than he is if you think it's amusing.

Ferkner

lol, what's wrong with 'fukin wit ppl' - it's fun, and americas an easy target for that nowadays. no offense fellow americans - /salute

kerihobo

@GoonerVance:

"I think we need to start addressing these kind of people on a mass scale."

Fixed.

People lose themselves in LOTS of things, not just games. I don't think there are as many WoW players who need to be addressed the way you're thinking of; this kid did a stupid thing, as kids have always done, and will always do from time to time. No amount of counseling or therapy will EVER solve that.
For better or worse, we don't live in a society where open, public threats are dismissed anymore-whether they're coming from a bonehead like this kid or not. One wonders whether his parents took the time to instill in him that you just do NOT do things like that these days.

I can only hope against hope that my own offspring will someday beat the living crap out of anyone of their friends that would pull something so monumentally estupido.

The youth of America need to pull their collective heads out of their asses, as it seems that most parents are unwilling to spend the mental resources required to raise them properly.

I don't know whats more upsetting, the fact that this kid actually did this or (insert snarky comment about MMO players)!

@Tyber_Zann:

IT'S A TRAP!

Haha

Whoo! Go Greenwood! We finally made the news for something :)

@mfwahwah: I'm 26 and I still feel like a kid.

Devil_Dan

@Tyber_Zann: Well it certainly got my breakfast orange juice all over the monitor anyway. Good comedy!

Matthew McPherson

@Hi-Im-Asylum: You are not really anonymous on a game you subscribe to.

Javert

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: But threats of violence are NOW taken a bit more seriously. I am confused that you cannot see the difference between the past and present and the concept that we can learn from the past.

So, in your world, we should not take any threats as being worthy of investigation because a credible threat was ignored for two years and we suffered because of it?

I think there are so many responses to your post because many of us view the past as an opportunity to learn from mistakes of the past (very recent at that).

Javert

@GoonerVance: And then had this kid had done something in line with his statements, the press and everyone else would be asking 'Why didn't Blizzard take any action? Why?'

Blizzard did the exact thing they should have done. Why should they be responsible on the 1 in 1000 chance that this person was actually going carry out the acts?

Javert

@GoonerVance: Ever heard of the story of the boy who cried 'wolf'? This kid was bored, said some stupid shit, knew what he was doing, got caught for it, end of story.

Svend Joscelyne

4CHAN PARTY VAN!

Solidusian Fury

Aw, he's 18 and can be legally tried as an adult. I predict cockmeat sandwich in his future.

LOL yeah that kid is an idiot for testing the waters... but people say whacked crap all the time in WoW. i can only imagine how persistent he must have been in his rants.

Oban

@Tyber_Zann: Ahahahahahahah Leeroy Ackbar!

Was he a Horde or of the Alliance?

Hmmmm....

vahnastral

Facepalm. :I

@GoonerVance: "Pro" as in "professional"...
e_e And now that he's been caught, he can now get all the help he wants from that 'cry' he made. I'm simply pointing out the severity of making such claims, and not having them looked into. Just because it was absurd for him to make that claim on WoW doesn't mean it couldn't have merit. And if the claim proves false, well, he submits the the consequences of either jail time or psychiatric evaluations. Quite frankly, the CIA and FBI have stated a very real concern about terrorist organization and planning done through MMOs. They consider it least likely to be monitored and therefore a safe venue. As absurd as this may seem, people are capable of doing dumb things and think they can get away with it (just check on fark.com). As for telling you killing people = bad, it was an equation you quite diligently overlooked, while profusely proclaiming the persecution of our gamer culture and that sympathy was due to a 'shut in', which was a rather non-sequitur addition to the fact that he threatened to board a plane and kill people in expressive detail. In short, the moron got what was coming to him, and there's nothing to say for him and nothing but apathy to his plight.

WFROSE

@GoonerVance: It's all good. I'm enjoying the commentary that spawned out of this. I'd join in but I'm a man of few words.

I love the "I was curious to see what would happen" excuse.

You see your honor, it was all part of my experiment to test our defense against terroist who like to advertise their plans on World of Warcraft. I have come to the conclusion, that we are secure on this front. Now if you excuse me, I must go undercover in Starcraft to test my drug smuggling theory.

@PlayerX: You need to quickly type in you were just joking about not knowing what that refers to and discreetly go to youtube and search Leeroy Jenkins.

GoonerVance

@Tyber_Zann: Not familiar with what that refers to, but it did remind me of, "O'Doyle Rules! O'Doyle Rules!"

@Tracid: Fnar fnar.

Amazing that some people still think the internet is really confined to their room.

Oh my. What are kids thinking these days?
What an idiot indeed.....

NekuSakuraba

@Tyber_Zann: My bad Tyber. I think I just hijacked your thread by accident. "Leeeroooy Accckbaarrr!!!" Very funny.

GoonerVance

@gravaton: I agree with you, community service and some psychological treatment would be great for this kid/young man, but to throw him in jail for one of those 2-5 year stints at this point in his life would only ensure that his anger grow and then think about how he will be when he gets out.

GoonerVance

This is not a good way to get an epic flying mount =\

@Tyber_Zann:

lol! man you just made me spit up my drink..lol...I should have expected it..lol

bigjayboogie

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: I'm 18 but I still feel like a kid. I've always matured slower than others anyway. Not saying he can't make a rational decision and what not, but a lot of childish thoughts can get through the maturity filter at that age.

@burgerk1ng: Jerk.

@mwoody: People probably reported him for being an A-hole and spamming like that. Lot of people I knew in WoW instantly reported however bothered them. It takes less than 1 minute out of their 18 hour days.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: You did read the same article I did, right?

"which caused Blizzard to notify the authorities, believing they were "very serious".

It's not the FBI being overly sensitive, but Blizzard for believing that one of their players was really going to go through with an act of terrorism.

The FBI has an obligation to investigate possible threats to public security. It would be like if 911 rejected someone's call because they were sure no one was in the caller's house.

Now if one of the agents of the FBI had been slacking off by playing some WoW on the job and thought some random kid they ran into for the first time was serious, then you'd have a point.

sorta

Atomsk88

@GoonerVance: I agree with you that this kid's actions were probably a cry for help, but that fact doesn't immediately condone them. On the one hand I do think that jail time or some sort of serious repercussion would be overkill for a situation that appears to be a foolish kid acting out. On the other hand, if he is a "socially inept and hate-filled" shut-in, being sentenced to 50 hours of community service might be good for him.

The fact is that we have a line, as a society, over which your speech cannot cross. It's a pretty permissive line, but direct threats of physical harm are one of the few things to be on the wrong side of it. The banter on Xbox Live might be flippant, but you DO have the right to go to the police if you ever seriously felt that you were being threatened or harassed. It is indeed Blizzard's obligation to report such a threat, and it's the obligation of law enforcement to thoroughly investigate it. The article doesn't state yet whether they plan on charging this kid with anything, so I guess their disposition has yet to be determined.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, whether or not it is possible to have some sympathy for this kid, he still ended up doing something that is beyond the pale and he still should have to deal with the consequences of that. While some leniency should be given based on the situation and how improbable it was that the threat was serious, he shouldn't get a free pass just because he didn't think it was important to learn how to behave appropriately.

The cost of the investigation, Blizzard's time to file a report, and the cost of sending cops to his door should be calculated and instead of letting him pay for WoW subscriptions every month that money should go to paying off the debt he racked up. Moron.

@Evuk: I like how you made my point for me without all the inflammatory comments and easily misinterpreted dry humor. I could learn a thing or two from you. Someone with a star endorse this guy! (I feel I have to say I'm NOT being sarcastic here, it can be confusing sometimes I know)

GoonerVance

@Culebra: I think the big picture here is that he was crying out for attention. He needed to say these things, so that someone would pay attention to or even notice him... i think there are some deep underlying issues with this kid.

@WFROSE: "pro terrorist point of view"? You forgot I eat babies too. I'm looking at it from a disturbed young man point of view, and the high horsers casting down their contempt for his "stupidity", which is probably a cry for help. You should read my other comments before ranting. I know there are a lot but like I said it's been a slow evening. Thx for your input by the way, yes, kill people equal bad. I'm glad you were here to tell us this.

GoonerVance

@Culebra: ...there is much hate in this one...

Hey all sexy 18 year olds come over to my house at ***** **** RD.! But, do hot chicks come over? NoOoO, doesn't work like that, I just get weird fat people with "I'M WITH STUPID" t-shirts coming up my front door.

@GoonerVance: Sorry, rationalize it all you want, but things like that must and will be taken seriously. Even if you think its unlikely, it's still possible. You're thinking about this from a pro terrorist point of view. This kid could just be screwed in the head enough to board a plane and actually try his damndest to make good on his threat. Not necessarily by crashing the plane, but someone getting out of their chair and just rapidly stabbing people with whatever sharp object he had managed to smuggle on board (ceramic, gravenite, or teflon knife, for instance) while everyone is still strapped is a VERY real threat nonetheless.

WFROSE

@GoonerVance: I guess they address it themselves when they unceremoniously commit suicide. Survival of the fittest, amirite? (This is what happens when the only thing on TV is the All Star game)

GoonerVance

@Culebra: You don't also feel like there is a part of our gamer demographic that is a bit socially inept and hate-filled because they are hermits who play games all the time. I feel bad for this kid, because I don't think he was joking I think he was possibly a shut in, World of Warcraft player who is 18 years old and might need help and not a jail sentence. I know there are plenty of WoW players who are functional people, but I think we need to start addressing these kind of gamers on a mass scale. You don't make a game as deep as WoW and not expect some people to lose themselves in it.

GoonerVance

@Hi-Im-Asylum: There's plenty of sanctity in the internet if you know how to use proxies.

@QuasarSquirrel: well not a direct neighbor but a few blocks west of me at any rate.

@GoonerVance: "I guess I understand"...you "guess"? What you think they should just sit on intel of a possible threat to peoples lives. You are taking this way to lightly. You're a buffoon GoonerVance.

GoonerVance

@Fernando Jorge: No, I wasn't being sarcastic. I mean, I've personally never heard of anyone downright going "I'M GONNA BOARD A PLANE AND HIJACK IT AN KILL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE". I've heard thousands of empty threats here and there, but that was a little too much and just a little too specific. Again, I'm sure he didn't have any intentions of actually doing it, but rather just said that without thinking.

RockyRan

@Phydeaux: Perhaps, even though there was provocation leading up to the Japanese attack (not justifiable, but provocation nontheless)

That is besides the point, however, which is prior to the attack information was obtained that could of been used to do appropriate counter measures. Instead we lulzed around until it was to late. Fast forward a few decades and...

are you implying that not all WoW players are nuts?

burgerk1ng

I wonder if this is one of my douchetastic neighbors with no job (I live in Greenwood).

@GoonerVance: The disturbed young person posting is stupider. You never know who is joking and who isn't, so all threats are treated as serious. The one you ignore could cause much damage.

It's also a crime to say things with the goal of making people believe there's an imminent danger to their or other's lives. It's like shouting 'FIRE!' in a theater.

Joke? Yep. Now he can enjoy the punchline.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: I feel that Dec. 7th 1941 was an unprovoked attack meant to antagonize and make us lose our cool while dealing with an extremely political war where even our leaders leading up to it weren't calling the Axis of Evil what it was until public opinion swung way around.

September 11th, 2001 was us paying for our sins.

Or instituting a reason to strip away the rights of American by way of fear and the PATRIOT ACT. Your choice.

@Tyber_Zann: I don't know. What's more unlikely to happen: A disturbed young person posting, as a joke on WoW, that they're going to commit mass murder or Blizzard thinking that terrorists are going to announce to the world, via WoW, their detailed plan to hijack a plane, over and over? I think they're equally stupid, personally. I guess I understand that Blizzard had an obligation to notify the authorities, better safe than sorry. But if I reported every time I heard someone threatened over Xbox Live, I'd have half the 15-23 year old males in this country locked up. At worst this is a kid ready to lash out, but terrorist? I think we still underestimate our enemy if we think they have WoW accounts.

GoonerVance

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Me. I skimmed through the article quickly. :|

Out of control nerdrage I presume

Adhominem

@LoLAdrian ...And Then Comes Lividity:
? Who said it did?

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@jandlecack: I'll take that bet.

He isn't because /b/tards don't do stupid shit like this to themselves. They usually push it off onto another.

@dafthero: We're young adults until we turn 30. We can die for our country, but we can't drink in the meantime.

Haven't you heard of The War on Children?

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi:

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@Tyber_Zann: So much win in that comment.

@Adnoz: is it because you used "gays" and "butthurt" in the same sentence?

I don't think World of Warcraft has anything to do with him being crazy. World of Warcraft has MILLIONS of players. The bigger playerbase, the more nutcases there are in the playerbase.

Stupid guy (not a kid, 18 is definitely not a kid).
Wasn't Boston enough?

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@Phydeaux: Historically, no they are not related.

But you would think after on one occasion when there were many warnings and messages that a major attack was coming to hit American shores, we would care a little bit more about threats that bare more relevance, and umph, then mods at Blizzard saying "The internet is making threats again."

@SheldonCabal: Here's where it's fucked up, man. If it's proven that he's committed a federal offense, he faces at least 5 years of jail time thanks to our draconian legal system at the federal level. Should he be fined for wasting the time of authorities from researching real threats? Yes. Should he face jailtime? No. But he will.

@Kobun: Comment in reference to comment replied to. Article, not so much. Oh well, chalk that up on the list of possible and blatant mistakes following the initial comment : P

@ednec:
Throw an obscure abbreviation into Google and you'll have feds knocking on your door (this has happened to me!).

Threaten the President of the United States over some retarded policy while you live in Canada, you can bet Mounties will show up at your door to assess if you're some kind of threat (this happened at a forum I was at once!).

For being the information age, we sure are testy about gathering information for information's sake. You think you have freedom of speech in this country? You've got another thing comin'.

Let's do this! LEEEEEEROOOOOOYYY ACCCKBARRR!!!

Idiot had it coming.

@AlphaUltima: Wrong.

The right to bear arms exists in case the government goes nutso and decides to throw you in a concentration camp because you look funny, so that the rest of the populace can rise up and overthrow the government.

The 2nd Amendment doesn't actually /do/ anything. It's absence is what will incite action.

@mwoody: I'm sure they do have monitors in place but GMs probably got a few tickets about it from other players as well.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Where the Japanese bombed our fleet
and a sneak attack had dawned?
When Roosevelt asked the Japanese ambassador
"why didn't you give us warnin'?"
He said
"We sent a message but the driver got stuck in traffic all mornin'!"
Behind a little blue haired lady! In a big, black Oldsmobile!

KEYBOARD CAT, PLAY ME OFF THE STAGE

{exits stage, right, even}



No, really, all that I just typed above has about as much relevance as December 7th, 1941 has to September 11th, 2001.

@Heliophage: Dunno, but it's almost as bad as standing IN the fire at the Ironforge AH.

StrikerGold

I bet the kid turned into a little bitch once it all turned real and he wasn't protected behind his computer screen any longer.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: homicide is never serious. that's why we have the 2nd amendment. why jeopardize some redneck's right to shoot rats when you could have prevented columbine and vtech.

AlphaUltima

Holy shit,i live in indianapolis.That dumbass lives pretty close to me.
I've never made threats but i know first hand to watch what you say in world of warcraft.
anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of azeroth lol

@ctorrans: Apparently, they aren't, which is my whole point.

@Adnoz: :3 my first disemvowelment. My point still stands.

From the remarkable pantheons of WoW, society's best and brightest!

SuperMarioPsycho

A friend of mine almost got fined $10,000 for downloading a movie (don't recall which), I've heard of people getting busted for possession because they had pictures on Facebook which peeked their interest (feds)... Yea, I think the authorities are going to track you if you're issuing terrorist threats.

@Anemone: First paragraph of the article:

"The 18-year-old, who lives in the 4000 block of Ridgemere Drive, Greenwood, told Johnson County deputies that he was playing a popular online role-playing game early Monday morning when he issued a threat that he "was going to board a plane at 7:30 to Chicago and that (he) was going to try and kill as many Americans as possible," according to an incident report from the sheriff's department."

I'm too lazy to think of some "the only thing you're guilty of..." style snappy retort. :p

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!:

Don't be cute. Threats of violence are always serious. But a threat to hijack a plane over a video game's chat wouldn't have been taken seriously in a pre-911 world.

ctorrans

@DataScream: try reading all the comments first. tut tut. posted already

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: a looser being a looser... and no, that's not a double negative.

I'm curious how Blizzard found out - does anyone have an article with more info? Like, did someone he was chatting with in-game escalate it to a GM, or were they literally watching the chat logs for things like this? Or do they scan typed text for trigger-words?

mwoody

@Adnoz: I think because the cops showed up at the kid's house.

Fernando Jorge

@EVILSTUART: Got this from an ex-GM. They call the police on suicidal people that petition gms.

And they can see the chat from the entire game reallly. Things like that get their attention.

Ajh

what...a...douchebag... Yes, the kid's excuse is just a cover, I think he deserves boot-camp or something, you just don't play like that these days; even joking around. Most young teens have enough common sense to know the consequences. I think someone needs to come up with official rules for the american internet directed toward teens on a site. Like the tencommandments of the internet or something, and every kid gets directed there automatically when they log in on a browser...lol

@RockyRan: Really? I think it's just the other way around. Unless you were being sarcastic. Anyways, on the internets, being anonymous, people will say whatever crap they can think of if that means getting some attention. I think the kid was just an attention whore.

Fernando Jorge

@(Zombie) Jolan: Good point, but I think some of the main contentions are that the response is inordinate, poorly aimed and ineffective. Not only that, but as with most crisis-activated systems or organizations, this attentiveness is likely to be gradually scaled back until there is another attack, at which point people will rush to do anything instead of just the more practical, and sometimes counter-intuitive, things.

Even so, in this particular case I don't see anything wrong with at least checking to make sure he was not going to do anything. As far as the WTCs were concerned, I don't think it really would have been as easy to foil that plot as it was to simply check out some immobile, non-terrorist affiliated kid, who openly broadcast his "plans" on the internet, and make sure he was not going to act.

BigManMalone

@ctorrans: So it takes a international terrorist organization to simultaneously attack two major American land marks that started one of the longest wars in our history for us to consider BOMB THREATS serious? I was under the assumption that things like bomb threats were always serious.

I would hate to see what it takes for us to consider something like homicide as serious...

was it this kid?

DataScream

He obviously wasn't joking. Nobody jokes about making terrorist threats that serious. Not that I think he was actually going to board and hijack a plane, but he WAS probably throwing a tantrum and started spewing threats without a second thought.

Then the FBI came along, he went "OH SHI-" and tried to do the usual "I was only joking, gawsh!!"

RockyRan

This is why we need to have federal fines for this shit so the dumbasses who do make threats have something to look forward to repaying their mistakes in society. Drive dumb, get a ticket. Social dumbass get a ticket....

SheldonCabal

@Terance! - In Before What My Message Says: If that was indeed the case, then consider me guilty of dropping pseudoscience on they asses?

I said something clever here but pressed down and it disappeared.

Greenwood is really boring though, so I'm not surprised he's doing stupid crazy stuff.

Ajh

FBI plays WoW COOL!

opazhman

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: Is that better or worse than getting hit by a parked car?

In the words of basically any World of Warcraft player... "pwned."

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!:

Well since bomb threats are considered so serious because of 911 I really don't see what your driving at.

ctorrans

@Anemone:

I thought he was just making a silly pun myself...

Terance! - In Before What My Message Says

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: It was the World Trade Centre event that made them so damn sensitive to this in the first place.

@Cerabret100: Remember 1941?

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Now if all uses of the N and F words on Xbox Live were prosecuted as hate crimes.

Hardcore

Tomorrow at 2:00 (GMT-06:00) I am going to spam Kotaku with Rickrolls and porn of the stranger categories (short foot, black nanny, ect), unless the Gawker Network complies to my demands.

Please note that over the years I have created hundreds of Gawker accounts from IP addresses worldwide.

I am your worst nightmare. I will turn your comment section around so it makes you look like Youtube's puppy dog bitch.

My demands:

A shiny gold star.


I will contact you when I think of something cooler.

@(Zombie) Jolan: It's your own fault really, common sense says your nuts are in danger in the first place.

Jss chrst, ktk nds t cllctvly grw pr, why th hll r y gys s btthrt vr sm gy tlkng sht n

I'm not risking it. Next time I'm on a plane home to Chicago I'm gonna keep a close eye on that kid playing WoW...

@willyt9: I hate to have to drop science on you like this, but it was Inglewood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inglewood,_California Sadly, misquoting Dre is very un-gangsta. You just lost your L.A. privileges. Then again, judging by your avatar, biker gangs are more your thing.

lol thats funny nice job moron

YukiSeta

wow you know whats funny is that it looks like he made a bet with himself and lost lmao.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Yeah, just like how I never used to wear a cup but THEN I got kicked in the nuts and now I just HAVE TO wear protection.

@Heliophage: Idk, but I got my ass kicked when I yelled auction at the fire station.

I think Dre said it best when he said, "Greenwood, Greenwood, Greenwood always up to no good."

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Hindsight is a great thing isn't it?

Oh, I thought Project Reynard was some Urban Legend.
"Next raid I'm going to cast Frostfire on White Castle*wink wink*"

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: So... they shouldn't respond at all?

@kearneybobs: If you play one 5 seconds after the other it's even better!

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Something leads me to believe one event led to the FBI being more sensitive over another

Hey_Blinkon

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: That may be an over simplification, but still hilarious and all-too-accurate. :)

Bialia

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: i love how u confuse between the past n present.

No, YOUR and idiot.

hurpdurp

@kearneybobs:When he shoves the remote into his anus I cried so hard my contact came out..

TaylorEatWorld

people can do very stupid things when they think they can't be caugh.

chamoo232

I love how the FBI gets hints that there's going to be a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers and does essentially nothing, but THEN some kid on WoW says he's going to blow some stuff up, and well, they just HAVE TO respond.

lol, but on the plus side at least you know the mods on the game are on top of things. personally i dont play wow so i dont know how that works. but i bet if you do this in diablo II now it will be a different story.

Osama Bin Laden is laughing somewhere in WoW right now, with his lvl 70 gnome

@DevCo: I will board a plane at 6:45 on Thursday...and then...I will soon arrive at my destination.

@MDog:

Well, assuming he wasn't one before.

The false sanctity of internet anonymity at its finest.

Hi-Im-Asylum

Interesting...

So what happens if I shout "fire!" in a crowded auction house?

imagine what would happen if the cops came and took his WOW away for pulling something like this

I'm going to board a plane at 7:30 from SMF tomorrow and sleep.

Pretty much like every idiot on the internet that doesn't think Big Brother is watching :P

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Jake_Brahm

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Trey_Burba

Dumbass.
EDIT: No instant links now? Lame..

TaylorEatWorld

Haha, oh wow. I bet $50 that kid is a /b/tard.

jandlecack

WoW account insta-banned. Idiot.

puresewas1de

I don't know what to say to this, we say stupid threats all the time on the internet, and he's right, no one expects the cops to show up at their door step. Ridiculous

This, dude was 18 years old! i'd assume that by then a person would know better, but i forget what country i live in. i really hope this guy got an ass whoopin' for being so stupid.

The only thing I can say after reading that is just WoW....

With the current state of the world and this threat of terror, you'd have to be an idiot to make those kinds of threats on the internet even if it was a joke.

DaveStrife

Beyond stupid. And to think that this kid is 18. I hope no charges are pressed, for his sake, or he's F'd in the A.

Hey_Blinkon

That's the kind of people that give video games a bad name. Use another medium to announce your crazy messages. Idiot.

WarrenDawidude

...Wow.

That kid didn't think of his words very well...

Mister_CrazyGuy

This is what happens when you let MMOs and the less savoury people that frequent them raise your kid and turn him into a complete dumbass.

"Hey, kid, they do. They did. You're an idiot."

Pretty much sums it up

Import2001

Reroll something smarter plz

Wolfgeist

Ah yes, the "I didn't think I would get caught" excuse. Children like these are the same kind who like to push their parents to their limits because their parents arent firm enough with them..

Like my motto goes from the greatest website in the world...
If your children arent cowering in fear when you get home, you failed as a parent...

Good thing I dont have any children...

Talking that kind of shit is retarded.

What's even more retarded are the people who think the FBI arresting this kid is justified.

"Better safe than sorry" is bullshit. You don't need to arrest him. You quietly give his name to airport security and tell them to pull him aside if he tries to get on a plane and contact the FBI.

If it's a joke, then you know. If it's not a joke, then again, you know and no one gets hurt.

Maybe let his parents know what he's been up to and let them handle it.

Koztah

@Ackers rhymes with Crackers: Thanks. I'm beginning to think now, after this epic thread, that had we been on the old comment system and for the sake of argument, I had no star, I would most likely have had one after this :D

Now the stars are epic rare loot drops.

@Kynes: An extremely fair criticism. My point is a stretch from the starting point of the thread, but I still think the attitude we have towards tweeners who do these kind of things is way too serious and the way we amuse ourselves with this news ain't exactly cool either and just as immature, while not as heinous. Yes, we should take threats seriously, but he had no intent to follow through with these threats and for him to be treated like an adult at 18, when he obviously hasn't matured at the rate at which the law expects you to, is lazy justice dealing. I just think we should hold off on the wise cracks and do more to save the young men who are off course, but not lost.

GoonerVance

how come whenever some pathetic child makes a real stupid decision all comments on the post are either sympathy or condemnation. opinions are killing the funny.

thursday2

@Anemone: Word

@Hardcore:
Totally dude. I hate free speech too.

@GoonerVance:
Your suggestions about how sentencing should be handled does nothing to change the fact that the individual in question made a serious threat in an age where that particular type threat is extremely relevant in the minds of those reading his words. I'm not of the mind that incarceration is necessarily the best course for this person, but you seem to have somehow mixed up "he needs help" with "we're overreacting". These are not implicitly the same thing and you can say one (which makes sense to most of us) without the other.

@Culebra: Donkey punchline

m0unstr0

@SigmundTheSeaMonster: What?

@Tyber_Zann:

comment of the week! friggin funny XD

@SeraphX2: "Everybody's reaction is 'try to understand him' " I'm gonna have to go with no on that, considering it's just me and maybe two other people here who say that, and I'm fighting for my Kotaku life. The popular reaction is this right hurr "I personally think the kid is an idiot. Was it a cry for help? Don't know or care...", and this is why our country lived under the assumption that everyone in the world loved us until they started blowing up buildings and shit. To say this is one kid's problem is a little narrow minded. You find out what's gone wrong in this kid's life, and you find out what's going wrong in many kid's lives. That's how I view the world no one is alone, no one unique, for every one kid saying crazy stuff that is not willing to go through with it there are 100s more who don't say crazy things who are willing to go through with it. You want him to be punished? How do you punish someone desperate enough to say some crazy shit like that at 18? Throwing him in jail merely fuels the anger. Community service would be good, and if he doesn't have a job maybe they should go get him one, show him he can be a productive member of the society that he has so much contempt for.

GoonerVance

I want to know how many fbi agents are getting payed to play wow, and if they're serious about the endgame.

Cronoedge

Really this is what a serious threat looks like?
What does a ridiculous threat look like?
"I'm gonna hijack a blimp, paint it pinkt and take a dump on BlizzardHQ while wearing a Bugs Bunny costume and playing the Boxxy Love & Trolls Remix on endless loop"?

Imaginationland anyone?

Megatherium

All you guys saying it's stupid that authorities acted on this kid's threat are failing to notice something important.



The kid specified both a time and place, and a group of targets that would be there at said time and place. That is what I would call a legitimate announcement of intention. If the kid wasn't serious, then it makes him a grade A moron for announcing his plan over the internet. Whatever he gets, he deserves.

puddington

Oh kids these days...Has that not been a comment since human beings have been having, ummm...kids? Yes, this dude is a total utter duchebag, ding bat and general miscreant. Was what he did smart? NO. Is it a criminal offense? YES! Should he be punished to the FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW? NO.



Any judge/prosecutor in his right mind would not seek such punishment. Doesn't mean it wont happen. Dem's the breaks kid. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. I say call him a duchebag, dingbat, moron, slap him on the wrist and move on...but.



Obviously the kid needs help. Obviously there is a lack of parental supervision in his life. Obviously he is crying for help. Poor thing. YES, it is our responsibility as a society (and by that I mean the gaming community {us} AS WELL AS HUMAN BEINGS ON A WHOLE) to heed such a cry and figure out the answer. So far we are/have been epically failing. Sorry, I calls 'em as I see 'em. Mass murder by disfranchised youth has been

a staple for centuries and not just in American culture. Do I know why? No.



Only thing I can do is make sure my kids understand that behavior like that is wrong. Rightfully so they do. That kid, your kid, my neighbors kid, I can put a bullet in if he threatens me or mine. I actually thank Blizzard for what they did.



Should Blizzard have taken the threat serious? HELL YES! It is not only a part of their EULA (read it) but their MORALLY binding responsibility to bring the attention of such behavior to law enforcement officials. It did not impinge on his freedom of speech nor his rights as a US citizen. He threatened lives for no logical reason. END OF STORY. Let the chips fall there they may. Sorry dude.

Kylie Vasintacha

People are idiots to take threats like this seriously. Do you know how many "We'll bomb your country" threats are made by USA citizens online? I can't believe the police wasted their time with this garbage.

HalcyonX12

Here is a great moment in de-evolution

andrew2696

@Koztah:

you can't be serious.
The FBI had no idea if this threat was serious or not until the kid told them.
There is a reason they take every threat seriously, and that is because they don't know which threat is a joke and which one isn't. It's not worth the risk.
This kid just shouldn't have done what he did.

Keashoto