@nikolajz1: Happened in Korea before too.

munkah

You know, times like these, I say we give a scientific categorized separation between people.

They say we're all the same. And, to label the crazy stupid people like said Russian fan clan guy...we call them "crazy" and "stupid"

There should be "The Rationals" or, maybe more broadly "People"
And then, there are the "Neanderthals" or maybe just "People that weigh down our overall well-being and reputation as an entire race."

Whichever you prefer.

Mesren_Makai

Internets: Serious Business.

Kuyukly

This game gets people pissed, very very pissed. Basically, it is (or was when I played) a crazy grind intensive game; when you die, you lose like 2-5% current lvl exp. Depending on your level, that can be like, 20 minutes or 2 days worth of grouping/hunting. So when big clan wars w/everyone dying start happening, ppl take things waaaay to seriously.

overtoke

Jesus Christ Fahey. You'll NEVER get rid of the hotdogs with posts like this.

GustoGaiden

The fact that people will blame this on video games is what annoys me. Shit like this happens with other things as well. He killed him because of a dispute over a game, not just a video game. People get killed over basketball games too. Does this mean that basketball is bad?

Ryadic

I think we all need to face the fact that Russians are just going to kill each other, no matter what.

move on...

Leyland's_Lungs

Russia.....it's serious business!

alizerothree

what a freaking buncha retards
man this is so pathetic

MugenNoKaze

wow...some major deja vu from this article. I saw the pic, saw 'lineage', saw some guy dieing in Russia, and I honestly thought Kotaku had rolled back to a year ago or something. Then I saw the mention of the previous incident exactly 12 months ago.

Still kinda freaky. Russian Lineage players are violent in January?

SolFalling

The real question is, did he level up afterwards?

MASOCHIST187

This is why Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War.

You read that right. I offer no qualifiers for that statement.

Atheist Jew

Condolences.

In its heyday, some korean players gave up their life savings, their land, permits to get a piece of of a virtual land. Its sad that it has to take lives. JT will eat this up

fyren

@O-Z: You must not be from the US.

NoBullet

@Danj3ris:

Microsoft Excel...closest I've come to murderous rage yet. If I didn't get the bright idea to simply correct its idiotic mistakes myself instead of figuring out why they happened, by god, someone might not be alive today.

SuperMaxZero

@Tonx: Yes, yes a typo. Thanks Grammer Cop.

brandonf

"I honestly wouldn't be surprised if later confessions confirmed that he attempted to loot the body"
@heliophage: You just had to take it there (trying not to laugh at the absurdity of that idea).

brandonf

@ARboom: You must be very naive and brand new to the internet to think that something of this sort hasn't/won't happen in the US.

O-Z

dont mess with the clan

diablofreak

@brandonf: Sorry, I can't let that one slide...
It's "i.e." not "e.i." It's latin for id est. Or you could use "e.g.", latin for exempli gratia.

Sorry... just... sorry. I really like my spoken language. I don't mean to be the grammar police, it's just that it's the third instance I've seen of that error recently...

Tonx

@Danj3ris: Violence is a much-studied subject, and the results are vague at best. I would call this case an anomoly, though. The mere fact that the killer showed no remorse is evidence of something much larger than a video game.

Oh - and I've definately wanted to kill people over Microsoft Excel. Damn 65536 line limit, just makes me see red... ;-)

Tonx

@LittlestLamshi: I'm not sure its safe to assume he was some how asking to be killed (by making the assumption that he was a "scumbag"). He could have been expecting an ordinary scuffle. I've handed a few people their asses in my day but never to the point where I would hit someone while they were defenseless (e.i. brutality).

brandonf

@heliophage: You'd be surprised, there were alot of crazy people when I used to play Lineage II. Hell, I wanted to beat up people so bad over conflicts in Lineage II and I wasn't that involved with the game or clan wars.

Libo

This really makes me interested in the whole "video games" and real life blurring thing. Personally, I play a game and know its a god damned game. What goes on in the minds of these people?

Committing an act of violence on another human being, because of a computer program? And I know the way I'm saying it sounds as if Microsoft Excel could make you a homicidal maniac, but seriously. People got to get a fucking life.

Danj3ris

@ARboom: yea, jailtime, or a siberian pleasure jog!

homelessvagrant

And I thought football hooligans were extreme...Russian video game clans could clearly give them a run for their money!

Hyperlite

Wow... these are the types of people that fuel the Jack Thompson fire.

Do they not understand that clans are "IN GAME?"

With a name like that though, I wouldn't expect them to be too intelligent.

Atsumi

@Custom Reality: Russia and America have two completely different cultures/mindsets. I don't see this ever happening here. Sure there's been impulse killings over Madden, but nothing this methodical, calculated, and planned. The fact they continued to harass the man's family is disgusting, and should result in jail time.

ARboom

i love the tags on this article...

'game violence, insanity, russia' =)

homelessvagrant

what?

yall never heard of LARPing?

icepick314

Does Russia have an equivalent of RICO? this clan seems to be quite eligible.

GUY_JIN

lol...

a cyber lineage 2 clan that became and RL gang...

really, i'm quite positive this has more to do with mental illness than videogames....

homelessvagrant

Well considering he's part of a clan that takes its name from an organisation deep seated in racial hatred and violence. Why am I not that surprised? Seriously they should just ban the lot.

Odin

What has happened to humanity?

baked ham

People like me always defend gaming when people claim it causes violence.

It is people like those in the article that keep proving me wrong. How unfortunate for gaming and fortunate for all the Jack Thompsons of the world.

Custom Reality

wow... I am so confused.

Puff

sry, but this is bothering me too much... the former died, not the latter

@LittlestLamshi: yeah, I figured the same. Deceased was most likely just as bad, if it got to this level... still sad that it went so far.

Camann

It soviet russian. Game kill in you!

I've been into some bad pvp hate before. And clans are like digital gangs. You care and love your clan brothers. When you succeed, they succeed. when you lose, they lose. This is an example of what happens when it goes too far.

Rest in peace gamer, rest in peace.

huginn

The poll results?
Confusion over real and virtual worlds 27%
A lack of emotional maturity 44%
They're crazy like all criminals 29%

Wow... the readers of Russia Today don't think much of gamers...

Tonx

@TheEternalCowboy: Holy crap. Didn't take them long. And a whopping three choices, none of which include anything even remotely sensical.

Tonx

@LittlestLamshi: that's wrong - but so funny!

sadkermit

This shouldn't come as too much of a shock.

The game *is* life to a serious MMO gamer.

I'm sure hiding from reality and the stress of socializing as a real person for hours at a stretch went a long way towards rationalizing this.

O-Z

The poll on the right hand side of the website is a gem.

Question:
What causes video game addicts to kill?

a.) Confusion over real and virtual worlds
b.) A lack of emotional maturity
c.) They're crazy like all criminals

TheEternalCowboy

What's more scary is the "twenty-year-old from Petrosavodsk (who) killed his grandmother after she interrupted his game calling him to eat".
Talk about a terrible way to die... :(

Chopsticks

Owned?

MASOCHIST187

That whole situation is completely messed up, especially what happened to the victim's family.

KM91

"Coo-clocks Clan"

LOL. What morons.

DigitalHero

Wow... This is a rather interesting case.
*Picture the police report*
"We arrived at the scene. The suspect was rapidly crouching up and down over the victim. It was at that point he began screaming, 'Noob, you like that, huh Noob? Huh? PWNED PWNED PWN PWN PWNED!' We didn't know what to make of it..."
Although the guy who got beat to death was probably a real trash-talking scumbag of a guy, either that or he cheated.
Clans are becoming gangs...? the end is near.

LittlestLamshi

I obviously I don't know where everyone is from, but I have read of this type of violence happening in the states also(Cali area shootings at online gaming centers)....and on LIVE (Halo/Gears in particular), threats are very common....it's sad because that's not what games are truly about. I do my fair share of trash talking, but I make certain to cut off anything that might be perceived as "realtime" aggression.

GameraTheGreat

That's some hardcore crazy. I mean.. I thought about curb checking some prick who camped me (in WoW), but I never actually did it.. I guess that separates the weirdos from the crazies.

NotSoCool

coo-clocks clan. my gawd.

come on people! come on!!!

everytime I think we can't sink lower - I'm always proved wrong. sickening.

sadkermit

Isn't this where you make the transition from "clan" to "gang"? Keep it in the game people, my sympathies go out to the family.

Interstella5555

That's a hardcore guild right there.

goddessakasha

I find it hard to imagine how someone can be so deeply rooted with the persona of their fictional character and related associations to go so far as to kill someone and feel no regret.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if later confessions confirm that he attempted to loot the body.

Sick bastard.

heliophage

I don't see what's so surprising about crazy people.

The reason just wasn't "He looked at me in the eyes so he had to die" and it was merely "He was in a different clan and he had to die" or whatever.

Crazy people are crazy. Internets or otherwise.

BD

jesus wtf

Five Element Ninja

In Soviet Russia....We PVP in RL.

kcm117

....sigh.....*Insert Face-Palm pic here*

d1sco_d3ath

A Russian e-mail spammer was killed a few years back too, but that one seemed a little more deserving. =P

DigitalHero

Only in Russia

nikolajz1

PvP in real life = uber retarded
wth was he thinking, he HAD to die? wtf!

zerokoolpsx

@2th: Indeed, but this does unfourtunatly happen everywhere in the world, just different clan tags :P

Irenicus-the one and only

Sheesh, and I thought EvE-Online was serious buisness :P m0o! /cough

This sux, but I wonder if this is about the game itself and what took place, or if it is the KKK playing a game.

Nazi's and the KKK have grown a lot in russia, there have even been american KKK leaders that gone to russia to recruit the "white race" to fight.

It is a very sad story, and a shame that it gets linked to a game tbh if it is not over the game itself. I have done this and experienced this and lived this with "meetings" etc. through other mediums then a game myself so.

@Odin: They probably did not take it, they are the KKK perhaps.

Irenicus-the one and only

wow these russian gamers are retarded.

2th

Wow, just wow. What could've been going through the minds of these individuals when they decided that a person jeopardizing their enjoyment of a video game needed to die? This is just more ammo for anyone that could be tackling a more worthwhile issue with today's society.

@Gadgetron: My stance on that deplorable funeral raid remains:
That shit was funny.

Draconis

@Odin: ban it from what? life?

geekgrrl

Bloody hell people... Of course just naming your clan that probably "helped", oi. Geez I hope the family is dong ok.

That Girl Hates You

I can't even make a coherent comment over this...

Unbelievable...

DCSimian

@overtoke: That's scary.

sadkermit

This makes me proud that I quit World of Warcraft.
Though, I don't think anyone who I played with would have the physical strength to kill me.

logical

Sad, and disgusting. I think that's all I can say.

dgonchild

I don't think I want to go to Russia.

Roto13

What the fuck is going on over there? People are killing people. One kid beat his GRANDMA to death?

That's just ridiculous. I'll admit I get a little heated in competition games and sometimes may snap at my girl. But I'd never take it to the next level and hit her, break my controller or televsion or anything like that.

Now when I'm getting a little hot. As an adult. I'm like. Damn I have to cool out a little. I'm supposed to be relaxing and enjoying myself.

funkrusher

now all they need to do is raid the in game FUNeral.
[www.youtube.com]

Gadgetron

I don't know what to make of this. I've been in a few Guilds on WoW, but I could never imagine it becoming like this...

Winterbringer

@heliophage:"I find it hard to imagine how someone can be so deeply rooted with the persona of their fictional character and related associations to go so far as to kill someone and feel no regret."

Strangely enough, this doesn't strike me as being any different from the endless other arbitrary associations and allegiances that people kill for. If nothing else, the virtual age is teaching us that humans are and always have been hopelessly desperate to infuse anything with worth, especially when it comes to justifying wrath. This is merely a glimpse of our future.

CobAlGhul

@nikolajz1: except this stuff has happend several times in South Korea

taftsearlobe23

this isn't that surprising. The frustration of these skillless encounters is bad enough, but if it's your entire social life (since it's designed to suck you in for hours and hours and hours ad infinitum), making an issue out of it is understandable.

deathbunny

Russians are scarey

_Argyle_

So when is this real life being released?
What kind of PvP content will it have and what are the death penalties?
I find permadeath to a bit harsh, even for real life. :)

JojoTheSlayer

Remarkable that someone can be so out of touch that they kill a person over a videogame.

brello

I remember when people use to play games for FUN.

Agnostic

@GameraTheGreat:

Threats are something entirely different from literally asking someone to meet you and fight you to the death in person.

Most of the people who throw out such base insults online would soil themselves if someone asked to meet up with them in person.

Mact

@heliophage:

Personally, I have a theory that it has a lot to do with too much immersion.

That's why I stay away from MMO games that are in 3D.

Surprisingly enough, I believe third person games to be far more mentally engrossing than first person games.

My theory there is that the screen image in 3rd person games does not closely enough mimic how we actually see things to have our mind see it as anything beyond directing a crosshair on a screen.

Mact

@nikolajz1:

Yup.

Game players in China kill themselves and game players in the US blow off jobs, children, and education.

Mact

OK sure it's messed up but the part I don't get is why they threaten his family? Ok you kill the guy. Guy had to die whatever that's fine. It's not like his sister is going to take up his character and seek revenge.

Now if I'm wrong and she is willing to take up her brother's mantle.. well that's just hardcore.

Wolfkin

Forgot to change the "me" to "meet" as well.

dvnt1

Mike, let me edit this for you.

"A 33 year-old member of the Platanium clan named Albert agreed to me a 22 year-old from the rival Coo-clocks Clan (*sigh*) in person. Resulting in a nasty PVP session that left Albert dead."

"Upon his arrest, the young man expressed no remorse - calmly explaining why Albert had to die."

"What's even more crazy is that members of the Coo-clocks continue to harass the dead man's family. Going so far as to threaten the life of his sister."

Not criticizing to be an ass... just trying to help. :)

dvnt1

There are no respawns in Soviet Russia.

NattyIce

@MASOCHIST187:
I know i'm not supposed to, but:
ROTFLMAO

neojam

I see some people needing some jail time and a doctor for their heads.

I mean, ok, there are some crazy people out there willing to kill because of stupid games... but entire guilds of them?

I mean, c'mon! I know how involving this games can get, and how bad it is to see hours of gaming go down the sewer because of someone else... but hey, this is the part were you actually stop to think how this is just a game, and if it is making you miserable it's time to just quit it.

The only sad thing is: The only "new" part here is the gaming part. Because really... this is not the only case where a group of dumb people leaded by some weak motivation went to the lenghs of taking someones life an harassing his/her family...

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@StormTec: How can you take "understandable" from his comment and =acceptable, he implied nothing of the sort, just said it is understandable, which I agree with myself, he made an understandable comment!

Irenicus-the one and only

@deathbunny:

Explain to me how killing another human being over a private life dispute is understandable to the point of making it sound acceptable?

And, actually, I think the answers to the question posed in the poll are quite complex, however, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't somehow rooted in a combination of a) and b).

StormTec

@explodingmanmk2: Those jokes are sooo old and so widely spread across the not only the internet and there can never be a russian comment/post or news related to russia or a russian without someone making that joke. I was hoping this year would be the end of them :(

Irenicus-the one and only

You oppress a people for so many years, hell centuries ... they will do strange and crazy things upon lashing out.

Better hope China doesn't lift any of its grip [sarcasm] ... that is too many people to go crazy at once!

EnigmaNemesis

double u. tee. eff.
thats pretty crazy, and to harass his sister and family afterwards...

toneroni

In Soviet Russia, game beats you!

Seriously though, that is messed up.

explodingmanmk2

I watched Eastern Promises, so this totally makes sense... time to send Vigo Mortensen Deep Cover in that bitch!

latinogamer

In Soviet Russia, that joke makes you!

Billkwando

Racists Russians FTW!!!
Seriously, I bet this can be traced back to a hate crime based on race and the game was just a mere catalyst for setting some idiots off.

educatingfire

Wow this is unbelievable... In situations like this.. It's time to call the A-Team!

pandorasbox

Some people are really sick. I mean, everyone who plays online has gotten into arguments- but to the point of killing someone? Really? Is your internet honor that important to you? This is what happens when stupidity meets insanity- it's all just so pointless.

PurpleMonkey

@Billkwando: Beat me to it god damn you.

Damn those Russians are hardcore.

Sabre_Justice

Although If you watched Eastern Promises you would have realized Vigo can't go that deep....

Otiose

@NotSoCool: Dude, you need to get a grip. That's pretty.. idk. You didn't do it, but to get that mad is idiotic. Keep it in the game.

Atamisk726

OMG, still happy that I live in Russia, and not in Korea.

13xforever

Losers.

billnabors65

@13xforever:
Uh, did you even bother to read the story?

Type-R

THAT'S HardCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

taomaster99

They're probably white supremacists, which explains the crazy.

BigManZam