A grisly killing in Munich left a 31-year-old woman dead. She was stabbed 18 times with a katana, and now some members of the German press are pointing the finger at Final Fantasy.
German press, like Munich tabloid TZ, is running photos of the alleged killer, 18-year-old (or 19-year-old, depending on the report) Marco F., “cosplaying as his favourite Final Fantasy character”.
The character, however, isn’t even from Final Fantasy. Instead, it looks to be Neku Sakuraba from music game The World Ends with You. While that title has combat, one could hardly call the cartoony TWEWY a “violent video game.”
Another paper, Abendzeitung, ran what is apparently Marco’s Final Fantasy XIV profile. The link is tenuous — even more so because Marco was not a regular FFXIV player. Yes, there’s violence in FFXIV — sword violence, even — yet, the violence is not bloody or graphic. It’s sanitised.
This coverage proves that, once again, targeting video games is easier than discussing mental illness.
Wo ein Mordverdacht ist, kann doch ein Videospiel nicht weit sein… [IGN Deutschland]
Münchner Professor: Marco F. ist ein Ausnahmefall [Abendzeitung]
Die wirre Welt des Mörders [TZ — Thanks Captain!]
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