Gamer Commits Suicide, Media Misreports

Earlier this month, gamer named Mitchell S. with the online screenname "Kuja105" who posts on a few online videogame forums (including GameFaqs.com and MetalGearSolid.org) committed suicide. On January 2 he posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances.

A very brief period of initial disbelief was followed by a barrage of replies from fellow forum members pleading that he not take his life, trying to talk him out of it.

For days, no word was heard from Mitchell. Fearing the worst, members and administration from metalgearsolid.org began searching for contact information, spending hours on the phone trying to get in touch with him. Finally on January 4, Ryan K., an administrator at metalgearsolid.org, got him on the phone and spent hours desperately trying to talk him out of it.

Sadly, Mitchell soon ended his own life by consuming antifreeze and painkillers.

Later, members from the site contacted Mitchell's family to find out the grave news. They reported it to their online community, and posted a tribute to their passed friend on the front page of metalgearsolid.org.

This is where the story turns.

The story was picked up by AFP, an international newswire service and has been carried by Yahoo!, CNN, and more. The story reported by AFP is almost completely erroneous to a sad and morbid degree.

The story authored by the AFP writer stated:

" ...[T]he gamer switched on his web cam and swallowed a large amount of motor antifreeze and pills [...]

Other forum members thought the man nicknamed "Kudjo" was joking even though he rambled for six hours about the effects of the substances and disappeared from view several times."

This is untrue. Firstly, his nickname was Kuja, not Kudjo; but more seriously, Mitchell did not broadcast himself over the internet via a webcam. No forum members thinking he was joking, no rambling for six hours. This is a complete fabrication.

The article also claims that the site was Bulgarian, which it isn't.

The story also claims "After he failed to appear at regular meeting spots, gamers went to his home and learnt he died in hospital on January 7." There were no "regular meeting spots", and gamers never went to his home - they contacted his family over the phone.

Because of the allegations that the suicide was prompted by and broadcast by metalgearsolid.org, it has been pulled offline by the web host at the request of an unspecified Government agency.

"Our organization is being smeared," Ryan K, an administrator from MetalGearSolid.org told Gaming Horizon. "Truthfully, we are all saddened over this loss and offer our sincerest condolences towards his family. We do not, however, appreciate having our reputation slammed across the internet by news organizations that have clearly failed in their journalistic duties. We would greatly appreciate it if they would solve this matter."

[update: We've just learned that Boyan Georgiev, the man quoted in the AFP story as a "forum administrator" doesn't even work for metalgearsolid.org; he is a web designer that works at the same design studio as the designer of metalgearsolid.org.]

It is terrible that this gamer has ended his life, but this kind of misreporting does nothing but make things worse. Gamers do not appreciate being cast as unstable or the type of person who would taunt a fellow human being who obviously was in the middle of some serious trauma. This dedicated group of friends tried so hard to save this young man's life and they're made out to be cruel savages by the media. We at Gaming Horizon are very saddened by this death, and offer our prayers and condolences to the boy's family and loved ones.

A request to the AFP to correct these errors has been filed by metalgearsolid.org administration, and no reply has yet been heard.

http://news.gaminghorizon.com/media2...5340.3198.html

Sad and uncalled for, Just got to remember theres more to life than just games.

I don't have any sympathy for any moron that would end his own life.

But on topic, this is a clear example of why the media sucks. I'm pretty sure this story is no misake, which is totally unfair to the the members of that site.

Originally Posted by V99

Sad and uncalled for, Just got to remember theres more to life than just games.

You wouldn't say that if you made games for a living.

In all seriousness, though; who cares? If he's stupid enough not to think of a better resolution than suicide, then he's obviously not smart enough to be of any use anyway. As gamers, we all know our limits, we all know none of these game-affected lads doing crazy stuff is the norm among us all. The media always blows stuff like this out of proportion, and to me this is just another report.

Granted, there is more to life than games. Having said that, there is more to life than anything. It's not the games causing all this brash behaviour, it's simply the gamer's bad judement. It's like suicide bombers - the person in question has talked themself into something that isn't natural. People start blaming every-one and -thing but the person who committed whatever happened. People blame muslims or whatever for making suicide bombers do what they do. People blame games or similar for crazy gamers doing whatever they do. I know plenty of muslims who are kind an sensitive, and who agree that all this "war on terror" stuff is bad, and - more importantly - incorrect. Likewise, I am confident I am speaking to a large number of gamers who know it is not normal practice for a gamer to go killing themself or re-enacting games.

In short, nobody cares about this idiot. The exceptions, of course, are close relatives and friends, who have unconditional love for him. Outside of that, anyone who seems to care is just shocked by it. Nobody likes to learn someone they know died. Outside the obvious few, though, everyone will get over it, forget about it, and then simply fret over the next crazy-gamer case, and laugh about how idiots are running terrorism. The only reason people worry about this so much is because it rarely happens. You don't see every single murder made have a full-scale report on them, do you? That's because it happens so often, nobody notices anymore. It's something that is just a normal part of life.

I truly pity anyone who worries about these kinds of things too much. Every species has their odd lot, and it truly is a waste of time worry about them. I direct this particularly at you, V99. This is the second relevant topic from you I have seen this week. I suggest you, and everyone else here, just start enjoying the games fully rather than worrying about their effects. Goodness, most of us are probably better off creating titanic explosions in-game than doing so in real life. Now, if you please, I am going to blow up a Silo in GoldenEye.

Great. Jack Thompson's gonna go on a feild day. * sighs and goes to rally against him once again*

I don't have any sympathy for any moron that would end his own life.

Gotta agree with you. I don't wanna have a go at hardcore gamers or anything, but staying inside all day makes you miss how wonderful the world can be... The internet can corrupt anything. Not zelda of course, as we can see by this uber site.

Originally Posted by e_alert

Every species has their odd lot, and it truly is a waste of time worry about them. I direct this particularly at you, V99. This is the second relevant topic from you I have seen this week. I suggest you, and everyone else here, just start enjoying the games fully rather than worrying about their effects.

Ummm...I just posted this and that other thread. Mainly because its interesting....
And another reason is I saw it on another board and just cut and paste most of it XD

So yeah, I totally agree with you. Its totally up to the gamer to decide how long he's going to play. And if he/she becomes so caught up in games then its there own fault.

But as I did say it is sad that a person becomes so caught up in it that he commits suicide. What a waste...Thats all Im saying =P

Originally Posted by e_alert

You wouldn't say that if you made games for a living.

In all seriousness, though; who cares? If he's stupid enough not to think of a better resolution than suicide, then he's obviously not smart enough to be of any use anyway.

Unless you've been suicidal yourself, then I don't think that you can comment. Who are you to critisize this man, or anybody else who has taken their own life? He's obviously not smart enough to be any use anyway? God, with people like you in this world, no wonder people top themselves.

This individual was probably manically depressed, mentally ill, as are alot of people who commit suicide. Would you make a similar comment about somebody who was suffering from schizophrenia? Would you tell a woman who was struggling with post-natal depression that she was stupid for not being able to go near her child?

People who suffer from mental illness cannot help but do things which you may consider 'stupid'. I dare say that that man really couldn't see any other solution other than taking his own life, just in the same way that some people can't bring themselves to open their eyes, or leave their house. How dare you be so bloody ignorant, as to say that somebody is stupid for commiting suicide.

I feel sympathy for him, but only to an extent.

Making a spectacle out of your suicide by posting your intentions all over an internet forum, causing grave concern and unrest to the members and administrators to the site, is incredibly insensitive. Now I'm not saying that if you're contemplating suicide that you shouldn't tell anyone, but doing so in this manner is extremely stupid and puts the entire website in a terrible situation.

I feel no sympathy whatsoever, taking your own life is a sin and it's just a cowardly way out of your problems.

Originally Posted by Deadhand

I feel no sympathy whatsoever, taking your own life is a sin and it's just a cowardly way out of your problems.

I guess it's also a sin to have schizophrenia aswell then.

He didn't kill himself because of videogames.

On January 2 he posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances.

So this won't have anything to do with Jack Thompson. It had nothing to do with videogames. He was having problems with his life so he decided to end it.

It really is a sad story, but just because he is labeled a "gamer", doesn't mean he killed himself over videogames.

Kazan is right, just because he was a gamer doesn't mean he killed himself over a game/s.

I wish they'd stop using the word "Gamer", that sounds so nerdish. Sheesh.
You can see, if they replace the word Gamer with Person, the whole intent of the article changes. As tigerboi said, the media sucks.

What the hell are you people talking about!? Where in that article does it say he commited suicide because of games? It clearly says that he did it because of school and financial problems. He just posted it on a gaming website and they tried to talk him out of it.

Originally Posted by silver arrow

What the hell are you people talking about!? Where in that article does it say he commited suicide because of games? It clearly says that he did it because of school and financial problems. He just posted it on a gaming website and they tried to talk him out of it.

Yeah! Why don't you people read the quote?

Originally Posted by silver arrow

What the hell are you people talking about!? Where in that article does it say he commited suicide because of games? It clearly says that he did it because of school and financial problems. He just posted it on a gaming website and they tried to talk him out of it.

Great observation. Did you ever stop to think why they called him a "Gamer"?
It's time for a lesson about the real world - the media is never what it seems.
There is always underlined objectives in all of their articles.
For instance, this article. Many of you know that the media has always tried to pass the idea that "Video Games are bad for you." So how better to reinforce this idea than with a person who played video games, commiting suicide, and posting it on a video game website.
Sounds like a pretty easy apple to pick, don't you think?
The media has swayed it as a negative article towards video games.

dark_link93 has got the idea, hands down. It was the perfect opporotunity to put video games down.

This is sad, very sad. I don't get why people would... just want to... end it all. I believe in God and heaven and all, but I'd be scared. Is it really up there?

I'm pretty sure he has it no worse than me. Had, or whatever. Poor kid.

I can't believe has parents didn't see that he was depressed, and didn't see it coming.