Baltimore Sun article:
In Howard County, parents of Jacksonville shooting suspect had been desperate to find psychiatric care for son
In Howard County, parents of Jacksonville shooting suspect had been desperate to find psychiatric care for son
As someone who has been an avid gamer for over 30 years, it saddens me that there are people, once again, looking to blame video-games for these kind of violent incidents. This event was
Madden NFL prelim tournament
, good old American football game competition. Even if it had been an action FPS or fighting/martial arts game tournament, it still really would not have had any relevance towards what happened.
This is a graphic of what kind of controllers gamers have typically used over the past few decades:
https://wh1k8zidop.inscname.net/games/images/1461010286_Video_Game_Controllers_Click
You push a few buttons or triggers, or move a joystick to move your character or a corresponding cursor or target on the screen. It's nothing like holding or using a real fire-arm. I don't know where that misconception came from. Even in the video arcades, where sometimes they use light guns for games like Time Crisis 5 or Big Buck Wild, it's like holding a huge empty plastic water gun. On the PC you often use your mouse and keyboard to play. In fact it's often the best for first person shooter games because of better precision.
Here is an interview with a survivor who questions the current motive being speculated about. He is one of the two people who beat Katz in the tournament over the weekend. He and the other person whom Katz lost to were not targeted in the shooting. So it's doubtful that it was simply a rage killing over his tournament elimination.
SM chatter is that Bread (Katz) had a longstanding rivalry with Trueboy and another gamer called Young Kiv . The latter had left the venue earlier, fortunately. It's far more likely this was premeditated and Trueboy and Young Kiv were the intended main victims, in my opinion, but this is not confirmed and should be taken as rumor only.
The players who compete in these tournaments can earn a decent living if they are competitive. Here is a breakdown of Madden Esports prize pools from 2017. You will note that Trueboy was a top ten earner, making $30,000 for that year, doing something he loved. He and Spotme were bright young men with bright futures cruelly cut short.
Madden NFL 2017 Prize Pools & Top Players - eSports Profile :: e-Sports Earnings
At least the gaming community is rallying around their devastated families and those survivors of the shooting who had to endure this terrible ordeal.
Another interesting headline:
Esports execs say don’t blame the games, blame US gun laws
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/esports-execs-say-dont-blame-the-games-blame-us-gun-laws/2018/08/29/e152aa7c-ab5f-11e8-9a7d-cd30504ff902_story.html
This last part of the article is quotable as a reminder of how big this entertainment industry is now:
To get an idea of just how big the interactive videogame industry is becoming globally, here is an article with some statistics. There are rumblings elsewhere that in terms of global revenue, videogame earnings outstrip the film and music industries
combined. There's some debate over the methodology of what is included however (i.e. dvd sales or streaming?) so I'll just stick to this link :
Global Games Market Revenues 2018 | Per Region & Segment | Newzoo
I guess what I am trying to say is that video gaming is becoming as big as TV, films and music. Video-games are on our mobile phones, personal computers, consoles and other devices. In terms of an entertainment industry, it's a global juggernaut and only growing in terms of market revenue/participants and spectators.
Being an E-Sports athlete is now a viable respectable career choice, especially if you can land some lucrative sponsorship deals while competing in the high profile events. You can even take courses at some universities to become a professional.
It's possible that Katz' mentality was more akin to a disgruntled employee, angry at missing out on a job promotion he'd been counting on, resentful of certain other employees who were rising faster than he was. Undeserving of their popularity (in his mind). JMO, but it wasn't a spontaneous rage killing "over losing a video game" (in the same way as a road-rage incident can escalate to violence), it meant a lot more than that and was likely pre-meditated. If that makes sense.
Judging by the more recent articles which go into more details as to Katz' mental health problems and violent tendencies, it would appear that video-games had become an essential part of his identity and livelihood to the point of warping his priorities. That he would call the police to complain about his games being taken away by his mother, or punch his hand through a wall because he couldn't get to them is extreme. I get the sense that the mother did what she could to regulate his behavior, but that the father disagreed with her methods of managing both sons' behavioral/mental issues, which is why the divorce was so long and contentious. It does appear, however, that they did seek psychiatric help and treatment for him to some extent and were aware of his struggles but unable to turn the situation around in terms of the severity of his problems.It also would have become more difficult to insist on treatment options once he became an adult.
It's just tragic all around.
I'd like to end with this article which made me tear up a bit. It's important to keep a focus on the victims and the loss to their families and their communities.
Friends, family and fans mourn victims of Madden Jacksonville shooting
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