This man was a poor excuse of a human being.IF you cant decifer between reality and a video game he is better off dead

First off, before the flames begin, I would like to utter a couple words in everyone's defense.
Sony:
Sony is definitely not responsible, it was no a defective frame structure that caused a car to crumble and the occupant to die, when he otherwise would have lived. This game is working as it was intended to work, and when the guy/mom whoever bought it bought it, they bought the game AS IT WAS.
The Mother:
Before flaming, I would like just a couple of words in the mother's defense. A parent should never have to outlive their child, I understand. If she doesn't divert the cause to someone else, her mind will turn the cause upon her, and she will also be plunged into depression. Possibly, if she were to take responsibility for this unfortunate incident she might end up being suicidal. Does this give her the right to sue? Definitely not, but even if you don't agree, do understand.

Efreeti (Bring on the flames)

My parents use to do this. They would blam everything i did wronge on TV or computer. I never killed my self for it of course. Here is the deal. She is a bad role modle for the kids of today, and parents especaly. "Don't blame your self, don't think its your faults, it something your addicted to, and its not YOUR fault for getting addicted to it in the first place." You don't sue a drug dealer becuase your son OD'ed! (in no way do i think this game is addictive i just think its fun). Its his fault for being dumb enough to take his own life. Maybe alittle CHURCH could have help the kid out, don't you think so too a.k.a MOM!! this is the saddest thing i ever heard, and i am not talking about the dude dieing.

My parents use to do this. They would blam everything i did wronge on TV or computer. I never killed my self for it of course. Here is the deal. She is a bad role modle for the kids of today, and parents especaly. "Don't blame your self, don't think its your faults, it something your addicted to, and its not YOUR fault for getting addicted to it in the first place." You don't sue a drug dealer becuase your son OD'ed! (in no way do i think this game is addictive i just think its fun). Its his fault for being dumb enough to take his own life. Maybe alittle CHURCH could have help the kid out, don't you think so too a.k.a MOM!!

I have a friend who has played this game for as long as it has been out. she is prone to epileptic seizures and has never once had one due to the game of EverQuest.

I have seen EQ friends and RL friends get sucked into this game and have lost their jobs due to this game. They dove into the game and would always be on, what seemed to be 24 hours a day. But they still play and are around. Though i have noticed them over the time they were unemployed that the more they were on the more they seemed depressed.

As for this young man killing himself due to the game and the mother seeking closure to it.
It is sad that some people don't have the sense needed to separate the real world from the imaginary world.

There were warning signs. She saw them maybe she tried to do something but to no avail. now is just trying to find answers. there was something in the article that caught my attention that i did find kinda funny. they said the names of his friends in everquest. what mother or father in their right mind would name their children those names so of course they have to be character names.

As for my friends that became very addicted to eq. i saw the depression signs and gave some helpful tips for them. they listened and a few weeks later were not playing as much and when they were on seemed a lot happier.

EQ is an escape from the real world. its a game.
the items gathered in the game are just coding on your computer and that of the eq servers. all it cost you was time.

I read on a post that the higher end game takes a lot of time to play. I having a higher end character see this too. and don't play as much as i use to. I and my husband (who got me hooked when we were dating) balance our gaming time and our family and house chores. There is a balance and like alcohol and food if done in moderation there is no problem with the item at had. when taken to extreme then you need to step back and ask yourself why you but so much time in the item.

you need to be aware of the warning signs in your real life that tells you its time to cut back on your play time or drinking or what ever you are addicted too.

Lost of job, friends, spouse time, sleeping patterns, /playtime on your character.

as for the article and the post made by All's person on the top of this page. I read the article before i read what he posted.

Of course its going to lean towards the plaintiff. She is telling her said of the story.
We all know who VI works in game, but they aren't all bad people. i am sure they are looking into this and the account of this person as to what happened. As for the lawsuit it is just a way to find closure for her son's death.

As for D&D and Heavy Rock going under attack.
They are still around and stronger then ever despite all the attacks they went under.

The world is what you make of it and what you do with it.

If you get frustrated with the game of EQ some friendly advice.

Hit /q and go for a walk
Watch a sunset
smell the roses.
remember this is a game the real world is out there and this game is a way to escape it.
but you must remember to return to the real world every now and then. It’s nice here.

Why do people place the blame for there own personal lives on things other than where the blame lies? Is it because they have no real grip on reality, or just plain blind to there own faults? Start paying attention to what your kids are doing and listen to them, don't just hear them. Oh wait, my light bulb just burned out I need to kill my self and have my wife sue General Electric. LOL


Draab 22 Bard
Basadoni 14 Mage
Ashkevron 43 Monk
all on BB server

::: Gets on the soap box, It collapses, so he gets a podium instead.:::


I am sick and tired of people blaming things that are so barely connected to the victem/perp! Osama bin laden Is a **** headed donkey ******* gay parasitic ******* ***, and he wears a Timex. OH< IT MUST BE THE TIMEX! YEAH, THE TIMEX IS WHAT CAUSED 9/11! Lets face it- Osama was a crazy ******* from the beginning, and it's not fair to flame something that has nothing to do with anything! the guy had epilepticsorsomething to begin with, and his stupid momma knew that from the start. If he had already had strokes and panic attacks playing it, THEN WHY DIDN'T SHE END THE BILLING?! He quit his job, he wasn't paying for it, his momma was! I feel sorry for they poor guy for having a ***** like that for a mom. Maybe that's why he bit it. And I know about those crazy Jerry Fallwell-Type people who blame anyone they don't like for the bad things that happen. It went like this- people were playing dungeons and dragons alot, some **** sees that one box says "Dieties and Demigods", and is visited by Jesus in a dream and told that a box with the Word "demigods" on it could turn the universe into satan-worshiping feinds. But you see the thing that they're missing? I do: NOT A SINGLE PERSON WHO ACTUALLY PLAYS THE GAME REALLY GIVES A DAMN OR THINKS IT SIGNIFICANT!


::: Walks off the podium, Stops for a second, goes back and steals the podium then puts back the soap box:::

Thank goodness he's been taken out of the gene pool. With a mother that let her son play for 36 hours straight with an average of around 12 hours a day when she knows he is epileptic, tells me that she is either an idiot and shouldn't reproduce, or didn't care about her son in which case she shouldn't reproduce.

The lawsuit thing,(since EQ has no guns, he should've sliced or stabbed himself instead of using a gun) is ridiculous. When I was younger, I played baseball almost everyday for hours and hours, but I never wanted to go postal on somebody or myself with a baseball bat. I race cars as a hobby now, but have yet to feel the urge to drive into a wall or run into someone else(rush hour traffic conditions excluded). Do we blame professional baseball when somebody is killed with a bat? Is NASCAR sued when a vehicular homicide happens? NO!

Yes, EQ is a fun addictive game. Yes, it can take up quite a bit of your time. Was it the cause of that kids death...no, it was not. If you are mentally unstable, then anything can set you over the edge, be it EQ, or those stupid Shaq attack Burger King commercials. Quit tying up our court rooms with frivolous lawsuits.

After reading your little intro to this article I just had to say something. Firstly you are not a professional writer. Even If you have a degree in journalism, or whatever, you are strictly a lackey of soe.
I first noticed this in your write up of the Shadows of Lucling expansion. You went on touting all of the new and great things about it. But not one thing about lag, severely long load time, and all the bugs that went along with it. Of course you wouldnt want to blow your big break into the writing world. Either you were blind, or biased, and if there is a third possibility I haven't thought of please let me know.
Having said this, let me continue to your less than expert assessmant of the article you cite.
"The article on this is poorly researched, completely stereotyped, and written almost entirely from the perspective of the plaintiff".
This is the phrase I have the most trouble with. I am not sure what kind of research you are expecting, but I have only seen one grad paper on eq, and it was mainly an excercise in statistics, not psychology. There is nothing wrong with Mr. Miller citing a chemical dependancy counsellor who works with eq problems (yes they do exist).
As far as stereotypes playing eq, I think you might also have a chip on your shoulder about this. Soe would also be very sensitive about gamer image as well. If the world of eq was seen to be populated by losers who would want to play. To combat this stereotype you had several interviews with RA salvatore and Jaques Villeneuve, two eq players who are excetional people in any demographic you wish to place them in. It reminds me of the what kind of man reads playboy campaign.
Getting to the last comment, from the point of view of the plaintiff is your best attempt yet at putting the spin on an article. Gratz, you are a lvl 1 hack now.
Of course the article is from the point of view of the palintiff. That is because soe has refused to comment, they are in cover up and hardball mode. Probably acting on the advice of thier lawyers they cited "privacy " to not let Mrs. Wooley even look into her sons online gaming to determine what happend. If they are covering up, we can bet soe has long ago deleted any relevant files that may shed light on any possible wrong doing. It is also a safe bet that soe, like most companies these days, will not say or do anything untill they are dragged to the door of the courtroom.
But all that cloak and dagger stuff aside soe is inviting a lawsuit by not releasing any details. Legally they are playing it cautiously, and nobody can really blame them. They could be on the hook for millions if they did something wrong.
What could soe have done wrong? What if they hired psychologists to make the game more appealing/addictive? Would that be like tobbacco companies making their product smoother/etc? What if they actually did something to Woolley, intentionally or not. What if theya re really aliens plotting to take over the world...
None of the posts here really deal with Shawns condition. Most of the ppl eat up the opinion you feed them. I' especially upset about the above poster who said his mother didnt help her son enough. Do you even have a clue what mental illness is? In many cases the only thing that helps is medication, and if that fails all you can do is watch the person deteriorate, and maybe ease the pain. I hope you get a taste of what insanity is like and spend a day in the corner blowing spit bubbles at the wall, and eating your OWN crap for a change.
One question evrybody failed to ask is what was a person suffering from a severe mental disturbance doing with a firearm? Hasn't that caused very much pain in US schools already? A similar incident happened in Germany a few months ago, so it can't be called a "hooked on death" american phenomenon.
As far as the "right wing christian" argument goes, that the fantasy world has satanic overtones, is on par with ufo abduction. Christians have had a bad name for 2 thousnad years, yet there are still hundreds of millions of religious and sensible christians in the world who do not beilive in tabloids.
I remember the DnD fiasco. It caused the game to be banned from many schools. They also had to reprint a few books, one of them being "Dieties and Demigods". These types of activist christians are what is known as the lunatic fringe, and are made of the same stuff as the perpetrators of the spanish inq. or the salem witch trials.
It used to cost $25 to get a preacher license in Indiana. That means any lunatic with $25 can be a minister with the entire christian history backing him. That to me seems more dangerous than any firearm.
As far as warning labels on video games, Nintendo already has them, for epileptics in their console user manual.
And lastly a note to alakazam: get your head out of soe's butt. the air is nice out here

My husband introduced me to Everquest when we first started dating, and I think it is great. We play all the time and so do our children (when they have been good)! When you are starting into a ready made family, it is one of the most inexpensive, fun things you can do. We enjoy talking about tactics (probably because we were/are both in the service), and talking with friends far away online. I think blaming a game for a death is wrong, as a matter of fact, this game brings us closer all the time (no better way to get into the mind of your other half ;)!

Katrianaraven
51 Cleric
The Nameless

:::Nods at KiddVideo, thanking him for dusting off the soapbox, then steps up::

While it can't be denied that some people become addicted to online games, chat rooms, cyber, or just surfing the 'net, it can be denied that the internet bears responsibility for that addiction. I myself get sucked into online gaming, having played for over 10 hours at one sitting (and I thought that was rough, until I played for nearly 24 hours at one sitting :p). This country is made up of consumers and producers, and the producer goes to great lengths to shove its product down the consumer's throat, no matter what the product. There will always be a small number of individuals who take the product and run with it, whether it be cigarettes, alcohol, internet usage, books, music, sex, whatever. The mother of this young man is frustrated, she is angry, she is looking for some sort of rational explanation as to why her son would take his own life, and since he happened to play EQ all the time, EQ becomes the scapegoat. I quote a previous post:

"Suicide is a selfish last ditch effort for attention. And in classic form the family takes selfish actions to remove the sense of loss and guilt that they feel."

Would she have the same reaction if he had, for instance, been an overeater? What if he had been so depressed that all he ever did was fiend on twinkies? Would she sue Hostess cakes for sending her son into a tailspin of depression and overeating? I hope not, because it's not about the symptom, it's about the cause. There was definitely and most apparently something deeper in this young man's psyche that led him to believe that EverQuest was the last place he could look for true friendship, which is unfortunate. EverQuest is a microcosm of life in that it too is ephemeral, albeit accelerated. And, like in life, there are people who are happy, sad, angry, depressed, annoying, and/or stupid.

My advice to the mother of this sad young man is this: Mrs. Woolley, don't look to blame yourself or anyone else for your son's suicide. It dishonors his memory. Sure, he had depression problems that you or I or anyone else may have missed. No one is the perfect parent; there is no handbook, no manual, that comes with the baby or is handed out at the hospital. I am, as indeed the entire EverQuest community is, deeply sorry for the loss of your son. But don't take it out on us, and for heaven's sake don't take it out on yourself. I encourage you to share your story with other parents so that they can look for any telltale signs that their children are coccooning and becoming neglectful of their familial relationships and friendships. Help them get their children some help, some therapy, something, anything.

My advice to other EverQuesters: Don't discount this incident, don't label this young man as a crackpot, or wacko, or loser, because that's not fair to him or to us. Don't accuse his mother of backing a frivolous lawsuit, because she's not looking for quick cash, she's looking for something to fill the void that her son left when he put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Stop, look, and listen.

:::Steps down from the soapbox, dusts it off for the next speaker, logs off, and calls home:::

Edited, Tue May 21 22:32:57 2002

It is funny how his mom blames everquest. People need a life, lol

who the hell calls it evercrack anyway??

i only heard everwait and evermed!

and a message to that guys mom: You could have saved your son, you knew he had a problem but seem to have done little for him.