Police detectives in Seattle, Washington are exploring Dungeons and Dragons and video games as potential motives for a brutal rape and slaying.
On Aug 17, aptly named 18 year old Tyler Savage reportedly strangled and raped his neighbor, Kimberly "Kimmie" Daily and then dumped her body in a thicket of bushes. Daily was 16 and developmentally disabled.
Savage, who had no previous criminal record, told police that he played Dungeons and Dragons Online after the crime to forget what he had done. Police are looking into the game to see if he was "acting out a violent fantasy from Dungeons and Dragons."
"The defendant admitted some kind of connection between the murder and the video game," Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.said. "I'm not clear at this point what exactly that connection is. The defendant himself said he went to play video games to forget."
Some friends and neighbors of Savage report that he seemed like a "normal" teenager.
"I don't believe he went out onto the streets with the intention of killing somebody. He wasn't that kind of person," said Rusty Sebring, a friend of Savage. "I have no idea what his home life was like or what he could have possibly been going through at this time to have left him in such a mentally unstable state."
While it features plenty of combat, D&D Online isn't a particularly violent video game. It takes place in a fantasy world, and the focus is not on blood and guts, and I'm certain there is no rape in the game. I think detectives are barking up the wrong tree here. Everyone I've ever known who plays Dungeons and Dragons in any form is an upstanding, usually shy person. The opposite of cold-blooded killers.
But the crime itself is so strange -- kid with no record suddenly commits the worst possible crime with no discernible motive -- that it makes sense that investigators are looking into strange motivations here.
Anyway, Savage has been charged with first-degree murder, but has pleaded not guilty. He could be given the death penalty. I imagine as more details become available, we'll find a much less esoteric reason behind the crime, like, say, mental illness.
Source: Seattle PI
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DevilishBoredom
"The defendant himself said he went to play video games to forget."
... You rape and then choke the life out of somebody, then you go play a game to forget? WTF!? How could you even manage that? But again, the media and police miss the point. The "OMG he plays video games, it makes sense" and "look at WHAT he's playing" arguments can't really stand up as a reason for anyone to commit such an act, unless of course some player interaction lead to actual violence.
But c'mon, just because he turned around to play some D&D immediately afterwards doesn't really mean much. Hell he could have been playing it before and just left the game running. Really though, the use of video games as an example for a pattern of behavior is rather absurd. Unless of course you pair it with what they read, listen to, watch, actively do, who they talk to, etc. Many different kinds of people play many kinds of video games. If playing violent games were a sign of being a destructive member of society, I'm sure the entire G4 staff and roughly 98.9% of it's viewers/readers would be looked upon as mass murderers. Hell, I'm sure there are clergymen and nuns out there that play Dante's Inferno, God of War, Modern Warfare, maybe even a little GTA. They're ok in society's eyes, right? Teachers out there may get down on some Brutal Legend, Mortal Kombat, BioShock, and we still let them watch over our kids.
This is all just the modern version of when all the parents out there got in an uproar about their kids listening to Kiss, or just rock in general, or rap. Hell, every medium of entertainment has been chastised over the years for "leading to violence". People will get over it whenever they go and log into facebook and play some farmville... where they harvest (kill) plants! THEY KILL THEM FFS! But eventually they will find something else to point their fingers at. Though video games will be the scapegoat for quite some time. Since they do try and "blur the lines of reality". Especially kinect man, no controller, really moving around and doing things, hopefully those never get too violent. Heaven forbid sombody gets strangled during a Street Fighter Kinect match. That's it! Since most gamers will have no use for most motion controls we'll point the finger at them. "It's those dirty people jumping up and down and waving their arms around like a fool! I swear it wasn't me, I have a controller! See!" *facepalm* This is so stupid, why the hell do people even care anymore, it's old news. Yea people play video games, yes people kill people, some do both, others (most of us) do not.
ellibre831
My Condolences to the Daily Family as well. Im sorry for you sad loss.
ellibre831
You know I hate the fact that people see this as a #$#%en joke or just amusing. He Killed his neighbor for no apparent reason!. He is sick in that freaken head of his!!! that is the dumbest excuse given to the police. Dungeons and Dragons?? Come On. Freaken psycho.
d0nni3
Calm down people they never said video games caused this, i though the whole point of a police investigation was to look into all possible avenues to narrow down a motive or cause, you can't just rule something out in an instant.
If they come out and say DDO was the cause then we have a right to get alittle angry about this
revkaine
Sooo, when did we travel back to 1980 again?
Symicide
Lol, he looks like a Norwegian death metal guitarist.
ClauseValca
Wow that really sucks. Maybe he did that because a single phrase or color caused his mind to flip suddenly. i know this is a stupid example but maybe its like that episode from Seinfeld where Kramer starts having seizure-like symptoms whenever he heard some lady's voice from the tv.
DreamingDarklyRobin
Maybe he was roleplaying as a rapist? (second insensitive comment of the week)
quicksand
People always look for implausible explanations for shocking crimes. Jack the Ripper was thought to have been connected to The Mysterious Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. John Lennon's killer was connected to The Catcher in the Rye. Whenever some unreasonable, horrifying crime takes place, people immediately look for something to blame, when the truth is that people are just crazy.
Murdering Robot
How into DDO could this guy have been if he had time to leave his house and rape/murder someone and dump the body? That takes planning and motivation, which most MMO gamers don't have in real life. Now excuse me, I'm in the middle of a raid and have to cut this post short.
XXXSpartan118XXX
COD made me piss on the toilet seat
Fooguyzee
Yeah. Let's blame video games, D&D, Magic:The Gathering, Patapon and oh yeah don't forget about Islam! That's it! It was Islam!! Not the dysfunctional homes, environments or familial upbringings or lack thereof! This is Islam's fault! -_- (sarcasm... just in case you didn't get it.)
DrShepard
If the prosecution proves the videogame motive Anti-videogame politicians and overly concerned parents are going to have a field day.
Tman88
So he claimed to be playing DDO to forget the crime, and yet the police are investigating to figure out if it made him do it. Yeah this is going to go over well in court. In all seriousness though, the whole "games me do it" defense is getting old and it's useless even though the brilliant judicial is likely going to believe the garbage that will come from the criminal's mouth, just in an effort to keep him out of jail and to put more blame on the gaming industry and it's just an injustice the victim's family and the gaming industry on so many levels.
Parasyte
Are you freaking kidding me? They are blaming DnD for a crime when a guy who was DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED said he played it TO FORGET WHAT HE HAD DONE! There is your reason why he was playing DnD right there. He said it himself. It was an escape for him not a cause. There is no reason to look any further into it.
Freaking idiotic police.
My condolences to the Daily family, on a separate note. I am really sorry for your loss.
crimsonkinge
its called an escape not a motive f@!#$ detectives no wonder this country has high crime rate they cant solve $!$%
Redd75
My condolences to the Daily family.
venromero
if someone does a study on how many higher educated people play video games will the media give it the same attention? "ooh games make you smarter", i think not. the entire G4 complex serves to prove that theory more then one isolated incident where a nut job just happened to be a gamer! i think the guy should have been more upset that he was 18 and his parents wouldnt let him play a better game. what a sad excuse for a human being. lets bring a positive outlook back to the gaming community, gamers arent the only ones who read these posts.
Griever2112
If that ass decided to blame videogames for his crime, someone needs to donkey kick him in his balls every 1/2 hour for 3 months straight.
Redd75
Sounds like the police just want to waste some time playing an online game.
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