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They didn't help their son while he was alive, and blamed the bad outcomes of his life on the single object that seemed to bring him joy. They even turned him a

They didn't help their son while he was alive, and blamed the bad outcomes of his life on the single object that seemed to bring him joy. They even turned him away when he came home for help, according to the article. They allowed their child to degenerate in front of them and it wasn't because of the computer; it was because they didn't do anything for him. Empathy should be encouraged but in this case the mindset of the parents contributed to their son's suicide, and empathy should be had for the child instead of the parents.

bettysdiagnose 5y ago
Seems wildly reductive to assume that over 22 years they didn't ever really try to raise him. I mean you could be right, but chances are, they did try.
- metagame 5y ago
  This isn't about trying to "raise him." There's a difference between instilling your own moral principles upon someone and actually helping them. Their only idea for solving the problem, in retrospect, is to remove from his life the only thing he cared about! You can help someone in more ways than just "raising" them, and in this case the way to have actually helped him would have been to display enough understanding to gain his respect, and then guide him gently into a safer course. Even in an article that's published in a paper with fact-checkers and standards, his parents still refuse to acknowledge RollerCoaster Tycoon as anything other than a violent video game! It's a game about building a theme park! It is blatantly clear that even the mildest effort to understand him or his activities wasn't taken, and that they refuse to do so even with the benefit of hindsight. You can stand on a hill and grandstand to your child as much as you want, but if you don't put in the slightest effort to understand them it's your fault when they end up doing something that hurts them.
  - ThrowawayR2 5y ago
    > "It's a game about building a theme park!" Have a gander at "23 Of The Most Fucked-Up Things People Have Done On Rollercoaster Tycoon" ( https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellerennex/yall-evil-af https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellerennex/yall-evil-af ) #10 is particularly "amusing"(?): "I built a huge rollercoaster that would launch the people into my rival's park, increasing their death rate. People didn't want to go to that park because so many people were dying, so they would come over to mine, and go and die in my rival's park." A cornucopia of such postings come up in a casual search. While I'm not defending the news article (none us can know what really happened) nor do I believe games trigger violent behavior (as an avid gamer, I have ample anecdotal data against it), players can indeed be antisocial (not asocial, antisocial) in games that are not explicitly intended to have violence or other antisocial behavior as part of the gameplay.
    - Macha 5y ago
      I don't remember rollercoaster tycoon having rival parks on the same map as you? I think that one is made up. People on stack exchange seem to agree: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/122381/was-there-a-rct-scenario-when-you-had-a-compete-with-a-rival-park https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/122381/was-there-...
    - hoseja 5y ago
      That's like being concerned about girls forcing their dolls into marriage and detaching their limbs.

bettysdiagnose 5y ago

Seems wildly reductive to assume that over 22 years they didn't ever really try to raise him. I mean you could be right, but chances are, they did try.

metagame 5y ago
This isn't about trying to "raise him." There's a difference between instilling your own moral principles upon someone and actually helping them. Their only idea for solving the problem, in retrospect, is to remove from his life the only thing he cared about! You can help someone in more ways than just "raising" them, and in this case the way to have actually helped him would have been to display enough understanding to gain his respect, and then guide him gently into a safer course. Even in an article that's published in a paper with fact-checkers and standards, his parents still refuse to acknowledge RollerCoaster Tycoon as anything other than a violent video game! It's a game about building a theme park! It is blatantly clear that even the mildest effort to understand him or his activities wasn't taken, and that they refuse to do so even with the benefit of hindsight. You can stand on a hill and grandstand to your child as much as you want, but if you don't put in the slightest effort to understand them it's your fault when they end up doing something that hurts them.
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago
  > "It's a game about building a theme park!" Have a gander at "23 Of The Most Fucked-Up Things People Have Done On Rollercoaster Tycoon" ( https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellerennex/yall-evil-af https://www.buzzfeed.com/michellerennex/yall-evil-af ) #10 is particularly "amusing"(?): "I built a huge rollercoaster that would launch the people into my rival's park, increasing their death rate. People didn't want to go to that park because so many people were dying, so they would come over to mine, and go and die in my rival's park." A cornucopia of such postings come up in a casual search. While I'm not defending the news article (none us can know what really happened) nor do I believe games trigger violent behavior (as an avid gamer, I have ample anecdotal data against it), players can indeed be antisocial (not asocial, antisocial) in games that are not explicitly intended to have violence or other antisocial behavior as part of the gameplay.
  - Macha 5y ago
    I don't remember rollercoaster tycoon having rival parks on the same map as you? I think that one is made up. People on stack exchange seem to agree: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/122381/was-there-a-rct-scenario-when-you-had-a-compete-with-a-rival-park https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/122381/was-there-...
  - hoseja 5y ago
    That's like being concerned about girls forcing their dolls into marriage and detaching their limbs.