MNN Reports

It's come to STC Masterpieces' attention, this week, that a suicide of a Metal Gear Solid gamer has prompted an outcry from a familiar voice and a devastating lack of judgement in the world's media system. MNN reporter, Bliss Sunburn, delves into the situation.

Gaming Horizion, http://news.gaminghorizon.com/media2/1137635340.3198.html have reported that Mitchell S., nicknamed Kuja105, has comitted suicide earlier this month. This comes after recent problems involving school and finance. The lengthy process involved Kuja posting his intent to kill himself on the 'metalgearsolid.org' message board, a battle to obtain his contact details and an attempt to talk him out of the dire deed. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of a supposed adminstrator of the forum, Mitchell S. commited suicide with copious amounts of antifreeze and painkillers. Here, 2 disturbing aftershocks hit the grieving family and the friends who fought hard to help Kuja in his time of need:

The Tale of the Ill-Researched News Story

After this story was released, it was quickly pickedup by AFP, an international news service and has been spread to other popular news sources from the AFP version of the events. Unfortunately, it seems that this new story is all a complete fabrication. Apparantly:

- "The gamer switched on his webcam and swallowed a large amount of antifreeze and pills." [When he didn't connect his webcam at all.]

- He was called 'Kudjo'. [Not Kuja.]

- Other forum members thought he was joking. [They thought nothing of the sort.]

- He rambled on for 6 hours about the effects of the substances. [Which is also a total lie.]

- He failed to appear at regular meeting spots [When there weren't any.]

- Gamers went to his house to find he was dead. [Everything was done over the phone.]

It has also come to light that the hosts of metalgearsolid.org were approached by a private agency for information on the story or to shut down the site itself. Since then, the website is back up and running, despite server difficulties.

The full story can be found at http://news.gaminghorizon.com

The Tale of the God-Fearing Game Hater - Redux

We all know his name. Since ex-lawyer Jack Thompson shifted his hatred and publicity stunts from rap music to 'violent' video games, his insanity has known no bounds. Whether it's ripping apart the whole concept of Grand Theft Auto or damning Kirby's Air Ride (don't worry, Boomers, we're joking about that one...for now -- MD), he hasn't held back on what he thinks about gamers. However, it seems he's gone too far now, when it comes to insulting the deceased. This letter was taken from metalgearsolid.org, likely to be sent by Mr Jack Thompson himself:

""Your "gamer friend" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that.

There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with combat games. The playing of these video games is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you gamers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one.

The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one fellow. There are literally millions of young people and young adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless.

All of you gamers need to put down the controllers and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid "gaming" really is.

You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this "culture of death?" Of course not. Hey, let's all play MORE games, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives.

Let's pretend to be shocked that a gamer might descend into deeper depression, as his gamer "buds," knowing he was killing himself, couldn't figure out how to call 911 themselves for him. That would have involved leaving their computers I guess.

Sad. Sad for all of you."

Thankfully, the people behind the deceased's favourite website were mature enough to rise up against these ludicrous comments and "hoped that God would forgive him." It is truly a sick life to lead when you have to resort to exploiting the dead and those close to them to gain your fix of publicity and controversy. Obviously, readers of STC-M weren't best pleased, either.

"Jack really needs to stop this ridiculous 'campaign' of his. How is MGS responsible for his suicide?" yelled Zerolus, lifelong Nintendo nut on the 21st.

"I support Mr. Thompson about 10%, but he really does jump to conclusions way too much. He is very ignorant, biased and rude," agrees BenTH, while not entirely defiling him.

"I may have missed the point here, but who the hell is Jack Thompson?" asks soon-to-be-married Spudiator, not familiar with Jack Thompson's previous rants.

We all, at STC Masterpieces, take a less neutral stance at Mr Thompson's letter than metalgearsolid.org and hope that he burns in Hell. That would be a truly ironic way to go.