Yet again gaming has suffered a battering in the public eye, as it is being blamed for the murder of a woman in South Philadelphia. A 16 year old boy is standing trial for murdering his mother and the reason behind it, according to many sources, was his PlayStation 3.
Rashida Anderson had apparently taken her son’s PS3 away after he had got into trouble, unfortunately the punishment proved deadly. The son named Kendall, confessed that he entered his mother’s room and attacked her with a claw hammer. He then attempted to cremate her using the kitchen oven and carried on beating the body, before finally dumping it in an alleyway behind the family house.
Now you’re up-to-date with the story, straying away from the gory details, it seems that many news sites are making a rather strong link between the console and the murder itself. I believe this is for nothing more than shock value and to get more lime light on the story. Many seem to have ignored the fact that Kendall had been contemplating the murder for 3 whole hours (this was mentioned in the court case). If he was contemplating murder over a confiscated console for 3 hours, wouldn’t he of just gone and reclaimed his console?
To put the final nail in the coffin of the argument that the games console was the reason for the murder, when Kendall confessed the reason he gave was “I couldn’t stand the arguing”. Surprisingly no mention of the word PlayStation or even games console. While a few years ago when casual gaming wasn’t as large, I could see how people might have seen gaming as a detrimental thing; but with the rise of party games and even games which are educational, I don’t see why gaming is being wrongly blamed.
After a history of the news being twisted against gaming, are sites wrong to attempt this when violent games aren’t the only thing being played? Do you believe that the reason for murdering his mother truly is that she took away his PlayStation or again sites jumping on a bandwagon to tarnish the name of gaming and gamers alike? Comment below with what you think on the matter, it will be interesting to see what people think; especially those from other walks of life.
