Dateline NBC just ran a hatchet-job on RPG's?

[reapersaurus]

My wife just called me in to see a bit on Dateline NBC about a teacher who hosted a gaming club, and was on trial for killing his wife and daughter.

SOMEHOW they worked in Vampire the Masquerade into it, even though I couldn't tell one bit of evidence that pointed towards RPG's being involved in any way, shape, or form (other than the laughable connection between the letters M V and Master Vampire ).

Did anybody see this story? Does anyone know what actually went on?
It was in Missouri, in 1995, I believe, and the guys name was Mike Feeny.
I can't find the story thru Google.

 

[Silver Moon]

I hate these associations. It's like last year when that kid in France killed himself, and the main report was that the D&D games found in his car were the main reason - ignoring the fact that he was also a drug addict, alcoholic, and had just broken up with his girlfriend.

It's as annoying as those surveys about convicted murderers in jail having watched violent tv, video games or having played with toy guns - another stat from that very same research study, that is never reported, is that 99.2% of the convicted murders also reported that they had eaten bread within 24 hours of the time when they committed the murder.

 

[gfunk]

I saw the whole thing yesterday. I didn't really see it as a hatchet job per se. The jurors admitted that the fact that the kiddies played Vampire in his clasroom had no bearing on their acquital verdict.

 

[reapersaurus]

gfunk! (and anyone else that saw it)

Can you explain how they possibly had ANY reason to involve RPG'ing, the gameclub, or specifically V:tM in the case?
Because what I saw was them wasting time on national TV saying basically that an accused killer
a) was a teacher
b) allowed his students to use the room for a gameclub one time a week
c) V:tM may or may not have been played at this gameclub
d) when investigating, they found a wall somewhere (?) that had some writing on it. There were many letters on it, but they concentrated on the M and the V, potentially meaning "Master Vampire" for some unexplained reason.
e) The wife's body had 2 wound on her cheek. That was the ONLY weak-ass connection I know of to jump to the conclusion that he was a "Vampire freak".


Can someone help me understand what the hell that NBC broadcast was getting at? I missed why they were bringing RPG's into it, unless you think the above details are worth mentioning. They may as well have looked into what subject he was teaching the class, and blamed the killings on that.

 

[Dimwhit]

Like it or not, RPGs still don't exactly have the most prestine reputation, right or wrong. It's fairly misunderstood. Mostly, there is just the assumption that we're all geeks. (Which is true, of course! ) But many people still see the dark side of RPGs that, for the mainstream gamers anyway, just doesn't exist.

It can be frustrating, but I undertand a bit why it's brought up in situations like that. But it's mostly out of ignorance of the true nature of RPGs.

 

[Mercule]

Hey, he taught at a public school. I think they should tie that into the whole cause. Odds are that it has a whole lot more to do with it than the RPGs.

 

[gfunk]

Can you explain how they possibly had ANY reason to involve RPG'ing, the gameclub, or specifically V:tM in the case?

While Dungeons and Dragons is seen as a relatively benign pastime by most of the public (akin to playing a violent computer game I suppose), games published by White Wolf are meant to be provocative.

I mean, obviously I love to play RPGs, but let's be honest. Anyone who wanted to smear RPGs would have a very easy time when they picked up a V:tM Manual. It is really meant to be played by mature adults.

In this case in particular, thre was a surprising lack of evidence. All of the facts cited by the prosecution were entirely circumstantial. The fact that the accused teacher lacked an alibi during the time of the murders certainly didn't help his case either.

Because what I saw was them wasting time on national TV saying basically that an accused killer
a) was a teacher
b) allowed his students to use the room for a gameclub one time a week
c) V:tM may or may not have been played at this gameclub
d) when investigating, they found a wall somewhere (?) that had some writing on it. There were many letters on it, but they concentrated on the M and the V, potentially meaning "Master Vampire" for some unexplained reason.
e) The wife's body had 2 wound on her cheek. That was the ONLY weak-ass connection I know of to jump to the conclusion that he was a "Vampire freak".

Again, because physicial evidence was nary to be found, they had to fill their airtime with something. The jurors admitted that they dind't swallow the link to Vampire. I don't think NBC would have brought it up in the first place if the prosecution hadn't brought it up.

Frankly, if I was a prosecuter trying to convict a guy like this on little evidence I would go for character asassination.

 

[Tom Cashel]

I hate these associations. [...] ignoring the fact that he was also a drug addict, alcoholic, and had just broken up with his girlfriend.

So it's okay to do a hatchet job on drug users, alcoholics, and people who have a hard time maintaining relationships?

 

[Silver Moon]

So it's okay to do a hatchet job on drug users, alcoholics, and people who have a hard time maintaining relationships?

The above is a prime example of why I love to read Tom Cashel's posts. No matter what the topic or question happens to be he always finds a way to get a new twist to it.

 

[Mercule]

So it's okay to do a hatchet job on drug users, alcoholics, and people who have a hard time maintaining relationships?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: All these are at least indications of a potentially impared mental state, or can be the cause of said state.