- by Michael "Sir Loin of Beef" Revis
- Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 11:54 PST
A UK man has admitted to a count of assault after choking a 13 year old boy, who was taunting him during a game of Call of Duty: Black Ops. The attacker, 46 year old Mark Bradford, actually hunted down the kid after his constant taunting online got to a point where it drove Bradford over the edge.
Despite the fact that Bradford is now likely to become a social pariah in the media, in reality, he did the one thing that gamers have wished they could do for years: teach an annoying, snot-nosed punk that shouldn’t be playing an M-rated game in the first place an important lesson in internet manners. Physically.
Bradford, an unemployed father of three children, reportedly had been playing the game for most of the day. During the whole time, the offending kid, whose name hasn’t been released to the media, was continuously taunting him and generally being an annoying prick, as children tend to do after discovering the anonymity of the internet. After he had reached his breaking point, Bradford then went over to the kid’s house personally and began choking him on the spot. The assault ended when the child’s mother came in and pulled the adult off, who then simply left the house without another word.
“I'd been playing the whole day and he was baiting me and baiting me and just would not shut up,” Bradford said. “He went on and on and I just lost it. I hold my hands up, I lost the plot. In a moment of madness I went round to his house. I didn't know what I was going to do.”
Bradford admitted to one count of assault, and probation officers are currently checking his background for any past offenses before they can book him.
Now, I’m expecting the usual blowup of news pundits going “herpa derpa video games create violent people,” but for the moment, let’s think about what this also means. This man did what his parents were obviously incapable of doing themselves, instilling some goddamn discipline onto the little brat. Maybe he went a bit overboard, but the fact remains that he accomplished what most people could only dream of doing, and that alone took some massive cahones.
So, here’s to you Mark Bradford. You may likely have a bad rep in your neighborhood as a result of all this, and Sean Hannity will likely say something stupid about video games on Fox News. But for all us gamers out there who have been combating the troll menace since day one, we salute you.
*UPDATE* Bradford has apparently admitted to having mental health issues in the past. According to The Escapist, Bradford and the kid are "loosely-connected friends" of family, which explains how he was able to find the kid's residence, and the two have since patched things up. Though I imagine the child has still learned a valuable lesson about keeping his trap shut.
[via WOWNEWS]
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I want to go ahead and make one thing perfectly clear: I don't necessarily condone child abuse on this level. However, there are times when if your kid is being a massive dick for no reason, you need to sit them down, look them straight in the eye, and give them a good smack across the back of the head.
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LOOOOOOOOL. That is epic on every level.
See, I must be twisted right? I'm laughing at this, that's awful. I mean, someone got choked! Not to death though so that's good. Good thing I didn't post up that rise of nightmares video then haha.
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Well one thing that is not clear to me, did Mr. Bradford know that the game provides a mute system?
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The funny thing about mute systems is that they don't solve the problem of the troll still being on the server you're playing on. It just causes them to shift targets.
That said, he probably knew it was there, just he was getting so frustrated he didn't think about using it.
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This goes back to our podcast where most gamers stick to their own groups. It's almost expected that one will run into an annoying player, kid or not, on the public servers. I mean, look at you Mr. Oh HO HO HO HO. lol, but anyways, I guess the kid was griefing, the bad way, in a sense. But Mr.Bradford being an older player, and one who most likely games often, should've seen it coming.
Of course, i'm not going to include talks of the medical condition and the life situation but whatever, I wish our podcast went througH! /cry.
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Okay if he didn't want to use the mute system, did he also know that he could leave the game whenever he felt like it or was he being forced to stay in that lobby.
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Well obviously we all have that choice, but it may have already gotten overboard. But honestly, for something like that to upset me, it would have to be very consistant. This suggests that he may have stayed in the lobby/game for quite some time. So who knows.
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Hmmmmmm, I don't see this boding well for violent games. I doubt anything will come of it, but it just helps fuel the debate against violent video games.
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Unfortunately it will, it's a shame too. All because of one man. When the gaming mass is set above the millions. Gamers come in all flavors, and the media/government uses the 5% that make up the bad seeds against us.
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Yeah, I hate being lumped into one big category, as if we're all gonna go out there and choke some kid just 'cause we're playing violent video games. It's not like I'm sitting there playing something violent and thinking, "You know what? Violence is fun! I bet it's even better in real life!" How impressionable do they think we are?
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Lol that's a lovely way to put it... I think I'm gonna go hijack a car right now and run a few people over, mind you if I hit them into the gutter I score bonus points. I also plan on hiding till my "stars" wear off so the cops don't chase me anymore, should be fun no?
Pretty soon... virtual reality... I can almost feel it -.-;
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Well great, now the media has more negative evidence of the effect of playing games. The game doesn't directly link to why the adult choked the kid but the media always finds a way to connect the two. Its always one apple to ruin the bunch (just made that up). What people should actually learn from this incident is that little children should not be playing rated mature games and especially without the supervision of an adult. It should be illegal for children under the age of the game rating to play the game. I have encountered many pesky kids myself, but unlike my man Mark here I muted them or completely left the lobby.
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haha, sorry if I get a little adamant about the subject. People being illogical is slightly frustrating to me.
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I'm sure its frustrating to all of us. Its just how us humans are, we will find any way to show ourselves off while putting other people down. Well, at least most us are, I know I don't do it and I'm sure you don't either.
