Final Fantasy aliases used by murdering teens
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jan 17th 2007 at 7:55PM }
In Germany, Final Fantasy is now being called a killerspiele ("killer game"), likely adding fuel to the movement against violent games. Of course, Final Fantasy isn't often singled out for its portrayal of violence, which by most measures is never gratuitous. But when two teenage boys, calling themselves 'Sephiroth' and 'Reno', allegedly stab a couple to death and kidnap another female, it undoubtedly leads to some unfortunate finger pointing. That the two boys also had a copy of Final Fantasy VII installed on a computer doesn't help the spread of sensationalism.It's unfortunate that during these times of inexplicable grief and confusion there's a tendency to try to rationalize the irrational. Two boys playing Final Fantasy, calling each other Sephiroth and Reno, does not engender such tragedy.
[Via The Last Boss]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim @ Jan 17th 2007 8:01PM
FFVII?!? It's a turn-based RPG. If anything it taught the boys to wait their turn to inflict damage. You can't blame the game for the crimes.
EihBeir @ Jan 17th 2007 8:05PM
Pfft, Sephiroth and Reno are opponents. They're supposed to try to kill each other.
Not only are they both psychotic, but they can't even follow a simple storyline.
Simon @ Jan 17th 2007 8:08PM
How unfortunate, and even more unfortunate pointing fingers at fiction entertainment games. I guess these people are nostalgic of the good old Dark Ages, well at least until the end of World War II. No video games there and no violence, everything was as peacefull as it can be...
buba @ Jan 17th 2007 11:36PM
Its not the games fault that these two individuals cant tell reality from fantasy. There are a good number of troubled youth that I find do get overly attached to video games and start to portray them as reality. But its a minority and many of these people would probably be getting in trouble in other ways. Its just a fact of life that some people are less mentally stable then others.
Matt @ Jan 17th 2007 8:18PM
Jesus Christ, people of the world; you really need something to whine about don't you? So a couple of idiots stab people and call themselves Sephy and Reno, we all have to pay. Do these idiots know how nonviolent the FF series is? I mean, if when people died, they evaporated into a red mist, it might be a little graphic, but come on! Next, Mario jumping on a misshapen mushroom is going to be blamed for a murder. It's like when Doom was blamed for the Columbine shootings because it was installed on their computers. If you checked every high school kid's computer in the country, at least 50% of them probably would have had Doom. All it takes is a couple of idiots to ruin it for all of us. Video games don't breed violence, stupid parents who never should have procreated in the first place do. People everywhere, pay attention: if you hate kids or don't have the means (or common sense) to take care of them and raise them to be acceptable human beings, don't have sex.
Mister Zombie @ Jan 17th 2007 8:45PM
Ahem to you Matt. I just love how video games get the blamed for just about everything now a days. A kid jacks a car and GTA gets blamed, but in reality that kid was running with the wrong crowd way before GTA even came out. A kid shoots up his school, and Doom gets blamed, but if you looked deeper into this kids life you'd have seen that they were bullied and lived a F***ed up life. Now a couple kids take up the aliases "Sephiroth" and "Reno" and kill someone and the media immediately points one at FFVII like it told the kids to go out and stab a couple people, well here is what I am gonna do. I'm gonna point a finger back, not the index, pinky, or ring finger, but the one I put up when I put up when I wanna give a big F*** you to the idiotic people who cover this and blame video games.
Mike @ Jan 17th 2007 8:53PM
Lol at #5
Okay there Eminem...
But seriously... there are worse games than the Final Fantasy series
Bardiel @ Jan 17th 2007 8:55PM
OMG, what logic!!
most computers also have Antivirus software installed, MOST of those users must be responsible for the spread of the H5N1 Avian Flu! why else would tjey need antivirus software?!
/end sarcasm
because that's about as logical as: they have a (barely) violent computer game installed, omg, they must be serial killers!!
i swear to Gawd, screw the media. when the AppleTV rolls out, i'l buy it JUST to fuck them all over by buying advertising free content to watch and cancel my cable subscription.
jay @ Jan 17th 2007 9:03PM
So wheres the news that FF inspired some folks to look after the planet?
Mr. Khan @ Jan 17th 2007 9:17PM
A kid in my school who wears a trenchcoat and calls himself "Columbine Phil" holds Sephiroth as his personal idol (he just got the Sephiroth Sword online, and won't shut up about it)
I do not need to fabricate these facts, they are already fantastic
Jake @ Jan 17th 2007 9:35PM
Violent crime rates in the United States have dropped significantly since Doom, Goldeneye, and Duke Nukem. Blaming video games is strictly based on rhetoric and psychological assumptions and logical fallacies.
Video games have never been scientifically or statistically linked to violence amongst our youth in a meaningful way. This hubub in the news is purely political. There are idiots blaming all kinds of crazy stuff for other crazy stuff, but these stories get news coverage over others for reasons I, and most of us, probably don't understand. It is the way of the media and the way of the new world.
If parents don't spend the proper time with their kids and just let SOCOM, Halo, and GTA raise them, then the video games may have a significant effect. If you let games and TV and other influences shape your kid's psyche, then yes, video games can directly lead to killers. If you sit with your kid and teach him/her to torture human beings then they will go on to commit terrible acts, with or without video games.
But, if you discipline, teach, and emotionally reinforce and shape your child's mind, along with the school system, a few hours of games and TV here and there will have negligible effect. It isn't games, but rather lack of parenting that is the problem. Common Sense, you'd think. Apparently you'd be wrong.
One quick argument I will make before I move on. Let's assume that good parenting will make a good kid. Let's assume that not spending enough time with your kid and suplementing all of that time with violent shooters makes your kid violent and dangerous. So, we outlaw video games altogether. Extreme, yes, but for the sake of argument let's pretend. Now, you still don't parent your kid but you let them watch SpongeBob and Barney for 25 hours a week. Your kid likely won't be violent, but he/she would turn out to be one fucked up individual. Just think about it. You have to spend time with your kids or they will idolize and take after whatever figures are there in your place. I would rather have a kid that takes after Dom (Gears of War) than Barney, to be honest with you.
The arguments being used are just out of thin air. By the logic used by others, you could argue that a killer with my name, Jacob, is a killer because of the Bible and because Jacob is a biblical name. You could argue that kids will be less violent because games give them a way to release their violence in an unharmful way rather than act it out on others. You could argue that games help teach kids cause and effect and what will happen if they pull the trigger. You could also argue that Final Fantasy teaches you about environmental respect, friendship, loyalty, trust, evil, good, etc.
These arguments are out of thin air and can be made to show any angle and argument that you want. I just came up with them in 10 seconds and they are more sensible than the Final Fantasy = killer game bs that someone is pulling in Germany. But, I bet that even if I took my views and sent them to every major newspaper in America they wouldn't get published by a single one, even though I have as much qualification to hold those views as most of the other people getting published. If I were to forge my name as Jack Thompson and put out some anti-gaming letter, bet your sweet ass it would turn up on Joystiq eventually.
Ask yourself this question. Have you seen any national or international news that is pro-gaming, other than stuff that comes out of gaming sites? Have you heard a politician vow to protect gaming on the 9 o'clock news? Bet your ass people are out there trying to defend gaming and bet your mother's ass that they won't be making it on the news in even a 10:1 ratio. It is actually a neat example of how the media shapes our minds. By "our" I mean the 75% of people who don't think for themselves. And if a story does come out that it pro-gaming only ones that use weak, retarded angles to defend it will be allowed. Fox News 101. Simple yet effective.
Think for yourself. Question authority. It is you civil duty.
Peace,
Jake
DAVE @ Jan 17th 2007 10:02PM
The kids just wanted to use cool names of evil characters. If they went around with a sword and chopped people up and wore a Sephiroth costume, THEN I'd say it would be a direct correlation.
On the subject of video game violence:
Video games could be a way for people to actually vent their frustration and anger by playing in a virtual world where they aren't abound to any rules, where they can kill anything without consequence. But, something that I'm now realizing is, everybody isn't gifted with intelligence. The people that are simple-minded may actually lose the thin line between fantasy and reality. Without a clear detachment from videogames, videogames may actually be a cause for violence.
The ZeroCorpse @ Jan 17th 2007 10:14PM
It's a good thing they didn't call themselves "Rosencrantz" and "Guildenstern" or we'd have a backlash against Shakespeare!!!
Oh, wait. We wouldn't, because only games, animation, comic books, and rock music are the source of evil in the world. Surely, if they called themselves anything from Shakespeare, THAT would be a harmless influence on their character.
Tondog @ Jan 17th 2007 10:44PM
I'd back Jack Thompson in a crusade against Final Fantasy if that meant that series would go away!
Joshua @ Jan 17th 2007 11:24PM
These two were probably emo kids and thought that those names were "i'm gonna slit my wrists and bleed anger" cool.
Idiots. People wanna blame everyone else but themselves.
Matt_M @ Jan 17th 2007 11:43PM
At #10, Jake.
As someone who actually works in TV news (top 50 market), you're pretty off base about your assumptions about the way it works. Most of the younger people in my newsroom play them to some extent. Hell, our anchor is a devoted City of Heroes/Villains fan.
Do you want more positive gaming coverage on the news? Then put on an event that does emphasize the positive points. Host a big-ass charity LAN event, do something other than sit back and whine. If you want games portrayed as something good, DO GOOD.
There has to be a strong "now" hook. News media perked up when Penny-Arcade started Child's Play- but what has the gaming community done since then? We have a lot of mid-major studios in my city, but the last time the newsroom got a gaming-related invite to cover something was a McDonald's sponsored Mario Kart DS tournament. This is sad, because I know the local chapter of the IGDA has events going on.
Nintendo made some headway with the Wii as a more physically active console- Ms Soccer Mom perked up at that. But more must be done.
sheppy @ Jan 18th 2007 12:01AM
Dude, Matt... look up some facts, yo. Specifically when you mention Doom and Columbine. The connection wasn't as shallow as "well, let's search their hard drives... oh gee, what's this? DOOOM! And to top it all off, Marilyn Manson's Lunchbox single is the top of their playlist."
Not saying Doom is to blame for Columbine but you have obviously screwed up youth who found Doom to be a source of, shall we say, inspiration? Let's look at the following facts.
1. Both of the killers worked together to recreate their high school as a mod in the game Doom 2 (then known as .wad's) to be played exclusively amongst the trenchcoat mafia.
2. In their video diaries, while Klebold is describing how the planted bombs will go off (people tend to forget that, if these guys actually were successful at making their propane tank bombs, the body count would have easily have been in the hundreds... shooting up the school was a frustrated plan B), Harris interjects with "And then it's all boom, boom, boom... like mother fucking Doom and shit."
3. Harris and Klebold both maintained Doom sites filled with their favorite .wads.
Columbine had a really strong link to Doom. I don't think it's a matter of Doom inspiring the violence but rather Doom being there for violence crazed sociopaths to cling to. Same effect GTA has had. For people who don't know the usual story of gamers, seeing such a Doom obsessed killer grouped with what many consider rather unexplained linksto the sudden behavior, Doom was the easiest answer as to why. Meanwhile, while everyone was breaking down the lyrics "I'm gonna throw down on the playground, I wanna go down... this mother fuckers gonna get my metal," I was wondering how in the holy hell two 16 years olds managed to assemble a downright disturbing arsenal and, likewise, how could the parents not know? in fact, when uncovering facts, the police were already keeping an eye on Harris because of a death threat issued to one of the trenchcoat mafia on his personal website.
I mean, you and I can easily agree that video games do not inspire violence but rather violent people are inspired by violent video games. But to claim there is no link is foolish. A killer could find motivation to kill in anything, including the bible. The true question in trying to find these patterns is not one of "well, why did a GTA player do this" but rather "how was this person before?"
Don't kid yourself. There is a link to violent video games. However, that link could just as readily attach itself to Manga or even Music. As much as it pains me to say it, society needs to become more socially aware, or have they? Violent Crime reached an all-time low the very same year GTA:SA was released and while Jack Thompson will insist those stats are falsified due to things NOT being reported, I can assure you this simply is not the case.
NoHitHair @ Jan 18th 2007 4:31AM
Sheppy -
Your logic defending the Doom and Columbine link is flawed and your evidence worthless. Simply because a person engages in a particular activity (even if it becomes obsessive), it does not prove that any subsequent actions were due to the activity. In other words, all you've stated is that the Columbine killers played Doom, lived Doom and loved Doom, but you've established no link that Doom actually helped to incite the massacre.
With the amount of murders that happen in the U.S. each year, it is highly disingenuous for us to focus only on the aspects of a murderer that include "dark" or "weird" hobbies. Would anything be said if an avid bicyclist slashed someone's throat? Maybe the sport of pedaling on two wheels just drove him over the edge.
A person's existing insanity is far more likely to be the culprit, their immersion into a violent game a way to provide a reality consistent with their mindset. I'm very interested in strategy and thus, I'd be more inclined to become enamored with a game such as Starcraft or Civilization. Does that mean I'm going to nuke all religious people (read the Starcraft manual of Earth history)?
Charles @ Jan 19th 2007 1:39PM
Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Those kids only watched Advent Children on the same evening and that's about it. The 15 year old girl they had held hostage denied them calling each other something else than their proper names. The name rumour originated in the "Bild" tabloid, which is like The Sun, but worse and with the highest circulation in Europe.
I checked Joystiq's sources and at some point, IGN stated a German press agency article (which is correct and without any stupid rumours) and ADDED the name calling thing.
Leo @ Jan 18th 2007 8:21AM
Just one thing: "Killerspiele" is plural, the singular is "Killerspiel".
Maybe it's already been mentioned, I didn't read through all the comments.
baby sea tuna @ Jan 18th 2007 11:41AM
NERD RAGE!
thunderleg @ Jan 25th 2007 6:09PM
Quote:
Two boys playing Final Fantasy, calling each other Sephiroth and Reno, does not engender such tragedy.
--------------------------------
This certainly is tragic, but in it's own way: people actually naming themselves after those two characters.
Really, people! At least TRY to be original!!
Jake @ Jan 18th 2007 10:38AM
Sheppy never said that the killers killed because of Doom. Only that there was a link in their minds between the two.
MrBlank @ Jan 18th 2007 11:02AM
''What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?''
sheppy @ Jan 18th 2007 3:57PM
NoHitHair, as Jake said, I never said Doom caused Columbine. When a murder happens, no police detectives just say "well, he was a sick fuck, case closed." Sadly, this is what gamers try to do anytime a murderer has a link ot a video game, however small. Your reactions proves it.
Now when you have an excessively high profile massacre like Columbine, everyone wanted reasons within a couple hours. Sadly, it takes more than a couple hours for things like this. Could take years. So the first piece discovered was the killers most public hobby. Notice how I used the word, piece?
When you delve back further, you discover disturbing trends. You discover a couple people firing guns out in the middle of nowhere, blogs loaded with death threats and a general hatred of human society, and most of all, Harris, the decidedly sickest of the two, parading his "acting" and his deceptions like some sort of evil mastermind. You discover two people who pretty hated everything in the world except each other and even created a hit list. You are talking two people who planned explosives to go off during the changing of the lunch hours in the entrance to the cafeteria and two more near the local fire escapes. The guns were planned to "pick off" survivors. Truly they were disturbed beyond anything Doom could conceivably do to a minor.
But the fact remains, Doom was their most public hobby. If you have a guy slicing up women in central park and when they finally catch him, he's wearing a Spiderman costume, a lot of people will be looking at what exactly Spiderman is.
Causality does not equate to Interest. But Interest always, in some way, relate to causality.
moophisto @ Jan 18th 2007 6:49PM
The girl that was kidnapped was interviewed on tv last night and according to what she said, they were not calling themselves by aliases. Further did they watch FF: Advent Children, not play FF VII before it happened.
The biggest tabloid in Germany, 'Bild', notorious for provoking 'articles', first reported those things. No clue if other newspapers also reported it, but apparently it is not true.
Ptrix @ Jan 19th 2007 4:10AM
There IS evidence of correlation, but NO evidence of causality. did they have Doom installed on their computers? Yes. were they highly involved in the so-called "Doom Community"? Sure, I suppose. Were their computers computers running Windows 9x or MacOS 8-9? Most likely Windows. Did they have their own bedrooms? Absolutley. Were they both breastfed as infants? More likely than not. Did their footwear have laces or velcro? I assume laces.
Those are ALL strong, positive correlations. BUT the FACT that they both had PCs running Windows 9x with Doom installed, and were active members of the so-called "Doom Community" is no more the cause of their murderous rampage than are the equally true FACTS that they were both breastfed and wore boots with laces.
You cannot figure out WHY people do the things they do by relying on deductive reasoning, (ie. "A and B are strongly correlated, therefore, A causes B "). Such reasoning really ONLY tells you that two conditions or variables are connected. Inductive reasoning, (eg. investigating the social realities that those two existed in), would be much more preferable, because that way you'd discover that they were highly isolated from most people in their social environment, and learn from the other people in their school or family that they had extremely little attachment to their peers, were targeted by others (whom they wanted revenge against, as they made lists), and that they had connections to individuals who provided them with weapons and ammunition, which allowed them to commit the acts they that they did.
If you people want to truly understand WHY things happen, or WHY people do the things they do, you need to ASK WHY. Making assumptions (such as the one that "they killed people because they had a few megabytes of entertainment software on their expensive box of hard drives, ram modules, circuit boards, and peripherals" rarely ever asks or explains the WHY. it only explains that there is a correlation, and truth is, that correlation is a rather bloody weak one at that, because if it were a strong one, than ever human being to ever play Doom would be a mass murderer, and i'm sure that most of the people reading this who have played that, or any other first-person shooter, would have wasted buildings full of (real) human beings by now.
Wait... my shoes have laces, and I drank milk as a baby too... i guess that means that I'd better turn myself in before i do something just as utterly insane, right? :P
-Ptrix
suicide @ Jan 19th 2007 4:43AM
http://www.gamequickie.de/2007/01/19/sephiroth-isnt-a-killer/
;)
Sirius @ Jan 19th 2007 5:55PM
Oh... my... God. How stupid. My friends and I call each other FF names all the time! If we do something bad, would they automatically blame the game? Apparently.
Final Fantasy isn't all that violent of a game, anyways! Okay, maybe a little, but, really! MY ten year old brother play Legion of Excalibur, or whatever that game's called.
I'm getting angry. I gotta go eat some chocolate...
Nic Stephens @ Jan 20th 2007 12:16AM
I just want to make it clear: No Doom map was made to look like the two kids school. That is an Urban Myth. I found it ironic though that you were scolding Matt about his facts when your first one was completely false.
realize this @ Feb 27th 2007 4:07PM
this is a digital age that thrives on digital interaction. my evidence for this statement is this non-one-on-one discussion. now, that takes care of MY source.
we are influenced by our environment and the things around us on a daily basis. you speak the way you do and act the way you do, because you've been programmed by your surroundings.
these idiots latched on to something many of us believe to be cool, but because of whatever their pre-disposition may be (toward violence), they chose to commit murder.
development of behavior begins with the responsibility of a parent. if this fails, then it is up to peers. if this fails, it is up to the individual. we are all prone from birth, so for any one of us to point a finger would be dumb.
these articles in the media are meant for entertainment. these games are meant for entertainment. introspection is, very often, not entertaining at all. however, articles such as this should (in my mind) provoke some level of introspection on some level. be it individual or societal, we should really look to ourselves for answers if we actually need to know.
p.s. i'm using "Jake" as my source for the statements i've made on behavioral development. anyone who says what he has and ends with a Timothy Leary quote that he no doubt heard first from a Tool album should serve well to prove my point.