Gamer commits suicide,media misinterprets,Thompson jumps into fray.

[deathdemon89]

http://www.metalgearsolid.org/featurez/articles/mitch_article.php

We, as a community, pay tribute to our fallen comrade.

Mitchell "Mitch" Lee Stuekerjuergen, also known as "Kuja105" on GameFAQs as well as on our TUS Forums, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006, at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, Ill. He was twenty years old.

A regular to both communities, he was well known for quickly becoming a friend to everyone who knew him. A sophomore journalism major from Ft. Madison, IA, he was an avid gaming and science-fiction fan, with a talent for inspiring discussion among his peers and an endless appreciation for Calvin &
Hobbes. Formallities aside, Mitch was one hell of a guy -- I first met him a while back, when I was running one of my first websites. He quickly gained my respect and became a moderator. That community survived as long as it did because of his work.

Outside of the internet, Mitch was a person who cared about his family more than anything. Though he may not have talked much about them, it was clear that they were at the forefront of his thoughts and his heart. I'm going to miss talking to him every day, and this community will never quite recover from the loss.

Semper fidelis, buddy -- we'll miss you.

Mitchell Lee Stuekerjuergen commited suicide due to financial problems and complications at school.He decided to inform his friends at the forum before he ended his life.Thats when the media came in.

http://news.gaminghorizon.com/media2/1137635340.3198.html - report 1

Sadly, Mitchell soon ended his own life by consuming antifreeze and painkillers.

Later, members from the site contacted Mitchell's family to find out the grave news. They reported it to their online community, and posted a tribute to their passed friend on the front page of metalgearsolid.org.

This is where the story turns.

The story was picked up by AFP, an international newswire service and has been carried by Yahoo!, CNN, and more. The story reported by AFP is almost completely erroneous to a sad and morbid degree.

The story authored by the AFP writer stated:

" ...[T]he gamer switched on his web cam and swallowed a large amount of motor antifreeze and pills [...]

Other forum members thought the man nicknamed "Kudjo" was joking even though he rambled for six hours about the effects of the substances and disappeared from view several times....

http://news.gaminghorizon.com/media2/1137793080.3207.html - report 2

Yesterday, the AFP issued a retraction and a corrected version of the story. So far, however, I've only found one news source that ran the false version of the story to have published the correction, this Australian IT website. Yahoo! and CNN are still running the false version of the story...

http://www.gamepolitics.com/
http://www.insertcredit.com/
^ only a few of the many links reporting the incident.
Its downright despicable how the media would run over and smear the name of communities like MGS:TUS,and Mitchell,and misreport news as disturbing and as sensitive as this to shape it in the way they see fit,completely ignoring the facts.This is truly a downright insult to journalism.

But things get worse from there.Somehow,infamous lawyer Jack Thompson gets into the picture.This is what he had to say to the MGS:TUS forum members:

"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."

This man truly has no heart.He bashes the community for staying quiet and not doing anything for Mitch as he drew his last breaths.In reality,the forum members were doing all they could within their power to persuade Mitch against his decision.The TUS community has replied to his message,of course:

http://metalgearsolid.org/news/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1137806430&archive=&template=

I frequent these forums,and I knew Mitch.Not as much as I would have liked to,but I knew him nevertheless.And he was a good guy.He doesn't deserve his name to be dragged in the mud by scum like J.T. and AFP.I just thought you ppl would be interested in knowing how far people like Thompson can go when fuelled and blinded by greed and pride.I also find it incredible how the community has united and stood for Mitch,and gone to such lengths in his defence.I offer my condolences to Mitch's family,and hope he has found peace.

When a fellow gamer dies, the least we can do is make sure his story is heard as loudly and as accurately as possible...

 

[Blade_Runner]

Already posted here

http://www.techenclave.com/forums/us-man-kills-himself-live-gamers-65838.html?highlight=suicide

Closing thread.