By: Lauren Manduke
One year ago, a 16 year old boy form Ohio shot both his mother and father in the head with a 9mm gun after they banned him from playing the video game, Halo 3. Daniel Petric, now 17 years old, is awaiting his verdict. He is charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and related offenses in the shooting death of his mother and shooting of his father (who survived). If convicted, Petric could be sentenced to life in prison with a parole eligibility date that would be determined based on the offenses. He is not eligible for the death penalty because of his age.
Petric’s attorney argued that Petric was addicted to video games and that Halo 3 and video games of like nature had warped Petric’s sense of reality to the point that Petric could not comprehend that his parents would permanently die. Petric’s attorney argued that Petric believed that, like the game, that his parents would come back to life.
Video games have infiltrated today’s culture in huge and epic ways. Everywhere we look there is a new game released that is more realistic than the last. Gamers assume the persona of the character and, in fact, play the game from that character’s point of view- literally. They see as the character in the game would see. Games range from the more innocent – go cart driving, to the insanely violent- aliens taking over the world and bloody battles ensuing (think Halo 3). When I read about Daniel’s attorney’s defense strategy, I instantly thought back to my fiancé’s game that he just got for Christmas, Call of Duty 4. Now my fiancé is 28 years old and I am 26, and as I watched him play the game I was shocked at the graphic nature of the game and how realistic everything looked. One of the most shocking scenes in Call of Duty 4 is the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl. The gamer is playing as a soldier in a helicopter that has been deployed to Chernobyl to look into nuclear readings that are higher than normal. As the helicopter is flying just above Chernobyl, the reactor goes off and the helicopter goes crashing down. A couple of moments later, the screen goes black (re: the character has been knocked unconscious). Shortly thereafter, however, the black fades out slowly and all you see around you is ruins. The only sound is that of labored breathing and the remote control literally pulsates as to re-create the characters injured and sporadic heart beat. The character labors around the crash site for a moment more before the controller stops beating and again the screen goes black (re: your game character has now died in the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl). The amazing and wonderful part happens 2 minutes later when you see the dead body of the soldier get up and appear magically in Germany where a new mission awaits him. Is it so crazy now that a 16 year old could possibly be confused about the permanence of death?
It is cases such as that of Daniel Petric that magnify the extent that culture and the legal system crash into each other and highlight the short fallings of the legal system at large. Daniel Petric clearly has some major issues within his perception of reality. The legal systems only solution for him is to sentence him to life in a prison cell while video games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 will continued to be played by thousands of children throughout the country. If I as a 26 year old adult found myself being sucked into the violence of Call of Duty 4 how can society possibly argue that a 16 year old is any more accountable?
