My heart goes out to this man and his parents.
australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,17868464^15306^^nbv^,00.html?from=rss
Gamer commits suicide
Correspondents in Sofia
JANUARY 20, 2006
Correction: On 19 January AustralianIT published a story about the suicide of an online gamer sourced from news wire service Agence France-Press (AFP). The story contained major factual errors. AFP has issued a corrected story which is published here.
A young American committed suicide after talking about it on an internet gaming forum where other players tried in vain to dissuade him, the designer of the web forum said.
Bulgarian Boyan Georgiev, one of the owners of the company MaxEffect that designed the www.metalgearsolid.org site, said the young man - registered under the nickname "Kuja 105" - shared online that he had family problems and financial difficulties and was thinking about committing suicide.
He wrote that he was swallowing pills and antifreeze.
For hours "Mitchell S", since revealed to be Mitchell Lee Stuekerjuergen, shared with other users what he was feeling, then started sending illegible messages and quit the forum, Mr Georgiev said.
"Other users asked him not to commit suicide. He agreed to talk about this over the phone with another user who gave him his phone number," he said.
One of the American administrators of the site, Ryan Kincaid, said in an email that he "spoke with him (Kuja) briefly over the phone and attempted to talk him out of suicide".
"While we did initially believe that he was joking (that is the internet, after all), we quickly realised that he was serious about his intentions and spent the next several hours attempting to convince him that there were alternative solutions to his problems," Mr Kincaid wrote.
Mr Kincaid said that he learned about his friend's death by calling his parents' house.
Mr Georgiev said his company created the site www.metalgearsolid.org, hosted by the American bluehost.com internet server.
The site had been suspended Wednesday by the host server pending a investigation, Mr Georgiev said, without giving further details.
Liz Woolley
Mitchell Stuekerjuergen
Mitchell "Mitch" Lee Stuekerjuergen, 21, of Fort Madison, died WedAC/a,!aEUoenesday, Jan. 4, 2006, at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, Ill.
Born Nov. 27, 1984, in Fort Madison, he was the son of Kevin J. and Nancy J. Rickelman Stuekerjuergen.
Mr. Stuekerjuergen was a student at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill., majoring in journalism.
He was a 2003 graduate of Aquinas High School. He was a member of Sacred Heart Church in Fort Madison. He built his own computer and was an avid Star Wars and movie fan. At his request he was an organ donor.
Survivors include his mother and stepfather, Nancy and Bob Fowler of Fort Madison; his father and stepmother, Kevin and Tami Stuekerjuergen of Fort Madison; one sister, Cyndi Stuekerjuergen at home; one brother, Tyler Stuekerjuergen at home; one stepsister, Courtney Fowler of Donnellson; three stepbrothers, Damien Fowler of Fort Madison and Kyle and Cole Calvert, both at home; maternal grandparents, Leonard and Bernice Rickelman of West Point; paternal grandmother, Nancy Stuekerjuergen of West Point; maternal stepgrandmother, Lila Fowler of Montrose; paternal stepgrandfather, Dan Fraise of Donnellson; paternal stepgrandparents, Brad and Lynn Buckley of Fort Madison; and paternal stepgreatAC/a,!aEUoegrandparents, Louis and Cecelia Fraise of Fort Madison and Frank and Betty Lowe of Hamilton, Ill.
He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Sacred Heart Church, 23rd Street and Avenue I, Fort Madison, where the family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. with a Christian wake service at 7:30 p.m.
The Mass of Christian burial for Mr. Stuekerjuergen will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Sacred Heart Church, with the Rev. Thomas Parlette officiating. Burial will be in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Fort Madison.
A memorial has been established for Holy Trinity Catholic School system.
KingAC/a,!aEUoeLynk Funeral Home in Fort Madison is in charge of arrangements.
Liz Woolley
Jack Thompson sent this letter to MetalGearSolid.org basically saying that this kid was going to hell for being a gamer in his own words.
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."
On January 20, 2006, MetalGearSolid.org issued their response:
"Once again, Mr. Thompson, you've proven that your ignorance knows no bounds. We're not going to participate in this war you wish to wage against us -- we're bigger than that. We're bigger than you.
This is a case where our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions. The fact that you want to exploit the loss that both we and his family have suffered to forward your own selfish, religiously driven ambitions speaks volumes about the integrity (or lack, thereof) of your character, and it only serves to strengthen our resolve.
You can continue to try and discredit us and insult us, though no true man of God would do such a thing. We pity you and your ignorance, and only hope that someday you can come to terms with and mature away from your biggotry. As Metal Gear Solid fans, we have learned to believe in the best of individuals. We've learned to show charity. We've become better people, and through the loss of our friend, we've become a closer-knit community.
We forgive you, Jack, and we hope that God will do the same for you."
When you die and go to the big house, and your maker asks you "What did you do with your life?"
What will you have to say?
Liz Woolley
I'm Non-Religious.
What are you going to do after your body dies?
Liz Woolley
My problem with Jack Thompson is that he not only chooses to expose the character flaws that online, anonymous gamers have, but he exploits them for his own gain and makes personal attacks on those individuals. Then when they defend themselves and attack back, he goes, "See? See how irrational and violent gamers are?" when he was often the one who provoked or instigated.
Anyone who has dealt with people online for more than a few years, myself included, knows what things to say and not to say to calm or provoke an individual. He chooses his battles when he could very well let things slide. He understands the problems that excessive gaming can cause and that are associated with online relationships and interactions.
He was quoted as saying, "There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God." Well, if people are of God and games are of people, then the games are of God.
Jack Thompson is like some 16 year old tired hound dog. He growls and barks at everyone to show how mean he is and everyone just wants to poke him with a stick and tease him because of it.
Liz, you and he are on the same page with your beliefs about gaming. It's just that you choose to be civil and understanding, and as a result, have a large respectful following of gamers and non-gamers who are supportive of your cause.
He needs to pray for patience and humility. Maybe if he played a dozen levels or so of Disney's Toon Town Online, he wouldn't be such a grouch.
Ron
"Get a Life!"
Ron Jaffe AKA Diggo McDiggity
OLGA Admin and Member since 2001
eMail: ronjaffe@cfl.rr.com
Co-Founder of OLGA and member since 2002
There's also the fact he threatens to press charges against people who talk back to him after he insults or antagonize them in the first place.
It's tragic. I'm also an atheist, but if I'm wrong, the IPU (Invisible Pink Unicorn) will forgive me. Honestly, it's an awful thing that Jack Thomspon can speak for God or pretend to know what was in this man's heart. And it's horrible for him to exploit this young man's horrible story.
The tragedy here is the suicide and the desperation that lead up to it. And my heart breaks for the family. What a waste I am so grateful that I had another option.
For the atheists and agnostics on this list, I'm there too, and I'll yell and scream and say that we need the steps and the recovery as well
Hugs,
Tiredangel