Middle-Aged Gamer Assaults Teen Over Black Ops Beatdown

[corruptrelic]

A 13-year-old boy got the scare of his life when a middle-aged man he trash-talked in Black Ops tracked him down and "throttled" him.

46-year-old Mark Bradford of the U.K. was getting a rough ride in his online Call of Duty: Black Ops match. The beatdown was bad enough, but it was the inevitable trash-talk from the punk kid who was kicking his ass that really drove him around the bend. But when it finally got to be too much, he didn't take off his headset and stop playing. He went looking for the kid.

And he found him. The boy was at a friend's house not far from Bradford's single-room apartment; Bradford went to the house, entered the room where they were playing, grabbed his tormenter around the throat and started choking him. Fortunately, the boy's mother pulled Bradford away before he could be seriously hurt, although he was still left with scratches and reddening around his neck.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113404-Middle-Aged-Gamer-Assaults-Teen-Over-Black-Ops-Beatdown

[msteelers]

Why you little....

[hepcat]

That strikes me as a little hard to believe.  Guy in the heat of the moment somehow discovers kid who's taunting lives just down the block and he finds him...at a friend's house no less...in what appears to be only a matter of hours (if not minutes)?

kid:  Ha ha, you're an a#hole and a loser!  By the way, I live at 1313 mockingbird lane, although I'm currently at my friend chuck's house and he lives across the street.

[Harkonis]

He knew the kid through the family it said.  Plus we don't know if part of the taunting involved names of who he was with or anything.

[Space Herpes]

Of course it was totally wrong for someone to physically assault someone over a stupid game. However, the devil on my should tells me not to feel sorry for the little wanker (he was more scared than hurt). Some of the things people say online are pretty horrendous and seeing this kind of accountability strikes a cord in the dark part of my heart. I guess that's why I like to watch Dexter.

[Kagath]

So you think the kid will be trash talking more people any time soon?

[PR_GMR]

Of course it was totally wrong for someone to physically assault someone over a stupid game. However, the devil on my should tells me not to feel sorry for the little wanker (he was more scared than hurt). Some of the things people say online are pretty horrendous and seeing this kind of accountability strikes a cord in the dark part of my heart. I guess that's why I like to watch Dexter.

Gotta agree with this sentiment. I went to a PC cafe this past Saturday and I rented a PC for a couple of hours. There were some young teenagers there playing. One of them, not looking any older than 14, was particularly foulmouthed and was dropping F-bombs and cusses like a waiter dropping glasses while hopped up on 12 cups of coffee.

[hepcat]

Anonymity is the enemy of culture.

[USMC Kato]

Anonymity is the enemy of culture.

I hope that one day, Xbox Live or another similar online service will require some semblance of accountability.  I treat people that I talk to online just as I would talk to them face to face.  I play pick up basketball at my gym every now and then and nobody wears a mask to be anonymous.

[Bob]

So you think the kid will be trash talking more people any time soon?

Sure he will.  Just not someone who knows him personally.

[Razgon]

Conan said it best Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.