Warcraft 3 Trash Talk Leads to Broken Fingers
You don't have to be a FPS gamer to get a good butt-whooping after spouting trash talk.
If you thought that trash talk and a real-world butt-kicking were only byproducts of first-person shooter gaming, then think again. As one Warcraft III gamer has discovered, RTS fans can be just as passionate and aggressive.
The Vancouver Sun reports that secondary school student Eric Hamber was confronted and beaten down during lunch by a group of boys. They forced him to kiss their feet, and then broke his fingers by bashing his hand with batons.
Vancouver police constable Lindsey Houghton confirmed on Thursday that the group of assailants had tracked down Hamber after playing against the victim and his friends during a round of Defense of the Ancients for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos the night before. Hamber’s group won the round and proceeded to taunt the losers.
Houghton said that the losing opposition didn’t care for the trash talk. "It's very unusual," Houghton said. "Something that is exceptionally rare, given the number of people who play video games. Most people can separate reality from online fiction."
"I guess some people take these things exceptionally seriously,” he added.
Currently there haven’t been any arrests, however the Vancouver police youth squad is investigating the assault. Hamber and witnesses said the group comprised of four or five assailants being in their late teens.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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blazeorangeman in related news: the Mafia's youth recruitment seems to be yielding successful results through Battle.netReply -
ghnader hsmithot i sometimes wonder what police do..because sometimes i have lost hope in law enforcement..my bad experience i guess..Reply -
afrobacon They were just preparing for the next battle. Kind of hard to lose when your opponent can't use his keyboard.Reply -
whysobluepandabear No arrests? WTF?! What do their police do? They already know someone got felony status assaulted ...they know the people, but they don't go get them?Reply
Wow, Canada really are full of French. -
jerreece zulfadhlii sometimes wonder what police do..because sometimes i have lost hope in law enforcement..my bad experience i guess..Reply
WTF does this have to do with this article exactly?
WhySoBluePandaBearNo arrests? WTF?! What do their police do? They already know someone got felony status assaulted ...they know the people, but they don't go get them? Wow, Canada really are full of French.
They said in the article the victim basically said it was a group of teens. How can the cops arrest someone if nobody can tell them who it was?
And don't spout off about getting IP addresses. Police need a warranty first, and then have to fight Blizzard's red tape to get IP addressses from Battle.net records. This all takes time. -
SneakySnake It's no different then me taunting you in any sport. You don't take trash talk personally, especially if it's from the other teamReply -
jerreece I think the cop who made the statement was referring to Warcraft III as being online fiction. Not the trash talking part. I think the point was, "It's just a game. In real life, it doesn't really matter who is better at it."Reply