The document discusses the shooting rampage at a German school by 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer and examines the possible influence of violent video games. It notes that Kretschmer spent the night before playing Far Cry 2, a first-person shooter game that has similarities to his actions. While some experts believe violent games can influence such shootings, others argue that multiple factors are required for someone to commit such an act. The document also discusses a possible motive related to a rebuff from a girl Kretschmer was interested in.

1. Media: Violence In The Media
Lesson 2 – Media: Violence In The Media
Date: 2009-4-1
THE teenage gunman who went on a shooting rampage at his old school in
Germany last week spent the night before the killings playing a violent video
game in which a heavily armed mercenary tracks down and kills an arms dealer,
local police revealed at the weekend.
Tim Kretschmer spent from 7.30pm to 9.40pm playing Far Cry2, a game in which the
player takes on the role of the killer.
Remarkable parallels emerged between the video game and the 17-year-old's actions,
when he killed 15 people and then himself.
In the game it is essential to hijack cars to move around. Kretschmer did the same,
holding a pistol to the terrified driver's head and asking: "Should I have fun and pick
off some more drivers?" Characters in the game, which is made by the French
company Ubisoft and has sold 2.9million copies worldwide, wear black camouflage
uniforms, the clothing Kretschmer wore on Wednesday.
Most sinister of all, Far Cry2's
killer uses a Beretta 92
handgun - the same weapon
fired 112 times by Kretschmer.
The game includes sequences
in which the aiming, firing and
reloading of a Beretta are
portrayed in vivid detail. It
rewards players who shoot
their victims in the head, the
style of killing chosen by
Kretschmer.
He also played Counter-Strike, another game featuring gunplay, and TacticalOps, a
special forces action game.
Some US experts are convinced of a link between school shootings and violent
games.
A West Point psychology professor, Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, said: "You
can see the games' influence in the way these school shooters aim and shoot
accurately and move from one target to the next, moving through people
dispassionately."
But Walter Hollstein, a sociologist, working with the Council of Europe, disagrees.
"It's nonsense to assume the games turn adolescents into school shooters," he said. "A
variety of factors, such as helplessness, anger and loss of control, must come together
for them to become the trigger, but the games don't make anyone a killer."
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2. Media: Violence In The Media
German police investigating the shooting at Winnenden school believe one motive
might have been a rebuff from a teenage girl who attended a New Year's Eve party at
Kretschmer's home. The girl was one of his first victims, reports said yesterday.
According to reports, Kretschmer had a "casual friendship" with the girl, who lived
nearby. But she rejected his advances at the party and later ended their relationship.
The name of the girl has not been released, but it emerged that three of his female
victims, Chantal Schill and Jana Schober, both 16, and Stefanie Kleisch, 14, all lived
nearby.
Chantal was the first to die, in her seat
near the door of classroom 305 at
Kretschmer's old school. Police said the
shooting resembled an execution.
Kretschmer then shot Jana and Kristina
Strobel, 16, and left the classroom, going
on to kill Stefanie and four other girls, a
boy and three teachers. Three other
people were killed later.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday called for tighter gun control in her
country after the rampage.
The Sunday Times, AFP
(http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25190537-2703,00.html)
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