Real horror and virtual shooting games

Yesterday 24-year old Tristan van der Vlis, armed with a machine gun, entered a crowded shopping mall and started shooting. Six people died during the ten minute killing spree, dozens wounded. Looking at the way he prepared himself and the time he took (ten minutes of non-stop shooting!), one can assume that he was out to hit as many targets as possible - and perhaps it's a miracle that he did not make more casualties. As a member of a shooting club, he must have known that he was technically capable of doing this. At the same time he must have possessed the EQ of a fridge, shutting himself off like this. Did he hate people? Was he bullied in school? Did his relationship fail? Did he lose his job? Was he insane? What should happen for someone to go this far?

Of course this is speculation; it would not surprise me if this madman turns out to have been a game fanatic. The latest shooting games are truly shocking. On a discussion forum, I came across a macabre demo of 'Modern Warfare 2: Terrorist Mission'. You are supposed to identify with the main shooter, because you see everything through his eyes - you are shooting the machine gun; hell, you ARE the shooter. The virtual world looks entirely realistic, it is like watching Mission Impossible. At the CIA headquarters you get your briefing. The message is obvious: you are a GOOD guy, out to get the world's biggest terrorist, called Makarov - yes, a Russian, what else. You have to do whatever it takes - in the end it will benefit the world at large. You soon find out what that means: as an infiltrator, you enter a crowded airport, filled with innocent civilians. As part of Makarov's team, you start shooting up the entire airport. You see people falling down, hear screams, you step over bodies in large pools of blood. You continue to shoot and kill everything that moves. In the ten minute killing spree (!) hundreds of casualties are made. The guys get into a get-away van, you want to do the same thing. Then the cynical end: Makarov turns and shoots you as well, square in the head. Once the Russians will discover a dead CIA agent, it will most likely escalate into full-scale war, reasons the coldblooded terrorist. Your vision is blurred by blood, as the terrorists escape. Game Over. You're dead.

This game for XBox 360 can purchased by anyone, anywhere. It is sold for instance by Wehkamp.nl, one of the largest postorder companies in the Netherlands, its clientele usually known for its love of floral prints. Of course also Amazon stocks this succesfull game in large numbers, explaining how to raise your score: "This can be done by leveling up, but another important way is through "kill streaks," the number of enemies eliminated in succession. These are available beginning with three kills and include the ability to call for supply drops, predator missile strikes, helicopter gunships and many more..... The game also features help to players experiencing "death streaks," multiple consecutive deaths in multiplayer matches" (http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Xbox-360/dp/B00269QLI8). Not surprising perhaps, that Amazon fails to mention that "players will be called upon to kill hundreds of innocent civilians in bloody massacres".

'Modern Warfare' may not be connected to yesterday's killings at all, but plenty of massacres have been linked to violent computer games, so let's not be surprised if this killer turns out to have been a gamer as well. The ultra-realistic 3D quality of shooting games blur the boundaries between the real and the virtual, where shooting up a real shopping mall is only a button click away for the mentally disturbed.