Posted on 06/24/2026 9:36:36 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Police said the 14-year-old was a player of Gorebox, a game where players can "obliterate anything [they] desire" and "engage in brutal combat with an extensive arsenal of weapons and explosives", according to its Google Play listing.
"We cannot ignore possible online influences that may have contributed to this tragic incident," the country's cyber-security agency said.
"Temporarily blocking the game will allow authorities to conduct a thorough assessment into whether the platform played any role in the actions of the suspects," said Aboy Paraiso, an undersecretary at the Cybercrime Investigation and Co-ordinating Centre.
BBC News has contacted Gorebox's maker, Germany's F2Games, for comment. Scientific studies have not found a direct link between video games and violent behaviour.
Gorebox is a first-person shooter video game that can be played as solo or online multiplayer. The International Age Rating Coalition gave it an R18 rating due to extremely violent, explicit, and unrestrictive gameplay.
... In response to the Tacloban shooting, Philippine senators will continue a previous investigation into the effects of violence in online platforms on children.
Sen Risa Hontiveros said platforms had become "nests for brainwashing and radicalising our youth".
"If the internet is being used to victimise children, we will not wait for the next victim before we act."
Joy Belmonte, mayor of densely populated Quezon City, said a review of security protocols was needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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> But politicians know better!: "Philippine senators will continue a previous investigation into the effects of violence in online platforms on children."
I'm not a gamer. I played DOOM a little when it first came out for MSDOS in the 90's, got bored, haven't gamed since. Got better things to do.
But I think the senators would do well to listen to the scientists on this one. Political hysteria is not going to help.
In any case, a reasonably bright, dedicated teenager will figure out how to work around any barrier that the politicians put up. That's what being a teenager is all about.
Blaming a game for a highly unstable person doing violence after gaming is just as stupid as blaming a firearm for a highly unstable person doing violence with a gun.
Don’t ban firearms. Don’t ban video games.
Re-open the mental institutions. Stop treating mental illness as normal.
Identify and isolate highly unstable people. There are almost always plenty of warning signs.
Preferred Duke Nukem
Those invisible demons in Doom were flat out creepy 🤯
You got attacked almost without warning ⚠️
Speaking of dangerous online influences, whatever happened to the Trump Administration’s plans to, if not ban TikTok within the USA, force it to monitor the levels of violence or lawbreaking scenes permitted to be viewed?
Last I heard, that date of reckoning kept being postponed during year 2025. I also heard, some American billionaire wanted to buy TikTok from the Chinese. Not certain if anything has been changed.
With AI now you can create virtually any game you want.
Yep. I suspect that in fairly short time, the limitless ability to create any game will saturate every gamer's desire. And just like a candy lover in a candy store where everything is free, they'll burn out.
It's hard to create a puzzle for yourself that doesn't wear out almost immediately -- you know the answers, the cheats, how to beat it. where's the challenge?
Back in the’70s politicians in my state wanted to ban (desktop) Dungeons and Dragons. Led to boys offing themselves, you know.
As a kid, I used to play Avalon Hill war games. To date, I haven’t had the urge to conquer another country.
“Identify and isolate highly unstable people. There are almost always plenty of warning signs.”
.
Use of drugs?
After the Columbine shootings in the 90s, there was a US Army psychiatrist who had put together a report that concluded that first-person shooter video games were problematic (in that someone with less than 52 cards in their deck could find it easier to go from there to shooting real people).
I played the Call of Duty and Battlefield series. I never had the desire to go to war. However the game Americas Army was created by the US Army to help soldiers with “pulling the trigger”.
I preferred BF games because the maps were huge. COD just turned into a killfest. My video card died and I never replaced it. I found a strategy game called Flashpoint Cold War (hex based unit game like AH’s Panzerblitz) and I ordered a new video card for it. I like to keep my remaining brain cell sharpened. I might break out COD 1 for giggles.
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