No, the New Zealand killer did not train at Fortnite

"Fortnite has resulted in being a murderer and dancing on the bodies of my enemies, "Says the questions and answers section of The big replacement ("The Great Replacement") the manifest published on the networks by Brenton Tarrant, the author of the mbadacre in mosques in New Zealand.

The sensationalist media quickly turned to this sentence to define it as follows: "The killer fortite" Avoid, as usual, part of the story. The full text of this section says:

"Are video games, music, literature, and movies the ones that instilled violence? Yes, Spyro the Dragon 3m learned ethno-nationalism. Fortnite has led to to be a murderer and to dance on the bodies of my enemies.

No "

Tarrant anticipates the tendency of the mainstream media to attribute to artistic forms the influences of a system that allows and promotes the growth and radicalization of right-wing movements based on the demonization of ethnic groups, religions, nationalities and ideologies. The mentions seem to aim to create a type of controlled story: using the most ridiculous examples, the center of attention is diverted from these interactive experiences with which the fact shares elements.

Person who played or saw a match FortniteThis title, which owes much to the success of its characterization of violence, its infantile appearance and its explosion as a social phenomenon, would find similarities between the images transmitted by the terrorist and the game. Install the idea that the world's most popular interactive experience causes a tragedy like this is as ridiculous as giving up Spyro the dragon, a game in which the player controls a purple dragon who must recover eggs stolen by a witch, as responsible for the ideology behind the attack.

The role of interactive violence in youth behavior is a complex issue that has been debated and studied over the decades.. The vast majority of surveys yielded negative results, but this particular case shows too much similarity with some of the culture that revolves around video games.

The mbadacre was thought from the beginning according to the viralización: announced in a forum bringing together different hate groups as 8chan, was transmitted by Facebook, was commented Reddit and it was available in networks around the world before any of these companies could react. The responsibility of the companies that control the tools that these individuals use to mbad their messages must also be badyzed.

Many of us have probably seen (intentionally or unintentionally) excerpts from those 17 minutes of terror, because that was their plan. Video and Manifesto are tools to maximize public attention, and the use of a camera GoPro simulate a first-person action game is a clear reference to a kind of games this has trivialized and glorified realistic violence over the past decade, thus confirming its success in celebrating the power fantasies of a toxic, homophobic, xenophobic, badist, and Islamophobic segment of culture, so poorly qualified as a "gambler" ".

Video games are not informative and Tarrant has not pulled the trigger, but they have played an important role in creating healthy spaces for the gestation and development of this type of individuals, whose acts reflect the ideology of a part of the public composed of popular personalities who defend anti-Semitism , such as Youtuber. Felix "PewDiePie" Kjelberg (which the shooter invited to follow in his video), and the Internet sewer that is 8chan.

The youtuber has already posted on their social networks a message in which he claims to be disgusted by the fact that this individual has named him. Kjelberg, who felt that the message "Death to all Jews" is fun enough to be at the center of one of his videos.

The 8chan forum, for its part, has erased all traces of Tarrant's announcement in order to dissociate itself completely from the facts. Facebook and the rest of the social networks are doing their best to control the viralisation of images, while the manifest continues to circulate on file download sites.

Each person is responsible for his own actions, But to quote one of the 73-page manifesto's expressions that it ignores any kind of cultural connection promoted by any part of the video game industry is as simple as blaming video games for the mbadacre in New Zealand.