Ex Marine goes missing after playing Call of Duty 4

S

Strubes

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/10/ex-marine-goes-missing-after-call-of-duty-triggered-flashbacks/

Eric Hall, a 24-year-old Floridian and retired Marine, has now been missing for a week. His friends say that shortly after playing Call of Duty (4, we assume), Hall "just got up and said that he had to go." He was last seen departing his home on a motorcycle, which was later found on the side of a road. The local sheriff's office claims that the man was suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks to his time spent serving in Iraq, where he was injured during a patrol by an exploding bomb, which did tremendous damage to the left side of his body, and reportedly decapitated Hall's best friend in front of his eyes.

It's not exactly confirmed that Call of Duty was behind Hall's disappearance -- after all, we found the story on Fox News, who has a less than objective view of video gaming as a whole. Regardless, we wish Hall's family the best of luck in locating him, though, as Hall's father pointed out, it's tough to find a Marine that doesn't want to be found.
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Wow, pretty crazy. My prayers go out to his family. I hope he's found in good health.
 
I can understand how CoD 4 could bring a traumatic experience actually serving in Iraq to the forefront of one's mind. A testament to the quality of realism the game displays, but in this case quite unfortunate for Hall and his family. I hope he's ok, just needed some time to think or what have you.
 
Jack said:
Good, free advertising for CoD4 I say.
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I honestly fail to see how a military soldier (that protected our country) going through a mental struggle after playing the game qualifies as "good advertising".
 
kirbyrockz said:
I honestly fail to see how a military soldier (that protected our country) going through a mental struggle after playing the game qualifies as "good advertising".
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QFT

Jack, that was just mean.
 
Anyone got an update on this story? I can't imagine it would take much longer than this to find the guy, unless he's no longer among the living. :-\

Jack said:
Good, free advertising for CoD4 I say.
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I don't understand how a game provoking post traumatic stress disorder would be good advertising for the game. If anything, I would think it would be negative advertising.
 
mariorulezman said:
you know people its just a little guess but maybe jack was being sarcastic? Just a little bit?
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There's some things to be sarcastic about, and whether someone is dead or alive isn't.
 
To be honest, I don't think this guy should have been playing a war game after what he went through in real life.
 
Jack said:
God forbid I think differently.
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This isn't about thinking differently. You can have your opinion, I don't care about that... but I will say I disagree in every sense of the word. We're talking about a man who worked to protect our nation going missing. There's absolutely nothing about that that can be used for "good advertising".
 
kirbyrockz said:
This isn't about thinking differently. You can have your opinion, I don't care about that... but I will say I disagree in every sense of the word. We're talking about a man who worked to protect our nation going missing. There's absolutely nothing about that that can be used for "good advertising".
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As I said in my first post, its a testament to the authenticity and realism of the game. The game is so close to what it was actually like being there it gave someone shell shock. That might make a few people take a second look at this game. Even if you don't believe that, any publicity is good publicity, so this story is good advertising for CoD4 by getting the name out there.

Furthermore, just to stir up a little controversy, not everyone believes that invading other countries is the best way of protecting our own, so to say "we're talking about a man who worked to protect our nation" is a little presumptuous. Jack may have simply been saying what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If this particular soldier didn't want to see grotesque acts of violence he shouldn't have enlisted in an army.
 
stealth toilet said:
As I said in my first post, its a testament to the authenticity and realism of the game. The game is so close to what it was actually like being there it gave someone shell shock. That might make a few people take a second look at this game. Even if you don't believe that, any publicity is good publicity, so this story is good advertising for CoD4 by getting the name out there.

Furthermore, just to stir up a little controversy, not everyone believes that invading other countries is the best way of protecting our own, so to say "we're talking about a man who worked to protect our nation" is a little presumptuous. Jack may have simply been saying what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If this particular soldier didn't want to see grotesque acts of violence he shouldn't have enlisted in an army.
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That doesn't make the fact that someone who was protecting OUR country (yes I said it) is missing. People are too ungrateful nowadays.
 
As I said in my first post, its a testament to the authenticity and realism of the game. The game is so close to what it was actually like being there it gave someone shell shock. That might make a few people take a second look at this game. Even if you don't believe that, any publicity is good publicity, so this story is good advertising for CoD4 by getting the name out there.
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I respectfully disagree. In my honest opinion, the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" is false in this situation. The trite phrase may be useable in certain situations (e.g. celebrities)... but I honestly do not think that bad publicity is good for a video game. Video games as a whole already have a negative reputation with many in the United States (Fox News is good at keeping that one up :lol)... situations like this only serve to fuel the fire of anti-gaming, due to violence factors and whatnot. It hurts more than helps, in my humble opinion.

Furthermore, just to stir up a little controversy, not everyone believes that invading other countries is the best way of protecting our own, so to say "we're talking about a man who worked to protect our nation" is a little presumptuous. Jack may have simply been saying what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If this particular soldier didn't want to see grotesque acts of violence he shouldn't have enlisted in an army.
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Stealth, I agree with you 100%, but that's not what I'm trying to say here. I'm not justifying the war on terror by any means; this isn't the time nor place for a discussion of that sort, and quite frankly I steer away from political and military debates as often as I can. I realize my bad wording falsely indicated otherwise, but I honestly didn't mean to condone the war at all. (To be honest I really am against the act of defense-by-invasion in the first place). What I meant to convey with that statement was it should not be seen as "good advertising" out of sheer respect for our troops. They do what they are told and do a good job at it, and like it or not, they are protecting my country. Whether you are for or against the war, every American wants the troops to come home safe... and it's awful to hear of something happening to one of these people who went through a traumatic experience. That's all I meant. I'm not justifying any actions.
 
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