It turns out that Albertville-Realschule gunman Tim Kretschmer played the popular online game Counter-Strike.

By my recollection so did Stephen Kazmierczak, Sebastian Bosse, Pekka-Eric Auvinen and Matti Saari.

Did Counter-Strike somehow influence them into their choices to commit mass murder? I seriously doubt it. Saying these people played Counter-Strike is like saying anybody who grew up in the ’80s played Pac-Man. Counter-Strike is one of the most popular online video games today. Just because a handful of mass murdering scumbags played the game does not mean that it turned them into mass murderers. There are millions of gamers across the world who play Counter-Strike who have never killed anybody.

But this is Germany we’re talking about. A country with some of the strictest gaming laws on record. I haven’t heard anyone making claims connecting Counter-Strike to the shooting but it will only be a matter of time.

H/T to Game Politics.