How bad was their online rivalry?

Still stupid none the less.

Damn right, that's how us players roll! Talk crap online and get punched in real life. Breaking up fights is useless unless the person breaking them up is a police officer.

So.... anyone played any FUN games recently?

Thats not as bad as the guys on l2blah (major l2 community) were asking for the dead guys gear, and labeling the IRL thug as a hero for crushing the kids skull while hes on the ground.

Found that more disturbing than the actual murder.

I played the game for 3 years, got a Paladin Hero (sad...what a massive waste of time that was).

If it's a Lineage 2 player he can always just use the defense it was his Bot and not actually him.

"As one of my friend's pointed out when I told him about this sad story: If it wasn't a game gathering it would have been a soccer match or just everyday barroom brawl."

Unfortunately, that's not how Jack "Lawman Xtreme" Thompson is going to see it. No, this is the work of the evil devil gamer, and stuff like this never happens unless video games are involved. I'd be willing to bet he's already booked his flight to the Ukraine.

That's the scary part about meeting up with people you only know through MMOs. Someone who behaves like a sociopath in an MMO is just a roleplayer who is into it, someone who acts like that in real life is scary and probably should be avoided. That's why I only play games where there's a market analyst class, so I can act the same in both.

Wow...people play Lineage 2 still?

I thought the only thing that game had going for it were incredibly detailed breast physics.

Oh wow. I thought this was about kicking a player to death in the real game (I never played it so I'm not sure if you can actually kick).. I was about to say "This isn't news". :P

I didn't even realize it was in real life until "break-up a fight between Ponamorenko and his online nemesis". LOL

But anyway, that's really, really sad. I can't believe an internet fued can spark such hatred that you would murder the person if you saw him. Amazing.

Well done for ignoring the 'comedy angle' - as The Inquirer point out: "Unfortunately for Ponamorenko, Blyoskin was not carrying any "phat l3wt" on his person. More unfortunately, Blyoskin didn't respawn.

May it be known that Moscow is a no PvP zone."

^^ I'm sorry for posting again but LMFAO.

thats why i dont play lineage... i PHEAR FOR MY LIEF!!!

I didn't get that this was outside of the game until the second paragraph.

Those Ukrainians don't take shit from anyone! Ukraine Lineage Gang FTW!!!!

Jeez, just throw the book at this idiot, and bury him in a hole deep in the ground.

This is the reason I will never attend any sort of MMORPG meeting/get together/fanfest. You will always attract the people (or fanatics) that are so addicted and obsessed with the game that they become violent towards anyone with a differing opinion. This can of course happen with any kind of meeting, but unfortunately, MANY online gamers have very poor social skills because of the anonymity of these games.

I'd also add that Lineage II is a horrible game where scammers, bots, and griefers reign.

It's rather sad to read about fist-fights over games near Internet Cafes, but the fact that someone died in this particular fight is just pathetic.

Great, another killing over game.

Thanks Kotaku for sharing this with us. My life is more complete when I hear of people getting murdered over video games.

Enough of this imaginary violance! Yay for real life killing!

...that he wasn't wearing his +5 Mask of Kick-Your-Ass-isisity??

I'm just amazed that anyone has actually died over game disputes (I'm not talking about jacking PS3's for resale). Everyone has to admit that it always ends up with two girly/husky men pulling each other's hair and rolling all over the ground with each other. I'm thinking that Ponamorenko pushed the guy hard, Blyoskin got knocked out on the curb, and then Ponamorenko realized he was getting a nerd's dream of actually being able to beat the hell out of someone. That dumb POS should not have killed the other guy. Hope he gets life or death or whatever they have in his country.

Was the header screenshot just a random grab of Lineage II crap for the sake of putting a picture or one that actually pertains to this story?

He kicked him to death?

The guy he killed must have been a spellcaster.

Wow, he's better off dead. That sounds cold, but come on, if you're going to start a fight over a fucking game, get the hell off my planet. Besides, Lineage II sucks. It's about as fun as being kicked in the head.

Wait, bad analogy.

Well you have to be insane to be able to play Lineage II for more than an hour... talk about a grind-fest.

Narsil, the guy that died was the one trying to break up the fight. Not the guy fighting.

"Violent Dumbfuck Kicks Man to Death"

I'm not the violent type at all but i know if i ever saw Midna walking around i'd throw my belt around her neck and ride her for an hour to see how she liked it.

"Well done for ignoring the 'comedy angle'"

I agree, it's always disturbing when people laugh at situations like this. Someone is dead, how is that funny again?

I've made a few enemies while playing online, but hating someone (who you don't know in real life) so much so that you kill them, wow, that is just awful. This guy has no excuse, he's going to jail for a long while. I wouldn't be surprised if his defense is insanity, since he has no chance otherwise. You gotta be somewhat messed up to do this, I mean, c'mon, have some sense.

Tragic, anyway you look at it.

Actually, I think online environments might heighten the real life violence that results from these kind of confrontations. In off-line activities, generally, people will be part of a community that shapes their reactions. It allows confrontations to take place over time and solutions to evolve. So as each conflict arises, it's dealt with relatively close to the event. Online rivalries generally don't play out that way. There is no resolution, just constant griefing. There are few permanent solutions, few online consequences, and even fewer opportunities to see the other as a person.

So when these "rivals" meet in real-life, it's the first time that these conflicts become realized in the "real" world, with "real" consequences. They can finally take action that has lasting consequence that *seems* appropriate to their anger. Except, their anger is inflated because every transgression is compressed into that one meeting.

I'm not saying the game "causes" violence or confrontations. Certainly, to stomp someone's head in, you probably have issues. I'm just saying to compare online activities (and their resulting conflicts) with activities that are always face-to-face is a little misleading.

It's not a condemnation of videogames to say that they may pose new social challenges, particularly in the online space.

He killed someone over that piece of shit?

Holy hell, I could make a better UI in five minutes.

Wow, I'm glad this guy had a good perspective on things...

"This is the reason I will never attend any sort of MMORPG meeting/get together/fanfest. You will always attract the people (or fanatics) that are so addicted and obsessed with the game that they become violent towards anyone with a differing opinion. This can of course happen with any kind of meeting, but unfortunately, MANY online gamers have very poor social skills because of the anonymity of these games."

yet you post on a video message board? you're so *#$@ing stupid!

signed, anonymous

well.. loks like that guys banned.

Your friend makes a sage point. Doesn't matter what it is, people with differing opinions over something trivial will clash. It's dumb but tell that to all the football hooligans.

Ted: HUR HUR YOUR TEAM LOST, TED TEAM GOOD!
Fred: NUH UH! TED TEAM IS SONS OF MOTHERLESS OGRE!
Ted: YOU INSULT MY BALL KICKING TEAM! YOU DIE!

That was very sh-tai of them to do.