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Blog: Internet Man Murdered Over Online Dispute
Gabriel Ikram (Blog) - September 27, 2008 11:36 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 27 comment(s) - last by HrilL.. on Oct 8 at 4:02 PM
An online forum dispute leads to the brutal murder of 21-year old Matthew Pike

Last Friday evening, Matthew Pyke was found stabbed to death in his Nottingham, England flat. Pyke ran an online forum dedicated to Advance Wars, which police believe might have resulted in his murder.

Pyke, an avid enthusiast of the Advance Wars series, operated WarsCentral in conjunction with his 20-year old girlfriend, Joanna Witton. Advance Wars is a simple strategy game with releases on Nintendo's DS and GameBoy Advanced handhelds. WarsCentral offers general tips and information regarding the game and hosts an online forum where fans can network.
 
It is believed that Pyke was murdered by David Heiss, a fellow Advance Wars player and forum user of WarsCentral. According to police, Heiss, who lives in Germany, became acquaintances online with Pyke through the WarsCentral forum.

It is suspected that David Heiss had an argument with Pyke on WarsCentral, and in his rage Heiss allegedly traveled from Germany to England and murdered Pyke. The nature and full extent of the argument is unknown.

Wednesday night, German officials arrested David Heiss near Frankfurt. He is now being prepared for extradition so that he can be tried for his charges in the United Kingdom.

All forum registrations for WarsCentral have now been frozen, and the forum is now only viewable to registered members. A message on the front page posted by a friend who helps run the site offers a small tribute to Matthew Pyke and offers condolences to his girlfriend , who found Pyke dead.

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Wow.
By RIPPolaris on 9/27/2008 12:13:12 PM , Rating: 5
Some people take Advance Wars way too seriously.




RE: Wow.
By GaryJohnson on 9/28/2008 10:02:25 AM , Rating: 2
Maybe they don't. It seems like all this information about the website and the argument probably came from the girlfriend, who helped operate the site. And she also was the one who found the body.


RE: Wow.
By the goat on 9/30/2008 12:14:35 PM , Rating: 2
I agree it is only a game.

It quite a good game though. With checking out. I have the gameboy advance version. I didn't realize there is a DS sequel (most likely because I don't have a DS).


RE: Wow.
By MatthiasF on 10/2/2008 3:52:50 PM , Rating: 2
SILENCE! I kill you.


RE: So hows the whole " no guns " thing working out ?
By B3an on 9/30/08, Rating: -1
By clovell on 9/30/2008 2:42:09 PM , Rating: 2
What do you think of Switzerland? How does its prison population and crime rate correlate to the prevalence of guns in the hands of private citizens there, eh?

Maybe you guys should realize that not all issues are black & white and work towards a feasible solution, rather than screaming about who's right.


By murphyslabrat on 10/3/2008 11:49:56 AM , Rating: 2
Or, at least, quite the pretenses and "arguments" and just yell, "I am right" at each other. It's more amusing that way.


By InvertMe on 10/1/2008 9:22:15 AM , Rating: 2
Someone just got stabbed to death and you are amused to hear it? You got problems...


By ryedizzel on 10/1/2008 12:37:11 PM , Rating: 2
Reading comprehension is > you.

He never said that he was amused to hear someone got killed. His statement was that he was amused "to hear people from the UK describe their perfect society where there is no violence and nobody has a gun".


Awful...
By marsbound2024 on 9/30/2008 12:22:44 AM , Rating: 2
Instead of us really taking trolls with a grain of salt and putting up signs "Don't feed the troll" it looks like maybe some of them we should really be wary of. It is disconcerting to know that some people would travel great extents (literally) to commit an atrocious act because of an argument--no matter how passionate. Many of us are guilty of passionate online debates and even arguments (I am one), but good God... perhaps we should all be more careful about what we say to each other on the internet as you never know which one might seek to kill you. :(




WoW
By manutdpty on 9/30/2008 11:16:04 AM , Rating: 2
This is Serial stuff guys, I almost wristed when I found my World of Warcraft toon nude, thank god I had all my stuff in the bank else I wouldn´t be here today. Ohhh my life is so meaningful dont you agree?




People are nuts...
By amanojaku on 9/27/08, Rating: -1
RE: People are nuts...
By maverick85wd on 9/27/2008 1:26:57 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
It seems like a side affect of high-speed travel is people using it to settle scores with far-away folks.


And the side effects of guns? explosives? Your comment is laughable.


RE: People are nuts...
By mattclary on 9/29/2008 9:47:52 AM , Rating: 2
And rocks, knives, baseball bats, tree limbs...

I doubt this guy traveled from Germany to the UK with guns and explosives.

If someone wants you dead, he will find a way to make it happen. Hopefully you, as the victim, will be allowed to arm yourself.


RE: People are nuts...
By HrilL on 10/2/2008 7:47:16 PM , Rating: 2
Thats why I live in america where you are allowed to protect yourself unlike some countries on the other side of the pound.


RE: People are nuts...
By Luna M on 10/3/2008 2:20:55 AM , Rating: 2
So, instead, the headline would read, "Man killed would-be murderer over online dispute." How is that better? Someone would still be dead.


RE: People are nuts...
By HrilL on 10/8/2008 4:02:59 PM , Rating: 2
Yes someone would be dead but in this case someone is dead and the other is going to go to jail and cost the tax payers more money.


RE: People are nuts...
By Flunk on 9/27/2008 11:39:44 PM , Rating: 5
People are what they are, without international communication and travel this man probably would have disagreed with someone closer to home and done the same thing. I think it's easy to blame technology when this is very clearly the act of an unstable human being.


RE: People are nuts...
By maverick85wd on 9/28/2008 10:49:03 AM , Rating: 2
that's basically what I was getting at, but apparently no one liked my comment. I was a bit more of a jerk about it, but all well.


RE: People are nuts...
By amanojaku on 9/28/2008 2:45:13 PM , Rating: 2
Well, my comment wasn't pointing out any evil of technology, rather the evil USE of technology. Rocks can kill people, too. I'm not proposing we ban technology any more than I am proposing we ban rocks!


RE: People are nuts...
By maverick85wd on 10/2/2008 8:48:04 AM , Rating: 2
I wasn't, either... I was saying that far few people are killed as a result of current travel technology than from weapons. I don't think any technology should be banned, and as an American I think anyone that wants to own a weapon should be allowed to do so.


RE: People are nuts...
By SavagePotato on 9/29/2008 10:22:41 AM , Rating: 2
But would he have found someone that got his goat so bad as to actually want to kill them at the local supermarket?

Probably not, since people behave very differently in person than they do online. It's a wonder it doesn't happen more often the way people mouth off and talk online behind the safety wall of anonymity.

I imagine it is probably pretty surprising just how many people out there in the world are just a hairs width away from being pushed over the edge and taking out the local McDonald's. Reminds me of that movie falling down.

I'll tell you, if people talked to eachother in person the way they do online it would be a booming business for the dentists of the world at the very least.


RE: People are nuts...
By Regs on 9/30/2008 8:46:09 AM , Rating: 2
Agreed. The lack of personal responsibility and accountability is the reason why USA is going down the tubes right now. It's a systemic problem in the courts, in our work places, and in our leadership. It's a growing cancer that must be flushed from the system.

What kind of a world do we live in when one of our own judges sues for washed pants?


RE: People are nuts...
By rtrski on 9/29/2008 9:35:38 AM , Rating: 2
You could just as likely call it a side-effect of telecommunications, without which they'd never have had a venue to argue (at least not as fast, hard to maintain a really HOT feud via pony express).

Blaming transportation is kind of a funny connection to make, IMO.

"'at's a fair cop, but society's to blame."
"RIGHT! We'll arrest them instead!!"


RE: People are nuts...
By rtrski on 9/29/2008 9:38:22 AM , Rating: 2
p.s. Technology always has, and always will, advance ahead of judgement. Certainly ahead of social/legal restrictions on appropriate use thereof. Its the law of unforseen consequences.

Just look at the flurry of lawsuits over who "owned" frozen sperm, eggs, embryos, etc. after bitter divorces. The technology precedes full investigation of the possible circumstances it enables.


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