Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, also played Among Us. That didn’t make him a killer.
Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, once pursued a career in video game development. This raises many genuine questions, like what Discord communities he frequented, how gaming culture may have influenced his political beliefs, and whether or not he used multiplayer gaming’s notoriously unmonitored communication tools to share his plans with others.
It does not mean Among Us turned him into a killer.
This is a short, sincere reminder to reporters unfamiliar with gaming to learn about the medium before they report on it — the same way they would attempt to research the particulars of their subject before publishing a story, whether that’s a foreign war, a scientific breakthrough, or the behind-the-scenes drama of city hall. A reporter can’t be expected to be an expert in everything they cover; they can be expected to speak with experts and learn from them.
Unfortunately, mainstream reports have a decades-long history of broadly failing to report confidently on video games, particularly as they relate to real-world violence.
