14 DAY TRIAL // Along the years, we've seen games do some pretty strange things to people. Some of them have pushed people to commit suicide, like EverQuest did for the user named Shawn Woolley, while others are blamed for countless acts of violence. Among the less serious ones, we can count the Japanese man that decided to marry his virtual girlfriend from the DS dating sim Love Plus, just a few weeks ago. In the same category of freakish but somewhat funny events, we've seen a lot of lawsuits involving games for some of the most ridiculous reasons, like being banned from the title or because one has to walk too much.
As far as these are concerned, things like addictions, alienation and antisocial behavior dim in comparison. But, sometimes, mental illnesses and gamers come together in the most peculiar circumstances and with the most bizarre outcome. In Netherlands, Jan H. ended up in court after he shut down the power of the Sophia hospital in Zwolle approximately one month ago. This wasn't an act of vandalism, but the solution to a puzzle.
The 35-year-old man went down to the basement of the hospital and, by fiddling with the power box, he shut down the power to several sections of the hospital. The 45-minute outage caused several people to be stuck in the elevator, but, most importantly, forced doctors to keep several intensive-care patients alive without the use of the machines. The video-game part of the story comes in when the motive behind his actions is revealed.
Apparently, Jan H. was trying to obtain a toothbrush that he believed was the reward for solving the “power box puzzle.” The man thought that he was inside the survival horror Silent Hill, and that, for whatever reason his mind conjured up, he absolutely needed the toothbrush to progress. Still, turning off the lights is the last thing a Silent Hill player would do, so the explanation could be seen as a little bit implausible. In the end, the outage caused no permanent damage to anyone and anything, and Jan H. was found not guilty after pleading insanity and volunteering to undergo medical treatment. It is a good thing he didn't hallucinate an actual Silent Hill scenario and try to kill the nurses. That could have ended a lot worse.