I honestly don't get it. I see a lot of people raging over COD. Why?

Why do people need to get so serious when playing a game? I play COD all the time and yes some random stuff online can be quite annoying like lag but I just brush it off and move on. It's a game after all. It's not like someone chopped off one of my limbs. I mean any game or activity can be frustrating and can induce anger if things aren't going your way, just like when I get really frustrated after spending an hour trying to solve a maths problem but nothing goes into my head. But all you need to do is take a deep breath, maybe take a little break and move on. Why do people need to vent their anger at someone or something? That's just getting out of hand.

I will agree though that kids really shouldn't be playing COD because it is bad for them. Quite often people misinterpret the bad aspect though. It isn't so much the shooting/violence that is doing the real harm but rather the bad influence they get in the online environment where things aren't moderated and they can just lose self restraint because they are not identified.

I grew up playing games like Pokmeon. I think there are a lot of good single player games like that which aren't so competitive in nature that are much better suited for 13 year olds.

Call of Duty is designed to be a skinner box or sorts.

It isn't really the shooting that gets at you it's the competitive nature that's different from a game like Starcraft. Like the killcam and the 1st person nature of it just makes you feel like you got killed by this random dude and that just pisses you off. And they show clearly how you died too. 

It's designed to empower people that win and make people frustrated when they lose and have them try it again. It plays out on our instincts in the worst possible way.

I mean well so does Multiplayer Halo but I've honestly mostly played Co-op with a friend derp.

moms fought

I played gta and counter strike as a kid where was my gun D:

If things such as as that, which aren't even real, gets to someone so badly then I think they are better off not playing competitive games because, they are all more or less like this (just as you said). A game of competitive pokemon can also be annoying if you are predicting the other guy's moves perfectly and you know he's gonna make that switch, and then he just decides to not do what was obviously the best option for him for whatever reason and knocks you main wall out, leaving your team defenseless.

Anyway, if a person gets easily frustrated or has anger issues then they are better off staying off competitive activities in general, not just COD, or multiplayer, or video games. I thought it was rather common sense to stay away from things that make you feel bad, but it seems nowadays people keep coming back for more punishment. Not saying it's you since you said you play co-op which seems like a lot better option.

Again, I keep saying that single player/co-op Nintendo games tend to be pretty good alternative experiences.

Ah yes, but in Pokemon you distinctly know that it's a Pokemon controlled by you that's doing the fighting and all that at least that's what the wildly stylized nature of the game telling you.

COD you're shoved into 1st person, and then given the most graphically "realistic" setting they can muster out of the hardware, then once you die they show exactly how and when you died.

It's just the way that the 2 games and designed to how you project yourself. Pokemon are similar to tools. COD you play as an avatar of yourself. 

Very disturbing.......

I personally think it's even more annoying in a game like Halo or Battlefield where you never really know how exactly you died and what exact loadout your opponent was using so that you can counter them, but that's beside the point.

I think the point is that any competitive game, be it COD or Pokemon has the potential of making you rage, some a bit more some a bit less. Ultimately if something is making you rage, then it's best to just stop being involved in that activity.

I will as I have said before though definitely back up the point that children should not be allowed access to online games like COD, which have absolutely horrible communities. I am amazed how parents can even allow their 13 year old children to talk to random strangers online and just hand them an 18 rated game without even checking the content in it. You wouldn't let your children talk to any random stranger on the street, then why on the internet. That part just baffles my mind.

I feel I should clarify, I wasn't being serious when I blamed the game for this nutcase's actions.

The real issue is why the hell a 13 year old kid owned a gun.

Yes, this got me.  You wouldn't let and 11 year old drive a car, why in the world would you give them a gun!

The male brain isn't really fully developed until you are 25.   (That is why your car insurance drops at that age.)  I just don't understand some parrents.

If you are really worried about self protection pepper spray and or a taser would be effective without the lethal concequence.  If he had just pepper sprayed his mom, sure he would be in bad trouble.  But his life wouldn't be thrown away.