Recently a Heroes of the Storm player, Stephen Cebula, was arrested by the FBI for making death threats against Blizzard Entertainment, makers of Heroes of the Storm. Cebula’s threats came after Blizzard issued a chat ban to the 28-year-old for sending messages packed with threats and racial slurs to other players.
Upon receiving the ban Cebula posted this message on Blizzard’s Facebook page:
Blizzard immediately reported the threat to the FBI who arrested Cebula on July 12th. According to court documents, Cebula admitted that the purpose of the threats were to “scare those whom he had threatened.” Even if Cebula had no intention or means of carrying out any of his threats he still could face a maximum of five years in prison and be subject to a $250,000 fine. While being interviewed by the FBI, Cebula also admitted to having sexual fantasies involving his 5-year-old niece and is currently being held without bail due to significant mental health issues.
While it does seem that Cebula is suffering from mental illness, one has to wonder why these types of threats seem so much more common in the video game community. From the Oculus Rift developers to Skyrim modding teams, it seems that no one is safe from these threats. Much of this can probably be attributed to the illusion of anonymity that people have on the internet and the removal of humanity that comes from typing a message into a window rather than talking to someone in person. The one good thing that comes out of this story is that it appears that the FBI and law enforcement are starting to take threats like this more seriously.
Should online threats carry the same penalties as making a threat in person?
Heroes of the Storm is currently available for PC and Mac.
Source: Techspot
