The Philippines temporarily bans online game Gorebox after 2 students, 14 & 15, shot up school, 3 dead & 20 injured

The Philippines has temporarily banned the online game "GoreBox" after one of the two students who allegedly shot up a school, was found to be an avid player.

The shooting left three dead and 20 others wounded.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Centre under Secretary Renato Paraiso said on Jun. 23 that the ban was a precautionary measure, Bloomberg and Associated Press reported.

“We cannot ignore possible online influences that may have contributed to this tragic incident,” Paraiso said.

Shooting

On the morning of Jun. 22, two students, aged 14 and 15, armed with handguns, opened fire in a high school located in Tacloban City, the Philippines.

Both of them were apparently friends who were bullied, and they had no prior criminal record.

According to local police, 15 of the 20 injured were shot, while the others were injured as they stumbled and jumped out of a window to dash to safety.

One of the armed students used a 9mm pistol belonging to his aunt, a police officer, in the attack.

The other student used a .38 calibre revolver.

As there was reportedly only one guard on duty at multiple entrances and exits, the pair were able to bring the firearms into the school.

Most of the dead and wounded were female students.

At least 40 shell casings were recovered at the scene of the attack.

The 14-year-old would be exempt from criminal prosecution under Philippine law, which sets the minimum age of 15 for a minor to be criminally liable and only if authorities determine that a suspect was clearly aware of the crime committed and its repercussions.

"Gorebox" game

According to its Steam listing, it is a “chaotic physics-driven” sandbox game.

It allows players to experiment with various weapons on “semi realistic active ragdolls which react to wounds and scenarios”.

The game depicts “realistic blood pooling” and dismemberment.

On Mar. 11, F2Games, developers of "GoreBox", removed its multiplayer mode due to exploiters, bot raids and security vulnerabilities deemed “too deep to fix”.