Sometimes a simple joke can be expensive. It is difficult to predict the potential repercussions in advance, but if he had discovered them in advance, Joshua Pillault would perhaps have abstained. Beyond being deprived of one of his favorite games, the young man saw part of his life confiscated. At twenty-five years old, he had almost spent the equivalent of a quarter of his life behind bars: American justice made him spend six years in prison!
Even hidden behind an avatar and a nickname, we can find you
Today, insults, threats and hateful behavior on the Internet are among the subjects with which legislation is increasingly concerned. Previously, different cases were not treated the same way. Except that in October 2012, a case caused a stir across the Atlantic, particularly because of the significant conviction it resulted in. During the 2000s, there was a genre of video game production that experienced a meteoric rise: MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games). At this time, the use of the Internet was becoming more widespread, homes were equipped more easily and development studios were riding this wave, allowing players to come together and play together without needing to organize a makeshift LAN. . However, this is not the only discovery that players make. Now protected behind their virtual avatar, some players become uninhibited in their attitudes and think that their behavior can remain without consequences. If there is indeed benevolence on one side, anonymity is clearly the other side of the coin of this interconnection linked to the emergence of online games.
Across the planet, every player has, in a way, their favorite MMORPG. For Josh Pillault, it’s RuneScape and, despite the events he had to overcome, this is still the case today ! In 2012, this MMO is an outlet for the young adult that he is because for several years, he has been fighting against a problem that represents a real public health issue in the United States: addictions. From the top of his nineteen, Joshua Pillault suffers from an addiction to alcohol, drugs and other illicit products and, generally, these substances accompany his evenings spent online. Besides that, the young man is a curious individual, even if this thirst for knowledge sometimes turns towards quite morbid subjects. It’s a detail, but it will have great importance in the rest of the story. Anyway, one evening, during a gaming session on RuneScapeJoshua chats with one of his friends online and activates the first mechanism of a gear that will be fatal to him.
All jokes were allowed… but not on this subject!
During this same conversation with one of his friends in-game, tone up. Except that, one thing leading to another, a total stranger is brought to interfere in the heated exchange between the two players. It is notably a question of a gloomy title, developed via RPG Maker and baptized Super Columbine Massacre RPG. Behind this evocative name hides a turn-based game with a 16-bit aesthetic which illustrates the tragic event of the April 20, 1999 massacre which took place at the Columbine school in the middle of Colorado. This subject, although it repels Joshua, interests him in a purely factual way. But, while the two friends climb the towers during this heated discussion, the third player not really invited to participate begins to insult Joshua. Mockery, insults and threats were made against the 19-year-old young man. To put an end to this, Joshua plays his game and plays the black humor card in order to end the tumultuous verbal altercation. It was then that he replied that he would indeed end his life, if it made him happy, and that he would even take the opportunity to take away his entire school (Oxford High, in Mississippi). ) with him, for that matter.
At the same time, to defuse his comments, reinforced by the disinhibiting effect of alcohol, he sends a private message to his friend to tell him that, obviously, it’s a joke and he doesn’t mean what he says, nor would it occur to him to do such a thing. However, conveying sarcasm of such magnitude in writing, on an MMO chat and at a time when Internet culture is conducive to outrageous statements, is not the most obvious, so much so that the third speaker takes it literally, reports it to moderation and warns Joshua. At this point, he does not take this warning seriously even if, the next day, the developers of RuneScape apply a first sanction to him: he no longer has the ability to speak within the game. The second warning will arrive a few days later… because it is the local authorities as well as the FBI who have taken over. On October 8, 2012, four days after this in-game event, the destiny of Joshua Pillault was about to waver.like the hinges of the door of his home damaged by the drumming of the police.
An exemplary sanction: this player will experience an incomprehensible imprisonment
Initially, Joshua makes no connection with what happened four days previously, especially since the FBI warns him and strongly advises him not to call on a lawyer so as not to worsen his situation. case. The pressure is intense, but Joshua ends up finding a clue and tells himself that he is in deep trouble because of his numerous illicit and illegal consumptions. However, he will quickly understand that it is not about that when the authorities refer to RuneScape. At this moment, he tells himself that he is out of the woods and that he will explain the situation clearly in order to clear up the misunderstanding. Unfortunately for him, this incident on RuneScape is indeed the subject of his presence…and the start of a thorny problem, despite his cooperation. At first glance, nothing aggravates Joshua’s case: the FBI finds no weapon in his home, no material that could allow him to create a homemade bomb and nothing that could tangibly lead to the trail of a terrorist act and a school mass shooting. However, the curiosity that characterizes him will fall on him when the authorities take the initiative to search his computer and inspect the files it contains.
Little by little, the young man becomes aware, given the attitude of the FBI representatives, that this bad and dubious joke could lead to punishment, and that is what will happen. While waiting to be presented to justice, Joshua is sent to prison… for a period of 17 months ! In a more detailed video by videographer Kombo, published in September 2022, Joshua’s affair is put in the context of the time, particularly from a political point of view. Through the analysis of this affair, the videographer underlines that the American state is faced with a very unflattering record in the fight against mass killings. Therefore, Joshua’s very bad joke doesn’t get through and that’s enough for him to take on the role of scapegoat, to become an example for potential terrorists to make them understand what they risk.. Joshua and his entourage did not anticipate this element and, ahead of the trial, they, still incomprehensible, said to themselves that the trial would lead to the young man’s release.
Five years behind bars before returning to prison
To achieve this, Joshua is advised to plead guilty. At the time, the maximum length of incarceration in this type of case did not exceed twenty-four months. As a result, he would only have seven additional months to serve in the worst case scenario. However, if everything pleads in favor of his release, American justice will show incredible excess of zeal, so much so that the slightest unfavorable lead will be picked up and the prosecutor will take a dislike to the nineteen-year-old young man. We mentioned it above but Joshua’s morbid curiosity will turn against him, in the same way that his former girlfriends will be put under pressure to burden him further. So, justice will point the finger at the findings obtained in the young man’s computer and other potentially incriminating data : listings of his activity on the forum 4chan – he and his mother are passionate about news stories and stories about serial killers -, files containing research and elements leading to files about the book The Anarchist Cookbook of William Powell, absence of proof of the sarcastic nature of his remarks (in this case, nothing which can confirm that he sent a message to his friend to defuse his remarks), etc.
For American justice, which on top of that has a total incomprehension of the Internet culture of the time, these multiple factors are holy bread. At the end of the trial, the decision is made to extend the maximum period of incarceration : while Joshua was thinking of returning to prison for a maximum period of seven months, the American justice set the sentence at forty three additional months ! The verdict has the effect of a sledgehammer and absolutely nothing will allow this sentence to be shortened, nor his good behavior in prison – he has a passion for music, reading, etc. – nor the retraction of the testimony and the excuses of his ex-girlfriends, under pressure, who had described him as mentally unstable and capable of making homemade explosives. In June 2018, Joshua will finally set foot outside of prison… before returning there for a year.. The reason ? He, shortly after his release, will be checked and will test positive for drugs. One of the conditions of his release was to complete drug treatment and stay away from alcohol and illicit substances. Following this, he will be tried again in court and will be received… by the same prosecutor who, a few years earlier, sent him behind bars.
This tragic fate will definitively end in 2019, almost seven years after the events and almost as much time between the walls of various prisons across the country. Despite this, Joshua Pillault managed to demonstrate resilience like no other and was able to count on the unwavering support of the community RuneScape which, at the dawn of his new life, will have allowed him to retrain as a content creator. Today, surrounded by his wife and daughter, Joshua now leads an orderly life and regularly posts multiple videos to his YouTube channel, including some that reflect on his personal experience, while continuing his adventures on Twitch… in RuneScape.