Analysis of a Reported Incident Resulting in anActual Airline Hijacking due to a Fanatical and

Engrossed Virtual Reality StateHiroshi Juzoji, Atsushi Ichimura, Isao Nakajima, Muhammad Athar Sadiq

Tokai University School of Medicine143 Shimokasuya, IseharaKanagawa, 259-1143 Japan

Email:juzojigets8.jp

Abstract-We define Chronic Alternate-World Disorder this chronic state continues, it is commonly referred to as a( CAWD ) as " A state in which a person is no longer able to "cognitive disorder" and it stems from a mental predispositiondistinguish the real world from virtual space, due to his or her other than that caused by organic psychosis (psychic trauma /isolation in virtual space for an extended period of time with no injuries, inflammation, tumor, degeneration, vascular disorder,contact with the actual world. " The case report is about a patient and drug use).who hijacked a jumbo jetliner in order to fly the airplane on hisown, after developing CAWD from the use of flight-simulatorvirtual reality system. We believe symptomatic cases of CAWD B. Schizophreniawill increase as virtual-reality (VR) spread throughout our society.In view of this, our objective is to propose precautionary and Schizophrenia is one of the two major psychoses, the otherpreventive measures for providers of VR system for patients with being manic-depressive psychoses. Its cause is not known, butschizophrenia or personality disorders, from psychiatric and schizophrenia starts sometime after puberty and idiosyncraticsociological perspectives. psychological symptoms can be observed. It starts with the loss

of integrated personality, which often progresses as a chronicI. PURPOSE symptom. In most cases, it is a psychosis from which there is

little to no chance of recovery, with patients falling into a stateOur purpose in making this report iS to define, for the firstofmnadey.Teolwigsptscnbeoe:

time, Chronic Alternate-World Disorder (CAWD ) as a (1) ditoy. hall onin. catientearsymptomatic behavior in which a person becomes fanatically voices;engrossed in a virtual-reality ( VR ) world to the extent that he '

orshe can no longer distinguish between the actual world , (2) "Delusion," a helpless sensation of being controlled andor secnnlogrdsmusbewetnaculwr and influenced;virtual reality. It is also our purpose to report on our (3)l"emches eiinvestigation and provide an analysis and discussion of what (3) "Gemachtes erlebns, a sense ofbeng manpulated by the

we belev to beacs rfCVD will of someone or something other than oneself,(4) "Autism" in which patients detach themselves from the

real world and live in their own world;(5) "Blunted affect" lack of emotion in response to any

A. Chronic Alternate-World Disorder (CAWD) (6) stimuli;6)"Abulia" lack of will and desire.Alternate-World Disorder is an abnormal reaction to the C. Personality Disorder

living body's inability to deal with VR devices and/or VRspace. For example, in a case of Acute Altenate-World "Personality" refers to all modes of perception pertaining toDisorder, a person using a flight simulator world also things and objects, reasoning, and actions; is relatively fixed;experience temporary nausea due to loss of balance between and remains unchanged for extended periods. When athe sense of sight and the sense of equilibrium [1]. personality is so extreme as to exceed the cultural tolerance ofOn this basis, we offer the following definition of CAWD. the society to which the person belongs, and when the person is"A state in which a person is no longer able to distinguish the experiencing pain or social barriers due to his or her personality,real world from virtual space, due to his or her isolation i this can be referred to as a "personality disorder" or "charactervirtual space for an extended period of time with no contact d " However this generally doses not intclude disorderwith the actual world" (definition by Ichimura & Nakajima). drclcasdbboiyimetorru.

Symptoms of this condition include the inability todistinguish VR space from the real world, which becomes a D. Virtual Realitychronic state even when the person is out of VR space. When

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Generally speaking, the following definitions are applied to simulator was set up in his room on the second floor of histhe narrow usage of the term Virtual reality (VR) [3, 4]. house. He frequented a nearby video-game arcade to play(1) Handles 3D flight-simulation games, in an effort to improve his ability to(2) Recreates time use the control stick (joystick).(3) Enable one to protect oneself into VR or to become His record showed that he received psychiatric outpatient

narcissistic therapy in the past, but his ailment was not specified.According to statements given by his neighbors, high-pitched

III. INVESTIGATION laughter could be heard coming from his house at night.Four days prior to his commission of the hijacking, he

A. Case Report purchased a kitchen knife, which was taken away by his father.At last, on July 23rd, 1999, he had also flown on actual aircraft

Japan Times, 1999 & Mainichi Shimbun, 1999 over 70 times.

1). Patient' history 2). Episode

Patient was born in Tokyo. He graduated from prestigious He intruded into the cockpit and commanded the Copilotprivate junior and senior high school and national university. In "Get out! You're in my way." He himself seated on thehis student years, he held a part-time job as a porter at Haneda Copilot's seat, took hold of the control stick, and commandedAirport. He wrote his graduation thesis on "Transportation the Captain to head for Yokota airbase from the plane's presentEconomics" and it was his dream to become a pilot. Failing to location above Ohshima. At 11:53 AM above Sagami Bay, hepass the hiring exams of three major Japanese airlines and demanded to sit on the Captain's seat, saying, "It's harder to flyairfreight companies, including Japan Airlines and All Nippon a real plane than in those games." The Captain unwilling toAirways made him disappointed and frustrated. He later took a comply, said, "Do you want to sit in my seat? I don't think Ijob at JR (Japan Railways) Cargo where he decorated his can let you do that...... There are many other planes up here,company-supplied dormitory room with model airplanes, so it could be dangerous. " He acknowledged the Captain'saviation posters and stickers. Such behavior only served to advice and obediently replied, "Yes, I understand." At 11:54increase his desire to fly and be around airplanes. He quit his AM, Captain told him, "I would like to increase our altitude sojob with JR Cargo after working for them for approximately that we don't crash into anything." He obedientlytwo years, saying, "The job I have right now isn't what I really acknowledged the Captain's words and said, "Yes, Iwant to do." At around that time, he first became obsessed with understand." But 22 seconds after this conversation, he fatallya flight-simulation game on his personal computer. His flight stabbed the Captain in the neck.

Figure 1. Flight simulator

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the nature of the incident. It is our observation that, in this case,3). Patient' comments after incident these devices had a significant influence on the events leading

to the development of psychosis.After the incident, the patient commented as follows. "I

could not be satisfied with games any longer." He calmly stated, B. Diagnostic criteriafor CAWD"I had done it so well on games, I thought that if anybodycould land the aircraft, I could." He also said in his deposition, It is necessary to establish basic criteria for separating"I'm sorry about the Captain. If we had crashed, I would have schizophrenia and personality disorders, among patients whodone a terrible thing to the passengers and residents of the have been diagnosed with CAWD.area. " " I wanted to do a VFR ( Visual Flight Rule ) flight at (1) Inability to distinguish virtual reality from the real world.low altitude, but the Captain didn't want to tell me how to (2) Inability to distinguish oneself from others.disengage the autopilot and I couldn't fly the plane the way I (3) Lack of awareness of one's own abnormality.wanted to..... So I stabbed the Captain. " "I chose to land at (4) CAWD symptoms developed prior to the age of 30.Yokota instead of Haneda because the landing strip is longer." If even one of items (1)-(3) above applies to a schizophrenia"I wanted to fly underneath the Rainbow Bridge." patient, there is a significant possibility that CAWD has

developed. For schizophrenia, it is important to consider theB. Our impression ofthis case age factor described in item (4), as that disease also tends to

develop prior to the age of 30. On the other hand, if the patientOur impression of this case is as follows. Symptoms of shows no symptoms corresponding to items (1)-(3) above prior

psychosis in a family member may appear in an other family to the development of CAWD, he or she may either be in themember who hasn't been afflicted with psychosis. This type of early stages of schizophrenia or suffering from a personalitypsychiatric disorder is known as "induced psychosis." Due to disorder. Regarding the patient who is the subject of the casewidespread application of VR technology in our society, we report, we are only able to make conjectures, but we believe hebelieve that CAWD will spread among patients with showed at least one of symptoms (1)-(3) above prior toschizophrenia or personality disorders, and it is plausible that developing CAWD. Therefore, we strongly suspectCAWD will show different symptoms than those seen with schizophrenia in this case.conventional cases of induced psychosis.

C. Roots ofthe social environmentIV. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

In this paper, we have defined the state of "communicating"A. Psychiatric analysis ofthe case report with electronic devices such as VR devices, games, and

personal computers (including for Internet use), withoutWhile it appears that he went to great lengths to develop a coming into direct contact with people, as being part of the

detailed plan, its execution was haphazard and game-like. As a "non-contact society."result of his obsession with his flight simulator and his Video games are extremely popular among Japaneseresultant difficulty distinguishing between virtual reality and children today. This doesn't simply imply that they like to playthe real world, the life of the Captain was lost and the lives of video games, but that they would become social outcasts if503 passengers were put in jeopardy. As the writers of this they could not discuss video games among their peers andpaper did not directly examine the patient who is the subject of friends. The fear of being left out is what compels them to playthe case report, it is difficult to make statements with any video games so as to be able to discuss them. However, whenamount of certainty. However, the following can be said: they play in groups, and they are less likely to become adept at(1) There is reason to believe that he was receiving outpatient outdoor team sports (such as baseball and soccer), even among

therapy for some form of psychosis. friends who discuss video games. The fear of being left out(2) He was without a steady job, which might be due to reflects the anxiety of today's children regarding personal

abulia. relationships, and the fact that they are not adept at striking up(3) There is a reason to doubt that he had auditory or maintaining personal relationships. Furthermore, at the root

hallucinations, judging from his high-pitched laughter at of this phenomenon lies the inability of parents to disciplinenight. their children, the disintegration of the family system, and

(4) His only interest was his flight simulator, which might be inconsistencies in the Japanese educational system. As a result,an indication of autism. children become engrossed in computers and video games to

(5) The patient developed the symptoms before the age of 30. escape real society (the motivation for playing games) [2, 5].Judging from those symptoms, we can surmise that This directly results in the development of a non-contactschizophrenia was the most probable disorder. It can also be society among Japanese children today, and we believe that thesaid that the incident occurred at a time when the patient's makings of future CAWD patients are hidden within thispsychosis was progressing. The significance of the described society.case report lies in the fact that electronic instruments such asVR devices, which are proliferating in our society, influenced

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V. CONCLUSION

CAWD as a symptomatic behavior in which a personbecomes fanatically engrossed in a VR world, to extent that heor she can no longer distinguish between the actual world andVR. With the widespread use of VR, we believe that thenumber of cases ofCAWD will increase. VR suppliers, parents,and educators must examine way to prevent the use of VRamong schizophrenia and personality disorder patients, devisemeasures for preventing the development of CAWD, andestablish warning signs and systems for CAWD.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Flight Simulator 98 is a registered trademark of MicrosoftCorporation. Densha de Go! (Let's go ride on the Train!: Anelectric-train operator's simulator ) is a registered trademark ofTaito Corporation. This paper in no way specified or alluded tothe perpetrator's ailment or background. We have examinedgenerally and personally based on published information(Mainichi Shimbun newspaper article). We would like toexpress our deep appreciation to Mainichi Shimbun for itsaccurate journalism.

REFERENCES

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[3] NAKAJIMA, I; ICHIMURA, A; JUZOJI, H, etc. ( 1999 ). The interactivesurrogate travel system. Telemedicine Journal 5 (2): 187-192

[4] SULER, J. ( 2000 ). Psychotherapy in cyberspace: A 5-dimensional modelof online and computer-mediated psychotherapy. Cyber psychology andBehavior, 3 (2): 15 1-159.

[5] TAKINO, H. ( 1997 ). Psychiatric examination about the girls murderTsutomu Miyazaki. Tokyo: Koudansha ( in Japanese).

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