Never let anyone tell you that gamers don’t protect your own. Today, one of the most inspiring and awesome stories made the news. A game café in Hawaii was the target of an attempted theft the other day. Four men wearing masks walked into the café and immediately started assaulting the clerk behind the register. The clerk had his glasses punched off and suffered several bruises as well as a black eye. After several minutes of harassment they threatened the clerk for the money in the register, and he complied. However, this unlikely gang of robbers was not satisfied with their petty theft.

Deciding to turn their eyes to the gamers in the café, one thief approached a kid and threatened him, asking him to hand over his Nintendo DS. The kid flat out refused. Getting angry, the thief attempted to take it by force and that is when nerd rage kicked in. Our unlikely hero protected his DS with his life, slugging the thief in the face and ripping his mask off. He took several more punches in response, but this motivated the surrounding patrons to get involved. Soon the entire store was pouncing on the thieves, ripping off their masks, and beating the hell out of them.

After the brawl ensued, the thieves tried to flee, however, this was not the easiest task. The gamers were holding them down inside the store, continually attacking them, and waiting for the police to arrive in response to the panic button the clerk pressed earlier. It took the thieves’ accomplices who were outside the café to get them out. They reached in and managed to tug out the criminals, but only after the heroic geeks inside the café managed to tear off their masks. As a result the security cameras got crystal clear pictures of the thugs’ faces. The thieves were apprehended about a block away by local police.

Now, there is a happy and sad part to this whole story. The happy part is that the gamers managed to stick up for themselves. In fact, if it weren’t for the quick thinking of the patrons, these guys might have gotten away. However, the sad part is that the assailants were apparently normal patrons of the game café as well. In fact, it was the game café’s logs of their personal information that helped to eventually track them all down. It just goes to show you that there is a light side and a dark side to gaming.

Related posts on 30ninjas.com:

• Man Gets Arrested For Selling Stolen PSP Back to Owner
• Why Pro Gamers Are Assholes — What Have We Learned
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow — A Step in the Right Direction
• Game Over — Why Pro Gamers Are Assholes Part 3: The Death of the Arcade
• Game Over — Why Pro Gamers Are Assholes Part 1: Distraction VS Competition
• Game Over — Why Pro Gamers Are Assholes Part 2: Time VS Attitude