Here’s an article from Stuff about a loser who beat up a police officer. From the article are as follows:
“Like a character from Grand Theft Auto, the game he played compulsively, Tim Reid went on a rampage, stole a police car, and left a policeman unconscious and bleeding on the roadside.”
“[Wellington District Court judge Denys Barry said] he committed violent offences and compulsively played Grand Theft Auto.”
“He said Reid was hardwired for violence and anti-social behaviour and programmed by his recreational pursuits.”
“Judge Barry’s concerns were backed by Family First national director Bob McCoskrie, who said violent video games were of far greater concern than violent television programmes or films. “Rather than observing the law- breaker you take on the role of the law-breaker . . .we think it desensitises certain people.””
The headline of this article is “Rampage blamed on GTA obsession”.
Fuck me, we’d better ban those games ASAP! Think of the children! Oh, and then there’s also this:
“[His lawyer] said Reid began smoking cannabis at five, was sexually and physically abused, and now abused drugs and alcohol. He had met his co-offender in the cells at Lower Hutt District Court, and when they were both bailed they began a road trip to New Plymouth.”
Uh … yeah … but you know, that’s not really very moral-outrage-inducing. Let’s instead focus on video games, shall we?
I suspect this sort of thing will go on until enough oldies die to make the number of people who play or played video games the majority.
On a related note, this, courtesy of the US Department of Justice statistics:
May 31, 2008 at 6:55 am
And isn’t it just maybe possible that people with violent tendencies are drawn to violent games rather than the games causing the violence?
May 31, 2008 at 7:21 am
Yep. Correlation doesn’t imply causation.
May 31, 2008 at 8:54 am
I occasionally have these little fantasies where I picture myself hitting reporters over the head with a baseball bat screaming ‘corelation is not causation!’ over and over and over again.
It’s probably all the Diablo I used to play.
May 31, 2008 at 10:42 am
If they are so fucking worried, why don’t they make it standard to put a WARNING: THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE, FUCKARD. screen on the beginning of all games like they do the WARNING: illegal to pirate blah blah blah
Should make then slightly happier.
And would be slightly amusing for ooh, first 2 times seeing it.
June 1, 2008 at 2:29 am
Oh JSR… you and your “facts” and “statistics”. When will you realise that it’s what the reporters _say_ that matters. Little things like the “truth” and “public good” should never get in the way of a good story. 😛
😉