video games make killers?

[tantone56]

hey guys I thought this might intrest some of you guys...I just goes to show people will blindly blame their problems on video game

I took this off of aol news

 

NEW YORK (Sept. 6) - The family of a slain motorist has filed suit against the maker of a video game that two teens claim inspired them to shoot at passing cars on a Tennessee highway.

 

Grand Theft Auto, a video game that allows players to "fire" on people and cars in realistic, shoot-'em-up fashion, is a cash cow that propelled manufacturer TAKE2interactive to the top of the video game industry. For the middle and high school students who play the game for hours on end, it's a means of escaping the monotony of teenage life.

 

But for two stepbrothers, 16-year-old William and 14-year-old Joshua Buckner, that escape turned deadly this summer. They told police they were emulating Grand Theft Auto on the night of June 25 when they took shotguns to Interstate 40, near their Newport, Tenn., home, and opened fire on vehicles.

 

A Bullet Through the Window

 

The boys told police they did not mean to hit people, but the results were catastrophic.

 

"I have eight bullet fragments all in my body," said 19-year-old Kimberly Bede, of Moneta, Va., who was hit in the pelvis as she rode in the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car. "The bullet entered my hip and I'm still receiving medical treatment."

 

Aaron Hamel, a 45-year-old registered nurse from Knoxville, Tenn., traveling in a separate car, was killed.

 

"We had a beautiful day in the mountains, and we were heading back home to Knoxville," said Hamel's cousin, Denise Deneau on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America Friday.

 

"We were talking, laughing, listening to music and all of a sudden my cousin told me to look at the beautiful flowers. And as I did that, my glass shattered and I felt heat across my face," she said.

 

When Deneuau saw the glass and blood she thought she had been shot, but when she realized the car was out of control, she looked at Hamel. "He had a large bullet hole at the side of his head," Deneuau said.

 

After the car made it across the highway, passing oncoming traffic, it stopped at the guard rail.

 

Deneuau said she knew her cousin would die quickly from the nature of the injury. "I reassured him that I was OK and that I would take care of his pets and I told him that I loved him," she said.

 

Family members say the nature of Hamel's death is especially ironic because he had volunteered to work at a Tennessee facility for wayward teens shortly before the shooting.

 

Teens Plead Guilty, Lawsuit Filed

 

The teenage shooters, who each pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, will be held at a state juvenile detention center until they turn 19. The law in Tennessee allows them to remain in the custody of the state Department of Children's Services until they are 19, but no longer.

 

In written statements, the boys expressed remorse for their actions.

 

"I will always hate myself for what I did. I am so sorry," wrote William Buckner.

 

"I didn't want to hurt anyone," wrote Joshua Buckner. "This will be with me the rest of my life."

 

The Hamel family hired attorney Jack Thompson and filed suit Thursday against TAKE2interactive, the video game maker. Thompson says it's time to send a message to the video game makers.

 

"We want to send a message with a huge verdict to Sony and TAKE2interactive and the entire video game industry that if they're going to continue to market adult-rated games to children with these horrific consequence, then we're going to take their blood money from them and send a message to their boards that they have to stop this practice or there will be other suits on behalf of other people, killed by these games," Thompson said.

 

TAKE2interactive declined to comment to Good Morning America about the incident.

 

Are Parents the Gatekeepers?

 

It's not the first time the game Grand Theft Auto has been linked to bouts of real-life violence.

 

A gang of teenagers in California, charged with plotting carjackings and murder, say their actions were inspired by playing Grand Theft Auto, morning, noon, and night.

 

In Oakland, Calif., a group of young people who called themselves the "Nut Cases" told police they played violent video games before going out and robbing and killing random victims on the street. They said their favorite was Grand Theft Auto. The five men and one woman are facing charges in dozens of robberies and five killings that took place in 2002 and early 2003.

 

The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the video game industry, pointed to research showing that youth crime has gone down even as video games have proliferated. The games are rated for violence, and ultimately, parents make the decisions about what games they bring into their homes, the association said in a statement.

 

"Parents are present at and involved in the purchase or rental of games 83 percent of the time, according to a September 2000 Federal Trade Commission report," the association said.

 

Family members of those killed in video game-related shooting sprees say it is time to take Grand Theft Auto off the market, before more lives are lost.

 

Bede, who says she will never fully recover from the incident that left bullet fragments in her body, isn't satisfied with the sentence the Buckner boys received. "I really don't think they got what they deserve," she said.

 

 

Copyright 2003 ABC News.  All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[RCmodeler]

Back in the 1800s, before movies or tv or videogames, a BOOK was released that ended with the Main Character killing himself.

 

People who read the book were actually stupid enough to imitate that character.

 

The problem is not the book. Or the game. It's the idiots who can't separate fantasy & reality. Imprision those idiots, and leave the rest of us sane people enjoy our books and games.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

Exactly. Stupidity isn't the product of video games, that's just bad genes

[ROBOTRON]

NO.

 

The post office makes killers.

[tantone56]

Its a shame that these kids have minipulated the public into thinking that there the victims. the faster we are as a society to make there exuse for them the harder it will be to get to the root of the problem and the easier it makes it for others to blame someone else for their bad actions. Its about time that our society starts holding people accountable for their own actions regaurdless of what was or wasnt their influence.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

yuo got that article on AOL, i know it, as i read it. im SICK of anyone blaming movies games and shit, KILL THE KIDS! THROW THEM ON THE CHAIR! anyone that stupid is a waste of the shoes on their feet

[JB]

yuo got that article on AOL, i know it, as i read it. im SICK of anyone blaming movies games and shit, KILL THE KIDS! THROW THEM ON THE CHAIR! anyone that stupid is a waste of the shoes on their feet

YES!

 

The kids are murderers, plain and simple.

 

No one should give a fuck whether they played Grand Theft Auto before they opened up on a passing car.

They knew that guns aren't toys, and that they can kill someone. If not because of reality programming like THE NEWS, then because Grand Theft Auto told them they would.

[vanman]

I agree with RCmodeler. The people who blame video games and T.V. shows are idiots. I also think people get bored and do stupid stuff, when they get caught, they blame it on videogames so they get out of trouble and it is blamed on video game manufacturers. No one says "Lets go shoot at cars like Tommy Verceti!" they just do it by their own stupidity. I remember reading that a kid stole 100+ cars and then he blamed it on Grand Theft Auto. Do you think that when he was stealing those cars, he was thinking about GTA?

[justice_is_blind]

Were humans's,we always have to point a finger at someone to blame.

 

If someone tells you to jump off a bridge and you jump and die can the person who told you to jump get prison time?

 

[Avid Fan]

After playing Super Mario Bros. 3 I'm usually furious enough to kill

[Clint Thompson]

That's a bull$h.... case.... I don't think it will go very far considering the factors.

 

1) How was the game obtained considering the game is for Mature 18+ audience.

 

2)How was the shotguns obtained?

 

T2I would be the last people to point fingers at, and even then, you can't really do that. Games such as with Movies. This whole video game killer subject has been beaten to death and it pisses me off everytime I see something on TV with people whom actually believe the crap about

how specific video games should be banned because it makes killer's out of kids.... which in the firstplace those (8-14 year olds) shouldn't even have had access to the game that's rated for the Mature audience then you have how the hell did they get a shotgun? C'mon...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brad2600]

Fuck that.

 

They're just looking to blame Rockstar for all their problems.

 

It is NOT time to take GTA off the shelves.

 

It IS time to excecute all the stupid fucks that imitate it!

 

Parental Warning: Hey asshole, so now you're thinking of imitating this game in real life, eh? Get a fucking clue retard. And if you do anything stupid, your parents will take the blame since they bought you the fucking game for Christmas or whatever. And if you do try to imitate this game, you will be shot on the spot!

 

I think this warning would work.

[JagMX]

yep cuz we all know video games manipulate our minds -

 

just the other day i went to the supermarket and asked them for the magic mushrooms that make me bigger .. could you belive they had no idea what i was talking about?!

 

im very disappointed that everytime i touch a feather i dont grow a tail and xtra ears and have the ability to fly

[Mendon]

My first reaction when I read similar stories to this one is the same that most of you have posted here: saying that a song could could make a person kill another person was crap; saying a TV show could make a person rob a liquor store was BS; saying a video game could make make a person violent was a cop-out.. etc etc etc

 

But then I got to thinking and found myself being not so quick to just write off as total BS the effect that media can have on people. Let me give a couple examples (and these examples will reveal somewhat my age... )

 

1) Growing up, I could be perfectly calm and just sitting watching TV with nothing out of the ordinary going on. But then I would turn on the Three Stooges and suddenly I'm making the noises the Stooges did, pretending I'm poking my fingers in an eye or slapping someone on the face or grabbing a nose and doing the Stooge "honk". I had quickly gone from passive viewer to physical immitator.

 

2) When the TV show "Kung Fu" first came on, it was VERY popular. And I distinctly remember driving to work and watching kids trying to do Kung Fu kicks, hits, and throws on other kids while they were waiting at the bus stop. Not just one or two kids but LOTS of kids at LOTS of bus stops.

 

3) My own sons could be sitting around the living room having good talk and laughs, with nothing out of the ordinary. But then let someone turn on the WWF (or WWE as its now called) and suddenly these kids who had been doing nothing more physical than telling a dirty joke or two were now trying to put headlocks & arm bars on each other while also trying to perform elbow drops and Figure-4's on anyone who had the misfortune of ending up lying on the floor.

 

4) I like boxing; I've gone to several matches including a biggie in Atlantic City and watch a lot of them on HBO and Showtime. The other night I was watching a match on Showtime and got up to get a drink of water. My son was in the kitchen and I suddenly found myself throwing a couple of pretend "jabs" at him. I didn't hit him, nor do I run around looking for fights nor do I usually run around the house throwing jabs and uppercuts at family members; but because I was in the middle of watching a boxing match, I was caught up in the moment and repeated what I was seeing.

 

 

Please don't get me wrong... I believe that most of these type of lawsuits, like the one talked about in the lead post, are nothing more than cop-outs and not wanting to take responsibility for ones own actions. They are a way of looking to shift blame onto someone/something else and by doing so shift attention away from them and onto that someone/something else in hopes of getting away with what they did.

 

But I also firmly believe that TV, movies, video games, and music CAN and DO have an impact on our behavior. I've felt this effect myself and seen others influenced by it. This effect is almost always VERY temporary and probably 99.99% of the people control the effect and lead normal and happy lives. But there are "losers" and "morons" all around us and after feeling and witnessing the effect the media can have on an individual, I'm no longer so sure that its totally impossible for a person to suddenly go off the deep end and do something violent.

 

Does this mean I think Rockstar should be sued? NO. Does this mean that Grand Theft Auto should be pulled from the shelves? NO. Does this mean that all movies other than "G" rated Disney flicks should be banned? NO. My only point in this, another of my long winded posts, is that maybe we shouldn't be so quick to deny that the media can and does influence behavior and is something that should be thought about and discussed.

 

Banning and burning solves nothing.

 

Mendon

[Clint Thompson]

Mendon...

 

You prove a good point.... however the people who want to "think and consider" about such always (and I mean ALWAYS) takes it to the extreme.

 

As I stated in my previous post earlier on.... the game wasn't meant for a younger audeince (obviously!) So what's the point of all these ratings

if no one actually goes by them?

 

Sure, media has an effect on us and for the most part I believe its more

positive. I can play Virtua Tennis against my friend for hours and get my @ss whipped and then get so mad I could throw the controller... but I don't. Could you see it now? Man murdered for wining every game of Virtua Tennis with friend. So then, I guess we sue Sega right? hahaha.... "I beat the living daylight out of my buddy with a tennis racket after hours of being beaten and Virtua Tennis was my inspiriation for that." hahaha...

[JankenTheGreat]

People who blame video games fo their problems are idiots.

 

 

Give this one to Seanbaby

[Foxy Cleopatra]

Fuck that.

 

They're just looking to blame Rockstar for all their problems.

 

It is NOT time to take GTA off the shelves.

 

It IS time to excecute all the stupid fucks that imitate it!    

 

Parental Warning: Hey asshole, so now you're thinking of imitating this game in real life, eh? Get a fucking clue retard. And if you do anything stupid, your parents will take the blame since they bought you the fucking game for Christmas or whatever. And if you do try to imitate this game, you will be shot on the spot!

 

I think this warning would work.

 

 

So have we finally found an instance where Kepone thinks the death penalty is appropriate?

[AtariDude]

NO.

 

The post office makes killers.

 

Maybe that is where the term "going postal" comes from?

[Brad2600]

Fuck that.

 

They're just looking to blame Rockstar for all their problems.

 

It is NOT time to take GTA off the shelves.

 

It IS time to excecute all the stupid fucks that imitate it!    

 

Parental Warning: Hey asshole, so now you're thinking of imitating this game in real life, eh? Get a fucking clue retard. And if you do anything stupid, your parents will take the blame since they bought you the fucking game for Christmas or whatever. And if you do try to imitate this game, you will be shot on the spot!

 

I think this warning would work.

 

 

So have we finally found an instance where Kepone thinks the death penalty is appropriate?

 

Nowhere in this post have I mentioned the Death Penalty.

 

I was thinking more of what they do in China if they catch you straying from the law. You get shot to death.

 

Besides, you trying to pick at the bones?

[MacGurl]

I'll admit that after playing GTA for several hours, I feel like getting in my car and running over people or slamming into another car, but I'd never do it.

 

It's no one's fault except the kids, at the ages of 14 and 16, they know the difference between right and wrong and they shouldn't even be able to blame their parents.

[tantone56]

Hey macgurl I know what you mean....sometimes i get the urge to do really violent things after play also. I just supress these feelings by kicking my dog.

[Brad2600]

I hope the dog is a pit bull and decides that your leg will be lunch.

 

I sometimes feel like smashing someone's head in. I play GTA to suppress this feeling.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

you people are too violent... you need to play more video games like Mario Sunshine

[Brad2600]

If I played that game, I'd feel like killing a fucking turtle or probably a frickin Italian plumber...LOL.

[AtariDude]

Bugs Bunny : Duck Season!

 

Daffy Duck : Rabbit Season!

 

Bugs Bunny : Duck Season!

 

Daffy Duck : Rabbit Season!

 

they pull out the next picture and there is a picture of Mario.

 

Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck : Plumber Season!