Take-Two Interactive and Sony Sued Over GTA

An anonymous reader writes "Apparently Take-Two Interactive is being sued by the parents of two kids who killed a man. I remember reading about the killing incident a few weeks ago, but this is the first I've read about an actual lawsuit. The part that I found most interesting was that Sony will also be named in the lawsuit because GTA was exclusive to their console." Update: 09/18 16:27 GMT by M : The Independent has moved/deleted the story on their site, breaking our link. We've already mentioned this story anyway.

Comments

Parents

[Cockney]

Perhaps the parents should sue themselves for buying the cosole and the game in the first place?

Re:Parents

[TopShelf]

Oops... except it's not the parents who are suing - it's the victims and their families.

That said, the obvious point is that suing the parents serves no purpose. Suing megacorporations over something which has no possible positive PR value will result in a nice-sized settlement.

The only real winners here will be the lawyers.

Re:Parents

[Geek of Tech]

Now if I recall, GTA is rated MA (Mature), so you're not supposed to play it if you're less then 18. If you still play it anyway and then kill someone, doesn't the lawsuit potential disappear, since Take Two had already said not to play if you are less than 18?

Re:Parents

[Anonymous Coward]

What more could Sony and Take-Two do to have prevented this? Visit each household and ensure that all parents are doing thier job?

At what point are parents responsible for thier own easily influenced children?

I'm sorry, maybe I'm just cold hearted, but I strongly believe that no human being should have to be told to NOT fire a firearm at another non-aggressive human being. If they DO have to be told, they deserve to either be put away or put down.

Screw the kids. They fucked up, and now they'll pay the price. Screw the parents. They fucked up and should not be allowed to breed.

Re:Parents

[Firehawke]

I'm going to respectfully disagree. I believe children need to be told once, twice, however many times it takes for it to sink in. It's not immediately obvious to a kid that guns kill permanently.

However, I do agree that it is the parents' responsibility to teach their children, and that by having failed to do so, the parents should be the ones held responsible along with their children.

Re:Parents

[znaps]

It's not obvious to a 14 and 16 y/o that guns kill permanently? I don't agree. Maybe to a 10 year old. What they may not have realised, though, is that they are responsible for their actions.

RIP Personal Responsibility

[Alranor]

So if this game is so bad that it caused these kids to go out and commit this crime (no, I don't actually think there's a causal link) , then WHY WERE THE PARENTS LETTING THEIR KIDS PLAY IT!

Re:RIP Personal Responsibility

[p3d0]

Right on. I'm a parent, and I'm appalled that these parents think the whole world should be legally obliged to keep their children safe while they don't lift a finger to raise their own children in a responsible way.

There's a happy medium here, and it's well toward the side of the parent. Society ought to do a reasonable effort not to put undue burdens on parents; for instance, I think it's appropriate that the 6:00 news gives a warning before presenting stories that may be upsetting to children (eg. the death of Mr. Rogers). But having said that, it's my responsibility to keep my son from harm where possible, and teach him to keep himself from harm otherwise.

Prepare not the path for the child; prepare the child for the path.

Sometimes I think these parents ought to be in prison along with (or instead of) the kids.

2x10^7

[CGP314]

Grand Theft Auto and its three sequels are designed in Britain and have topped the UK and US games charts, selling more than 20 million copies in the past five years.

And how many of those 2x10^7 kids became killers?


Yeah, that's what I thought.

Someone has set us up the lawsuit!

[Kierthos]

Right, because, obviously, America's children are so influenced by everything they see or hear that it must be the game's fault. Sure, the kids say they were trying to recreate scenes from GTA, but come on... this shows a serious lack of the consequences of their actions, not any sort of thing that GTA will help or hinder.

If console and computer games can so easily influence kids, then how come we don't see hoards of them acting out Everquest or Soulcalibur scenes? Where are all the kids running around collecting rings after playing Sonic for five hours in a row? Huh? Answer me that...

This is nothing more then an attempt to shift the blame. Parents don't want to think that their kids could ever do this on their own, someone or something must have "made them do it". Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Buckner... your kid is fucked up. He deserves to go to jail and learn the consequences of his actions.

As for the lawsuit, I hope it summarily thrown out.

Kierthos

Mature Rating

[SnowWolf2003]

Doesn't GTA have a mature rating?

Either way, a game isn't going to make some kid go out and pick up a gun and start killing people. There were serious problems there before the kid started playing the game. This is the parents trying to deflect the blame away from their poor parenting skills.

You also have to ask where these kids got the guns from. What parent leaves guns lying around that their kids can get access to.

Take responsibility for your own actions and stop trying to pass the buck.

Take 2 Should Sue the Parents

[Ducati_749S]

Wouldn't that be a refreshing take on these foolish lawsuits? Have the game developer team up with Social Services and sue the parents for doing such a poor job raising their children that they would commit murder. Having the parents suggest that a video game could cause them to commit such an act only strengthens the case that they were unfit parents.

Games like this should come w/ a warning sticker

[principio]

Oh, wait. They do.

So, the parents buy a game that states persons under 18 should not use the game w/o parental supervision. Then they let the kids play the game unsupervised, knowing (at least from the game packaging) the the game is violent. Oh, and the kids also have access to a rifle, which they are too young to legally possess in Tenn. This is who's fault again?

Somebody call the Department of Family and Childrens Services.

what a load of crap

[SpacePunk]

These 'kids' are 14 and 16 years old. If they can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality by now, the fact that they killed one person and injured another is beside the point. They should be locked up forever since they will always be a threat to those around them.

This could have been avoided

[brightloudnoise]

Tennessee has no Child Access Prevention (CAP) Law and has no Trigger Lock Law.

So first off the parents of these kids basically are under no liability for the apparent availability and possibly unsafe storage of their weapons. Yet they have the gall to blame this tragedy on a game clearly marked for adults, which they most likely purchased for their kids.

Don't even get me started on their lack of responsibility as parents to at least be aware of what their child is watching on television or playing on a game console.

Parenting is more than breeding and feeding.

Chewbaka rules!

[Urd]

Your honor, I would like to claim damages from Sony for taking away my parenthood and teaching my kids to kill. I was too busy watching TV to teach my kids any values so I would also like to sue Fox.