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

[Vraylle]

Or maybe we /.ers could file a class-action suit against the parents for perpetuating the moron gene?

Re:Parents

[haystor]

I tend to think of the McDonald's lawsuit by the people that just found out the food is bad for them.

I used to think that all those suits should be thrown out of court immediately, but I've changed my opinion.

They should be given class action status. They should win. McDonald's will then be assigned all responsibility for every patron's health. McDonald's will decide your every dietary intake. McDonald's will assign workout schedules which you must follow under penalty of law.

I suppose someting similar can be worked out for Sony and kids. Sony will assign all extra-curricular activities.

Re:Parents

[TwistedSquare]

So if I actually had kids who went out and copycatted these kids, could I sue the original parents/kids for inspiring these crimes and claim back all the money they sued. It could form a chain... with the people committing the most recent crime always having the money. This is all madness...

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

[FileNotFound]

Well it would be a great idea, but shouldn't be needed.

I mean yeah it's a nice feature in case the kid borrows the game from an older friend etc.

The point is that the kids should not have had access to that game.

Personaly I think this whole thing is BS. I played Wolfenstein when I was 9 or so, then moved up to Doom and Doom 2 when I was 13ish, Duke Nukem at 14, Quake at 15, I was in tournaments at 16 in Sin (won some nice money too..). At 21 now I still play FPS, although they're somewhat dull these days.

To date I have NOT had ANY desire to go out and kill random people. Sure there are some people that I would absolutley love to ventilate, but I always wanted to kill the few people that I passionatly hated, long before I touched a computer game.

My parents NEVER monitored which games I played, my parents NEVER monitored which movies I watched.
Yet I have NEVER had ANY problems with the law.

Seriously I think the ONLY influence that computer games had on me is that I drive faster than the vast majority of people due to years of addiction to Need For Speed and Motorhead(Play it! Best racing game ever.). I suppose this is a "bad" thing, but plenty of non gamers drive fast, and do it drunk or show off or do stupid shit.

The fact is that games alone don't make kids want to pick up a gun and kill people. Kids at 14 and 16 KNOW the difference between fantasy and reality. It's preposterous to suggest that they do not. I knew the difference between a game and RL at 7 when I played DukeNukem (the 2D version). And yeah sure I thought it would be cool to be a super tough guy and go and save the world. But I certainly did not think that I "was" the super tough guy. But then again I thought it was kind of cool to be Superman also but I never made any attempts to fly.

In the end I don't think the censoring will help. Why? Well it's like the gun locks. There are plenty availalbe, but parents still don't bother with them. The .22 rifle the kids used could have had a gun lock and none of this would have happened. What makes you think that the parents who let kids stockpile guns in the garage or make .22 rifles easily accessable would bother locking out the M rated games on their PS2?

In the end though, it's really the kid who is in control. I watched all the porn I wanted at 8, played all the violent games I wanted, there was always some alcohol in the house and never monitored, I had my first beer at 8 or so also, and I hated it. Still I never had any problems. I knew when I did "right" things and "wrong" things and I could tell the different levels of how "wrong" something. Plus I certainly had no trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality.

The whole point is:
STUPID KIDS DO STUPID SHIT

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.

Military Training?

[dbitter1]

He will also point to the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot 13 people dead. Both boys were fans of the video game Doom, which has been used to train US soldiers in lethal combat.

IAXM (I *AM* Ex-Military), and I don't seem to remember combat training for shooting floating eyeballs and zombies with RPGs...

Strangely, shooting a gun required things like using sights rather than just pointing in the right (compass) direction... Ah the old days...

Re:Military Training?

[Spudley]

Zobmies with RPGs?

Back in my day it was the RPGs that had Zombies.

(uh.... you were talking about role-playing games, weren't you?)

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.

Re:RIP Personal Responsibility

[Original Buddha]

Aren't games that are rated mature supposed to be only purchased my adults? Can we then safely assume the childrens parents bought the game?

I've actually heard a mother in EB say something along the lines of "I'll be mother of the year when I buy my child this game" when buying GTA3.

Dumbass

[DrugCheese]

Reminds me of a great bumper stick I had just seen recently, read:

DUMBASS
It's Lack of Parenting
NOT
Video Games

Re:Dumbass

[WTFRUDOINBiotch]

I saw one along the same lines:

Don't take away my rights
Because you can't control your kid

While we are at it...

[Heem]

We should also sue the electric company, for without their power they couldnt play the game. And oh yea, lets not leave out the TV maufacturer. Maybe we should even sue the person we bought the house from, since this is where they played the game.

Seriously, give me a break. How about parents stop blaming everyone but THEMSELVES for their kids actions.

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.

Re:It's where the idea came from

[smiff]

it is clear that the game influenced them by giving them ideas.

Do you want to back that up with some evidence?

Even if it's true, it isn't against the law to give out ideas. In fact it's a constitutional right.

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.

Re:It's all a matter of scale

[TheRaven64]

I like your thinking. I'm going to invade France this weekend. They have weapons of mass destruction (mature brie for one). My desire to invade France is in no way at all influenced by the fact that they have a lot of wine.

If anyone (like, for example, the UN) complains, then I will sue Tony Blair and Dubya for being bad role models...

P.S. Does anyone have a small army I can borrow?

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.

Wow... the world is so....interconnected, dude.

[Blue Stone]

In related news, RockStar Games sues The United States of America, for influencing them in making the GTA series.

Slight typo in story

[iapetus]

The article reads:

Sony will also be named in the lawsuit because GTA was exclusive to their console.

This should instead read:

Sony will also be named in the lawsuit because they have a lot of money and the lawyers would like some of it.

Hope this helps.

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.