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Games Made Me Do It Defense Didn't Work

Posted by Zonk on from the saw-right-through-that-one dept.

BuddingMonkey wrote to mention a heartening ruling from a judge who saw beyond the anti-gaming hype. CNN is reporting that Devin Moor has been found guilty of murder, in a well publicized case where the defendant stated that video games caused his behavior. From the article: "Prosecutor Lyn Durham said Tuesday that Moore knew what he was doing when he grabbed a patrolman's gun and killed two officers and a radio dispatcher. 'And he knew it was wrong,' she said."

8 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. ...also by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Video games made me pour Hot Coffee all over my naked girlfriend!

  2. Sad... by darthgnu · · Score: 5, Informative

    Some people have to stop living in the past, it is way too easy to blame your past for violent action. It is important to realise that one can change if he wants to. However, David Suzuki, host of the TV show "The Nature of Things" presented a documentary about violent behavior. According to this documentary, violent behavior would be developped around the ages of 2 to 6. The key to preventing violent behavior would be in the way you correct children for unsociable behavior. The teenage years would only reflect this early teaching, but since it shows more in this stage of development, video games and movies get too often blamed for this.

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    1. Re:Sad... by Ieshan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "...it is way too easy to blame your past for violent action..."

      Well, yeah. It's easy to blame your past for *any* action.

      There's plenty to be said for the kid's instinct. I don't really think it's unfair to say that he did what he did because it had worked for him before in other impulsive situations. He stole a gun from a cop and shot all three in the head. He wasn't shooting blindly, he was executing with intent to escape. He must have learned this *somewhere*.

      But I feel as though it's an absurd defense to blame Grand Theft Auto for a shooting and claim it obscures your judgement of right and wrong. That doesn't mean he didn't learn "technique" or behaviour from a videogame, but that'd be like blaming Law and Order: SVU for a rape charge. We see plenty of things we're not supposed to do all the time on TV, in movies, and in games. We don't do them in real life because we understand the difference between the two things.

  3. norman, please coordinate... by Khyron · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...but, the games, if they did not cause this then games might not be dangerous to children but then the government would be wrong in spending millions of tax dollars on needless investigations and... ...it's like, if the gun manufacturers are not to blame for gun crimes but grokster is to blame for p2p crimes and videogame companies are to blame *twitch* not to blame *twitch* to blame for....

    ILLOGICAL! ILLOGICAL! THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE!

  4. How about this by Kraeloc · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to make a game that ends in the player killing themself, hype it up a whole lot, and let the problem solve itself.

  5. Re:After RTFA... by Caiwyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is a chain of grocery stores native to my home state which does this... years ago, in the sue-crazy early 90s, there was a rash of incidents in which folks were going into various grocery stores, pulling items from high shelves down on top of them, and suing for damages. Though the cases almost never went to court, there was usually a hefty settlement involved.

    My local chain decided they would have none of this, and vowed to fight any such case brought against them in court. The frivolous lawsuits were curtailed pretty quickly, because the lawyers-for-hire figured out that this was no longer an easy way to make a quick buck.

    Most businesses who have a lawsuit brought against them choose to settle because it is cheaper than fighting it out in court. Only the truly smart companies realize that this behavior just invites new lawsuits. Just look at what happened to mp3.com.

  6. The victim's families... by biodeo · · Score: 4, Informative

    "The victim's families have filed a civil suit against the video game manufacturer and two stores, claiming Moore killed the three after repeatedly playing "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." No trial date has been set in the civil lawsuit"

    Wow... just wow...

    Does anyone else see the terrible, terrible irony here? If they held their logic true, they should be protesting the guilty verdict, since it obviously wasn't his fault, the video games did it. The article mentioned them hugging the prosecutor, so they were obviously pleased.

    I hope they don't get one red cent.

    --
    I'll stop being cynical when the world allows
  7. Re:Child mindsets, Law and Order Criminal Intent by Anonymous+Custard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The final straw was last weekend, when I caught a Law and Order Criminal Intent (I think) episode- where a young man was drugging young women and doing things to them. One victim had her..."

    I can't believe this sick crap is considerd to be top-rated, good prime-time television, but one second of janet jackson's blurry patially-revealed nipple brings on an enormous fcc fine.

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