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Grand Theft Auto Civil Case Moves Forward
An Alabama court has refused a request by retailers and Take-Two Entertainment lawyers to throw out a 'Grand Theft Auto-style killing spree' civil case. From the Next Generation article: "Moore, who was 18 at the time of the 2003 slayings, is convicted of killing two Fayette county officers and a dispatcher, and claimed that Grand Theft Auto inspired him to do it. That defense was barred, and Moore was sentenced to death. Although that defense was thrown out, the multi-million dollar suit filed by relatives of the victims claim that Moore was in fact mimicking GTA, which attorneys claim Moore played 'obsessively'."
Love the culture of blaming anything on everyone except the person who actually did it to begin with. /disgusted
The next time I'm arrested for stealing, lying and circumventing the law, I'm going to blame it on CSPAN, which I watch obsessively. While I may get a slap on the wrist and time served, I do wish my victims well in their civil suit against CSPAN for it's contribution to my anti-social behavior.
>victims claim that Moore was in fact mimicking GTA, which attorneys claim Moore played 'obsessively'
even if we're prepared to accept that there's a causal link in this case between observation and mimicking, surely that he played it 'obsessively' is enough to reject the argument. if you eat/drink/smoke/gamble/have sex/do anything 'obsessively' there are bound to be negative consequences.
if, on the other hand, he'd played the game for 30 minutes and, for example, the seqence of lights and sounds put him into a suggestable state of hypnosis and programmed him to be a cop-killer (not possible annyway since hypnosis can't make you do anything you're not really prepared to do), then there might be a case.
If he was mimicking the game, it's time to remove him from the game. Sometimes helping somebody with a problem is as simple as "let's go fishing" or something similar. If they noticed terrible behavior from him before hand and they actually cared about him and not making money off his mistakes, they would have sought to help him beforehand instead of whining after the fact.
You know, this has to stop somewhere. The guy was sick. His parents, friends and relatives who knew him are much more guilty than people who created the video game. Society itself is guilty of allowing such people to roam free. But then, we can't incarcerate everyone "just in case". So my point is: shit happens. Whatever his reasons, whatever the motives, whatever the games he played and the programs he watched, he is a murderer. He's been sentenced to death. The vast majority of people who play GTA do not go on a killing spree aftewards. The game is not the problem.
You are more than the sum of what you consume. Desire is not an occupation.
when he was playing 'obsessively'? there were no big bucks to be made then, were there?
If a person's mental state is so twisted that they would kill 3 people after being 'influenced' by a video game, then obviously there are much deeper issues at fault than a bunch of pixels and a joypad.
Where is the logical conclusion to this constantly expanding era of absurd litigation? It's scary to think where it may lead... hell, it's scary enough to think about where we are with it already.
She's built like a steak house, but she handles like a bistro....
/me obsessively watches Morgan Freeman's/Brad Pitt's movie, "Seven" then runs off to kill sinners.
/me obsessively eats Twinkies until he dies.
/me obsessively plays Super Mario Bros. then starts throwing turtles at patrons of the local pet store & gets thrown into jail.
/me obsessively chugs water until he drowns in it.
:P)
Can my family sue New Line Cinema for making the movie?
Can my family now sue Hostess for making Twinkies?
Can I now sue Nintendo for teaching me that the way to get ahead is to lob reptiles?
Can my family now sue God for creating H20? (don't start that debate plz
the phrase "don't give them ideas" is commonly used?
The problem isn't if the game MADE him do it, but if the game helped him do it MORE EFFICIENTLY.
From the original CBS News link (not TFA) :
"The video game industry gave him a cranial menu that popped up in the blink of an eye, in that police station," says Thompson. "And that menu offered him the split-second decision to kill the officers, shoot them in the head, flee in a police car, just as the game itself trained them to do."
Perhaps if he hadn't played the game, he would have shot them in the chest where hopefully the cops couldn't have died instantly.
In other words, videogames TRAIN the players to become better and more effective criminals. I don't know about you, but the thought gives me the creeps.
http://www.bash.org/?627522
<comwalk> Remember, here in the U.S.A, we have reached a new age.
<comwalk> NOBODY is responsible for their own actions.
<comwalk> Remember that.
<comwalk> Holy shit! I killed somebody! Bob made me do it!
<comwalk> Bob: Joe made me do it!
<comwalk> Joe: I blame the media!
<comwalk> Media: Videogames.
<comwalk> Videogames: Personal responsibility?
<comwalk> Personal Responsibility: <AFK>
By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
caused by people who play Animal Crossing. That and hitting people on the head with a butterfly net - that stings!
Now, personally, I blame the use of cars for violent crimes on the movies.
Nothing like blaming someone else for your own actions, right?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Did anyone else see the title and think that the company was making a new GTA game called "Grand Theft Auto: Civil Case"? Presumably in which you'd drive a car around breaking contracts and whatnot...
Let me look at this:
1: We have evidence that Violence and Violent Video Games are correlated. Nobody has any clue if violent games makes kids violent, or if violent kids like violent games; but it's politically unpopular to accuse your constituients' kids of being thugs. (FYI, this is the kind of evidence that says smoking and cancer are correlated, but nobody really cares whether or not cancer causes smoking)
2: It's a mid-term Election year. That means that there are several elected officials who desperately need to distract the people voting for them away from an unpopular war, and a deficit which is spiraling out of control.
3: The violence issue in particular has traction because people feel powerless to combat it; trying to protect your kids from becoming assholes is like trying to protect them from the chicken pox. It doesn't work. So, people find a scapegoat, something tangible that they can dismantle and try to keep away from their children. They convince themselves that if they can just keep violent media away from the kids, maybe kids won't know how to be violent. This isnt really their fault, people have been falling for non-causa-pro-causa arguments (with this, therefore because of this) since the dawn of time.
4: Our elected officials are like the contractors at your work. Solving problems does not help them; in fact, Solving problems permanently in a way which makes everyone happy makes them less likely to be re-elected.(this is not a troll, think about this) However, appearing to solve problems does help them. They get the credit for being a tireless defender of the public, and the problems are still there to fix next time they need a boost.
5: History teaches us the following: Games and other High-definition media will continue to be the scapegoat until someone builds a better scapegoat. Console games like GTA will wear targets on their backs until someone makes a VR Game where you rape/kill/steal/whatever or otherwise manages to take simulated violence to the Next Level. Until then, we personally have a choice: we can either whine, follow the mob, or run for congress.
6: There are thousands of idiots out there, sooner or later you will probably fail to think about something and be one of them. While I don't expect you to fix any of the above problems, do try to be smart about it and start thinking critically about the next thing that pisses you off.
Lagito ergo expectabo
Maybe the police officers families should bring a civil suit against the parents for not paying attention to what their child was doing and for not being responsible parents.
Rockstar games has more money.
This sickens me when people think that they can forgo the roles that parents are supposed to play and then sue somebody else for their kids not turning into perfect citizens.
It's worth pointing out that it the victims parents that are sueing, not the parents of the criminals.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Coersion is a very different animal than hypnosis. You might murder a stranger if it meant saving the lives of your loved ones, but I sincerely doubt that you'd murder that same person if someone said "you are getting very sleepy... now bludgeon that man to death..."
This poo is cold.
We're talking about Alabama. Tell them that they're taking the same stance as Joe Lieberman and (gasp!) Hillary Clinton. Things will quiet down in no time.
Back in the day, I had to make myself stop playing Tetris, because I kept obsessively stacking things on top of each other. The game made me do it.
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
This is an 18-year-old boy we're talking about.
Obviously if he'd ever played Grand Theft Auto, he'd be out scoring with hookers, not killing cops. Now, if he was on trial for killing a prostitute, then maybe he'd have a case.
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING
Excessive exposure of disturbed individuals to graphically violent games may reenforce existing violent tendencies. Coupled with a disconnect from reality, these conditions may result in the real-world application of themes observed in the game environment, including--but not limited to--assault, robbery, rape, torture, and murder. Please note the existing ESRB rating and seek professional help if you feel the desire to replicate game scenarios in real life.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.