Parents Sue Over Game Linked to Shooting

[Sean Reynolds]

SNIP:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=20&u=/ap/20031022/ap_on_re_us/video_game_lawsuit_1

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A $246 million lawsuit was filed against the designer, marketer and a retailer of the video game series "Grand Theft Auto" by the families of two people shot by teenagers apparently inspired by the game.

SNIP:

Thompson, who said he sent letters to Sony and Wal-Mart to drop the game before the shootings, said, "It's not like this is coming out of the blue, they chose to ignore this danger."


San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony and Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart did not return calls for comment Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges the retail giant sold the game to the Buckners about a year before the shootings.

SNIP:

Thompson has made similar claims in the past and lost, notably a $33 million lawsuit against video game makers stemming from the 1997 school shooting near Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old boy.


The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) ruled in the case last year that it was "simply to far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom."
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Maybe if the parents actually were WATCHING their kids this would have never happened? Jesus, yet again the video game industry becomes a scapegoat for brutal crimes. It boggles the mind that they can continually blame movies and video games as reason to why a child or person kills. Let me guess, Hitler was an avid fan fan of GTA III too, right?

[ixion]

1. this is a fine example of a frivilous lawsuit... I hope it gets thrown out

trying to blame movies, video games, bands or whatever for the actions of others is absolutely ridiculous, IMHO.

[KoKo]

2. I disagree. Violent Video Games only add to the cruelty in our culture.

And, we have a duty to protect those who are weaker than we are who might be influenced by some of the more violent games. What is the social value to some of these games? When does entertainment in the eyes of one person become someone elses excuse to act out fantasy from the viewing or participating in a particularly violent game.

I know my feeling about this is very unpopular on DU, but we've reached a time in America when we need to think about violence and when it's used for entertainments purpose to line the pockets of another CEO.

[DrWeird]

3. Don't forget the books

when you start burning videogames.

[Sean Reynolds]

So you're saying just because of a 'weak' few we should lose our rights?

I mean I've played violent games and watched violent movies my whole life. NEVER have I had the lust for killing. Hell, if every person that watched a violent movie had that lust, we'd all be dead. It is MY right to play GTA III and I don't think the government can dictate whether or not it is suitable for me. THAT is a parents job. If anyone should get the blame it isn't Sony, it's the parents for doing a piss-poor job at raising their kids.

[Systematic Chaos]

6. If you haven't watched "Bowling For Columbine" yet

then you really should.

The Germans, Japanese and Canadians all LOVE violent video games and movies just like we do. But don't you find it odd that all three countries COMBINED have a murder rate by firearms of only about ONE PERCENT what ours is?

The problem isn't violent games. The problem IS the culture of fear we're immersed in here in America.

[Chovexani]

4. Dupe.

Here's the other:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=179010

FWIW, I think this lawsuit is horseshit.

[Sean Reynolds]

5. Ah, sorry - thanks. MOD please lock.

[LearnedHand]

7. Warning: Tinfoil hat theory

I have suspected, for at least 20 years, that companies that develop these shoot-and-kill video games are also training an entire generation of young people to engage in high-tech warfare. This may not be intentional, but the military sure isn't protesting it.

In fact, I searched for articles a couple of years ago about the military and video games, and it turns out that some of the battlefield simulations in computer games are so much more realistic than what the military has produced, the military uses modified versions of the video games instead of their own simulations to train soldiers. Now this scares me.

Here's what I'm saying: when an entire generation of kids become accustomed to "killing" a whole group of "somethings" by zeroing in with their "radar" and pressing the "kill" button, they also, in some way, become completely detatched from what they are doing. Then, in high-tech warfare (from a tank, from a bunker, from a ship, from a jet fighter), the HUDs (heads-up displays) look EXACTLY like their video games, and they "kill" with the same, excited sensation. They just wiped out a whole group of "somethings," except this time, the somethings were real people who bled real blood.

Am I saying to censor video games? NO! I'm just sensing a subtle connection between the killing video games and possibly developing a lack of empathy for the victims of war.

On edit: OMG! My "number of the beast" post!

[Dork]

8. 666

Have you seen Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees? It's a very uh interesting movie about these simulations, and was supposedly a statement against the first Gulf War.