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Grand Theft Auto Led Teen to Kill 1311

Posted by Zonk
from the personal-responsibility-is-for-old-people dept.
Varg Vikernes writes "FOXNews reports on a lawsuit that claims the video game 'Grand Theft Auto' led a teenager to shoot two police officers and a dispatcher to death in 2003, mirroring violent acts depicted in the popular game. 'What has happened in Alabama is that four companies participated in the training of Devin... to kill three men,' attorney Jack Thompson told The Tuscaloosa News, which reported the suit's filing. Thompson is also filing suit against Wal-Mart, Gamestop, Take-Two and Sony." Gamespot has coverage of this story as well. Thompson has made something of a career out of lawsuits of this nature.
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Grand Theft Auto Led Teen to Kill

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  • Yeah, right (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @11:50AM (#11699829)
    And Super Mario Bros. made me eat magic mushrooms.

    Oh, wait...
  • by sidepocket (817256) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @11:53AM (#11699873)
    Pac Man made me eat my father.

    I only had a few seconds before my power ran out, I didn't know what else to do :(
  • by gowen (141411) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Thursday February 17, 2005 @11:56AM (#11699929) Homepage Journal
    ... it's funny, isn't it, that when Lawyer's claim games inspire these sorts of things, its always the games made by fantastically wealthy corporations, who might be willing to settle out of court for large sums.

    Besides, as Marcus Brigstocke [marcusbrigstocke.com] wrote:
    "If Pacman had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music."
    (Link includes groovy retro PacMan game).
  • by stinky wizzleteats (552063) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @11:57AM (#11699965) Homepage Journal
    GTA taught me that shooting cops pretty much always results in a quick and violent death. He must have better cheat codes than I do.
  • by Hoi Polloi (522990) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:04PM (#11700109) Journal
    Pong - Led me to a life as a professional tennis player

    Pac Man - Responsible for my obesity

    Paperboy - Caused me to lose my delivery job as a kid

    Spy Hunter - Responsible for my reckless speeding

    Monopoly - Caused me to found Microsoft

    Leisure Suit Larry - Responsible for my herpes
  • by Joe the Lesser (533425) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:04PM (#11700114) Homepage Journal
    Robot Devil: Mwhahaha! 1/4 of my ridiculously circuitous plan is complete!

    People are responsible for their own actions. You can't set a precedent stating that violence can't be shown in any form to the American public because it's unconstitional, fascist, and ridiculous considering how many millions have watched grand theft auto and not replicated it.
  • by Mumpsman (836490) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:05PM (#11700123)
    Back when I was a kid all we had was the devils music to make us go crazy and kill a bunch of people. You kids and your video games wouldn't know a subliminal message if it jumped out of your Xstations and slapped you. Why if we wanted to have an excuse for being loony tunes, we'd have to spin a record (a record!) backwards to find out how to act...and we liked it!
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:06PM (#11700144)
    Thompson has made something of a career out of lawsuits of this nature.

    I think we need a game where you kill lawyers.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:12PM (#11700257)
    Personal Story.

    When I was young, I had games such as Operation Wolf, Rambo, Commando, Green Beret, Ikari Warriors and the like.

    After one day playing all these games, I decided I had to singlehandedly invade a foreign country. So I recorded the game music to a cassette, popped it into my walkman, and made my way to the local park (well, a foreign country was a long way away). There I smeared my face with mud, and went on a shooting spree.

    I've only been recently released from prison, but now I can tell my tale of how video games can turn you from a nice normal person with access to guns with fighting parents who ignore you, living in a trailer park with no friends, into a killer!
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:13PM (#11700277)
    If he dropped and anvil on their head would Warner Bother's be sued?
    Nope, but I'll see that fscking roadrunner in court! Thanks for the idea. Meep meep, and cough up some cash, feather-head! Ha!

    -- Wile E. Coyote, Esq.
  • by brett2c (860326) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:13PM (#11700281)
    I can't believe that you said Lawyer and ethics in the same sentence!!!
  • by zornorph (63846) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:15PM (#11700317) Homepage
    A teen's parents are suing attorney Jack Thompson and The Tuscaloosa News for blatantly publicising a story where a teenager shot two police officers and a dispatcher to death in 2003. After reading this story, their son Billy went out and did the same in their small sleepy town.
  • by Ced_Ex (789138) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:16PM (#11700337)
    Because I played this game, all I want to do is pick up random women and have sex with them.

    er... actually, it's a toss up between the video game and my XY genetic make up.

    Get me a lawyer, I need to sue someone.
  • by Mishura (744815) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:16PM (#11700340)
    Agreed. Everybody that always piss and moan about GTA never PLAY THE FUCKING GAME. Shoot a cop. OK, now run over someone in the escape. Every FUCKING intersection is about 5 cop cars trying to KILL you. None of this sugarcoat "arrest 'em" motif, but their intention is to completely destroy you.

    This isn't like real life. Cops just don't materialize at every intersection. Maybe this kid went into a PayNSpray or something...

    Now if you excuse me, I must go and spraypaint the apartment complex across the street. You know, representin'. After that, maybe I'll stop off at the Pizza Shop, get some food and shoot the clerk. (Cash, check, or 9mm bullet?)

    --Mishura, Proud GTA/Postal2/Doom/anything with blood, really, gamer. Not Insane (We thinksss...)
  • by syntap (242090) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:17PM (#11700362)
    And where in GTA can I kill a dispatcher? I don't remember that one.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:18PM (#11700373)
    Ooo! Good thinking! I'm going to sue Will and Grace for teaching me to be really catty about other people's wardrobes!

    By the way, those shoes... I don't think so.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:30PM (#11700576)
    +1 Totally Awesome

    Reasons:

    • Simpsons reference
    • well-thought-out opinions
    • well-expressed ideas
    • subtle yet spot-on reference to classic literature
    • tempered, compassionate view of issues
    • good grammar and sentence structure

    You, sir, are too good for Slashdot.

  • by soft_guy (534437) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:34PM (#11700669)
    That game is too violent for you. I demand you stop playing it now.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:50PM (#11700922)
    The deepest desire of the id (hence "id software") is (for men, the main audience of this kind of thing) to kill all the males, dominate/screw all the females and get all the wealth

    Hmm, and I thought it was only me...

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:52PM (#11700970)
    "You are right" and shot him in the foot, continuing with... "Oh, does it hurt, just go pick up a health pack or hit the reset button."
  • by Chris Mattern (191822) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @12:54PM (#11700998)
    > Next people are gonna say that Dungeons and Dragons causes people to murder others with swords.

    No, D&D causes people to murder each other with demonic curses. Don't you read the Chick booklets?

    Chris Mattern
  • Re:Question (Score:5, Funny)

    by null etc. (524767) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @01:08PM (#11701222)
    Well, first off, let me state that your argument was very impassioned.

    Let me also state that I have no idea what you just said.

  • 31 AD (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 17, 2005 @01:40PM (#11701730)
    The day Jesus died for our sins. It sent a clear message to people -- you can do evil things, and as long as you profess to believe in Jesus, you will be saved.
  • by Sloppy (14984) * on Thursday February 17, 2005 @01:57PM (#11701994) Homepage Journal
    What's wrong with people that they think a game that allows you to beat up women, shoot cops and steal cars is fun?
    That's nothing. I used to play a game where I rode on a flying ostrich, and fought other people who were flying on buzzards. The thing is, in this game, the riders all carried really sharp lances, and yet, I would fly around rapidly and recklessly. It seemed fun at the time, but nowdays I realize that it wouldn't have been so fun if one of those lances had poked someone's eye out!

    The worst part is that, in the game, I sometimes killed a rare life form. It seems there was this pterodactyl, and I would hit him right in the mouth with my lance, killing him. This I did, with no regard for the scientific value in finding a live pterodactyl, after all these 65 million years. Just think, if we found a live pterodactyl in real life, we could study it and learn so much. But I cackled with glee at the poor animal's virtual death. Here I was, fantasizing about an act that carried with it, incredible amounts of scientific devastation -- permanent destruction of so much irreplacable zoological data. Damn, just thinking about it, makes me realize what a sicko I was. It's a wonder I didn't take up pterodactyl killing in real life. I hate to think what my life would be like today, if I had gone that way. That damn game should have been banned!!

  • by i41Overlord (829913) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @02:02PM (#11702079)
    Everyone wants to blame someone else. They want to blame the media, blame their video games, blame their friends, etc. But none of these influences is very strong. You should be able to easily override them.

    There is one influence, however, that is too strong to resist- God.

    The church tells me that God controls everything. When something good happens, it's because of God. When something bad happens, it's because of God also, and he had a good reason for it. Nobody affiliated with the church has ever told me that something is out of God's control. They say he's always in control- he controls all there is.

    Therefore I think it's sensible to blame God. God made him do it. God could have overridden this kid's thoughts but he didn't. God allowed it to happen.

    So I think instead of blaming the media, the gun makers, the video game makers, or the parents, we should blame Jesus instead. Sue the church. Because as any good Christian will tell you, God is always in control of things and therefore is liable for everything that happens.

    (Hey, if you're going to claim that you're in control of everything that happens, be prepared to accept responsibility for everything that happens)
  • by karnal (22275) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @02:02PM (#11702082)
    and then slap the idiot kid so hard with the book that his great great grandfather would feel it.

    Man, if you slapped me that hard, I don't think I'd be alive anymore. Although I do know for a fact that getting slapped with a book hurts like hell.
  • by Sloppy (14984) * on Thursday February 17, 2005 @02:04PM (#11702101) Homepage Journal
    I think the main reason for that is that there is no danger that the average teen is going to be able to raise an army of hundreds or thousands and attempt to overthrow local authorities.
    Oh sure, you say that now. But what will history say about your short-sighted comment?

    Are we really going to wait for a new Joan of Arc or Alexander the Great to destabilize society, before we think about our childrens' welfare and do something to prevent the next tragedy? How many cities will we have to lose, how many millions enslaved, before you take the risk seriously?

  • by Absolut187 (816431) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @04:08PM (#11703757) Homepage
    --
    'What has happened in Alabama is that four companies participated in the training of Devin... to kill three men,'
    --

    Wow, why did Sony entertainment want those 3 men dead?

    Were they trading mp3s?

  • by StikyPad (445176) on Thursday February 17, 2005 @06:36PM (#11705585) Homepage
    There's a thing called free will, plus the randomness of genetics. You can't always blame the parents.

    Oh yes you can. Watch:

    Stupid parents! Why don't you give your kid a hug every once in a while? Now look what you've done.

Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate and captain of your soul.

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