Violence in games drives to crime?
OPINION
This is a relatively new phenomenon in my opinion. It seems like children of a generation or two ago weren't predisposed to go out and ruthlessly murder people with high-powered weapons. In fact kids of that by-gone era were more likely to resolve a disp
If you want to say that there are more guns available today and that they are more powerful then weapons of years gone by, then I say you are misinformed. A gun is a gun and the only thing that has changed is time, attitude and family structure. So what is causing this epidemic of violence? I sure as heck don't know but I do know that an object such as a video game can't be blamed. The people that use these destructive objects, the people that teach them life values and the break down in family and personal morels is what is causing this trend.
We seem to hear about it happening almost every day in different parts of the country (the US) along with other parts of the world as well. Can playing a video game make a child want to commit crimes as horrible as going into a school to massacre innocent classmates with automatic weapons? I say that if a video game carries an "Adult Only" or an "M" for mature audiences' label then why are children allowed to obtain this material in the first place? Parents and store owners. Why?
Recently I became involved in a conversation with some friends here on one of Hooked Gamers fan forums. Someone posted this link from a news site called Chron.com about a lawsuit that was being filed concerning three people that were gunned down by a 14-year-old child in New Mexico. They are filing this lawsuit against game maker Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, the embattled producer of the action shooter Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
The opening paragraph of this article makes the following statement about why the lawsuit is being filed and I quote: "Family members of three people slain by a 14-year-old on newsman Sam Donaldson's New Mexico ranch sued the makers of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on Monday, claiming the crimes would not have occurred had the teenager never played the violent game."
Does anyone out there besides me find something very wrong with this statement? I would like to know how a video game on a computer can "make" someone go out and commit a crime such as this. According to this lawsuit this crime "never would have happened if this youngster had never played this game." I find this absurd. Was there a statement in big bold letters ordering this child to commit an evil act like this? Was there a buried subliminal message broadcasting commands to all 14-year-olds to grab their machine guns and to go out and start shooting everything that moves? Did the evil programmers of this game secretly discover ways to perform mind control? I highly doubt it.
This article goes on to say in following paragraphs and I again quote: "The games and others in the "Grand Theft Auto" series depict police killings and other acts of violence. The lawsuit calls various editions of the game "virtual reality murder simulators." This is an absolutely absurd statement as well. If this game is a murder simulation then the nightly news, the countless numbers of realistic police dramas on TV, the newspapers and of course the legions of extremely violent movies have to be murder simulators as well. Aren't they?
Have you ever heard of the 1974 movie called the Texas Chain Saw Massacre? No this one isn't about some guy that decides to cut down every tree in the good state of Texas. It's a movie about killing people with a chain saw! Let me tell you this is one graphic movie. In fact it is enough to make me sick to my stomach. This horror movie came out years ago and to be honest I can't recall any kid deciding to go out and massacre all of his classmates with a chain saw. Do you?
This brings me to the another item from this article and I quote: "The game trained him "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity," according to the suit." Are they kidding me? This statement isn't even absurd it's just plain silly. If this game or any game like it is a murder simulator then that means there are millions of potential murderers walking around out there and I'm one of them! If you are reading this and if you have played games such as this then you are a potential murderer as well, just by the fact that you have been trained on this "murder simulator!" This is crazy. In fact this statement doesn't make any sense, just like this frivolous lawsuit doesn't.
I have to wonder why the military isn't using this game as a killing simulator in order to train troops in the art of killing. After all this game does and I quote: teach "how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making them extraordinarily effective killers." Why is the army wasting billions of dollars to put the troops through training when they could just buy each soldier a 50-dollar GTA game and send them on their way? The previous paragraph is crazy and it doesn't even need justification because it is as stupid as this lawsuit is.
This lawsuit is nothing except the efforts of an ambulance chasing pack of lawyers looking to line their pockets with blood money. They want to see their bank accounts swell from the happenings of a very sad and unfortunate situation. They want to see their names in lights with the hope that it will enhance their run for political office. I as a rational citizen of the world am offended by lawsuits such as this. Why can't this pack of wolves sit down and use their considerable wealth, influence and brainpower to find a solution to a horrible problem that seems to be over taking today's youth? They can't because they don't want to. They would rather beat their drum and stir up senseless news items such as this lawsuit.
It's as simple as this. Society today is too easy and people are not held responsible for their own actions and the actions of their off spring. This next quote from the article says it all in my opinion: "The $600 million lawsuit names several companies and Cody Posey, who it alleges played the game "obsessively" for several months before he shot his father, stepmother and stepsister in July 2004. Posey, now 16, was sentenced earlier this year to state custody until he is 21." The last part of this statement explains it even better and I will repeat it again, I quote: "Posey, now 16, was sentenced earlier this year to state custody until he is 21." By my calculations good reader this comes out to probably a bit over 7 years of incarceration for the violent merciless murders of 3 human beings! 7 years and then he gets out to do what? Report to a psychiatrist and perhaps do a couple of hundred hours of community service! This is a slap on the hand.
I believe that this individual should be imprisoned for life with out the possibility of parole and they should be suing him solely, for wrongful death. Of course he would never be able to pay it off but who would care, mainly because he would be locked away and he would never be allowed to see the light of day again as a free person. This is the message that must be sent. Not the money seeking message these bloodthirsty lawyers are sending. They are no better then the kid that did the killing.
In closing this editorial I would like say that this is the opinion solely of this writer and in no way reflects Hooked Gamers. Hooked Gamers always promotes the safe and enjoyable use of video games.
I would like to offer my most sincere condolences to the family and to any other of the fine folks that have been effected by this horrible tragedy. Peace be with you...