60 Minutes- GTA lead to Murder?
 

Did anyone catch this story on 60 Minutes last night? I don't actually watch this show much, but turned it on for this story since I am a big Grand Theft Auto player/fan.

I think it is B.S. personally. Like in the 80's when Judas Priest made kids kill themselves....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in678261.shtml

Two weeks ago, a multi-million dollar lawsuit was filed in Alabama against the makers and marketers of Grand Theft Auto, claiming that months of playing the game led a teenager to go on a rampage and kill three men, two of them police officers.

Grand Theft Auto is a world governed by the laws of depravity. See a car you like? Steal it. Someone you don't like? Stomp her. A cop in your way? Blow him away.

There are police at every turn, and endless opportunities to take them down. It is 360 degrees of murder and mayhem: slickly produced, technologically brilliant, and exceedingly violent.

And now, the game is at the center of a civil lawsuit involving the murders of three men in the small town of Fayette, Ala. They were gunned down by 18-year-old Devin Moore, who had played Grand Theft Auto day and night for months.

Attorney Jack Thompson, a long-time crusader against video-game violence, is bringing the suit. "What we're saying is that Devin Moore was, in effect, trained to do what he did. He was given a murder simulator," says Thompson.

he should have used the cheat code once police were bearing down on him.

Seems stupid to me, I would say if anything the store that he got the game from should be fined heavily. Or whomever bought the game for him should be, there are "rules" in place to keep kids from playing these games.

That attorney is...

Let's just say we get emails from him on a periodic because of an entity our firm represents, and he comes off as just a bit unstable.

Jack Thompson is a nutcase. He's the self-appointed crusade leader against all gaming.

It's just like the Ozzy/Judas Priest crap in the 80s and D&D in the 70s.

Someone should show him America's Army.

Yeah, at first I couldn't carjack a tricycle, but after playing GTA for hours and hours I perfected the one arm open door, grap driver, and toss routine. Now I can easily steal cars for a living. :rolleyes:

I've also been playing Amped 2 for like weeks on end, so this weekend I'm going to go out to Aspen rent a board and hit a few 920's with a tail grab off a double black.

So now video games and TV are responsible for teaching kids right from wrong? If you are 18 and booked on suspicion of stealing a car, I don't think this will fly. Personally, I learned all I need to know from Weird Science. If you have problems with chicks, just create them and make them do your bidding.

They are being sued too. They said it last night and it is pretty far down in the article I linked to.

"Strickland, along with Mealer's parents, are suing Moore, as well as Wal-Mart and GameStop, which sold Moore two versions of Grand Theft Auto. Both companies sent us letters insisting they bear no responsibility for Moore’s actions, and that the game is played by millions of law-abiding citizens.

Take-Two Interactive, the creator of Grand Theft Auto, and Sony, which makes the device that runs the game, are also being sued. Both declined to talk to 60 Minutes on camera. Instead, they referred it to Doug Lowenstein, who represents the video game industry. "

Dola- I love how they are suing Sony because that is what the game is played on. I asked my wife, why not bring in the company who made his TV, and the local Power company for supplying him with the electricity needed for the Playstation?

Do you wear a bra on your head, too? I thought I was the only one!

Ah! No wonder the millions of people who have bought GTA are engaging in carjackings and murders across America! We have a crime spree of epic propo... oh what do you say? Most players don't engage in that activity? LIES! All Lies!

Makes you wonder how people learned to carjack and shoot cops before GTA came out.

Hmmm... My profile says I've got over 100 hours playing Burnout 3 on my Xbox. My crash total is over $150 million. I've got some catching up to do in real life, where it is $0.

"I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets." - Ronald Reagan

"Watch a 12-year-old take evasive action while playing Space Invaders and you will appreciate the skills of tomorrow's pilot." - Ronald Reagan

Are you calling the former president a liar? Geez, didn't you all watch "The Last Starfighter"?

Any good lawyers here at FOFC? I need to sue Jim for making me trade my brother for a coupon in the Super Market.

but if you cleared cap space to pay for the groceries, I'd say it was worth it :D

He's been there, done that. They added in parental control for the game where parents can take away snipers. Just more parents not taking responsibility.

Next time I get a speeding ticket, I am going to blame the game "Outrun".

Like many things, the people advocating against the video game didn't offer or get the full story, like how the games main targets aren't necessarily cops. There is plenty bystandard killing too, you can kill all kinds of people in GTA, its open ended that way. There are a million open ended things one can do, I once cheated and rode a tank over the water, I did that for a long time cause it was fun to artillery boats. Doesn't mean I am now "programmed" to take a panzer into lake michigan to hunt pleasure craft.

We see the kind of violence in GTA every day on prime time TV. The only difference is GTA lets the viewer explore as much of it as they want.

If the kid was prone to getting "programmed" whos to say he wouldn't watch a bombing reenactment on 24 and take out a thousand people? Maybe we got lucky? Who is to know when some weirdo takes things a step to far.

Playing North Plainfield today, huh?

Curses on the time stamp bug!

I'm off to build my own lightsaber and fight against the dark side. BBL.

Why not?

I used to play Ninja Gaiden when I was younger, so apparently I should be able to mimic ninja like moves and attack others with great success.

the guy's a fruitcake, every suit he's brought so far has been laughed out of court

Thats different, Ninja Gaiden is a ninja simulator, just as the orginal super mario brothers was a simulator for proper plumbing techniques.

Now that I think about it, can I blame the original Leisure Suit Larry games for my un-smoothness with the ladies?

Yeah, I meant Take-Two should not be fined nor should any other company, other than the store.

Just like a minor buying alcohol.

Sue everybody!

What is funny, is that in the whole interview they never mentioned the kid's parents once. Not once. Was this kid an orphan? It amazes me that when kids do bad things, it is always everyone elses fault and not the parents.

Sounds like a Michael Moore film in the making.

Not really. Moore is a big advocate of removing warning labels on video games and music. He points out that Japan has much more violent content in their media, yet a fraction of the violent crimes that occur in the US.

I think I'll stop and get Playboy: The Mansion on my way home today,

I thought the same thing by the end I looked at my fiance and said, "Why do we watch national "news" shows?"

Actually, he is from what I saw last night on 60 Minutes. They said he went from foster family to foster family. Yet the video game is the only reason he did this eh?

Wow.. I knew this fruitcake had been banging his head against the wall repeatedly, but damn.. Seven years?

(found this in a 2003 article about this jackass)

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, Kentucky, by a 14-year-old boy.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case last year (2002) that it was "simply too far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom."

I wish they would take the warning labels off of everything and let evolution take its course.

The gaming industry is even adding a new "rating" to their rating system, so I heard this last week anyways. Between E (Everyone) and T (Teen), they will now throw in E10+ (Everyone over 10). Not sure what the point is, but I thought I would mention it.

Eh. This is crap, but not at all surprising crap. It was just a matter of time before someone sued the GTA folks. It's an obvious target for the anti-video game crowd.

Yeah, this shit makes me sick. So, how old was the guy when he bought the game? If he was 17, it's a perfectly legal purchase AND (more importantly) he's the target audience of a M-rated game. He was 18 when he did it, so I find it hard to believe he was GTA'ing for more than a year-plus before he decided to go shootin' people (if the game did what they claim it did).

This whole violence in the media argument always makes me puke. My roomy and I were watching this show and rolling our eyes at it. In fact, I'm not gonna waste anymore time typing about it :p

He was 17 when he got the game...

Was the 60 Minutes view really anti-video games?

I think it was Chris Rock who said it best. "What happened to crazy?"

it's not even the first time this nutwhack has sued GTA. Ask him how THAT case is going *snickers* (he sued em in 2003 over GTA 3.. different shooting)

it's an ongoing thing, next week they talk to the non-fuckwit side and ask them the same questions apparently from the transcript I've seen

That about sums it up. :)

ROFL

I thought about his comments when I read this too.

Only it's not illegal to sell M-rated video games to minors.

:rolleyes:

Not much more to say than that...

I think its more equal to letting a kid watch an R-rated movie as opposed to selling them alcohol.