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Kajet
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I got this article off of Gamespot Earlier this year, Devin Moore, now 20, was on trial for the 2003 triple homicide of three Alabama policemen. While in detention for stealing a car, Moore grabbed the pistol of one officer and used it to fatally shoot a total of three of them.
The defense mounted a case based on a childhood full of mental and physical abuse, as well as an affinity for violent games. One game in particular, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto III, was singled out, because gamers can steal cars and kill cops in it. Moore had said he was inspired by the PlayStation 2 game.
In August, a jury swiftly convicted Moore of the charges. And today, a judge laid down the most severe punishment the justice system allows.
Moore will be put to death by lethal injection. Defense attorney Jim Standridge will appeal the case.
The victims' families have sued Take-Two Interactive (parent company of Rockstar), Sony, Wal-Mart, and GameStop for their parts in the manufacturing and selling of the game. Now I won't support or attack the death penalty, BUT personally I think it's a good thing that people aren't blaming games for violent behavior, or rather they're starting to make people take responsibility for their actions. |
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Woodsman
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people will sue not matter what because its simply easier than working. I say at least the judge didnt buy the "the game made me do it!" bullshit. Let the shit bird enjoy his lethal injection.
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Phoenix
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Hey, leave us birds out of this. That's rather insulting. 
Yes, he certainly deserves to be punished for this. He knowingly and willfully committed these crimes. As for the parents, I don't think it's all necessarily moneygrubbing, well except on the part of the lawyers. I think they're looking for someone - anyone - to blame besides their kid, and the lawyers are smelling dough so naturally they're going to sleaze their way into it as well. It's hard as hell to see your offspring do something like this. Nobody wants to think "I'm the mother/father of a murderer", and then the "where did I go wrong?" and "It's all my fault" thoughts tend to follow that. It's easier to stay in a state of denial and blame someone else. The whole thing is an emotional trainwreck for the family, so I'm not surprised by their reaction. While I wouldn't be sad in the least to see Rockstar and Take Two go down for the count because I think they're a bunch of sleazeballs, this isn't the right way to do it.
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  I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Lopson
Elite
Posts: 1133
Still Going In Circles
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Well this is not new. How many times this has happened? Lots. So :
1st - He deserves punishment;
2nd - Games shoudn't be blamed because parents should control their chrildren's vg.
3rd - Those guys at Rockstart are going to jail one day or another after soo many law sues.
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shambler
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If it wasn't games it would be the telly. Or Cinima. Or books. etc.
I play these violent games and I haven't show anyone in ages (joke)
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Moshman
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I totally agree, but as with anything, be it movies, music, or video games, they do influence people, it's a fact, not that it is Rockstar's fault, but you can't say that it did not for sure influence him.
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scalliano
Elite
Posts: 1095
Yup, that's me
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I think you can. Just look at how many millions of people out there DON'T murder poeple after playing a game / reading a book / watching a movie / listening to a particular band, yet nobody is prepared to look in the f***ing mirror when shit like this happens. I can think of examples of all of the above: Manhunt, Catcher In The Rye, Child's Play 2, Judas Priest, etc. It's events like this that give the entertainment industry as a whole a bad name. Let's face it, you need to be one seriously whacked out individual to be influenced by a work of fictionto the point where you actually go out and kill somebody. You might as well blame the hot coffe mode in San Andreas for the entire p0rn0 industry.
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PSN ID: scalliano
The Arena knows no gender, colour or creed, only skill.
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Phoenix
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I just see it as a symptom of a larger societal problem. I'm not going to blame entertainment for people's actions, however I do think an emotionally disturbed person, or one suffering a psychosis would be a lot more prone to outside influence. A question nobody's asked is whether or not somebody in an already weakened state is more likely to commit acts of violence because of how readily available and accepted violent imagery has become. It's like offering booze to a recovering alcoholic - you're tempting them. Compare that to the 1940's or 1950's where such imagery was a lot more rare, and much less accepted. The world, to me at least, appears to be getting more violent as a whole, more accepting of many things it didn't used to, and within "civilized" nations I see violent crime and hard drug use all over the place. Culture has changed much from what it used to be, respect and altruism is completely gone and in its place is selfishness, and an agressive and generally hedonistic attitude. Perhaps if whatever is causing society to go off the deep end is fixed maybe events like this will become less common, and maybe the process of rehabilitating people who do bad things might actually work? How can you rehabilitate someone when they return to exactly what they came out of? It's like giving someone a bath and throwing them back into the sewer. You've got to give them something better than that, or at least, show them it's out there and worth working towards. When they get to the point where they blow people away and think they'll get away with it by blaming a video game it's too late. Sadly I don't think things are going to get any better myself. I'd like to be proven wrong on this one.
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Kajet
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I've been reading some of the bs that jack thompson's been spewing and I'm getting sick of people calling any one who so much as plays a game some sort of voilent, idiotic, stoner. I mean seriously who here has killed some one? Anyone? I highly doubt it. And what about this guy? http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll...90324/1001/NEWSI've seen this story on only a few sites and this is exactly the kinda thing to use to bitchslap some dumbshit soccer moms who are deathly opposed to any kinda of game or anal retentive senators who only want to boost thier career. I woulda mentioned Mr.thompson but looks like his ass is out, finally. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051...51019-5458.html |
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Phoenix
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I've never killed a human. Don't get me wrong, mankind makes me mad enough to want to wipe the whole species off the planet. If I keep my anger in check against that, then I'd say playing a video game won't ever have enough influence over me to make me kill anyone. Why? It's just a game. I give commandments from my God, like "thou shalt not kill" a bit more weight than any emotional desire I might have to rip somebody's entrails out. I understand consequences of action, right and wrong, and what I know I'm not allowed to do. I love my God, myself, and indeed even humans more than I love any desire I have to kill out of anger and spite.
So that's who Jack Thompson is. I've been hearing much hate for this man, but I didn't know who he was. So he's just a sleazeball lawyer trying to bully people he doesn't like by making all sorts of threats. You know lawyers routinely profit from other people's misery. A lot of people cheer when a big corporation gets the pants sued off it and loses a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit to "the little guy", but the reality is the little guy gets shafted (except the "star" of the case) because the payout settlement is always much lower than the actual damages. The workers get shafted because they lose their jobs, and the public gets shafted from increased prices to cover the cost of the lawsuits. Imagine what would happen if the oil industry got sued for price fixing. Does anyone really think it would result in cheaper gas, or do you think the oil industry would rig it so they'd recover their damages? The only people who profit from lawsuits are lawyers.
Let's compare here. Video game companies produce products that harm nobody, bring joy to millions, and help to take people's minds of the general badness, suffering, and misery going on in the world. The actions of a video game company are creative, and can be left or taken at will. The actions of a lawyer are parasitic (hence the term blood-sucking) and are mandatorily enforced. One can disagree with the content of a game, and choose not to buy it. One cannot just disagree with the outcome of a legal action and choose not to abide by it without some heavy consequences befalling them. To me the answer seems fairly obvious. If we want to make society a better place we should make more video games and abolish lawyers. 
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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