Video Game Violence...

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Do you believe Videogames cause kids to lash out?

Yes
2
11%
No
15
83%
Videogames? You mean like, Pac-Man kills?
1
6%
 
Total votes : 18

Video Game Violence...

Postby Texas Carnie Roadshow » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:10 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3936597.stm

Manhunt game withdrawn by stores

The move comes after the parents of a schoolboy murdered by a friend blamed the game for their son's death.

Warren Leblanc, 17, of Braunstone Frith, Leicester, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the murder of 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah in February 2004.

Stefan's parent's claimed Leblanc had been obsessed by the game but standards bodies have rejected the link.

Patrick Pakeerah, Stefan's father, welcomed the decision to withdraw the game from sale. He said: "It's a video instruction on how to murder somebody, it just shows how you kill people and what weapons you use.

"If we can stop another family having to go through what we're going through now, by taking this games and games of this nature off the shelves, then we would have achieved something and Stefan wouldn't have died in vain."

Leblanc had savagely beaten his victim with a claw hammer and stabbed him repeatedly after luring him to a local park.

Leicester Crown Court heard the defendant had planned to rob Stefan.
However, Stefan's mother, Giselle, claimed Leblanc had been obsessed by the game, which awards points for savage killings.

"When one looks at what Warren did to Stephan and looks at the brutality and viciousness of the game one can see links," she said

She said teenagers, who lack the psychological maturity of adults, play the games, even though they are aimed at over-18s.

And she said she was "ecstatic" about Dixon's decision to stop selling the game.

A spokeswoman for Dixons said on Thursday: "We are taking it off the shelves with immediate effect."

In addition to the Dixons Group Plc, which includes PC World and Currys, video game specialist Game announced that it had taken Manhunt off its shelves as a mark of respect.

Other stores including WH Smith are debating whether to stop selling the game.

A statement from the game's publishers Rockstar North said: "We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by these tragic events.

"Rockstar Games is a leading publisher of interactive entertainment geared towards mature audiences and markets its games responsibly, targeting advertising and marketing only to adult consumers ages 18 and older.

"Rockstar Games submits every game for certification to the BBFC - British Board of Film Certification and clearly marks the game with the BBFC-approved rating."

A spokesperson for the British Board of Film Classification said the game had been given an 18 certificate.

It was also the board's opinion that there were no issues of harm attached to the game and there was no evidence directly linking the playing of games with violent behaviour.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association, the voluntary standards body for the video game industry, said: "We sympathise enormously with the family and parents of Stefan Pakeerah.
"However, we reject any suggestion or association between the tragic events and the sale of the video game Manhunt."

Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, a psychology expert, said more research was needed into how violent video games can influence the behaviour of adolescents.

He said: "Research has shown those aged eight years or below do in the short-term re-enact or copy what they see on the screen.

"But there's been no longitudinal research following adolescents over a longer period, looking at how gaming violence might affect their behaviour."


Now seriously, why is it the British always gotta go and fuck everything up?
Ok, so the kid played a bad game. Hell, I can barely play it. Then he murders someone.
Can I use this in court?

My favorite part in this is where they say...
"If we can stop another family having to go through what we're going through now, by taking this games and games of this nature off the shelves, then we would have achieved something and Stefan wouldn't have died in vain."

The game didn't jump off the shelf and kill your son, the kooky-kid did.
Bitches.
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Retreads

Postby SRR » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:21 am

Twenty-five years ago it was D&D that was causing kids to kill everyone they met... in fact, Tom Hanks' early career was highlighted by a T.V. movie that warned of the dangers of pencil and paper roleplaying games. Like really, why can't you put them books and dice down and go strangle some rodents for fun, like we used to do??

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084314/

Then there was heavy metal.... and the PMRC. Dave Mustaine was bitching in his album 'So Far, So good, So What!' about the PMRC. But if it weren't for Slayer and Gwar, the world would be a far less vibrant place.

Then them automatological videemer games started to come out. You, like, killed virtual thingamajigs and it was, like, really disheartening. I mean, can't you just sit at home and watch Robocop instead? Sonic the Hedgehog is just going to totally fuck your mind up.

Oh yeah and Rap music.... what would teen fashion be without Rap music?

I tell ya, ever since my childhood of playing Super Mario all I ever do these days is run around in fields stomping on mushrooms. I don't know why, but I feel better after doing it.

I've also fractured my skull several times trying to shatter bricks, because sometimes they're supposed to drop gold coins.
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Postby Texas Carnie Roadshow » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:28 am

I played Tetris and now I just find myself stacking things
When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be.
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Postby Toasty McGrath » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:36 am

Grab the gun... point it at your family... KILL!!!!

"Satan? Is... is that you?"

No, it'sa mea... Mario!
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Re: Video Game Violence...

Postby crotalus01 » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:38 am

Texas Carnie Roadshow wrote:Patrick Pakeerah, Stefan's father, welcomed the decision to withdraw the game from sale. He said: "It's a video instruction on how to murder somebody, it just shows how you kill people and what weapons you use.


TOTAL FUCKING HORESHIT. why not blame violent films? why not blame Elmer Fudd? he shows how to use a shotgun. or Wily Coyote? he uses bombs. or the bible? the new testament is a crash course in how-to crucifixtion, stoning, etc. please please please understand that people are responsible for their own actions. there were these kind of murders LONG before there were video games...
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Postby DawnC71 » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:45 am

it is stupid.....but i do remember being terrified of having to get a haircut as a child...oh and that song "Heart of Glass" by Blondie....
That song still gives me nightmares especially the horrifying Disco remixes of it.
Cheers,
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Postby Lunatock » Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:42 am

Last few games I got for PS1 were Syphon Filter 3, Dino Crisis 2, and Medal of Honor Underground. None of those games inspired me to:

Mercilessly shoot Carnivorous Dinosaurs

Join the OSS as an undercover operative against the nazis

Or testify before the Secretary Of State in a Congressional Hearing about how my covert mercenary group was formed, and our respective battles with terrorist organisations.
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Postby Texas Carnie Roadshow » Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:01 am

Actually, I think MOH:Underground was the French Resistance.
When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be.
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More explanation on this

Postby SRR » Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:50 am

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association, the voluntary standards body for the video game industry, said: "We sympathise enormously with the family and parents of Stefan Pakeerah.
"However, we reject any suggestion or association between the tragic events and the sale of the video game Manhunt."

Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, a psychology expert, said more research was needed into how violent video games can influence the behaviour of adolescents.


The video game industry has voluntary provided a ratings system for almost a decade now, but the government bodies that be are still too slow and stupid to actually endorse these ratings and provide punishment to, for example, a store that would sell a 14 year old a game that is meant for those 18 and above.

Similarily, if this kid brought an R-rated movie to the checkout counter, would the clerk bother to ask for ID? Would the clerk care? If there were fines for selling it to the kid they would.

It should be like selling cigarettes and alcohol to minors.... or letting them into an R or X rated film. The notion of 'I could get in shit for this' would keep these games out of the younger crowds who shouldn't be playing them anyways.

But I guess it's easier to bitch at the publishers for making and selling the game instead of looking at enforcement. And, of course, lazy parents who have time to blame everyone but not raise their kids properly.
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Postby patriot » Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:09 am

"It's a video instruction on how to murder somebody, it just shows how you kill people and what weapons you use.


Like you need a video game to tell how to kill someone with a hammer. First of all for someone to do this they have to be a total and complete whacko, and secondly there's no way a game could drive someone completely insane. To commit murder there has to be the want and the will. He wasn't playing the game when he suddenly snapped and blew a crazy fuse. I garuntee you this kid was, in fact, a serial killer to be. He started off at the right age, he's a white male, and he indiscriminatly killed another human being. He meets all the criteria of a serial killer. If they hadn't caught him I garuntee he would have killed again, and will most likely do so once he's realeased at twenty-one. I have sympathy for the parents, and personally I could care less if that stupid game came off the shelf (I played it, it was dumb), but I don't agree with censorship or blaiming a video game for the ills of society. But it is awfully horrifying to learn of the brutality that one human being can inflict on another. This kid is a fucking NUT JOB, plain and simple.
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Postby Gopi » Sat Jul 31, 2004 1:10 pm

Every stimulus we receive in life acts on us & shapes us in some way.
Children are like vessels, so it depends what you filled the vessel with before you introduce this kind of spark -
The effect will be one thing to one person and another thing to another.
Like rain falling on the ocean or rain falling on the desert.
All sorts of experience can be used as a gateway to bad behaviour.
There is talk that this kind of stimulation can have a de-sensatising effect, and children are vulnerable, some more than others. Especially when life itself is confusing, possibly has no purpose, holds no security, is full of violence, oppression, injustice, poverty.
But for most kids I think that's the stuff that makes them flammable, not the video game, which more likely will be a pleasant distraction from mundane reality.
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Postby DawnC71 » Sat Jul 31, 2004 1:54 pm

I think that woman who ran her cheatin' hubby over SEVENTY-THREE(Or how many ever it was..does it really matter after the first few times you run them over) times in the driveway probably listened to a little too much rap music ...or maybe she was a little too influenced from Gangstah Barbie Bitch on Saturday Night Live.
Cheers,
Dawn
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my personal fave

Postby mamie » Sat Jul 31, 2004 4:14 pm

i like the one were you get to beat the little old lady bloody with a tire iron.

that tickles my funny bone everytime.

8 years ago it was unrecognizable aggressive aliens and now it's grandma venturing out for a stroll.

it's called progress.
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Postby Texas Carnie Roadshow » Sat Jul 31, 2004 10:35 pm

Image

This screenshot from Fable caused the POMAG (Pissed off mothers against gaming) to bitch and argue until they removed the totally open ended play style from a game where literally almost anything could be done. Apparently someone took the shot in Beta, and it got around some. It's a little sad though. Think of all the killings and beatings the POMAG could have blamed on this game.
When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be.
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Postby crotalus01 » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:54 am

dont know that i would have killed the kid myself but it sucks that i now no longer have the option in what is supposed to be totally open ended game...
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