Blaming Video Games, again!

[Captain Slug]

From ABC News

"NEW YORK (Sept. 6) - The family of a slain motorist has filed suit against the maker of a video game that two teens claim inspired them to shoot at passing cars on a Tennessee highway.

Grand Theft Auto, a video game that allows players to "fire" on people and cars in realistic, shoot-'em-up fashion, is a cash cow that propelled manufacturer TAKE2interactive to the top of the video game industry. For the middle and high school students who play the game for hours on end, it's a means of escaping the monotony of teenage life.

But for two stepbrothers, 16-year-old William and 14-year-old Joshua Buckner, that escape turned deadly this summer. They told police they were emulating Grand Theft Auto on the night of June 25 when they took shotguns to Interstate 40, near their Newport, Tenn., home, and opened fire on vehicles. "

My questions that have never been answered:
How can people project blame when it clearly resides in their own incapability to distinguish right from wrong?
Why is it okay to point fingers at third parties, and not at the parents who have appearantly raised such socially retarded children whom they also have appearantly left within reach of firearms?
Why does this keep coming up as a defense when it has clearly been proven that watching or interacting in violent entertainment DOES NOT actually lead to violent behavior?

Who's to blame? All I can conclude is that many parents don't seem to be doing their jobs.

[Frodo Baggins]

How can people project blame when it clearly resides in their own incapability to distinguish right from wrong?

yeah, that's true, but alot of people are mad at the influence of video games on people's minds. Sort of like, if you suggest to your friend that it's cool to go murder people, you can get into trouble even if you didn't do anything and your friend was the one that couldn't figure out right from wrong

But I agree with you, I played video games when I was young, I'm not exactly a psychopath

[altec]

Originally posted by Captain Slug
My questions that have never been answered:
How can people project blame when it clearly resides in their own incapability to distinguish right from wrong?
Why is it okay to point fingers at third parties, and not at the parents who have appearantly raised such socially retarded children whom they also have appearantly left within reach of firearms?
Why does this keep coming up as a defense when it has clearly been proven that watching or interacting in violent entertainment DOES NOT actually lead to violent behavior?

Who's to blame? All I can conclude is that many parents don't seem to be doing their jobs.

1) Even people who cannot distingiush right from wrong want a scapegoat when something bad happens to them, thats just human nature. To go further into it, they are showing that they cannot distinguish right from wrong in this manner also by not taking responsibilty for the stupidness of their actions, but blaming it on others.

2) I think that it follows the same lines as the previous question: the parents want a scapegoat, and it seems that violence in media/video games is the easiest way out, regardless of the truth.

3) Scapegoat again. I think that as you said the parents are at fault for not recognizing their children's reaction to such things, and their ability to distinguish reality from fantasy. It is ridculous how people always want to point a finger when it is very obvious where the fault lies.

4) I belive that like you said, the parent are in many ways to blame. If you do not raise a child in a manner that implement right and wrong into their heads while they are growing up, they will not be able to distinguish it later in life.

[Captain Slug]

Originally posted by Frodo Baggins
But I agree with you, I played video games when I was young, I'm not exactly a psychopath
Yeah
I used to play ALOT of video games and most of the people I know who play even the most violent ones wouldn't be considered violent individuals. Most studies show that video games actually provide a meaningful outlet for violent emotions or stress and therefore overall reduce outbursts.

[altec]

Originally posted by Captain Slug

Yeah
I used to play ALOT of video games and most of the people I know who play even the most violent ones wouldn't be considered violent individuals. Most studies show that video games actually provide a meaningful outlet for violent emotions or stress and therefore overall reduce outbursts.

It has also been proven that people who play lots of video games violent or not develop better eye/hand coordination, and can do many more things than the guy that sits on the couch and drinks beer watching T.V. after his "hard day at work".

[Penguin4x4]

I don't worry about it much anymore, seeing as how the Supreme Court ruled that video games are now considered free speech, and as such are protected under the 1st Amendment. :)

[fiji]

i think video games, for the most part have been better for me than watching tv

ive learned lots of new vocab, from playing video games (believe it or not)

learned tons of spanish, a little korean

and heck video games, are what made me interested in hardware, which is what made me look into overclocking, which is why im posting here!

and ive learned so much here, its not even funny

[Oni]

These kids blamed the video game 'cause they knew they could get away w/ it.

"The video game made me do it! Honest! I'm just a dumb kid who can't tell right from wrong! Honest!"

They'll win, too. They'll get minimal time 'cause they blamed the video game, and screwed the rest of us.

[DaveSauce]

Originally posted by Oni
These kids blamed the video game 'cause they knew they could get away w/ it.

"The video game made me do it! Honest! I'm just a dumb kid who can't tell right from wrong! Honest!"

They'll win, too. They'll get minimal time 'cause they blamed the video game, and screwed the rest of us.

I saw this on TechLive yesterday......they had footage of the kids in cuffs....one of them was nice enough to blow a kiss to the camera, or someone nearby at least.

Anyhow, they're blaming video games because they're smart. They know damn well that they're effed up in the head to begin with, but they want to get away with it.

Honestly, they need to first be slapped extraordinarily hard for thinking that blaming video games will work (which, in the end, it most likely will), and second they need to be locked away in the "office space prison" for the rest of their lives.

there's been many studies that show absolutely no link between video games and juvinile violence...in fact, some seem to show that the rise of video games coincides with a fall in juvinile violence. But the important part is that there are no studies that show a link between violence and video games.

All there are are stupid people who do stupid things, and then blame video games on it.

I don't know why this is even being discussed......I don't see every carjacking in the world hitting headlines saying that GTA3 caused it. This is just another hot-button issue that is guaranteed to get ratings.....