Man Says GTA Made Him Think He Could Outrun Cops
from the somebody-call-jack-thompson! dept
Lawyer Jack Thompson's well-worn schtick is to blame all sorts of crimes on video games, in particular the Grand Theft Auto series. In a case that he'll probably adopt as "proof" of his beliefs, a man in Albany, N.Y., has been sentenced to jail (via Digg) after leading police there on a car chase. Apparently, the guy thought he could get away from them because he'd done it on GTA. Of course, despite what people like Thompson might say, the mitigating factor here isn't the video game -- it's the guy's stupidity. Trying to make out that it's games that cause society's ills, rather than focusing on the real reasons people commit crimes and do stupid things is the real problem for society, since it gives people another way to abdicate personal responsibility.
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And first!
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Better than pr0n!
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LSS
Unfortunately I'm a geek! I'm now in mental distress and am suing!
*pun*
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Re: LSS
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Re:
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Re:
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If the invisibility cloak malfunctions I can just use a chameleon spell.
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Re:
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Get a life - The Sequel
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Re: Get a life - The Sequel
have a better life in a third world country
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Re: Re: Get a life - The Sequel
And from whom did you extract this pearl.
I know--- Fox News made you believe that there is some sort of logic in the sentiment that criticizing America or Americans is undemocratic.Your line of thought, if I am not mistaken, is:"If you don't want to be told what to think, go somewhere where you will be told what to think THEN you'll appreciate being told what to think."
Forget GTA, it's gotta be Fox giving its followers dangerous delusions and causing them to confuse the repetition of muddled, nonsensical propaganda with clear thinking.
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Re: Re: Get a life - The Sequel
Martin Luther King Jr criticized this country. Does that mean he shoulda ran off? No, you doofus, by his criticism he made it an even better place. The principles of our nation is built on this freedom, to disparage so that we can all learn and benefit.
Don't be a tyrant.
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On Responsibility
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Geek with rifle proficiency Needed....
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Re: Geek with rifle proficiency Needed....
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Re: Geek with rifle proficiency Needed....
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Re: Re: Geek with rifle proficiency Needed....
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Re: Geek with rifle proficiency Needed....
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that guy's a chump.
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GTA- San AnMAKE ON EDGE PEOPLE DO CRAZY STUFF
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Get these guys to play other games.
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Re: Get these guys to play other games.
"I ran across the highway because Frogger made me think I could dodge cars going 70mph."
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Re: Re: Get these guys to play other games.
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Re: Get these guys to play other games.
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CEO material
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CEO material
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stupid GTA
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Re: stupid GTA
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Be Reasonable Now
Given, the above premise is true, games DO affect peoples reality when given inappropriate time and importance in an individuals life. We are NOT all created equally when it comes to learning, physical abilities and perception of reality. We are NOT all on equal circumstances of our living conditions and environment. I think it is certainly possible that this individual interacted with the game enough that, in the moment, he may have thought he could control life and reality (ie. the physics of the car and persistance or intelligence of the real officers) from his "over-experience" with the game. Your ability to deal with hours of game-play and someone elses are not the same and to assume as much is naivity on your part.
Do I suggest that the game becomes an avenue of escape for responsibility for this person? Not really. But I do believe it can be a legitimate factor in the pyschology of the individual. So, in my opinion, besides jail time appropriate to his actions, I believe part of his sentence should include probation (if not a life-time restriction) of gameplay of this kind. He has shown that he simply cannot deal with it appropriately.
Send the guy to jail with an Atari 2600, 19" Black&White television and Tic-Tac-Toe. Jail time and therapy. And comprehensive solution. ;-)
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Re: Be Reasonable Now
1. Cops aren't likely to just disappear after a few minutes of a car chase; I've heard of some that have gone for hours, until someone ran out of gas.
2. Helicopters are play a huge part in police chases. They can tell the ground units where the subject is heading and what roads he is taking, even if he is able to outrun the cops' Chevy Impalas.
3. When you run into something, the car is usually damaged far beyond the driving limits, unlike it is in video games where you have to literally remove the steering wheel from the dash to make it undrivable.
I have no sympathy for this fool. He assumed way too much and didn't think about it rationally in the moment. Too bad emotions get in the way too much...
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Re: Be Reasonable Now
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thinking
i don't think so i think he just came up with an exuse for his actions. i wouldn't be surprised it had never actually played GTA at all. I mean people run from the cops all the time even before video games were invented
the irony is back in the old days you actually had a chance of loosing the cops these days good luck you'll need it!
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Move them, they'll never know
Ratings will go through the roof and it will ultimately determine which is true
Darwin or creation
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Learn English
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What an idiot
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Re: What an idiot
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dropping thompson
*pun*
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Just F@#$ING STUPID
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When will government ever learn
Respondents who say it is an abdication of responsibility are right, we are in a blame culture across the world, in which idiots are being given leave to sue others for their own weaknesses and foolishness. But the principle to follow is simple, if you are (or wish to be treated as) an adult, it means taking responsibility FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS. The further we go down an alternative route, the fewer freedoms we are left with.
As a Libertarian, I say allow adults to do what they want as long as it does not hurt others. Conversely, If a person's action does hurt others then that person must suffer the consequences. Not the victims and not the rest of society in general.
It was not the makers of GTA (or any other game) who took the action which caused this guy to do the wrong thing, HE did!
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GTA LIED TO ME
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8~
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INVISIBILITY ROBE FOR OBLIVION
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I was just playing Black and White 2 for about an hour and when I came to this website I though I could zoom in and out with my mouse wheel.
Yes, the guy is stupid for admitting it, but I can understand.
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Blurring the lines of reality
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Re: Geek with rifle proficiency Needed....
See, GTA is a public service. Giving stupid crooks more and more stupid ideas.
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I'll sue!!!
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Life sucks
We get anorexia, we sue Dr Atkins or Weight Watchers.
We get busted for trying to ditch the cops. etc. etc. etc.
It's called responsibility folks!! People want to point fingers and not assume responsibility for thier actions.
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KEY WORD HERE
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video games
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Too much editorializing
>rather than focusing on the real reasons people commit crimes and
>do stupid things is the real problem for society, since it gives
>people another way to abdicate personal responsibility.
Too much editorializing -- it's pretty obvious what's going on, no need to make the obvious statement. In fact, it might be more powerful to let the reader make the conclusion herself. Think about it -- the presentation of the facts is so tilted in one direction that the conclusion is naturally on the reader's mind. When the conclusion comes from within [the reader's mind] it has a lot more force since the reader then "owns" the idea and is less likely to try to come up with alternate explanations. If you write the words then the reader will read them critically -- here, maybe considering whether the lawyer is just out for a buck regardless of what impact there is on society. That suggests that the problem isn't social indulgence, but rather the structure of the legal system...
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Misconceptions
You can get a hooker in GTA..wow you sit in a car and it rocks around, i get wood(sarcasm). I get into a cop chase, kill twenty cops, then get out and shoot the gas tank of a car. it blows up...
i mean come onif anything this game is making people less wanting to go out and doing these things, see people are lazy, why bother getting in trouble in RL for doing something stupid, if you can do it in a video game...ecen better the horrible depictions of the sex scenes in gta makes kids want to aly off having sex until they are physically mature..
peace out yealls shoot some cops heads off for me.
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take responsibility
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Bevis n Butt Head Started all of this
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Maybe, maybe not
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dont blame the game
that is if u think of it at all, some parents dont care wat thier kids do or say
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influences
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Personal responsibility vs training and environmen
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So if I fly a simulator?
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Re: So if I fly a simulator?
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Game Blame
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Re: Re: Be Reasonable Now
I think you might've thought the original author was suggesting to blame the game in the end. But I think the author was merely suggesting that, due to this persons development, he isn't able to handle the effects of the video game properly. Thus, probation of a GTA style gameplay would be necessary for his and others safety. The blame isn't on the game, the blame is on his lack of development.
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Re: Re: Re: Be Reasonable Now
In my post I was meaning to degrade the fool for not thinking it through all the way. He didn't think it through because none of the three points I mentioned crossed his mind (if they did, then he's a bigger fool than any of us imagined).
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Video Game Makers Need to Be Careful
Like announcing the vulnerability in a software product without discussing with the maker, so they might have at least an opportunity to fix it. Things like "bad behavior" doesn't HAVE a "fix", and the imitators will inevitably come.
So, you have this guy playing Grand Theft Auto... and looking at it over and over, realizing that... Hey... it really *does* map the city he lives in... and, well, well... after a few games, he's getting ideas... "this really could work". For people with some self-respect, future, and options... why would you steal a car? Too much risk. For people with nothing to lose and surrounded by other people with nothing to lose, suddenly its an opportunity that they keep asking themselves everyday... "Do I think I could do it? Why not?"
Is it GTA's fault? Hell, no... but the videogame makers aren't being responsible citizens by encouraging the sensationalism of stealing a car. For that alone, I don't absolve them of shame. Society is imitative. Hello... that's how celebrity endorsments work. Just because their sensationalism sells games, doesn't mean its *right* to do a game that... doesn't simply "feature" it... but ENCOURAGES it. It's some pretty LOW stuff to be trafficing in.
A friend and I were talking the other day about this. Like... what would happen if: A videogame maker came out with a "rape simulator", where you could stroll through central park hunting women... or a video game maker came out with an "al queda" simulator, where you could find a sect in America, and get your way past immigration... go to weekly meetings... visit the training camps... and work your way to becoming a terrorist on 9/11... just because.
All in the name of free speech. At what point do we actually turn to the videogame maker and say, "Dude, that's F'ed up. What are you?" Overtly trafficing in the simulation and sensationalisation of a crime isn't exactly the highest road to be travelling in my opinion.
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Re: Video Game Makers Need to Be Careful
They already have those. I would put a link, but children might be on.
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some ppl do have problems
since when candy/sweet drinks etc. companies had to pay dental treatment / diabet ?
since when a product used by most without problems is already a problem?
like other said: too much time on hands and too much brain work on loose i'll add.
ppl demonstrate they smart finding problems, but distructive not constructive. if that idiot is so stoopid to blame game for his mistakes, make-him play a kind of game he's gonna develop some usefull skills, better, but in jail where he belongs for breaking the law.
and for the lawiers who fight this addictions 1 word, try some gym, use brain is about to fry!!!
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GTA and car chases
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Re: GTA and car chases
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Real Reason
Repent of your sins guilty people!
The judgement of the Lord is coming upon all who do not recognize and repent of their own sin.
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Lame lame lame
Parents...you should really police your childresn video games...the ratings are there for a reason and on top of that you can go to Gamespot.com and read about the game before you rent/buy for your kid.
Now I played inappropriate games for my age when I was a kid (Leisure Suit Larry comes to mind) but I have never lost my grip on reality. Sure sometimes I like to drive my car a little reckless...and sometimes paintball is a little more like Black...but I know where I am at and who I am and what my limitations are.
This guy was an idiot...he should not be let off the hook because of a game and if anyone defends this asshole then I feel sorry for us all!
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I'll be a Hero!
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PacMan did it!
So I have this to say: ball manifacturers, damn you all to hell!
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TechDirty?
I saw postings well in advance of once shown, then have been removed or misplaced for some reason on here.
Are the editors editing out valid commentary? or is there a problem with the site?
For example, there were satirical postings about frogger making people run across streets blindly, and pacman making people put plastic in their mouths posted previously that have disappeared.
EDITING? or a MALFUNCTION?
techdirt watchdog
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Re: TechDirty?
Apparently, comments here are now being editorialized here on Techdirt, or there is something wrong with the site.
I saw postings well in advance of once shown, then have been removed or misplaced for some reason on here.
Please back up those accusations. We do not delete comments on Techdirt, unless they are spam, or directly harmful in some manner.
Are the editors editing out valid commentary? or is there a problem with the site?
Neither. I think you may have rushed to judgment for some unknown reason.
For example, there were satirical postings about frogger making people run across streets blindly, and pacman making people put plastic in their mouths posted previously that have disappeared.
I still see both of the comments you reference. No one here has touched them. They've been up since they were posted.
Please do not us accuse of such things when the accusations are absolutely false.
Besides, why would we ever edit out satirical comments... especially amusing ones like that?
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Refuggingtarded...
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2 fast
So he should have taken his basooka and kabum!
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