Nintendo Boss: Used Video Games Aren't Good For Consumers

When People Talk About How Video Games Cause Violence, This Probably Isn't What They Mean

from the overreaction dept

Fri, Apr 3rd 2009 12:48pm — Carlo Longino

The evidence that violent video games cause violent behavior remains lacking, but that doesn't stop the games from being blamed for all sorts of violent acts. Usually, this blame is suspect, but perhaps in some cases, you can make a link between video games and violent behavior. Like in England, where a man has just been convicted of killing his partner, apparently because she stayed up late playing Grand Theft Auto on a TV in their bedroom. Of course, one would be hard pressed to argue that the game really made him do it; the fact that he attacked the woman with two knives and stabbed her in the chest 20 times would indicate the guy had some other issues. But we've seen plenty of cases where video games get blamed for abhorrent behavior, while other causes get ignored, so why not here, too?

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Filed Under: video games, violence

15 Comments

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SPAM, 3 Apr 2009 @ 12:56pm

Bone... of contention!
My (ex)wife threw my PS1 out the window of our 3rd story apartment. This kind of fighting between couples is normal--just not the murder part.
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PaulT (profile), 3 Apr 2009 @ 12:57pm

Given that drooling idiots like Keith Vaz are still trying to blame a murder on Manhunt (despite the fact that it belonged to the victim of the crime and the police have rejected all connections), I wouldn't be surprised.
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Mark K., 3 Apr 2009 @ 1:01pm

Another one.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7250177&page=1

Another gunman... How long until video games are blamed for this?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2009 @ 1:06pm

Re: Another one.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=7249853&page=1
Might be a better story summary?
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Tgeigs, 3 Apr 2009 @ 1:12pm

Stop pretending there isn't a connection
I for one can attest to the connection, and video games have been responsible for a timeline of reprehensible actions throughout my life. This is one of those times, but feel free to share your own story:

6 y.o. -- As a mere 1st grader, I was caught hallucinating on mushrooms, breaking into a pet store and demanding where they kept the turtles. When the clerk looked confused, I snarled "traitor", slapped him in the face, and proceeded to the turtle section in the back. There I carefully laid them out on the tile floor and proceeded to do a semi-homosexual leap in to the air (one fist in the air and a blank expression on my face) and crushed the slimy quadripeds beneath my shoes. Apparently I was rushed to jail while screaming that someone owed me a princess.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2009 @ 1:51pm

Re: Stop pretending there isn't a connection
I have roughly the same story, except I escaped through the sewers.
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Some Italian, 3 Apr 2009 @ 1:59pm

Re: Stop pretending there isn't a connection
I'll share my story:

I went to pick up my girl once from work only to find out she was in a different building.
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JDaddy, 3 Apr 2009 @ 2:10pm

Re: Re: Stop pretending there isn't a connection
Did you have to go to 7 wrong buildings before you found the right one or did you find the warp zones and only go to two wrong buildings?
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Tgeigs, 3 Apr 2009 @ 2:10pm

The Story Continues
16 y.o.-- At the request of my family, I accompany them to the supermarket. While wandering down one of the aisles, a tall slender man with white hair is walking the opposite direction. He apparently knew my father, and asked him "are you coming to the reunion?"

Sephiroth!, I thought. Here? How could that be?

But that wasn't the time for thought, it was the time for decisive action, so I promptly crane kicked him in the nuts, reached for one of those plastic displays, and beat him to death with it, screaming "That was for Aerith you snowy son of a bitch!"

Fortunately, as it was close to Easter, there was a plethora of Chocobos located in convenient nearby packages marked "Peeps". I peeled one out, hopped aboard, and rode it into the sunset.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2009 @ 2:15pm

Re: Bone... of contention!
My (ex)wife threw my PS1 out the window of our 3rd story apartment. This kind of fighting between couples is normal--just not the murder part.

No, this kind of fighting is normal between people are clinically insane and/or have no business living together. On the other hand, I think I just figured out why the divorce statistics are so high.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2009 @ 2:37pm

/ You beat me to the punch on that one. Touche.
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Abusing the original concept again..., 3 Apr 2009 @ 4:53pm

This is another blatent case of abuse. The TV was made to watch. Not to be used as a monitor for games. Had the dufus been on a separate video monitor, they would probably still be sucking air.

It's all their own fault.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2009 @ 10:29pm

ROFL @ comments 5-8
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2009 @ 10:44pm

Re: Re: Bone... of contention!
SRSLY.
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top, 26 Jun 2009 @ 8:17am

I think, as a parent I'd rather have my child be addicted to games which I have the control over with rather than my kid be involved in drugs. I have the power to monitor my kid's computer usage compared to him using drugs behind my back. I have read an article: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1421576 wherein it was discussed a game helped a student in his financial crisis in real life and it somewhat gave me a new outlook in games.
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