Grand Theft Auto Civil Case Moves Forward 129
An Alabama court has refused a request by retailers and Take-Two Entertainment lawyers to throw out a 'Grand Theft Auto-style killing spree' civil case. From the Next Generation article: "Moore, who was 18 at the time of the 2003 slayings, is convicted of killing two Fayette county officers and a dispatcher, and claimed that Grand Theft Auto inspired him to do it. That defense was barred, and Moore was sentenced to death. Although that defense was thrown out, the multi-million dollar suit filed by relatives of the victims claim that Moore was in fact mimicking GTA, which attorneys claim Moore played 'obsessively'."
I wonder why... (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem isn't if the game MADE him do it, but if the game helped him do it MORE EFFICIENTLY.
From the original CBS News [cbsnews.com] link (not TFA) :
"The video game industry gave him a cranial menu that popped up in the blink of an eye, in that police station," says Thompson. "And that menu offered him the split-second decision to kill the officers, shoot them in the head, flee in a police car, just as the game itself trained them to do."
Perhaps if he hadn't played the game, he would have shot them in the chest where hopefully the cops couldn't have died instantly.
In other words, videogames TRAIN the players to become better and more effective criminals. I don't know about you, but the thought gives me the creeps.
so Rockstar is completely NOT Culpable? (Score:1, Interesting)
While I agree, there is also a part of me that thinks any developer that makes a game where the primary objectives in the game involve car-jacking, murdering and getting away from law enforcement that that developer should have at least a passing concern as to how thier creation will have an impact. We talk so freely about people pointing fingers and shurking responsibility. Are we really saying that Rockstar should have ZERO consideration for the overall impact of what they create? That they get to completely wash thier hands of any culpabilty when they make something original. Why does Rockstar get a pass on the responsibility hit list?
I am certianly not saying this litigation is right. But at the same time maybe just maybe making vidoe games that glorify the killing of cops may not be "right" either.
Ves