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"GTA inspired London Riots"
Now I wanted to publish this article a few days ago but computer problems wouldn't allow me to do so. Which may be a blessing in disguise really as new developments have occured since I wrote the original. So this is going to be a merge of what I had already wrote and some new information.
As the headline suggests someone has cited video games, and their ‘apparent’ negative influences it can have on kids, as one of the main catalysts behind these horrible actions. Surprise, sur-fucking-prise. It seems when anything bad or unfortunate happens in the world, the fault is not on the morality or personality of those who committed the act but instead on the gamers of today. Now I know this isn’t our style here at UFO but this is technically gaming related news and something I feel strongly about so I’m going to go into more detail about this story.
According to the front page of London Evening Standard this passed weekend, I’m a few days late to this as I’m from Liverpool so we don’t get this particular newspaper round our way, a police officer believes the Grand Theft Auto fanchise is the main inspiration for youngsters to join the riots and looting in London over the weekend. If you were unable to obtain a copy of the newspaper, many websites have reported word for word that the second paragraph of the story reads: "Children aged between 10 and 14, said to have been inspired by video game Grand Theft Auto, were seen rampaging through Enfield and Brixton as riots and looting also spread to Dalston and Fulham."
Ben Parfitt, of MCV, states a member of the Evening Standard news team confirmed that "GTA quotes were to be included in the article. However, the source would not rule out the possibility of alternations being made before the paper hits presses".
Well that seems to be the case as the paper have realised their claim is basically ridiculous based on no actual evidence. Im surpised we didn't get another story revealing Nico Bellic's phone was hacked as the 'reliable source'. As you can see in this photo below there is the original intended front page is on top and on the bottom is the edited one they went ahead and published instead.Â
It is reported that on an online poll, the same constable was quoted as saying "Go home, get a takeaway and watch anything that happens on TV... These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pacman and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves". Now that is sound advice, if by sound advice I mean a Daily Mail readers style of inventing your own misery just to make the world appear alot worse than it actually is. Oddly enough no-one has leapt to the defense of the constable of the paper, I wonder why? It may have something to do with the fact that this story is a complete piece of fabrication.
Now my personal opinion is action must be taken if a direct link between a video game and a tragic event can be found. But as usual there isn’t one and its purely speculation. People will look for a scape-goat and the gaming world has been given the short end of the stick again. Last month Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was accused of being a training tool for Norwegian shooter Anders Behring Breivik, the man behind the tragic Oslo attacks. In 2004 Rockstar’s Manhunt was wrongly said to have been the inspiration behind the teenage stabbing of Stefan Pakeerah in Keith Vaz’ Leicester constituency.
[Sources:Â MVCuk / CVG ]
Let's face facts, people will always blame what they dislike for what's wrong in the world. They see this nice and simple equation and think "yes, that makes sense, it must be right":
Violence in Games
+
Violence in Reality
=
Games cause Violence in Reality
Gotta love how stupid some people are, eh?
Let's not forget what we're dealing with here; videogames. Tools implemented so that we, the audience, become part of what is fundamentally an entertaining, immersive and interactive experience. It is with no doubt that music, films, books, videogames influence us and obtain some form of control over us.
I, myself feel very influenced by games I love, and I think the same applies for the rioters - not all of them, granted. Now, I'm not saying games such as GTA are responsible for this - the 18+ certificate is there for a reason. I'm just saying, people can be influenced very easily. It's sad, but it's true. I'm on neither side, but I do think it's a bit shoddy even music and films don't get criticized as much, but that's the way it is.
It's how the brain interprets what it sees, and what it is part of. I don't think videogames should be penalized for this. This is pure responsibility of the parents and or legal guardians, the shop-keepers in shops and society as a whole. And those old enough, are to know better and should be punished accordingly.
But there are so few people that think like that, that it should not be brought up over the bigger topics that need to be discussed about the riots.
Imagine if Hitler had played Command and Conquer, he might have tried to take over the world. Or what if a young Hugh Hefner had played Playboy Mansion, he could have gone on to own a playboy mansion himself.
My point is that video games do not make people, people make video games.
Remember catcher in the rye? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye#Controversy
People are shocked by such events and they want to blame something and even more they want to find reasons to confort themselves. Gaming is just on the bring of becoming social as accepted as other genres, give it time, soon it will be like movies, were they want say such a thing out of fear to upset every-fucking-one
Even then I wouldn't blame games I'd still, as Shadow said, put fault on those using it as an exuse or 'influence' to justify their actions. Then again you never hear a stoner say 'I sit in a dark room munching pills listening to repetitive music cause I really liek Pacman as a kid' or a jewler saying he wanted the job so he could collect rings like the famous blue hedgehog.
Like Exar said and I elluded to...something bad happens and some immediately leaps to a game, film, book or whatever to blame when it has fuck all to do with what's just happened. Ala 'catcher in the rye'. It's alwaysthe person responsible unless they have been brainwashed or pounded with sublimanle messages or drugged etc.
Whether it influences people remains to be seen; I've yet to see a credible independent study that shows any kind of link between behavioural difficulties on this scale, and exposure to video games. I do think that if games that are rated 18 are supplied to children, then they may well be more susceptible, but then again, kids know the difference between reality and fiction.
What this kind of thing always seems to mask is the fundamental problems that exist in society and the lack of desire for anyone to address these problems.
One could become very paranoid if you think of how the media could well be in the pocket of our fat, lazy bastard government and who'd be very keen to wash their hands of the responsibility of the events across the country that weekend.
Very paranoid indeed.