Student Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV to Rob and Kill Taxi Driver

The sales of the insanely popular video game Grand Theft Auto IV have been halted in Thailand because of a copycat murder:

One of the largest video game distributors in Asia has halted sales of the Grand Theft Auto IV in Thailand after a teenager confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game.

New Era Interactive said it had sent a note to all of its Thai stores telling them to pull the game off the shelves after a 19-year old high-school student confessed to killing a taxi driver with a knife he bought at a local branch of Tesco.

Police in Bangkok said that the youth "had wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game."

Link - Thanks Geekazoid!


Kids inspired by videogame the Sims to burgle. They said that they could not be held responsible as they were only trying to find out if it was as easy as it seemed in the game.

Parents enraged that the game doesn't have a disclaimer. "We do not know what the kids are playing on this magic box and as such can not be held responsible".
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I guess he found out. It's easy to do, not so easy to get away with.

The boy was certain to be a thug in any case, as he is 19 and still living with his parents AND playing video games all day.
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He should have first tried driving a flaming motorcycle of a skyscraper into the ocean before trying out his clever "stabbing innocents can't be that hard" hypothesis.

I heard that Jack the Ripper had been playing Metal Gear Solid non-stop before the murders.

And Attila the Hun was seen trying to break his Snake highscore on his Nokia only 10 minutes before laying waste to all those countries.

I'm just saying...
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Translation: Braindead Fucktard commits crime then tries to attribute blame to video game in attempt to say "but it wasn't my fault".

I'm waiting for the greyhound beheading to be blamed on GTA.
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You know, people are focusing rather a lot on the fact that the game 'made him do it'...

But not on the fact that because he couldn't actually afford to buy GTA4 he went and bought two knives for $16.

How about banning the sale of knives to young people maybe? Shouldn't we be in an uproar about the fact that he could buy knives? Makes about as much bloody sense.
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Man, what kind of crazy videogame did *I* play that made me do my daily routine (work, etc..) all the time? I've played lots. Was it Mortal Kombat? Mario? Metroid? Or perhaps it was all the DnD? Or maybe those books I read! They can fill someone's heads with all sorts of.... sorts of... IDEAS! They should be outlawed! Along with me! I should be outlawed!

...i've always wanted to be a crime!
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Reminds me of the time I got all caught up in this game called Pitfall, and actually tried to swing from a tree over a pit. I get chills just thinking about the horror.
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It's not enough to say, "Well, my friends and I spent hours and days playing this stuff, and I'm not killing anyone, nor are any of my friends."

What is important is >>*population data*<>*population data*<<. What we are looking for is the change in *likelihood* to commit violence.

But yes, I still want to see better studies.
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What about all the gamers who DON'T go out and kill innocent people?

I'm sure the ratio of people who've played the game versus psycho's who try to emulate it is the same ratio as regular people versus regular psycho's.

He killed the driver with a knife he bought at tesco's and they stop selling the GAME? Stop selling the KNIFE!
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My whole comment:

It’s not enough to say, “Well, my friends and I spent hours and days playing this stuff, and I’m not killing anyone, nor are any of my friends.”

What is important is *population data*, not individual anecdotes. "My grandmother smoke cigs and lived to age 94." Therefore, cig-smoking does not cause heart disease/cancer/premature death?

Not everyone who plays games with violent themes commits violent acts, for sure. We need *population data* and what we are looking for is the change in *likelihood* to commit violence. 3 in 100,000 IS three times more than 1 in 100,000, even if there are far more negatives than positives.

But, yes, I still want to see better studies.
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Someone will always be influenced by something - whether it be games, movies, books, or even stories. I don't think games cause crime (thousands of virtual kills in COD4, yet I don't even own a gun, nor do I need one in the area I live). But even if they did - so what? Outlaw any book, film or game that depicts any violence whatsoever? There's a ton of bloodshed in the Bible - and some people have actually said the bible inspired them to kill (these people are usually insane to begin with). Do we ban the Bible? No, of course not. And that's why we shouldn't ban games either, even if they did cause crime (and there is no indication that they do).

There have been serial killers, murderers, robbers, thugs, throughout human history. In ANY population, throughout time, there has always been a minority of human beings who commit violent crimes. Always has been, always will be. In actual fact, crime in the US and many other nations has gone DOWN over the past decade, yet because the media reports crime all the time, people's perception of violence has increased.

Why do people do evil things? I don't know. But what I do know is that criminals/murderers have existed ever since the human species has existed. There will always be a small minority of people who kill, and they will always be inspired by something, games, books, films, or whatnot.
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He's probably using the game as a cover for the real reason of why he did it.

He's messed up, gets pleasure out of fucked up things and he just doesnt want anybody to know, so he uses the game as a cop out.
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You can kick them out, take their car, get out, kill them and take their money. That's as close to robbing them as it gets.

Also, I've seen studies that show that violence goes down on nights that violent movies do well in theaters. Many of the people who are likely to commit violent acts would rather watch someone else do it. Ergo, people are lazy and anything that puts them on their asses for a few minutes will probably reduce violence in some small way.
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It scares me far less that people commit "copycat crimes" based on video games than it does how reactionary the response is to the crimes. OMG! HE PLAYED VIDEO GAMES! LET'S BAN THEM ALL! Or, you know, you could think about it for five seconds and realize how many millions of video games are sold each year and how few violent crimes are committed in relation to them (not to say caused by them — but that the perpetrator even claims to have been influenced by the game).

I grew up playing Mario, I don't run around busting my head into bricks and jumping on turtles. If I did, I'd clearly have far bigger problems than enjoying a medium that brings in $10 BILLION in sales a year.
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