Do Video Games cause real life violence?

Question

Devin Moore at 17 years old was arrested for car theft and while being booked he grabbed the officers gun, shot and killed him and two other officers. He then escaped in a police car. He and his attorney blame it on the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Sony and many other companies are being sued for this. Will the companies have to pay? Does the media cause violence? Are there any laws for this kind of stuff?

Answer 1

Well, if Sony has to pay then all the porn companies better start paying all of the victim's families touched by porn (fantasy, just like violent games are) such as those addicts like Ted Bundy, John W. Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Scott Peterson, Mark Hacking, Neil Entwhistle, and a host of others. I think parents are repsonsible for what they allow their children to access and should take things seriously. They are so desensitized to violence from tiny tots in front of the T.V. as the after school and weekend baby sitter until they crave more and more to get a thrill of it just like porn. Also, these violent games include porn oftentimes but the main thing is that children and adults can lost sight of reality by indulging too much in fantasy that is not healthy. You can include hard rock music in there as well as occultic games such as Dungeons and Dragons. Being a Godless society causes violence. My question is where are the parents and why is someone wanting to blame the manufacturer of the game. Somebody put money into that kids hands to buy it and he is still a minor. Somebody sold it to him and he's still a minor too young to buy beer or cigarettes. Somebody like this kid is old enough to sign up for the armed forces but can't be trusted not to handle real life. He still had to know that what he did was wrong. Why sue someone else for his lack of conscience? Who trained this child in the way he should go so he wouldn't bring shame to himself and his family and community? I don't think these games should be produced for the kids and they should be labeled as being too violent for their age but truly the reponsibility lies with the kid and his parents. Again, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? They did bring him into this world. Why wasn't he in school or at a job working responsibly? It's not typical behavior of someone raised in a loving heterosexual marital conservative Christian home. Possible, but the odds are extremely lower. We have too many frivolous lawsuits like fat people trying to blame McDonald's for eating their greasy french fries. So immature and irresponsible.
Who has the greater sin? The person who produces porn for rapists, murders, pedophiles, and other perverts, the ones who peddle it, the ones who buy it? Who are the REAL victims? Maybe they all are because sin when it is finished, especially those who invent evil things, brings forth death. We are drawn away and enticed of our own lusts. The best way to fight this as a society is to go back to living and teaching our children right and that's straight from the Bible in black and white and not grey when it comes to morality. America needs God back in her schools, back in her courtrooms, back in her daily life to remain great. When America ceases to be Godly she ceases to be good. No lawsuit or amount of money in the world will ever correct the root of the problem.

Answer 2

Here are some of the most violent games I've ever played: Manhunt, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. It's not the game that causes violence, it's the parents. I'm not saying that the parents are abusive, it's that they didn't teach the child the difference of right and wrong in the real life. At first GTA to me was a disgrace (back when I was a little kid), but now find GTA to be one of the best games ever. That's neither here or there, sorry. The point is that the parents are responsible for teaching the kid moral of society. If the kid lack those morals, then he/she can possibly become a problem for society, and another tragic event like Devin's actions could possibly occur again.
Furthermore, parents need to pay attention to the ESRB ratings (E+10, T, M, AO) and select a video game that's appropriate to them and to their kids. If kids obtain rated M games at a young age, they absorb the violence like sponges and eventually become violent themselves.

Answer 3

If anything, I think those kind of video games decreases real life violence. Oh sure it could backfire, but that's very rare. Humans are violent by nature (as proven almost all the time) and venting their violence and anger on virtual people rather then real life likely does everyone some good in the long run.

Another thing is parents (and others like Devin) want to blame everything but themselves. If parents actually spend time to teach their children morals, maybe this stuff wouldn't happen so often. Sadly, I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Answer 4

NO I don't think that video game violence (or tv, movie, music,etc) causes real life violence. That's a cop out for people who don't want to take responsibility for their actions. It's much like when kids are playing and they get in trouble and they point at their friend and say "they did it" or when a clearly sane adult does something and says "uhuh wasn't me...the devil made me do it"...People will always look for ways to do things that they feel like doing at the moment and then look for ANY way out of the consequences no matter how assinine they sound. What's so sad to me is just how many people actually believe this load of crap.

Answer 5

Well he probbaly had parents that did not care for him playing violent video games. I don't know about the sueing part but it wont be the Sony it will probally be the people that made the game get sued. Any way there that game should be rated A.
Trust me I saw on the news one time there was a game like grand threft auto and it has cheats that was not about violence but other things that gross if you know what I mean. And after that I think the people who made the game got sued and there was no copies of the game ever made EVER.

Answer 6

No. People like the guy you just mentioned are just looking for an excuse to get out easy. If they go and plead guilty to theft and murder, they know that they will have to own up to it. So by finding something to lay the blame on, they divert the attention from their lack of judgment to video games, so that the media will have something to exaggerate on. Good parenting and proper teaching will help children develop a mature and moral mind set.

Answer 7

I hope they wouldn't have to pay for his mistakes b/c games don't cause violence. They say the same thing about movies and music its all a cop-out for parents to not take response ability for their own kids. Parents who are irresponsible always make excuses for their kids behavior even though its the parents responsibility to teach their kids right from wrong. I played violent games, watched violent movies, and listened to violent music but I've never committed a crime or ever acted anything out. The reason is b/c my parents taught me right from wrong.

Answer 8

Not at all, i'm 24 and have been playing GTA since it came out, i wouldn't hurt a fly and am smart enough to know its just a game, the people who do these things are nuts plain and simple, there trying to blame somebody else for there actions, they knew what they were doing nobody put the gun in there hand, people need to take responsibility for themselves, plus there parents probably should have been monitoring them a little more closely, its the same thing as "i'm going to sue mcdonalds for making me fat"

Answer 9

Video games do not cause real life violence. Bad parenting does, as does growing up in a violent environment (ghetto, slums, etc.).

I have played violent video games pretty much my whole life, and I wouldn't hurt a fly. Why? Because I had great parents who taught me morals.

Answer 10

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