Videogames caused riots says plod
Blimey, things were heating up in London last night. To hide away from riots indoors and play your favourite videogames won't help, though. In fact according to one policeman, it's part of the problem. Quoted in last night's Evening Standard, an unnamed constable said, "These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. …
This topic is closed for new posts.
If Pac-Man had affected us as kids...
"If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." - Marcus Brigstocke
Complete and utter bollox
I should be out looting then, but no I was firstly electrocuting baddies on my free game.
Then having a few battles on Helghan.
Plenty of violence - any intention of riots or looting.
None whatsoever.
And now for the rest of the interview
"These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pac-Man and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves..."
Mind you, I hate ghosts. Hate 'em. I have this nightmare where I'm trapped in a darkened warehouse and the only way I can get out is by eating truckle after truckle of cheese. And there's these snakes threatening Kamchatka from Irkutsk because I've got hotels on Mayfair and Park Lane. Russian snakes don't like that. To stop them you've got to pile things on a giant mule until it kicks them to death. And don't get me started on sodding hippos! They're a menace.
sure it wasn't them newfangled comic books or video nasties?
Penn and Teller's Bullsh*t casts some serious doubt on the supposed link between computer games and violence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWr4htYp9dM
Next they'll blame
Sim City on poor city design
Comic Books for making people wear odd clothing
an unnamed constable
so they couldn't even get a sergeant to comment? The word of 'an unnamed constable' must be worth as much as the word of 'an anonymous source' then
Besides, the lack of trust in the legal system as a result of police larging it rather than legally, sensibly, enforcing sensible laws is clearly a very marginal reason :-D
Do they have a brain?
I don't believe for one minute that video games are the cause. The cause is multiple issues here. One being the lack of discipline at home and at school.
I cannot believe how much stuff kids get away with these days. I'm not old, in my mid 20's, but when I was younger and was seriously naughty (like all kids) I got a good smack.
Today I play some of the most violent video games and have the attitude that it is a GAME! Why the hell would I really want to run around in real life shooting people. You have to be completely dumb (single digit IQ) to think video games are real.
Alien, because I hope they get here and set this f'ing planet straight.
No, do you have a brain?
So that's the answer then. If some adult assaults you on a whim when you're a kid, you'll be properly socialised as an adult. I would think that a lot of rioters got plenty of "good smacks" from adults when they were kids. Most stupid parents treat their kids (no matter what age) as small adults who they can push around. You've only got to see them shouting "shut up you little cunt" and giving them a "good smack" round the head to see tomorrows fucked up teenagers & sociopaths being created.
So it was GTA
Had the police been playing it before they shot some bloke in a minicab, then?
Yeah,the dumb copper's right...
All those people playing Monopoly last generation have grown up and F&cked the economy.
Oh wait, it only works to support your uninformed, kneejerk reactions?
Honestly, anyone who wants to be a policeman shouldn't be allowed to. Breed them genetically like Mega city judges.
"unnamed constable"
a.k.a nobody said it, the evening standard is a shoddy paper, please don't fuel this kind of tabloid journalism they don't deserve the publicity
So, remind me....
... what violent games like GTA et al were available in the early 1980 when there were riots in London, Liverpool, Bristol...?
When was PacMan first produced? Oh yes, 1980.
Facepalm icon...
Utter b****cks
Riots are not the result of GTA. People have rioted ever since they were capable of it. To blame a computer game is utterly moronic. From what was shown on the news this morning - half the rioters don't have games consoles... and perhaps thats the problem?
History repeats
We see the same sort of behaviour after the initial introduction of home computers in the 80s. Indeed, it is a little known fact that the original riot act became necessary in the 18th century after several rather violent board games became available.
Pacman..!
The cop so missed the opertunity to say:
when we were kids all we did was play packman,
and you dont see us running around dark rooms,
munching pills and listening to repetitive sounds...!
oh ffs
Reg, this is why you need to show comments before 12 hours have passed. this is the 4th time ive heard this joke in the same bloody thread!
There will always be morons
Whilst I would never say that playing GTA etc. causes this sort of behaviour, it does seem that the scumbags currently causing mayhem seem to inhabit some strange fantasy world where they think the police/forces of law are "out to get them". Execution-style killing my arse.
On a slightly different note, I'm sure the mobile phone cos would be able to provide ample evidence of who was at the scenes of crime, combined with RIM/Arsebook etc.
Oh come on...
This is a copper being more than a little taken aback at all the violence and uproar..
There's no "Video games cause this", this is more "They're a bunch of scrotes who'd love to be violent, just like in some of the video games".. There is, perhaps a truth to this.. And it's because they're violent scrotes, not because the video games caused them to be that way..
In my day it was all pacman...
So when he was young and playing Pacman did he want to run around like a acid house smiley, popping pills and running away from, or chasing "ghosts"? Did he do this running around town?
No? Then what makes him think that GTA would have a parallel effect on kids now?
So it was all packman and board games
And probably scraped knees & lashings of ginger beer as well.
I bet the generation he was talking about liked nothing more than a good game of monopoly, look how well that turned out for us all?
Seriously though, peaceful protest fair enough but riots and looting!
Now I want an explanation for...
...the LA riots back in '90.
It was probably too many episodes of "Miami Vice".
All that has changed is the graphics...
There are just better graphics now. That is the only real difference.
Back in '79 there was Warrior (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior_%28arcade_game%29), and what about Death Race (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_%28video_game%29) back in 1976 ?
You can't blame Video games for everything.
Take some responsibility for your kids parents!
The problem is
First, let me state that if a child is taught right and wrong by their parents, I don't believe there is a problem.
The problem occurs because a lot of parents just buy (or nick) their kids the latest console, then plonk them in front of the console rather than actually interacting with them. So, where do the kids learn right from wrong? From their friends probably. However, where have those friends learned right from wrong? Their parents? Video Games? TV?
I suspect that some do learn right from wrong from video games. Others learn right from wrong from those who learned from games.
So yes, I believe that given good parents, violent video games are safe. I enjoy violent video games as much as the next bloke (GTA is amazing if you've had a bad day at work), but I do think that given bad parenting they can be unsafe.
hmmm
i dont agree with that the dicks are doing in london but the police being untrustworthy doesnt help.
first it was 'he shot first' now it turns out only 2 shots fired and not from the dead guy's gun. so, police falsifying evidence, again? that doesnt help. with the murder at the last protests by a mental copper, the selling of details to the papers etc, its no wonder people are furious.
BUT the people looting are just idiots, i heard one on the radio saying its because they are broke. well, get a job you dick, oh you didnt go to school but dont want to work for min wage.
they seem to forget that everyone else is struggling now too. and how stupid to wreck your own areas, are these guys totally brainless?
and i heard the dead man's wife saying everything was the police's fault. yeah, im sure they gave him the gun. these stupid plastic gangsters want to carry a gun to look cool yet when it goes wrong its not their fault? how would she feel if her husband was a copper and got shot by some gun wielding idiot?
im not a fan of the police for many reasons but if you carry a gun you know what the outcome might be.
cue loads of yanks saying how guns arent dangerous....
Then again
If you carry a chair leg they'll shoot you as well.
When I was young it was all Pac-Man and board games
Unless I'm mistaken, board games include things like:
1. Cluedo - so presumably murdering folk with a spanner in the kitchen is ok
2. Operation - removing random bones and organs from your fellow person is just fine
3. Battleships - blowing the crap out of battleships, sure, why not
4. etc..
Also, Pac-Man - erm, look at what happens - you run around munching on stuff, hiding from ghosts, then when you eat something special, you get to chase down and eat the ghosts.
Sounds kinda like rioting to me.
Hooray for the faceless constable, clearly a fine addition to the boys in blue...
Pacman and board games
So - games == behaviour?
Well if this Mr Plod goes around saying
"It was Mrs Scarlet, in the toilet, with the loofah"
Then maybe he has a point
MW3
As I have said before on another posting, just release MW3 early and you won't see a rioter for weeks as they will be instantly stuck in front of their ChavBox360's.
Same old drivel
Wasn't it great before violent video games when no-one rioted.
I suppose it's easier to say "it's all the fault of video games" rather than examine the complex socio-economic reasons for this kind of thing.
Hmmmmm
The kids were running around shouting about how "The Army's been called in" and talking about fighting "the feds" and "the pigs".
I'm not sure I can entirely negate the role of culture in the situation. Clearly not "DURRRRR play video game, fight people". But certainly some "Rise up against the man who keeps you down, take it to the streets".
These ideas don't come from nowhere...
Please do some thinking before you blurt
Those ideas have ben around a lot longer than electricity never mind video games
Groan!
¨This old-hat idea again?
Like no riots ever happened before GTA? P-lllllllllllllease!!! The police should be better using their time rounding up the rioters than making stupid comments. Oh, and maybe some really transparent internal procedures to show exactly what happened when a cop shot and killed a man last week, including REAL measures taken if the cop was guilty of any wrongdoing, instead of the usual cover-up and 'regrettable' mantras
It's plausible that there would be a link
OK, I'll have a go.
Kids learn from example. Young kids do this more, in fact in the early years it's the main form of social learning. Kids whose parents are violent are more likely to be violent themselves. It's called modelling and psychologists have known about it for years.
Video games are getting better and better at portraying agency in a realistically simulated virtual world. Every increasing realism is one of the engagement techniques of the industry. Many games are violent. Some push boundaries be emphasizing the violence. Know any five year olds? Would you let them play the airport scene in MW2? If not, why?
To claim that very young kids could not model from this is naive. Most would not. But some would. There are plenty of dysfunctional families where toddlers are exposed to everything their older sibs get up to. Sometimes in the context of abusive parents. Or parents who just aren't there.
Anyone who thinks the dominant entertainment force in society has no relationship to how that society behaves is foolish. Anyone who thinks that relationship could only be unidirectional when the evidence is so hard to get and so conflicted has no grounds for that belief.
No
This might be arguable if GTA was out in the past few months... Instead it's currently a bargain item awaiting a new installment... But f you want to argue the police are emulating LA Noire, go right ahead.
The bankers seem to be doing a good job of playing railroad tycoon - if you go bust, restart or reload.
End Communication
Brother Chad of The Peacekeepers, Alpha Centauri
Utter Bollocks
Good luck proving video games suppress people's knowledge of right from wrong, thereby rendering them temporarily insane.
What a dumbass, plod need to raise the IQ entry bar a bit.
Things are different now
These games aren't "videogames" any more. It isn't like watching a film, or killing cartoon monsters.
Now most games are multi-player, groups of people are role playing detailed scenarios, for hours on end. It is hard to see how this would have absolutely no effect on their behaviour rl.
It is easy to point the finger at a video game
And somewhat harder to consider the effects of demoralisation and disaffection, thanks to a visible reduction in policing, overly liberal legislation where things like a terrorist's "human rights" are considered more important than the fact he intended to kill citizens, a breakdown in discipline, a farcical judicial system, a political arena that has demonstrated how screwing over people is the way to get ahead, coupled with difficulty getting jobs and an increasingly pointless education system.
Those who seem so very surprised, really ought to wake up.
Wow, bad sound byte
Geez I hope this was misquoted. I normally respect the plods, but this particular specimen seems to be of the clueless, doughnut-munching variety....
Proof
The proof is out there on the f*cking streets. You have to be blind or stupid not to see the link between video games and the general lack of morals, common sense and respect.
What do you want, a bloody thesis to read, while London burns?
What came first?
The riot or the riot mode in GTA San Andreas?
Once again people look for something to blame. Lets face it the economy has gone to hell people are being laid off or replaced with cheap labour from overseas eventually something ignites and everything goes to hell.
of course it did
Because remember how we never had any riots before videogames or the internet?
Exactly.
What would I know
And there I was thinking it was 30 years of shitty government mismanagement, endless public sector cuts and racist police that cause riots.
Where the hell are the parents??
Whether or not violent games cause this (I don't believe they do), it's down to parents to control access.
Additionally, where there are children (8 - 16y) out rioting, one has to ask again, where the hell are the parents?
The root cause?
the same one that is going to fuel similar activity in the US -
MASSIVE disparity in income and wealth ownership, coupled with the existing and future economic failure.
The prols revolting against the corp-tocracy
Dear Mr. Plod,
Unless you can show us evidence that arms manufacturers are producing handguns and rifles operated solely via a keyboard and mouse combination, or with an Xbox controller port built-in, I'm going to assume you're talking utter balderdash.
Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto" made hordes of kids turn to violence and rioting in exactly the same way that Pixar's "Up" made grandparents pop down to South America in a house tied to a vast cloud of helium-filled balloons.
Granted, the recent riots were inexcusable, but the lack of hard information provided, coupled with a generally increasing lack of trust in the establishment hardly helped. And whose fault is that? Look to the log in your own eye before pointing at the splinters in the eyes of others.
Every bit as idiotic as
when people claim that guns kill people. When are people just going to take fucking responsibility for their actions?
but...
without guns its much harder to kill people
we can see in places where guns are rife (USA) that they have many more murders per person than im places like the UK.
guns dont kill people par se, but there sure are good at helping the person holding them do it. not many armies use wet towels in their armies.
but, you are right, people need to take responsibility in their actions. i saw this coming years ago with the sue culture in the USA. it was always someone else's fault that things happen. never the person that did them.
the current generation have been brought up knowing that they rarely face the repercussions of their actions.
Funny thing
Is few decades later we did have teens sitting in the dark munching pills listening to eletronica . But I doubt they had ever played pac man unless video game social programing can skip a generation .
This topic is closed for new posts.
