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back to article Console content can cause crime, claims cop

Australian police have pointed the finger at Grand Theft Auto and other games of its kind for an alleged increase in the acceptance of violence in the country. Barely a month has passed since Australia introduced an 18+ rating certificate for games which will allow titles such as the hotly-contested Mortal Kombat to be sold on …

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  1. Richard Wharram
    Facepalm

    Which games has he been playing?

    Points for raping women? Not in any game released in Autralia. I'm pretty sure Battle Raper never got an AUS release.

    I think he's been fooled by the US conservative pressure-groups and their barefaced lies. Perhaps he should check his sources next time.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Battle Raper

      Battle Raper - great name for: Video Game / Metal Band / Olympic Sport?

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      1. Rob 5
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        Re: Battle Raper

        OT, but this reminds me: People are called "Smith", because one of their ancestors was a smith. People are called "Wainwright", because one of their ancestors built wagons. What's the origin of the surname "Raper"?

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    2. toadwarrior
      Reply Icon

      Re: Which games has he been playing?

      I think he's confused and doesn't reealise banging hookers in GTA is consentual which does give you health when you do it. Slaughtering her afterwards gives you your money back. Perhaps that's what he meant. It's certainly a cruel act to kill her to get you money back but that's what she gets for being a video game whore.

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    3. Mr. Great Sage
      Reply Icon
      Go

      Re: Which games has he been playing?

      How this article would read in the 1950's

      Australian police have pointed the finger at children playing Cops and Robbers and other games of its kind for an alleged increase in the acceptance of violence in the country.

      Barely a month has passed since Australia introduced an 18+ rating certificate for games which will allow titles such as the hotly-contested Punch'em Sock'em Robots to be sold on Aussie soil. Now the country has reached another modern game milestone: blaming violent games for an increase in aggressive behaviour.

      __________________________________

      By the way, blaming what a country does on the other side of the world for conservatives in the US is kind of silly. The Aussie video game laws make US Conservatives look down right risque.

      (Besides, it depends on which 'conservative you're talking about. A Conservative Libertarian would say make everything legal, and let peoples own morals decide on what they do. A social conservative democrat would want it banned by the government. Nothing is ever so cut and dry.)

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      1. Richard Wharram
        Reply Icon

        Re: Which games has he been playing?

        Social conservative, not fiscal.

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  2. Kubla Cant
    Childcatcher

    Evidence?

    Has this plod cited any evidence? Academically respectable studies, etc? Or are we just supposed to take his word for it because he's an important plod?

    I'm fairly sure that several studies have failed to demonstrate a link between video games and violence. That doesn't prove there isn't one, of course, but it makes it less likely.

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  3. Richard IV

    'Twas ever thus

    Take a medium that's popular with the young. If there's the slightest violent overtone, then blame it for why the youth of today are the worst lot ever.

    See also: Video nasties in the 80s & 90s (Child's Play et al), Comics in the 50s (the Gorbals vampire), tapestries in the 1060s (probably)

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    1. Thomas 4
      Reply Icon
      IT Angle

      Re: 'Twas ever thus

      In fairness, they may have a point about tapestries - didn't someone manage get their eye jabbed out on one of those things?

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  4. Craig 12

    What entertainment did the current crop of bankers and politicians enjoy when they were younger, and can we ban that somehow?

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    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Monopoly.

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      1. Alan Dougherty
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        +1 and a lol for that..

        While we're at it.. we should probably outlaw Risk for any current military personnel....

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    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      >What entertainment did the current crop of politicians enjoy when they were younger,

      Mostly comics where you had to violently kill anyone from another country.

      But if these comics really had any effect we would have a generation of senior politicians who blamed Germany for everything !

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  5. SJRulez

    One thing they seem to forget is the people who play these games are too busy at home playing on them rather than being out on the street causing trouble. Its just a convenient excuse to blame trouble and violence on a game!

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  6. wowfood

    At least

    he admits its a minority of gamers who might be affected, and not all of them. What I have issue with is this

    New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione reckons there's "nothing more potentially damaging than the sort of violence [kids are] being exposed to, be it in movies or console games they're playing", the Sydney-based Telegraph reports.

    But kids aren't being exposed to this sort of violence, that's why the games are 18 or 18+ etc. So kids can't get hold of them, if you want to blame anyone blame the parent / store clerk who sold it to them.

    I would fully agree that videogames CAN influence a minority, and that's why, if you're a parent who is willing to buy kids violent games, you should observe them while playing, and take the game away if they start to act out. But punishing the majority because of the minority shouldn't be an option.

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    1. Richard Wharram
      Reply Icon

      Re: At least

      "But punishing the majority because of the minority shouldn't be an option"

      We live in nanny state times now so it's the ONLY option.

      See also Alcohol Minimum Pricing etc...

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  7. Jason 24
    Stop

    Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat....

    Seriously, just fuck off with blaming the games, every 6 months some one else has a pop, can we just stop printing articles about it and ignore them and maybe (just maybe) they'll go away?

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    1. Thomas 4
      Reply Icon

      Re: Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat....

      You sound a bit angry mate. Been playing Kirby's Dreamland again?

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      1. Jason 24
        Reply Icon
        Go

        Re: Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat/Rinse/Repeat....

        I was, but now I've smashed some hookers skulls in I actually feel much better and less inclined to kill half of the office!

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  8. Andy Fletcher

    True to form

    Circumstantial evidence believed to be strong enough to prove guilt. Then it get's to court and a judge asks for some actual evidence. Case collapses, perp walks. Haven't the cops cottoned onto this pattern yet?

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  9. Thomas 18
    Joke

    victims

    There is a 1:1 direct correlation between the number of people perpetrating crimes and the number of victims of crime. Clearly they have to admit some responsibility.

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  10. Efros

    3 Words

    What a Twat

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    1. lurker
      Reply Icon

      Re: 3 Words

      He does seem to be a bit of a "Keith Vaz", yeah.

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  11. Jaap stoel
    Big Brother

    Same ol' same ol'

    RPG's are satanistic, video games cause violence.

    It's the same old bull droppings.

    No evidence behind it, just a sudden rise in violence and of course all those whackos must be influence by video games.

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  12. Jolyon Ralph

    Dihydrogen Monoxide

    Have they checked to see how many of these criminals were exposed to dihydrogen monoxide at some point in their lives? It may also be a factor.

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    1. Richard Wharram
      Reply Icon

      Re: Dihydrogen Monoxide

      Crimes are all committed by LIVING people.

      Life causes crime.

      Life IS crime.

      Sentence is death.

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      1. The Original Cactus
        Reply Icon
        Alien

        Re: The crime is life

        Is that you Sssstanley?

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hope for the future

    At least the move away from LPs to digital formats has made it a bit more difficult to play Black Sabbath (to pick a name at random) tracks backwards.

    Just think what the world would be like with Grand Theft Auto & the Lord's Prayer in reverse.

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    1. King Jack
      Reply Icon

      Re: Hope for the future

      It's even easier. Just drop the track into an audio editor and tell it to reverse it. It plays back at the correct speed.

      In the 5o's/60's Rock & Roll was the demon. With the BBC et al banning 'leader of the pack', as it encouraged bike gangs. Elvis' gyrations caused teenage pregnancies.... I've yet to see anyone with a game controller in hand walking down the street committing crimes.

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  14. Frumious Bandersnatch

    Of course video games don't affect children

    If they did we'd all be running around munching pills in darkened rooms listening to repetitive beat music.

    Oh, wait.

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  15. This post has been deleted by its author

  16. adnim
    Joke

    Providing

    The number of individuals who have been encouraged to and then go on to commit the crimes portrayed in video games in the real world equals the number of individuals who stay at home and would without the video game be really committing those crimes in the real world, I don't see the problem.

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  17. keith_w
    Childcatcher

    Mad Max

    this from the country that gave us Mad Max and Road Warrior?

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  18. Toxcity
    Pirate

    PARENTING

    "Kids" should not be getting hold of Adult video games such as GTA. Parents seem to believe that video games belong to the same ball park as scrabble and other old fashioned board games. This is wrong! You wouldn't give an 18 rated film to a child so why would you give an 18+ rated Video game?

    Video games are not just for kids. They are now a form of entertainment just like music and films and art. Respect the ratings as you do films.

    /rant over

    I blame the parents.

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  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "It's a fair cop, guv, you've got me bang to rights. It was Mortal Kombat made me do it. No, hang on, it was films. Violent films on DVD. Or it might have been TV. That's it - all the shite they show on TV makes me want to smack somebody. Dancing On Ice - I could kill the twats on that."

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      And...

      After all that's exhausted. They'll come to the conclusion that knowledge itself is dangerous. They'll be burning all the books and we'll retard into the dark ages where only the upper echelons receive this thing called 'education'.

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  20. MrPatrick
    Joke

    ·

    New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scorpion reckons there's "nothing more potentially damaging than the sort of violence [kids are] being exposed to, be it in movies or console games they're playing", right after this Scorpion was seen to remove his police cap and breath white fire of damnation from his skeletal mouth.

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  21. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Foreign video games

    It's worth noting that while these games may be appropriate to the mean streets of LA - they do not represent Australia's unique cultural heritage. It's time for the undoubted talent of Oz's own programmers to shine through

    If they launched Abo-killer where your task was to wipe out the native population - you could use it schools to get kids interested in history.

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  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No wonder game players go nuts. Their lives are so boring playing computer games.

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    1. M Gale
      Reply Icon
      Trollface

      Obviously, you're not playing games at all.

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  23. LordHighFixer
    Coat

    Fahrenheit 914

    new book about the the mass burning of plastics to protect the children...

    mine is the one with the forbidden knowledge in the pocket..

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