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back to article Grand Theft Auto reportedly inspires teen rampage

Anti-violent videogame campaigners have long searched for hard evidence that some titles inspire real-life crimes, and now they may have an example. According to a report by Newsday.com, a group of five US teenagers that recently went on the rampage in Nassau County, New York told Vice City police that they were acting out …

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  1. Triked
    Jobs Halo

    Grand Theft Auto

    Was never mentioned

    I don't know about anyone else but if I wanted to go on a mindless rampage based on GTA4 I'd nick a car and drive stupidly fast with a mate whacking whatever (or whoever) went by the passenger side window.

    Jobs, cos he obviously never plays games, being a mac user

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  2. Shane Lusby
    Thumb Up

    Trend Graph

    Here is a fun little graph of violent crimes over time with video game releases picked out on the graph. The direction isn't what the media would lead you to believe.

    http://i25.tinypic.com/2r6ns4y.jpg

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  3. john list
    Coat

    @Roland

    "[Can you imagine] the chaos if they decided to enact Donkey Kong instead?"

    Yes, it's called Takeshi's Castle.

    http://www.keshiheads.co.uk/intro.html

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  4. cphi
    Alert

    nassau county

    er... MOO - this was in Nassau County - a suburb of NYC. hick it is not

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    what i can't figure

    Is what they could have been thinking about. When i were in the younger days (like 14-18) the only cudgel i carried was in my pants and it wasn't wood (it just seemed like it most days). what the heck is wrong with the younger generation that they're beating on other folks... at least have the guts to do it one on one if you think you got to fight someone and leave strangers out of it. You need to watch "Battle Royale" to see what these idiots deserve.

    Paris, 'cos she makes me think about someone from my younger days.... :-)

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Don't know about video games...

    ...but reading 4chan has increased the likelihood that I shoot up a furry convention.

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  7. TeeCee Gold badge
    Alert

    @Jerome

    Presumably they took the teeth. It all makes sense then.

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  8. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    If there was any link between video games and behaviour...

    ...anyone who played PacMan would spend their time running around in the dark to repetitive electronic music while eating pills. Oh wait...

    Isn't it a bit like "schools encourage godlessness/ homosexuality/ whatever todays bete noir is"? It's certainly working for mathematics and English, isn't it?

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  9. Stephen

    GTA inspired...

    Those guys should have remembered that to get rid of a wanted level you needed a vehicle and a Pay'n Spray, One of those in every city according to the game.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Chris C

    No I think I'll stick to my views, I'm not stupid enough to suggest that violent video games cause people to be violent that would be an over simplification of an otherwise valid concern now wouldn't it.

    Speaking of poor arguments you might want to consider the validity of you assertions that.

    People can be born violent. (credible research or your talking B.S.)

    Right and wrong are clear cut distinctions. (damn why do we need so many laws then?)

    That failing to distinguish between right and wrong may be a result of being mentally deficient. (bye bye responsibility hello anarchy)

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  11. Yamthief
    Thumb Down

    I'm With Steven R...

    Just tase 'em, bro. Anyone who can't distinguish between reality and video games is either 3 years old, or retarded, And blaming a video game for going out and mugging/beating people is the most ridiculous excuse ever. If anything, i turn to video games to release a little tension. UT/GTA are amazing for creating destruction in a fantasy world that you simply wouldnt do in real life.

    The parents should never have given the kids access to the games, but lets face it, GTA is so big that you can't escape it. If they didnt have the game themselves, someone they know will have it.

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  12. Jimster71
    Coat

    Wanted by the police?

    If only they had gone home for a sleep, the police would have lost all interest in them.

    Mine's the trainee pickpocket.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    I you're going to blame GTA...

    Hmm, the baseball bat connection. How about a baseball game. Yeah, blame EA! (I assume they do a "stupid version of rounders" game).

    Also, the dude with the crowbar was obviously playing Half Life, blame VALVe!!!

    The broomstick connection has already been pointed out.

    Too many adults struggle with the reasons "WHY???" kids do these things. They pick the latest thing and blame it, rather than deal with the fact that teenagers are just chaotic naturally, but no, they're all let off the leash way too early and allowed to roam in packs, having bugger all better to do. They easily forget the fact that they were like that as well until their brains became more ordered and decided to blank out the embarressment of teenage life.

    Still, I'm no liberal, string 'em up I say!

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  14. Mike Groombridge

    i tried to enact... C&C

    but i could never figure out where i got a conctruction yard??

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  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Objection:

    "...but reading 4chan has increased the likelihood that I shoot up a furry convention."

    Don't worry. They aren't people, and most of them aren't a protected species, so you're fine to do so.

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  16. Matthew Ellen
    Heart

    How I see it

    The reason this happened is because the agressors did not understand or did not care for the consequences of their actions.

    They do not see that hurting people as a negative thing. I'm not sure where their lack of empathy comes from, but I doubt playing violent video games helps cure them of it. Also their alleged confusion between reality and fantasy implies that they are far from able to look after themselves and should be put imediately into care.

    They need treatment for what appears to be serious psychological issues.

    Of course if it had been my face, I'd be chomping at the bit to have them hanged. That's the problem with bleeding heart liberals, we're inherently NIMBY types.

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  17. Ross

    Here's how it works

    Someone does something stupid/illegal and gets caught. Then they try to shift the blame from themselves and onto others by saying it was the drink/drugs/voices/violent games and films that made me do it guv' - don't blame me!

    The quicker the retarded "oh won't someone think of the children" brigade get that through their thick skulls the better we'll all be.

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  18. Wize

    As someone who's played video games

    I felt no urge to beat people up after playing GTA.

    I did not run over pedestrians or cows after playing Carmagedon.

    And I did not start munching pills after Packman.

    They don't have the raw violence of Tom and Jerry to blame anymore.

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  19. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Oh God! Save the children!

    "Help me, I think I want to dress up in a blue spikey suit and bounce all over a poorly constructed nursery playground collecting gold rings!"

    "That's nothing, in my earlier days I actually wanted to run around Antchester, with my girlfriend, trying to get away from killer ants!"

    "Then there was the time these aliens came raining down from the sky in box shapped craft making a "blob-blob-blob-splurge" noise!"

    "Ahhhh! I played that game days at a time until one day I just snapped and went on a rampage dressed in a yellow, three-quarter pizza shapped outfit catching multi-coloured ghosts and eating happy pills!"

    "Help me! I want to try to make some fecking sense and stop blaming all societies ills on the latest fecking bogey man that I cannot understand and do not want to even make an effort to try!"

    "If Pac-Man had had any effect on us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, listening to loud music and munching pills!" - Marcus Brigstocke, Comedian

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  20. Shakje

    re:mike

    You are in a debris room filled with stuff washed in from the surface. A low wide passage with mouldy carpet becomes plugged with broken printers and TPS reports here, but an awkward canyon leads upward and west.

    A post-it on the wall says, "Magic word XYZZY."

    A three foot red stapler with a rusty star on one end lies nearby.

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  21. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    solution

    i have a solution.. just ban everything..

    i'm missing something here aren't i?

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  22. Pete "oranges" B.
    Gates Horns

    Hmmm...

    Considering the hours I've logged on: Age of Empires (1&2), Empire Earth, Empires Dawn of the Modern World, Star Wars: Battlegrounds, Command and Conquer: Generals, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2, Rise of Nations and numerous others in that vein, should we be at all worried? Realy...

    Must...

    Resist...

    Urge...

    To...

    Conquer...

    World...

    Using...

    Dolphins...

    GAH!

    Or, alternatively, to stand on tall buildings and attempt command those below to do my bidding.

    Evil Bill, 'cause all those games are for his O/S. I blame him. Hand me my money down Mr. gates!

    (I kid! I Kid!)

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  23. Mark
    Gates Horns

    My mum won't let me play these games...

    On the 360 because its rubbish on there!!

    Instead i have the warm fuzzy feeling when i play it on my PS3 which never breaks. I think the warm good feeling is when I do things in my pants.

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