ManHunt game blamed for murder

Arch

One In Exile
Messages
41
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
England
Ethnic group
white english
This is pretty big news in the uk, so i wouldnt what your thoughts are on this.

Manhunt blamed for UK murder

Britain's top game retailer yanks the controversial Rockstar game after a teenage player kills.

Months after the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City "Kill all the Haitians!" uproar finally fizzled out, Rockstar Games has another controversy on its hands. In the UK, the parents of a teenage murder victim have blamed the crime on the Rockstar game Manhunt. The parents of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, said their son was lured to a park by a 17-year-old player of the game, who stabbed and beat their son to death with a knife and claw hammer.

"When one looks at what Warren did to Stephan and looks at the brutality and viciousness of the game, one can see links," Stefan's mother told the BBC. Stefan's father was more specific, telling Reuters, "Stefan's murder compares to how the game is set out, using weapons like hammers and knives. If games like this influence kids, they should be taken off the shelves."

The uproar has prompted the UK's biggest retailer to do exactly that. The Dixons chain has removed Manhunt from its locations across Britain and has no plans to put the game back on sale. A spokeswoman for Dixons told the BBC, "We are taking it off the shelves with immediate effect." Rockstar issued a statement in response to the removal, saying "We have always appreciated Dixons as a retail partner, and we fully respect their actions. We are naturally very surprised and disappointed that any retailer would choose to pull any game." Rockstar also defended itself by stating, "We reject any suggestion or association between the tragic events and the sale of Manhunt." However, the publisher/developer did offer its condolences to the victim's family.

As was to be expected, erroneous news reports in the wake of the murder have reignited the controversy that surrounded Manhunt when it was first released. Reuters wrote, "It awards extra points to players for carrying out murders in a particularly extreme and bloody way, while victims plead to be spared on behalf of their wives and children." In reality, Manhunt awards no points at all. The stealth survival shooter follows a convict who is forced to kill hired assassins in self-defense with whatever items are on hand. However, the madman/snuff-filmmaker who has kidnapped the convict does offer him rewards based on the grisliness of his killings, albeit in a very unglamorous fashion.

The BBC's coverage of the Manhunt furor was more balanced. Besides quoting Rockstar reps and officials of ELSPA, the UK's primary game-industry trade group, the BBC also talked to a child psychologist about whether or not there is a link between violent games and violent behavior in children. "There's been no longitudinal research, following adolescents over a long period, looking at how gaming violence might affect their behavior," said Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, who called for more research.

The BBC also pointed out that Manhunt has an 18 certificate--the equivalent of an "M" rating--and shouldn't be played by minors at all. Rockstar reps reiterated that its games are for adults only. "Rockstar Games is a leading publisher of interactive entertainment geared towards mature audiences, and [it] markets its games responsibly, targeting advertising and marketing only to adult consumers ages 18 and older," said the publisher/developer in a statement.

gamespot.com
-------------------------

This is really sad and sick news, and has made headline news over here in the UK. I dont see the point of taking it off the shelfs, the simple truth is that they have age ratings for a reason ! the guy who killed the other kid was 17, the rating was 18 ! I think they needs to be strickter laws on this, like at the movies.
 
Arch said:
This is really sad and sick news, and has made headline news over here in the UK. I dont see the point of taking it off the shelfs, the simple truth is that they have age ratings for a reason ! the guy who killed the other kid was 17, the rating was 18 ! I think they needs to be strickter laws on this, like at the movies.

I'll deal with your last point first.

If you think there is a magic switch that is flipped when you turn 18 years old, if you think that Warren was tragically influenced by the game into murdering someone at 17 but would have been unaffected if he was one years older, then all I can say is that you have some rather shakey logic on your hands there.

Arch said:
The BBC's coverage of the Manhunt furor was more balanced. Besides quoting Rockstar reps and officials of ELSPA, the UK's primary game-industry trade group, the BBC also talked to a child psychologist about whether or not there is a link between violent games and violent behavior in children. "There's been no longitudinal research, following adolescents over a long period, looking at how gaming violence might affect their behavior," said Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, who called for more research.
Researchers always call for more research.

That said there are studies that clearly show short-ish term links between violent video games and aggressive behaviour.
 
First off, I never said i thought he was influenced by the game !. But these games are sold to kids who are under age, of course it doesnt suddenly change your attitude by the age you are at. These games shuould not be sold to under age people thats what im on about.
 
Arch said:
First off, I never said i thought he was influenced by the game !
If he was not influenced by the game then it is irrelevant that it was sold to him at 17 instead of 18.
Arch said:
I dont know what the hell your on about shakey logic.
See above.
 
PaulTB said:
That said there are studies that clearly show short-ish term links between violent video games and aggressive behaviour.

I will have to dissagree with you there I know tons of people myself included who play such games as this and we are fine. I thing in this certian case the person was already mentaly distrought and the game had nothing to do with it I mean if you let a game rule your mind even to the point where you play it to an unhealthy level your mind could not be that strong to begin with. So IMO I think the game had nothing to do with it maybe there were other "unseen" factors already weighing into it. But some children are easily manipulated and cant tell the difference between realitiy and fiction when their mind is in such a feebel state. But like I said in this case I dont think it would have made a diffrence if he played the game or not he still would have murdered someone. There were certain people in my school who used to claim they there manipulated by videogames i.e.- Twisted Metal: Black, Blood Omen 2 etc. and under further investigation it turned out the games had nothing to do with it it was accually problems at home like parents splitting up or problems at school like being harrased so like i said there are "unseen" factors.
 
TimF said:
I will have to dissagree with you there
But what actually are you disagreeing with?

I have not said "Video games cause aggressive behaviour" I have said "There are studies that clearly show short-ish term links between violent video games and aggressive behaviour."

Your post doesn't appear to have any relation to mine.
 
PaulTB said:
But what actually are you disagreeing with?

I have not said "Video games cause aggressive behaviour" I have said "There are studies that clearly show short-ish term links between violent video games and aggressive behaviour."

Your post doesn't appear to have any relation to mine.

I dont believe it does cause short-ish links of aggression unless slaming you controler down beacuse you lost is the kind you are refering to.
 
TimF said:
I dont believe it does cause short-ish links of aggression unless slaming you controler down beacuse you lost is the kind you are refering to.
Again I haven't said "cause short-ish links of ..."
I said "There are studies that clearly show ..."

Spot the difference?
 
PaulTB said:
Again I haven't said "cause short-ish links of ..."
I said "There are studies that clearly show ..."

Spot the difference?


Ok then I dont agree with your data sorry! LOL :D :D :D
 
TimF said:
Ok then I dont agree with your data sorry! LOL :D :D :D

I haven't said I agree with my data either, but this is the sort of study I'm talking about.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/23/1728_56903

"We now know for a fact that playing a violent video game for even a short period of time increases aggressive behavior in the short term," says Anderson, who recently testified before the U.S. Senate on the impact of "interactive" violence on children.
 
PaulTB said:
I haven't said I agree with my data either, but this is the sort of study I'm talking about.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/23/1728_56903

That data probably came from a guy that has never played a game in his life. But if I had a degree i guess i could throw out all the b.s. theorys like that too in the words of Triple X about video games "Come on Dick thats the only education we got." lol :D :D :D

P.S.- Didnt mean to offend you.
 
TimF said:
P.S.- Didnt mean to offend you.
You didn't offend me.
TimF said:
That data probably came from a guy that has never played a game in his life. But if I had a degree i guess i could throw out all the b.s. theorys like that too.
Doesn't mean I agree with your scientific method of assessing study validity though. :D
 
Eventhough I'm a heavy gamer also I must say that in this case he got influenced by the game...but this doesn't mean that GAMES are the BIG evil!!!
I bet if he watched some horrormovie or something he prolly would have done the same thing, this kid wasn't 100% mentally...so some factors as MANHUNT influenced his way of reality....
 
I think its bull shit that the boy can blame his actions on a game.
He is using it as a excuse to get less years in prison and i bet it works.

GTA, you don't see people running around a killing people for the fun of it.
 
HITMAN-X said:
I think its bull shit that the boy can blame his actions on a game.
He is using it as a excuse to get less years in prison and i bet it works.

GTA, you don't see people running around a killing people for the fun of it.

You might benefit from giving the original post a slightly closer look ...

In the UK, the parents of a teenage murder victim have blamed the crime on the Rockstar game Manhunt.
 
I rented Manhunt a few weeks ago and I was disgusted with what I saw. Yes there is a link between behavior and video games, and even television or cinema!
It has to do with the mental status of the people playing the game. If your psychotic or delusional then you shouldn't be playing video games or movies at all.
 
umm, I dont really believe that a game can drive anybody to murder :::prepares himself for onslaught::: as I think this:
there is a lot of discution by people, saying that violent computer games cause teenagers with a weak mental sate to commit violent acts portrayed in the game...
now this could be true, but with this much talk about this sort of problem comes the dilema: imagine I want to kill somebody (I, as of yet don't and ive played some horrific games in my time), and I do so, wouldn't it be better for me to kill somebody and if I get caught, plead a case of either temporary insanity or some sort of "inability to control myself because the game was influencing me" thing diverting attention from the fact that I just brutaly murdered somebody to a computer game and also giving me maybe even the slightest sympathy vote from people?

Now I don't know how this sounds in your mind, but in my opinion this is a good strategy for getting your self out of some trouble.

and a 17 year olds can figure this out, because my friends have had an opinion something like this could happen when we were 15... anyway, onto my next point.

Now it is possible that the game tipped him over the edge, driving him to murder, but I doubt that the game drove him a mile towards "the edge", probably only one or two inches. It is also likely, that if he could murder somebody aged 17 - whether he has a weak mental state or not doesn't matter, here I assume that he has a mental state for murder as he has already commited one - because he played a computer game, he could probably kill somebody aged 20 while, for example, drunk because alcohol can tip a person quite a bit towards "the edge".

So I say, he has such a state of mind that he can commit murder, but needs to be "tipped towards the edge". If he didn't get "tipped" due to a game aged 17, he could have been "tipped" aged 20 in a bar. So his not playing of the game would not actually stop murder, it would stop the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, but it would set up a possibility of another murder at a later time. The possibility of this murder is debatable as it is set in the future and is of yet uncertain, but if I had to, I would put my bottom dollar on this possibility as his ability to murder is unquestionable.

Now on to violent games: they are sold to underage teenagers and if they play these games for many years than yes, I agree their personality could change. I doubt it could drive sane people to murder, but thats another discussion alltogether.
However, placing most of the blame on one game is wrong. Let me give you a comparison:

A drunk murder's somebody, and although he is condemned for the act, he says it was the alcohol that drove him to murder (fine up to here, it happens). Now, he loved gin, but also drank quite a few other alcoholic beverages. The media then proceeds to bash alcohol, but mainly gin for his act, causing the bar that he was served at to stop selling gin.

Now you tell me that sounds correct.

This is what Dixons have done.

If you want to stop teenagers from being "tipped" into murder by violent computer games, then you ban them all, or make sure people have valid ID cards present to prove they are of the required age. Or you get the BBFC to set stricter restrictions on computer game violence.

...um, that thingy wasn't meant to be there (sorry)
 
I always wonder.

Did Adolf Hitler play videogames?
Did Stalin play videogames?

I've played videogames, yes shooters as well, but I know I can't pull the trigger. It isn't all about the videogames, but I think that some persons are easy to be influenced by videogames. See it as a Trigger that's being activated by the videogame, but not everyone has that trigger, just a few have.
 
I would blame the parents of the killer. Obviously they were paying no attention what their son was doing. Wether it was the game or not, it doesn't matter. Parents should be more careful. There are plenty of bloody movies out there and the internet that offer just as much of negative ideas as a videogame. We can not restrict what a kid is exposed to a 100%. If this kid couldn't tell the difference between a game and real life, than he has real issues that needed to be dealt with to begin.
 
Im 15, I own the mentioned game. I havnt killed anyone and dont plan too.

Fact is, your basically an adult at 17years old you know whats right and wrong.... hell. at 4 years old, you know basic right and wrong.

When somthing like this happens, the people that love the victim need someone/something to blame. I fail to see how playing a GAME can make a 17year old guy beat another guy to death.

When I play violent games, or watch violent films, I know they are exactly that. I feel no urge to replicate what I have seen, partly because I know of the consequences, but mostly because I am a normally functioning human being. Anyone that kills somebody with a hammer obviously needs help.

Will the police make the killer play cute little video games? Or watch innocent little kids movies about love and peace? Will that make him a good person? NO! Becuase it has nothing to do with it.
 

This thread has been viewed 19652 times.

Back
Top