Gamertell

Grand Theft Auto IV was recently removed from store shelves in Thailand by the order of New Era Interactive, one of Asia’s largest game distributors. The reason is that Polwat Chino, a 19-year-old boy, killed a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game.

Ah. Yet another case of “life imitating art.” Remember the problem though. Before games, movies and any violent media, there was still violence. So, in comes the obvious step of scapegoating. The easiest thing the blame is something that really can’t defend itself. It’s the basic psychology of blame. Since the Columbine school shooting, the popular thing to blame for violence has been videogames.

We are in an age where one of crime’s biggest motives and accusations is “entertainment made him do it.” Wes Craven made a commentary on that with Scream when Billy says, “Horror movies don’t create serial killers. Horror movies make serial killers more creative.” You’re probably asking yourself why does this apply. The ideas for crimes and violence are already instilled in us. However, seeing the ideas put into motion, even fictionally, makes some people feel validated in following through with the idea. The difference is that if the ones who act on the ideas want to try to not get caught tend to be more creative.

By and large, although quirky, the gaming community is sane enough to realize the disconnect between the game (fantasy) and reality. If “a game is to blame” for a youth committing violent acts, either the parents didn’t keep a close enough eye on the kids and/or the idea was in their head already. If the idea already exists in their head, there are two ways that things can go. For lesser crimes they could say that a game inspired them and they’re judgment is called into question.

What happens then is the punishment is lessened because their judgment is called into question and there’s a possible reason to restrict the game’s distribution. For more heinous crimes like murder, they could claim game-inspired insanity where the lines between the game world and reality are blurred. (A similar topic was brought up in the horror film Stay Alive.) If that happens, however, a criminal trying to pull that may still be subject to full legal punishment but it gives reason to courts and government to do an all-out ban of the game(s).

There are ways to combat this but, at least in the United States, there are laws against that. Censorship will lead down a slippery slope due to the problem of freedom of speech. Yes, we do have the freedom to say or portray something in the ways we deem necessary. However, that right is already naturally limited by consequence and reason, meaning you have to be able to back up your speech/art and be willing to accept the consequences. Banning, censoring or restricting media is ineffective anyway since we are in an electronic era. Anything we want is available with just a couple keystrokes.

Note: Pointing out electronic availability is not an advocating of game piracy. It is a statement of fact. If a game is removed from the shelves of stores, even nationwide, there are still ways to get the game.

Read [NY Times] Also Read [Gamertell]

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