Thailand Halts Grand Theft Auto Sales After Murder

[Samuian]

This is quite a contentious subject in many countries. ......................edit....As for violence and violent movies, games, I'm not sure on that one. I think for the most part, there are people who are going to commit violence no matter what. But there are a few kids who are extremely impressionable and possibly the video game leads them to violence.

Conditioning, leave a kid alone, with violent games, movies... it will make a impression on the kid... if there is the slightest vulnerability, one day the lid may blow, towards anybody, school mates, teachers, parents...!

It happened several times, and it certainly will happen again.

Bad, bad stuff, kids shouldn't be exposed to whatsoever, however, wherever!

[quiksilva]

Hard to prove? Impossible to prove if you ask me.

Just because he blamed a game for his actions does not prove a definite correlation between this game and committing actual violence in the real world.

If someone is so unstable so as to murder in cold blood, what makes you think they would not have done this without ever playing the game? Especially when there is so much exposure to violence through countless other mediums like say TV or even the front page of daily newspapers? Why not take those off the shelves as well and ban all violent movies heck what about books, if anything gets the imagination fired up a book will. Take a look at the bible so much murder and violence.

To say that the video game did this is nothing but a cop out. The fact is he did it and is trying to claim diminished responsibility by playing the blame game. He may as well blame it on Tom & Jerry.

Oh and anyone remember Jack Thompson the ultra conservative anti-video game US attorney who first tried to sue Rockstar over GTA by saying that it was a murder simulator? He lost every case he filed against the group and is now in the process of being permanently disbarred.

Edited August 5, 2008 by quiksilva

[quiksilva]

What a load of rubbish. I posted my thoughts on this on another thread on this subject in the general section

[mr_hippo]

Violent video games lead to violence? I wonder what video games Hitler & Pol Pot played. Did they have PlayStations or X-Boxes?

[niller74]

The Thai authorities should take further action and block the entire Internet, cause you might be able to download it from somewhere.

Instead they should have a look at some of the movies every Thai youngster can watch just by turning on the TV in the morning. At least to play the game you have to acquire it., while the TV is available to everyone..

I am sure the reason pretty much any movie can be shown on TV in the morning, is because all the powerful media moguls in Thailand set the agenda for these issues.

Can anyone please explain the word priorities to Thai authorities.

[TheDon]

They removed Bully from Australia on the PC because they thought ot would lead to bullies being more bullies?

But they alloved it for the xbox 360, so go figure

[Sabum]

This is quite a contentious subject in many countries. ......................edit....As for violence and violent movies, games, I'm not sure on that one. I think for the most part, there are people who are going to commit violence no matter what. But there are a few kids who are extremely impressionable and possibly the video game leads them to violence.

Conditioning, leave a kid alone, with violent games, movies... it will make a impression on the kid... if there is the slightest vulnerability, one day the lid may blow, towards anybody, school mates, teachers, parents...!

It happened several times, and it certainly will happen again.

Bad, bad stuff, kids shouldn't be exposed to whatsoever, however, wherever!

The guy wasn't 6, he was 18, an adult by anyones definition and should be responsible for his own actions.

[kmart]

This is quite a contentious subject in many countries. ......................edit....As for violence and violent movies, games, I'm not sure on that one. I think for the most part, there are people who are going to commit violence no matter what. But there are a few kids who are extremely impressionable and possibly the video game leads them to violence.

Conditioning, leave a kid alone, with violent games, movies... it will make a impression on the kid... if there is the slightest vulnerability, one day the lid may blow, towards anybody, school mates, teachers, parents...!

It happened several times, and it certainly will happen again.

Bad, bad stuff, kids shouldn't be exposed to whatsoever, however, wherever!

The guy wasn't 6, he was 18, an adult by anyones definition and should be responsible for his own actions.

Correct. Spare me the "its not his fault, he was influenced by evil media" crap, please. He is an adult psycho, with equally shit parents, and I hope he gets whats owing to him.

[SmokeyJones]

Evil foreign conglomerate Tesco's sold him the knife.

I agree. I would be interested to know if he JUST bought the 2 knives or had other stuff in his trolley/basket. Surely there should be a few raised eyebrows when a kid trys to buy knives.

[BigSnake]

Not withdrawn soon enough. Much to much sex and violet on the Internet/video game. I know there is an enforcement in my area of the closeing time/go home time for the internet cafe for those under 18 years of age, but it was of no use in this case. Mom and Dad, where are you?

[quiksilva]

What about Comic Books, TV and Hollywood and Bookstores should they be withdrawn too? One form of media is no worse than any other.

Its people who commit crimes, not games.

[Moonrakers]

I wonder when Gran Tourismo will be banned because of all of the lunatic drivers out here.

If somebody is going to kill/hurt somebody then they will do it regardless,a game or movie won't make or even encourage them to do it. And if people find games such as this too violent then the answer is simple.... Don't buy/play it.

[markuk]

i really dont get it - over reaction again. banning a game will drive it underground and the publicity will make more younger kids want it.

If someone is going to kill / be violent it is either their up bringing or some mental issue in my opinion. I play the game and never felt like killing anyone but then when i was his age i was in the Army getting some discipline to keep me of the streets.

[Heng]

I know, it's even gotten me back playing it. Got Niko on the flatscreen Samsung as I'm typing this, and printing out the cheats I just found online. Hehe. Near brand new PS3 and a stack of games that I've played maybe 10 times tops.

[kmart]

Evil foreign conglomerate Tesco's sold him the knife.

I agree. I would be interested to know if he JUST bought the 2 knives or had other stuff in his trolley/basket. Surely there should be a few raised eyebrows when a kid trys to buy knives.

The irony missed you, mate.

At 18 y/o he might be old enough to buy knives. There are some people buy them for innocuous reasons.

[dotcom]

I forgot about that one. Time to outlaw the selling of butcher knives too.

This kids' parents deserve the same punishment that junior gets.

[Heng]

Yeah, how dare poor parents work all the time and not spend enough quality time with their kids. Not saying that that's the case here as there are negligient parents and then there are parents who unavoidably have to keep opposite schedules with their kids.

[hamishgillan]

The change of attitude is amazing, when Lance Corporal Stephen M. West died last month all the bloggers were engaging in this sort of rhetoric:

-"My deepest sympathies go out to his family. May they get the answers that they need and deserve. May God's unconditional love flow upon them at this difficult time."-

Check it out it reads like a poem- http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Young-Americ...an-t198657.html

I tried to post a slightly less sensitive comment, similar to those seem in this thread, saying that he might have drunk too much in Pattaya and that the US military were wasting their their time in Iraq and all the moderators and bloggers were up in arms and quickly deleted my comment and closed the thread.

Now in a thread concerning the death of a Thai citizen, with a loss of a Thai life is seems we can all go guns blazing:-"What a stupid little f*&%."-

-"I forgot about that one. Time to outlaw the selling of butcher knives too.

This kids' parents deserve the same punishment that junior gets."- If I had said that US government were to blame for West's death and ranted about it questioning why a Highly trained US Marine couldn't survive for a few days on holiday in Thailand, that would have been deleted too.

More insensitvity regarding Thais -"Go crawl back up Thaksin's butt, where you belong Noppadon"-from: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Noppadon-Ann...on-t199306.html

-"It's not the games that kill its the lack of education and parents who do not care about what their kids are playing or doing in their free time. This kid obviously had problems separating reality and fiction."-

Anyway they're mostly farang characters in GTA so I'm surprised he didn't try to kill a farang, as Khao San wasn't too far off! LOL!

Excuse me for being such and old woman but do you see my point.....

Edited August 5, 2008 by hamishgillan

[Payboy]

because one of their customers might flip out and kill them.

i get that urge here many times, but not in game shops......

[Heng]

Anyway they're mostly farang characters in GTA so I'm surprised he didn't try to kill a farang, as Khao San wasn't too far off! LOL!

Excuse me for being such and old woman but do you see my point.....

Considering that a good number, if not the majority of foreigners, farangs included, seem to perpetually get the frustrating sh*t end of the stick here -despite the egos of many who try to convince themselves that despite the smell, texture, and taste, that it's really just chocoloate-, I'd say some hypocritical whinging is justified.

[hamishgillan]

Anyway they're mostly farang characters in GTA so I'm surprised he didn't try to kill a farang, as Khao San wasn't too far off! LOL!

Excuse me for being such and old woman but do you see my point.....

Considering that a good number, if not the majority of foreigners, farangs included, seem to perpetually get the frustrating sh*t end of the stick here -despite the egos of many who try to convince themselves that despite the smell, texture, and taste, that it's really just chocoloate-, I'd say some hypocritical whinging is justified.

Yeah, gotta have somewhere to complain I suppose.

Alot of the things seen here are shocking, but I doubt Thais conciously orchestrate it they're probably more frustrated, you know, no way out.

[OdeTheBear]

My boy plays that game a lot and it's a great game. Violent yes but so are many games. And to think of it so are many children's stories too, especially the old ones.

That little boy is very disturbed, he would have got another stupid idea from somewhere else like TV for example had he not acted like the character in GTA.

I do blame the parents, haven't they talked to their kid ever? That kind of behavior must show somehow, there must have been some clues for the parents to see that there is something wrong with their kid.

[BSJ]

I think we should ban all these stupid games 'n' send the kids outside with a bat 'n' ball so they can have some fun in the sun. Cricket is a wonderful wonderful game....but baseball would do at a pinch!

[PoorSucker]

Made the headlines in Sweden.

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article3038561.ab

but the article is more about censorship than this event.

Like the Beatles made the young crazy etc. etc.

[DP25]

Did the government even have anything to do with this? All the stories only say that the distributor decided to remove the game from the shelves. This could have been done voluntarily as a reaction to the negative publicity associated with the killing. I'd like to know if they were ordered by the government to do this or not.

[Robski]

Hard to prove? Impossible to prove if you ask me.

Just because he blamed a game for his actions does not prove a definite correlation between this game and committing actual violence in the real world.

Please explain to me what you would consider a corrolation between the youth playing the game and then going out and commiting a murder in a similar style that could be anymore compelling than the case in point.

Perhaps if when he left the games arcade to commit this murder he took the games console with him, with the game inside of course, and used it to bash the taxi drivers head in.

Or perhaps if he changed his name to Nico Belic and started speaking with a Russian accent before stabbing the driver, stuffing his body in the backseat and trying to steal his taxi.

Take out the element of the game in this case and this is still a very unusual and horrific murder, more so that it was commited by a teenager.

A very small percentage of people in society are capable of the act of murder and most of those that do so are under extreme mental pressure.

What do you think could drive this youth to consider that his actions were justified if not a distorted sense of reality?

Personally I love the game, but I do think that it's overblown portrait of human immorality is capable of affecting the judgemant of young people in their formative years.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Robski

[sbk]

Two threads about the same topic have been merged.

[dougieboy]

"This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse," Ladda Thangsupachai, director of the ministry's Cultural Surveillance Centre, told Reuters. "Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."

What does this mean? Are video game shop owners somehow less expendable than cab drivers?

I took it as a warning to game shop owners that they should stop selling the game, because one of their customers might flip out and kill them.

Tycoon shopkeepers should order stock quick theres gonna be a bonanza

[dougieboy]

The game is not to blame, ultimately we all have to be responsible for our actions, all too often criminals today find many obscure reasons to apparently free themselves of blame, utter <deleted>, if you step over the line,,,,,,,,,you pay,,,,,,,,,,end of.

[Robski]

How very philosophical.