Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

Because it failed with Rock and Roll music.

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

Ah of course. :D Not forgetting the previous failure of prohibition as well.

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

This just got added to my quotation library. Too true... as I strive to parent every day.

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

Very well said.

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

1. It's being singled out, because it's a current event. The murderer didn't say he had bad parents, took drugs or was angry, he said he was checking out whether the theft was as easy in reality as it was in the game.

If we have a story about a kid being high on rohypnol doing evil he otherwise wouldn't, we'd be talking about rohies.

2. Who is a "good parent"? All parents screw up. Besides, it takes a village to raise a child. Parenting alone doesn't make a child wonderful or evil. Plenty of bad/absent parents result in beautiful people, and plenty of great parents have crims.

Whatever we as a society can do to self improve, we should do. The almighty dollar should stop being the sole motivator when people release art into society. Artists, creators and entrepreneurs need to wake up to their responsibility in shaping society.

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

I agree that it begins with the parents, and that they should be more aware as regards video games. Simply put, they should be involved more with their children (which I do hope is the trend nowadays), in which their children will be comfortable with their parents, and will be able to share problems, no matter how silly it may sound to the general public.

I remember this instance, when my uncle and myself would tease my mom. She would then jokingly reply that we came from an elite school, hence they should have taught us some manners. When I thought about it, I don't think they actually taught anything to that extent. I am pretty sure it has been drowned by all the subjects they flush in our heads. Either way, their focus is on a different path.

The same can be said with the parents. Sometimes people can be too focused on the big picture, when those little things are brewing up to smear the big picture.

I personally enjoy these games since they serve as an "outlet". From a bad day, or whatever-I-can-call-it-day. However, I am always for the betterment of everyone. I'd sacrifice my precious time for a friend in need, I'd try to be there for someone who's in need of an advice. Reason: I want them to feel loved, respected and listened to.

I know how it is to be alone, and I try as much as I can to let others feel that they always have someone to talk to.

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

I'm no psychologist, but to me that sounds more like a crazy person who picked up a video game than a sane person who picked up a video game and turned crazy.

And who decides how to shape society and what to shape it into? What if some people disagree? How can you force artists to accept responsibility without denying them their right to artistic freedom?

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

There's the rub. If we could all agree on what the ideal world would look like, we could move our way there.

Trying to define that ideal has been the source of more than one war...

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

<font color="plum">The problem with your examples is that none of them are specifically marketed towards teens and young adults. Video games are. That is why designers of the games need to be held to a better standard.

I agree completely parents bear the brunt of the responsibility. I do monitor the games my boys play, whether on a console or on the computer. However, that does not alleviate the responsibility borne by the manufacturers that produce the game.</font>

Re: Grand Theft Auto inspires Thai murder
 

<font color="plum">To paraphrase the quote added to <font color="lightgreen">Bungleau's</font> list, playing games is fun, shifting blame is easy.

Every time this issue comes up, there are two clear cut responses - those that feel the games are not appropriate and those who like the games and say the kid who copied the game was crazy to begin with.

Look at the responses in this thread as an example. Every response from the game supporters say the same thing "this kid was crazy already if he tried to imitate a game". What they are really saying is "I LIKE playing this game (or others like it) and I don't want to risk losing a game I like to play."

Even if their assertions are true that "the kid was crazy to begin with", the company still bears a responsibility not to produce something that could encourage or lead a kid to reproducing the actions in the game.

It's really simple - produce games that do NOT depict illegal activities, assassinations, prostitution or violence against others and manufacturers don't have to worry if kids copy the actions from their games.</font>

<font color="plum"><font color="yellow">Yorick</font> already addressed this - the "right" to artistic freedom is NOT absolute, just as the right to free speech is not. Mass producing anti-social "art" is not an acceptable form of "artistic expression".</font>