Rockstar, Sony, and Take-two in $600million lawsuit.

[bipper]

Obligatory Jack Thompson Thread:

An anonymous reader writes "Family members of three victims of a shooting by a 14-year-old have filed a $600 million lawsuit against the makers of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. From the article: 'The $600 million lawsuit names several companies and Cody Posey, who it alleges played the game ''obsessively'' for several months before he shot his father, stepmother and stepsister in July 2004 ... The plaintiffs accuse the corporate defendants -- Sony Corporation of America, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games -- of a civil conspiracy, saying they should have foreseen their entertainment would spawn such copycat violence.'" It may or may not be a coincidence that Jack Thompson is the plaintiff's attorney.
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What a horrible tragedy. People are actually paying Jack Thompson to be thier lawer. And what is 600 million for? My God, people are just pathetic.

bipper

[Jowy]

I can't believe that Jack Thompson hasn't killed himself yet.

[LunarWeaver]

I heard about this. The kid himself said he faced mental, physical, and emotional abuse all the time at the hands of his dad and it caused him to snap...and they decided GTA was the reason.

[ljkkjlcm9]

what the hell, isn't anyone responsible for their own actions these days? I see violence in the media all the time. Violent movies, games, music, but I'll never go out and kill someone. Seriously, why does there always need to be a scapegoat. People need to start taking the punishment for their crime, without blaming others. I'm starting to get royally p'd off

THE JACKEL

[Dreddz]

Gamers are just as ignorant saying video games have no impact. I do think violent video games do influence people ( usually kids ) to do bad things. But so do most media. It depends on the situation, Jack Thompson does seem to always blame video games though, but he has got a point.

As with this case, I personally think saying he was playing Vice City isnt enough for a court case.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Gamers are just as ignorant saying video games have no impact. I do think violent video games do influence people ( usually kids ) to do bad things. But so do most media. It depends on the situation, Jack Thompson does seem to always blame video games though, but he has got a point.

are you kidding? Most people I know who play games use it as an outlet to be less violent. Rather than punching a wall when they get mad, they blow up people in a game. Rather than causing a fight with someone, they wait and kill something in a game. Games are outlets for violence more so than an actual cause of violence. Humans are violent by nature, and saying a game makes someone violent is absurd. We've all had violent thoughts before, but some of us control ourselves and don't act on it. Blaming video games or movies to any extent is honestly absurd. There was plenty if not more violence before video games.

THE JACKEL

[Rainecloud]

Not this again...

If his parents knew he was playing the game obsessively and wasn't in the right state of mind, why didn't they do something about it back then? They are responsible for this - not Sony, etc.

Can people sue the makers of kitchen knives because they can be used to kill people? No, of course not.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Not this again...

If his parents knew he was playing the game obsessively and wasn't in the right state of mind, why didn't they do something about it back then? They are responsible for this - not Sony, etc.

Can people sue the makers of kitchen knives because they can be used to kill people? No, of course not.

actually, I know of a case when someone sued Cutco because the knife they were using cut them, and they said they didn't know the knife was that sharp... they won. This country is absurd.

THE JACKEL

[Rainecloud]

Not this again...

If his parents knew he was playing the game obsessively and wasn't in the right state of mind, why didn't they do something about it back then? They are responsible for this - not Sony, etc.

Can people sue the makers of kitchen knives because they can be used to kill people? No, of course not.

actually, I know of a case when someone sued Cutco because the knife they were using cut them, and they said they didn't know the knife was that sharp... they won. This country is absurd.

THE JACKAL

Well, I guess that's a bit different. I've never heard of anyone sueing Wal*Mart/ASDA/Some Random Store for selling a knife that was later used to stab someone in the face.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Well, I guess that's a bit different. I've never heard of anyone sueing Wal*Mart/ASDA/Some Random Store for selling a knife that was later used to stab someone in the face.

it's still absurd because a knife is designed to cut, and he sued because it cut him, and yet won. I don't understand how someone can be stupid, and get money for it

THE JACKEL

[Ender]

Honestly, I'm not sure whether any of us here are capable of truly evaluating the effects of video game violence on behavior. I'm guessing that even though studies suggest that it does, there are so many factors that influence behavior that the number of studies and statistical analysis that's required to confirm exactly what effect it has is beyond the scope of what has been done and what will be done in any of our "gaming lifetimes."

Frankly, how do you isolate the video-game factor in the behavior of a child who isn't being monitored properly for behavioral influences by his parents or guardians? They certainly can prove that playing a video game affects chemical and psychological responses due to a hightened state of awareness and aggressiveness that comes with the adrenaline or whatever of playing a game, but proving that it affects one's world view or psychological state permanently is a much dodgier claim. I would guess that it does to various degrees to different people, but I can't prove it one way or another.

But anyway, there's a reason we have the ESRB. Game companies don't bare any legal responsibility outside of submitting their games for rating. After that it's the responsibility of the store to not sell the game to someone under-age, and the parents to monitor what their child is playing.

And I agree with everybody else who thinks the blaming someone else for one's actions thing is pretty much out of hand. :rolleyes2

[LunarWeaver]

Not this again...

If his parents knew he was playing the game obsessively and wasn't in the right state of mind, why didn't they do something about it back then? They are responsible for this - not Sony, etc.

Can people sue the makers of kitchen knives because they can be used to kill people? No, of course not.

I agree with this too. Where were his parents? What were they doing? Why did they buy him a game that was rated M and let him play it all the time, a game he shouldn't legally be playing until he's 3 years older than he is?

I simply fail to see how it's the game makers fault, and I really can't see why Sony is being sued.

If he had aggression built up from his homelife and he abused the game to make it worse, it still isn't the game's fault.

It's like what Rainecloud said with the knives... I could kill someone with a knife, but that doesn't make the makers responsible for allowing it to be available to me, it makes me responsible for abusing something that is available to me.

[Dreddz]

Gamers are just as ignorant saying video games have no impact. I do think violent video games do influence people ( usually kids ) to do bad things. But so do most media. It depends on the situation, Jack Thompson does seem to always blame video games though, but he has got a point.

are you kidding? Most people I know who play games use it as an outlet to be less violent. Rather than punching a wall when they get mad, they blow up people in a game. Rather than causing a fight with someone, they wait and kill something in a game. Games are outlets for violence more so than an actual cause of violence. Humans are violent by nature, and saying a game makes someone violent is absurd. We've all had violent thoughts before, but some of us control ourselves and don't act on it. Blaming video games or movies to any extent is honestly absurd. There was plenty if not more violence before video games.

THE JACKAL

So are you saying its not possible that a kid see's someone bludgeon someone over the head with a bat and wont try to copy it ?

[Samuraid]

I agree with those who say video games DO affect the players. They DO, but not enough to cause actual shootings. Such terrible events are generally triggered by other influences and/or mental instability.

[The Infinite Telomerase]

This kind of reminds me of that time I played Custer's Revenge and ended up raping and killing some Native American chick.