I am still rather shocked that people believe the kid when he says a video game made him kill. I wonder why thousands of other teenagers aren't running around boosting cars and trying to shoot police officers. Blame the family, blame the abuse that he may have sustained, but please don't blame the bloody video game!

Your thoughts on this maniac?

The Inquirer linkage.
Wired linkage (older news article).

Well lets not pretend that ANY media doesn't affect people. Kids develop attitudes based on what they are exposed to. Based on the "example" in the world they grow up in. A kid with eminem stuck to his ear all his life is bound to be a "bit" different from a kid without it.
My take on it is, MEDIA DOES AFFECT PEOPLE.
If they grow up in a world of violence there is a good chance they'll take that road.
If they grow up listening, hearing, playing rebeliousness, there is a good chance they will be rebelious.
And if they play games day and night of non-stop killing, getting revenge, in a moment it could be repeated in life.

However, in the particular case you are talking about, this kid was old enough to know what he was doing, and I highly doubt he can just up and blame a video game. Did he come back saying he didn't know what he was doing? Did he regret it after he did it? Did he fall down like "what have I done!". NO, he stold the police car and drove off. He was not mental or hypnotised by some stupid game. That is some sort of BS "insanity" plee in hopes of spending a few years in a mental hospital. Rather then what he got.

Now another take, if some kid whos been playing FPSes since he was 3 years old finds a gun and "plays" with it and kills someone at the age of 8. Well I could blame the media for that experience. In other words, take a young guy who hasn't been trained about life, hasn't been trained about guns, doesn't have a clear grasp of "this is fake and this is real". I might expect that child to do something stupid. But not an 18 year old.
Wouldn't the world be better off if kids were raised with family instead of media?

Hope this doesn't turn in to a flame thread!!

I won't try and deny that the media doesn't have an affect on adolescents. In fact, I am writing a research paper on that very topic and it will discuss what happens to teenagers after certain types of media exposure.

I am still rather shocked that the families of the murdered law enforcement officers are supporting Moore. I guess they are looking for a big payday, or do they really believe that GTA: VC made him kill three people? It really is only a matter of time before another person tries to blame a video game after he or she commits a crime.

I also hope that this thread doesn't evolve into a big flame contest!

I think there's no excuse for that kind of behavior. If you can't differentiate between reality and games, you shouldn't be playing games, you should be in a pshyc ward. Serves him right to be senteneced to death, he took the lives of 3 law abiding citizens.

'under the influence of vice city'??? unless he was high or drunk, he was under no influence but his own.

And why not blame the parents for failing to teach the difference between a game and reality? We can hold pet owners liable for the actions of their pets - why not, on a case-by-case basis of course, do the same for parents and their children?