Thursday, 23 July 2009

• The Video Game Made Me Do It!

  
  
  

  Ideally, video games exist for entertainment purposes only, and it isn't always so successful when gaming and real life collide (see: bad cosplay). The past decade has seen an influx of video game related crimes and violence, which has continually presented judges and juries with the same difficult question: are video games a legitimate blame for sick, prison-bound individuals, or just an excuse? GTA IV is probably the only kind of game that warrants said motivation, given one can wave a gun around Central Park and take joggers out for target practice. Check out these claims, and share your thoughts on the matter!
  
  oroiko@xanga enlightens us with this horror story:
  
  "When a 38-year-old trucker name Michael Curry was found guilty of possessing child pornography, he blamed his fetish on video games and comic books. He lived alone and isolated, and interactive entertainment fueled his "friendless fantasy". He also claimed living as a foster child and his clinical depression as contributors too.  This is just absurd.  Whose fault was it to lock oneself in his own apartment? Curry.  Whose fault was it to not interact with people? Curry. He probably watched a lot of cartoons for young children."
  
  So, video games cause pedophilia...right...
  
  

  
  

  
  From [Kotaku.com]:
  
  "Lamar Roberts, a teenager convicted of beating to death a seven-year-old, will be an old man when he gets out of prison. The so-called "Mortal Kombat Killer" has received a 36-year sentence. The 2007 beating death of Zoe Garcia, 7, was described by prosecutors and law enforcement in Greeley, Colo. as a reenactment of fight moves from the Mortal Kombat series. Roberts and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Heather Trujillo (Garcia's half-sister) were supposed to be babysitting the child. Instead the two kicked, hit and slammed Trujillo's half-sister to the floor. Garcia's aunt and stepmother later said they believed that Roberts made up the Mortal Kombat alibi, and that video game violence was not the issue here."
  
  Other Editor's Note: Gives new (and ghastly) meaning to the word "Fatality".
  
  

  
  

  And finally, [CBS12.com]
  
  Evylon Keys Hrusovsky, of Fort Pierce (pictured above), was arrested and charged with felony child neglect after her 5-year old special needs son was left locked in a car for over an hour while she played video games at a local arcade. They saw she was inside for almost 90 minutes. Witnesses in the parking lot said the child was crying and screaming inside the locked SUV. According to the affidavit, Hrusovsky later admitted that she left her son locked inside the car, but said she checked on him twice.
  
  I wonder what game she was playing for so long. DDR?
  
  But what about when video games help save lives? I think television and movies are worse influences, if you ask me.
  

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