Grand Theft Auto 4 Stabbing

The media frenzy over violent video games shows no signs of abating.

Here in the UK we live in a society in which violence in the media is frowned upon. Back in the early ’80s, we were assailed by hordes of video nasties to corrupt our senses. Almost thirty years later it’s console games which are to blame. Do modern-day titles like the Grand Theft Auto series and the Manhunt games cause people to commit violence in real life?

Various websites, such as the one found here at Register Hardware, reported that two men queuing for the newly-released GRAND THEFT AUTO 4 at a Gamestation store in Croydon were involved in an altercation which ended with one of them being stabbed in the head and neck – just like in the game. Unsurprisingly, this ‘news’ was soon being reported around the world, as far afield as Australia. More proof if proof were needed that violence in the media inspires real-life violence?

Umm… no. Certainly not in this instance. Now that the initial outcry has settled down and people’s sensibilities have been well and truly shocked, the REAL story’s starting to come out.  Yahoo’s been one of the first to reveal that, well, no, this isn’t what happened. The stabbing actually happened A QUARTER OF A MILE AWAY at a train station. Nothing to do with Grand Theft Auto 4 at all, apart from poor timing.

I remember a similar ‘link’ occurring years ago after the tragic murder of a teenager in Leicester. Apparently, the murderer had been playing MANHUNT or an equivalent title, which inspired him to commit a real-life murder. Except weeks later the REAL story came out – it was the victim who’d had the game, not the murderer. There had been nothing to link him to the title whatsoever.

Funny how the critics suddenly go quiet when the truth emerges, isn’t it?