Posted Feb 18, 2007 at 10:15PM by Ian C. Listed in: Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, MMORPG, Games for Windows Tags: Jack Thompson, Capitol Hill, Sulejman Talovic
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Talovic - image taken from the Salt Lake Tribune - Image 1The Salt Lake Tribune's Rebecca Walsh used her column to examine Salt Lake City mall shooter, Sulejman Talovic's motives for executing such a violent act. Walsh writes:

Others speculate that Talovic played violent video games. Attorney Jack Thompson, who is lobbying Utah lawmakers to punish those who provide games that make child’s play out of murder and mayhem, sent an e-mail to reporters with the headline: "Salt Lake City Teen Probably Trained on Grand Theft Auto Video Game." That rumor was stated as fact Wednesday on Capitol Hill.


Unfortunately, the ace-attorney's assertions prove to be false for this particular case. GamePolitics alerts all of us that a later February 15th report on Salt Lake tribune says:

Salt Lake City police... have not discerned a motive... With the permission of Talovic's parents, detectives searched their home but did not take any computers or video games...


There's more confirmation on this as Salt Lake City's Desert News reports that Police Chief Chris Burbank officially rules out video games. The report says:

For instance, detectives as of Friday had found no evidence that violent video games may have influenced Talovic. In fact, Talovic did not even own a computer or a video-game system, Burbank said.


Having said all this to you folks, we'd like to ask: Why is it that with every high-profile youth-involved act of violence, videogames are always looked at? Nevermind the ace-attorney that a lot of you would love to despise. Let's keep him out of this. Let's just look at the rest of the elements in the equation. Why is it that when something like this happens, videogames are always considered?

Is this telling us anything about how the gaming community conducts itself? Is this indicative of how the rest of society sees things? We'd love to hear your take on this. But, as always, please keep things civil.

Oh, and before we leave this to you folks, kudos to the SLCPD for their superb job at handling the situation.


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8 Comments


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   by Andy (Unregistered) - 2007-02-18
 » Movies?

this must have happened with violent movies when they first came out but then again there probobly wernt as many teen shootings or people didnt care as much

   by Sembazuru - 2007-02-18
 » D&D

Reminds me of the early 80's when D&D was blamed for nearly every instance of youth-involved violence. People are looking for an easy answer and invariably end up pointing the collective finger at popular youth activities that they don't understand.

   by hush404 - 2007-02-18
 » the reason?

People like Jack Thompson need to blame murders and acts of violence on video games any chance they get to help promote their ideas of violence in games.

   by Advertising -
   by hUNTER (Unregistered) - 2007-02-18
 » violent 'video games save lives

Onley if he had played grandtheft auto he wouldent have killed those people in real life he would have done it in the game instead.

   by mikekearn - 2007-02-19
 » Crazy idiots

I have never understood why they always assume video games are more likely to be responsible than a graphic movie or explicitly detailed novel. I've read many books that would teach me far better how to create a bomb, load and fire a gun, and hijack a car than a silly video game that teaches me to "Press A".

I really don't see how that will ever "train" a person. I mean, everyone's favorite scapegoat, GTA, isn't even in first person! Am I going to pick up a gun and magically get a targeting reticle as a shift to an over-the-shoulder view for my killing? No, that's stupid. So how was I, or any other person, trained to kill by a video game?

Far too many of these political idiots either don't do their research, or simply know that by saying "video games were to blame!" they will stir up controversy and get noticed.

Both of those options prove their idiocy.


   Re: Intrepid (Unregistered) - 2007-03-01
 » Hilarious

by saying that this game could teach you how to kill means that the same GTA could teach you how to drive! when was the last time you saw someone turn the key in the ignition and use analog sticks to reverse?
   by gamer dude (Unregistered) - 2007-02-19
 » wow

why do they automatically just blame video games, just becuase they dont know why someone went crazy they go after the games. Jack Thompson just needs to find a new job, he sucks at it, and he never has good points to what he wants to stop. Video games do not cause violence, period.

   by Seraph (Unregistered) - 2007-02-22
 » Over-simplification

I live in Singapore, and a good percentage of young adults and teenagers are avid gamers, but we do not face any such crimes.

Additionally, almost every single healthy man here is trained in the use of rifles, through our National Service obligations, AND nothing has happened so far.

My point is, if video games are the single cause of and point of explanation for violence, it'll happen everywhere where video games are being played.

On the contrary, as a gamer myself, I would think that video games provide a therapeutic effect to curb the fires of violent instincts inside us, rather than fanning them.



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