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Did Va. Tech Murderer Learn
From Video Games?
Jim Meyers
Newsmax
Wednesday April 18, 2007
The shootings at Virginia Tech have once again brought the issue
of violent video games to the fore, with critics citing a link between
murderous rampages like Monday's and games that often involve simulated
mass murder.
Appearing on Larry King's CNN show on Monday night, psychologist
Phil McGraw -- TV's "Dr. Phil" -- stated: "Common
sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where
they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized
on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society."
Murders Echo Game Scenarios
The grisly murders of 31 people at Virginia tech eerily seem to
match the stalking of targets in video programs some times called
"first person shooter" (FPS) games. In the FPS video game
genre is characterized by an on-screen view that simulates the in-game
character's point of view and by the use of handheld weapons.
Typically, the game player participant stalks through rooms, mazes
or buildings seeking out victims, firing multiple shots into targets
to ensure death. The player is frequently required to change ammunition.
"You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or
someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage,
the suggestibility is too high," Dr Phil added.
"We're going to have to start addressing those issues and
recognizing that the mass murders of tomorrow are the children of
today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose."
Video games with names like "Quake," "Grand Theft
Auto," or "Doom" are among the most popular killer
programs.
Such games allows a player to vicariously experience a shooting
rampage like the one gunman Cho Seung-Hui perpetrated at Virginia
Tech. Reportedly, Cho killed some of his real-life targets with
multiple shots to assure their demise.
The modern FPS games emerged when home computers became powerful
enough to utilize basic 3-D graphics in real time. Other popular
FPS games include "Duke Nukem 3D," "Blood,"
"System Shock," "Counter-Strike," "GoldenEye
007" and "Quake."
First released in June 1996, "Quake" was the first FPS
game to gain widespread popularity as a multiplayer Internet game.
"Quake" and its three sequels have sold more than 4 million
copies, and in 2005 a version of the game was even produced for
mobile phones.
FPS games have been called "murder simulators" by Lt.
Col. David Grossman, a former West Point psychology professor who
has written several books on violence in the media, including "Stop
Teaching Our Kids to Kill."
He argues that the games inure young people to the act of murder
by simulating the killing of hundreds or even thousands of opponents
in a single game.
It was widely reported that the two shooters in the 1999 Columbine
High School massacre were fans of first-person shooter games. Last
year the Alabama Supreme Court kept alive a $600 million lawsuit
blaming the violent video game "Grand Theft Auto" for
the murders of two police officers and a police dispatcher in Fayette
in 2003.
Attorneys for the relatives of the three men slain claimed the
killer, 18-year-old Devin Moore, played the game obsessively, and
Moore reportedly told investigators after his arrest: "Life
is a video game. Everybody has to die sometime." Sens. Hillary
Clinton and Joe Lieberman have been highly critical of violent video
games and their manufacturers. Clinton has attacked violent games
as "a silent epidemic" among children, and in July 2005
she called for a federal investigation into "Grand Theft Auto:
San Andreas."
In 1993, Lieberman headed Senate hearings about violent games that
led to the establishment of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.
And late last year he co-sponsored legislation that would make it
a crime to sell violent video games to minors.
Banned: Violent Games in Germany
Germany has taken steps to go even further and ban violent video
games outright, the trade publication Variety reported. A bill placed
before parliament would outlaw the depiction of violent acts committed
against human characters, and would effectively ban most first-person
shooter games.
The bill was introduced late last year after 18-year-old Sebastian
Bosse shot up a high school in Emsdetten, injuring 37 before killing
himself. An investigation revealed that Bosse spent most of his
waking hours playing the game "Counter-Strike."
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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