Let's blame video games. Part 742.

[krapma]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/violent-video-games-incite-kids-to-crime-says-scipione/story-fn7y9brv-1226443402160

The usual, but coming from the NSW police commissioner is a little disturbing. Kind of indicates they are looking in the wrong direction and are pretty out of touch with the reality of why these kids are carrying and using knives.

[dinofreak]

"We ring parents and say 'little Johnny's down here, you better come in and get him'. And parents don't even care. They say 'he got there and can get his way back'."

He blames games but then says that, which is the real problem here.

[Tim Colwill]

Crime involving adolescents had become a major concern, particularly when they were fuelled by alcohol. And part of the problem was the disinterest shown by their parents.

"Don't underestimate the problems that we're having with young people who aren't bound by the licensing laws because they shouldn't be getting into licensed premises to begin with," he said.

"They're coming in preloaded. They go and get plastered and then they want to fight the world.

"We grab them off the streets, children 14-13, who are drunk that we come across in the city in the Cross and in Oxford St.

...just like in video games?

I remember that time we reviewed "Johnny the 14-year-old's Adventures in his Dad's Liquor Cabinet II: Jail Escape Hijinks". 10/10 GOTY

[Chucky]

...just like in video games?

Leisure Suite Larry!!!

I am honestly not surprised they are blaming Video Games (hell they do it at every opportunity), but yet again the true root of the cause goes back to a lack of parenting (and I am surprised the NSW Police Commissioner can't see that).

[Otto-matic]

The parents pay his salary through their taxes, video games don't

[Disco LT]

Meh it's just a case of they can't stop it, so lets blame something else.

[Mekon]

Skippy's a lovely guy, but he is fairly conservative... not altogether surprised he's in the anti-violent video game camp.

edit: To be fair, he wasn't singling out VGs - movies and television were also mentioned as contributing factors, along with lack of parental involvement. And given that he is talking about adolescents (who arguably shouldn't be playing some of these games, hence R18+ rating), I can't say I wholly disagree. I know I'm rather wary of what I let my son watch/play in terms of violent media, for good reason - he loves to act out stuff that he consumes.

[Nekosan]

I guess it's a bad time to release my indie title then? Maybe Sick Sikh Shooter wasn't the best title choice....

[MunchY]

The term "stealing money from prostitutes" gets me every time. In games where this is actually possible (basically GTA afaik?), I'm generally stealing money from everyone. Why do they single out the prostitutes? And why is it worse if I'm stealing from a ****? Why not mention running down an old man on my Faggio?

They've been watching too many movies that put prostitutes on a pedastool....

[Mekon]

a pedastool....

Is that like a pouffe?

Weird-arse spelling aside, it's noteworthy because ladies of the night are all too often victims of violence, disproportionately so compared to the rest of the population. Added to which, it's the whole violence against women thing, which is a Western societal taboo.

[MunchY]

a pedastool....

Is that like a pouffe?

Hahahahahahah. Wow. I genuinely proof-read the post twice cause I'm so bloody tired after today and thought it was all okay. What even..

My temporary dyslexia aside, valid points sir.

[Marius]

I don't know if I found his comments that bad. I think it was more selective quoting and emphasis by the journalist.

[Marius]

That said... I just read GONs article on this, and it makes some decent points too. In particular that no game where you get rewarded for raping has made it past the classification board, making some of his statements clueless.

[Nekosan]

it's noteworthy because ladies of the night are all too often victims of violence, disproportionately so compared to the rest of the population. Added to which, it's the whole violence against women thing, which is a Western societal taboo.

I don't believe that's the case, I think hookers are probably in the minority of assault victims. The media just latch onto it because the word "prostitute" carries extra negative connotations for your average reader/viewer... it's all for hype.

[Ralph Wiggum]

To be fair to the guy, he doesn't outright say our entire youth is being corrupted by media and games, but:

""That's not going to affect the vast majority but it's only got to affect one or two and what have you got? You've got some potentially really disturbed young person out there who's got access to weapons like knives or is good with the fist, can go out there and almost live that life now in the streets of modern Australia. That's concerning."

I wouldn't discount the future possibility that a video game will be a contributing factor to some little **** going AWOL, however anyone who knows anything about psychology would know that human behaviour is shaped by many factors and can't be put down to one single element.