Today there are calls again for violent video games to be baned. Apparently a 17 year old teenager killed his friend because he was obsessed with Manhunt (according to the victims mother).

 

All the news reports are asking why games like this are in the shops, rather than asking why millions of other people can play the game and not get the urge to stab their friends. Shouldn't they be questioning the killers frame of mind and also why he was playing a game that has an 18 cert.

 

Im fearing a backlash aganst the whole gaming community which may jepodise the games I like playing. It is sad what has happened but you cant use manhunt as a scape goat. Its the same when the death of Jamie Bulger was blamed on Childs Play 3.

 

Also, just read that the victims mother is going to take a law suit against Rockstar for making the game.

 

What you think??

I heard that I plaly loads of games like that eg: resident evil.

i know some guys who have games that have been baned from the uK and they are much worse than manhunt i never tried to kill because of a game.

Yep he was 17 playing a 18 cert. game and how did he get the game so his parents cant take the company to court because they could have bought it.

 

rather than asking why millions of other people can play the game and not get the urge to stab their friends. Shouldn't they be questioning the killers frame of mind and also why he was playing a game that has an 18 cert.

 

Im fearing a backlash aganst the whole gaming community which may jepodise the games I like playing.

 

I totaly agree it's not like every body is going out killing people is it and if it was you can't blame games it's the persons fault to be mental enough to do it

I can definately see it gettin banned in the UK, Dixons have already stopped stocking it, and more stores will probably follow.

I image the same will happen to 'The Punisher' when that is released.

 

This looks like one of the most violent games ever - I beleive you can torture people by putting their face in a piranha tank and by feeding them into a wood chipper.

 

Nice....

I have always been extremely disgusted at the media's and the governments reaction to violent video games. First of all these games have an 18 certificate so any one under that age should not be playing them, second of all if someone feels the urge to kill someone after playing a VIDEO GAME then they need to have their head examined. Games no matter how violent do not say "Go out and kill people", games offer an escape of reality and anyone who cannot understand that must be mad.

From the BBC:

 

Manhunt game withdrawn by store

 

Electrical store Dixons has stopped selling the computer game Manhunt.

 

The move comes after the parents of a schoolboy murdered by a friend blamed the violent game for their son's death.

 

Warren Leblanc, 17, of Braunstone Frith, Leicester, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the murder of 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah in February 2004.

 

Stefan's parent's claimed Leblanc had been obsessed by the game but the British Board of Film Classification has rejected any significant link.

 

Leblanc had savagely beaten his victim with a claw hammer and stabbed him repeatedly after luring him to a local park.

 

Leicester Crown Court heard the defendant had planned to rob Stefan.

 

However, Stefan's mother, Giselle, claimed Leblanc had been obsessed by the game, which awards points for savage killings.

 

Immediately after the hearing she said: "I can't believe that this sort of material is allowed in a society where anarchy is not that far removed.

 

Manhunt should only be sold to people aged 18 and over

"It should not be available and it should not be available to young people."

 

A spokeswoman for Dixons said: "We are taking it off the shelves with immediate effect."

 

Other stores have also been debating whether or not to stock the game.

 

A Virgin Megastores spokesperson said they advise customers on content.

 

"While we take a level of responsibility, ultimately, censorship decisions are up to the consumer."

 

WH Smith confirmed they stocked the game and were considering their position.

 

A spokesperson for the British Board of Film Classification said the game had been given an 18 certificate.

 

It was also the board's opinion that there were no issues of harm attached to the game and there was no evidence directly linking the playing of games with violent behaviour.

 

Professor Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University, a psychology expert, said more research was needed into how violent video games can influence the behaviour of adolescents.

 

He felt a link had already been proved between violence and video games in children aged eight years or below but more study was needed into the long-term impact of blood-thirsty games on the behaviour of older children.

 

He said: "Research has shown those aged eight years or below do in the short-term re-enact or copy what they see on the screen.

 

"But there's been no longitudinal research following adolescents over a longer period, looking at how gaming violence might affect their behaviour."

Yeah I saw this on the news, heard Mike Dickin talk about it on the radio, read it in the newspaper. Now before I get into rant at the actual game in debate, I have to make it clear how annoyed I am (and sure alot of others too) at how the media likes to throw the blame onto an industry rather then taking each case in its individuality. Deaths instantly linked to a childs fascination with wrestling. Deaths linked to movies such as Jamie Buldger's murder (sp) and Childs Play. At the end of the day none of these cases can be tarnished with the same brush. Yes the death bared great similarity to Manhunt, same as other deaths I afore mentioned. But it is more to do with the childs state of mind, and the parents lack of authority that are to blame. The game is rated, he should not have gone into contact with it.

 

Now the game. I slated this game on so many forums (i don't think I graced you on this one with my rant, I'll have to check my archives lol). I slated it as all the game is about is killing, and making killing and gore a fun concept. If the game was entitled Football Hooligans (such as a game that has been banned called Hooligans) it would not have made it to the market. It should have never been allowed to grace the shelves unless it was made certain that children could not get their hands on this trash. I warned peeps this would lead to a situation as this and sadly I have been proved right. Rockstar need to hang its head in shame. They have made it their niche to target the adult audience yet their marketing and advertising methods have targeted children. One only needs to look at the places and times they advertised Manhunt and GTA on tv, on childrens channels and music channels before the watershed and inbetween popular shows. That is okay for a Spiderman game but not a mature game such as manhunt. I hate the game, and I detested the way Rockstar unleashed it upon the world so I will be glad the day it is banned. To make matters worse, this game Manhunt is far worse then the infamously banned Thrill Kill due to advancements in technology and the sick ideas of the games developers and publishers.

 

-------

 

Dixons have stopped selling the game and I hope this is followed in suit by other chains. I am fed up of going into stores and seeing children get served games they clearly are not old enough to purchase. In Game I actually indicated to a Shop assitant as the child presented it them the rating, and he just laughed in my face and said 'Its a sale I don't care.' If the shops can't be trusted to sell these games to those of the approriate age, the games shouldn't be on the market, period. Microsoft made a bold move stateside to put parental controls on the XBox console, yet did not put this on the console in other territories. But since shops and developers can't be trusted to prevent their violent title reaching the wrong hands, this is the way forward. Parental controls with a password to allow games above a certain rating to be played should be AS STANDARD.

 

----------

 

Apologies for the long post but I had alot of views to unleash on this that I have awaiting to all day and ever since Manhunt hit the market.

I remember when I worked in Blockbuster that we were all made clear of the age restrictions on games, yet when we pointed it out to the kids, the kids just went and got their parents to go and rent the game for them - then the paretns would yell at US for wasting their time.

 

All this fuss over a game, ridiculous. Why not ban all the DIY shows, as the boy was attacked by a claw hammer...

I think maybe the game gave him the ideas BUT if someone is so messed up in the head to kill someone, playing a game wouldnt be the only factor in this.

The guy would of murdered without the game but by using adifferent style to kill.

wait until they see the Punisher game...much worse

This is stupid! To blame it all on a game is crap. Is this to say because of the countrys rising drug problems there gonna stop selling the movie Scarface in retailers? This is gonna go to stupid lengths.

Do they not think that maybe the lad needs professional help rather then labelling him the victim and blaming a media outlet...

 

It annoys me when someone doe's something like this, it detracts from the real crime and that is one person killed another person, and it pisses on the memory of the poor lad that was killed...

 

I hope his parents wake up one day to the realisation that their son killed another human being through choice, he had the choice to do it and to not do it and he made the wrong one enterily....

 

As for the publicity stunt to try and take the heat off their sick and twisted liitle boy, well I hope it goes down like a lead ballon and tat justice is done for the sake of the real vicitim, the poor lad who had his life taken away by a good for nothing d**khead.

Okay then, after a little reading into the Daily Mail's article on Warren Leblanc's background, it emerges that Warren Leblanc was:

 

- From a poor background with divorced parents

- Thrown out of home more than once

- A regular drug user (cannabis)

- A fan of Al Pacino's "Scarface"

- A thief (used to steal mobile phones and sell them)

- A member of a local gang

- A regular truant (would skip lessons to do drugs)

- A person who would regularly "lose the plot" simply over losing at games.

 

So really, whilst everybody is singling Manhunt out, it would appear that the kid had a multitude of problems - including being at a disadvantage in terms of parental issues (no offence to anybody here with divorced parents, mine have been for over 13 years). However, whilst the game is clearly not the only issue here, the questions of how he got the game still stand. It's still a good time for adjustments to be made to how tightly those age ratings are enforced, and a good time to try to clue parents in about gaming.

 

---------

 

Thats from NiktheGreek at Spong and is a very good point in this debate.

 

For me I am not a fan of Manhunt, I have made that clear. Unneccessarily filled with violence etc etc I could rant on. In games like GTA, and the afore mentioned Punisher the violence is key to the plot of the Punisher comic, and in GTA the drug/violence/gang world in the story. In Manhunt essentially there is no plot, just an excuse for the over the top unnecessary violence. But having the game banned will only escalate demand. As I said before like on the xbox's in America have parental controls as standard on consoles with password access to games rated Mature or above. That way kids cannot physically play the game without true parental ignorance.

First off, I agree that to place all of the blame on a video game for the tragic death of a young kid is absolutely stupid. Basically, you either have it in you to go out and kill like that, or you don't. To say that you play a video game and suddenly get the urge to kill is nonsense.

 

Look, I like games such as GTA, Resident Evil, etc. I like films such as Scarface, Reservoir Dogs, etc. I like Eminem. How many people have I killed in my life? None. How many fights have I been in? One, when I was eleven. Furthermore, I've been exposed to violence in movies and on tv since I was a kid, but never once have I had the urge to harm anybody. This is just bollocks. Y'know, there's all kinds of violent things going on in shows like Eastenders and Emmerdale, the repeats of which are shown on Sunday afternoons, but nobody ever lays any blame at their door.

 

Basically this is a breakdown in parenting. I don't have a kid, but the day I do, I will take an INTEREST in my son/daughter. I definitely won't be letting them play a game like Manhunt until I deem them mature enough, and I'll make damn sure they know the consequences of violence. I don't know much about this game, personally I've had no real interest in buying it, but banning it is tantamount to censorship, and it's jumping the gun. Why did nobody have a problem with it before? If it's really that bad, why did nobody try to ban it before now?

 

This is just another example of the media jumping the gun. One day, people will come to the realisation that games don't kill people, and a game didn't kill that kid.

 

One more thing; it is a bit worrying that the classification of games doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference. If a game is rated 18, it's rated that way for a reason. I wouldn't like to see any child of mine being able to walk into a store and buy an 18 game just like that.

its ridiculous i agree, its not games at blame its the killers.

 

Its like saying oh he played SmackDown once and now hes in jail for robbing a shop. See Games and crime are not one int he same.