Thursday, August 05, 2004

Blame the game
Another murder-case is blamed on a computer game, this time Manhunt by Rockstar Games. The horrible killing of a 14 year old boy by his 17 year old friend made the parents of the victim blame the violent video game. Today Dagbladet reports that it was not the killer who played Manhunt, but the victim! The killer's motiv was the age-old motive of greed. The victim owed him money for drugs, and the killer wanted his money back.

I can however see why the parents would prefer to blame the game. It is a much more comfortable explanation to say that a killing was irrational and happened under the influence of a mind-controlling game, than to admit that your own child was using drugs, owed money to a pusher and this same pusher was somebody you knew, another child in the neighbourhood. Nobody really want to know that kind of truth.

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