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Oh joy. Fox News will get wind of this-- just read the writing. It be Fox. | |
No, but he's the Captain of the Normandy, so show some fucking respect! ...I should go play more Mass Effect. Anyway, this should just be named "Kid joyrides, media jumps to stupid conclusions." | |
If he learnt to drive a car from Grand Theft Auto then we should put his talents to good use. Give him Rock Band. | |
Hehehe...that's exactly what I thought too when I heard the name Captain Anderson. Hasn't this strory already been reported though. The only addition that I can see here is The Today Show thing? Anyway, I think that the crazy Atheist kid is awesome. Seriously he stole a car and led the police on a chase just to get away from Church. Does that not just scream BADASS in big, exaggerated caps to anyone else? | |
Dear god this one is stupid, almost as stupid as the reasoning in germany. | |
Yes Max, yes you should for the good of us all. Sigh, would somebody please do something stupid and blame it on movies or twilight or something, then maybe they'll stop blaming gaming. Although, that is one bad ass Aeithist. | |
This is FOX NEWS we're talking about. Fox is to real news what a mud puddle is to melted chocolate. They may look the same at first glance, but under the surface... I'm surprised they didn't blame GTA for presonally leading the kid to the car with candy, then starting the ignition and pushing the car out the driveway. Still, the blame must lie at least partially blame the parents for not keeping an eye on their own offspring's entertainent collection. | |
Given what a large part of Texan (and southern USA in gneral) church services are like, I wouldn't be surprised to find his reason was completely legitimate. Of course, in the end this will be just one of many, many, many swiftly forgotten media pissy-parties. | |
The war on video games could be the one thing that unites President Obama and Fox News. | |
Hmm. When I hear the name "Anderson" I just think of Smith in the Matrix. "Mr. Aaaannnnddddeerrrssooonnn" | |
Pah. He stood down. It's all mine now! Mine! To fill with Aliens as I wish! Sorry. I got carried away. This is amusing though, I can't say I've never played a game that reprisents driving so aaccurately that I could learn from it. Besides, everyone knows that if he had been playing Grand Theft Auto he'd have run over prostitutes, right? | |
I'd believe this of it said he played Forza 2 with a full racing wheel, but GTA? Come on. | |
Good God man what if he played The Sims? | |
Video games are the devil! They are murder similators! They are the reason why my son billy is so violent instead of my crappy parenting. Damn those video games ! | |
We must make sure that never happens. | |
You're thinking too small, what if he played Spore? He could create a vastly underwhelming universe! | |
Dun dun dun! | |
That was mean.
Captain Anderson deserves all the resepct he gets when he punches the Ambassador in the face. | |
Well, to be fair, there are some games that are crazy realistic. I mean, if I ever worked up the courage learn how to play Silent Hunter III or IL-2 Sturmovik on full realism, I'm confident that I could command a WWII German U-Boat (I could definitely chart an intercept course, as it is) or fly a WWII fight plane (if I got pedals and that thing that moves your view in relation to your head's position). I mean, driving is a piece of cake, compared to those, because no one's trying to kill you. Some of those racing games have a clutch function built in. In this day in age? I mean, I expect he got into the car, saw there wasn't a gearshift and was like "Oh, wow, this is gonna be way easier than I thought. Can you believe I'm gonna have to wait another ten years to do this legally?" | |
To drive a car in real life, you have to: -unlock the car To drive a car in GTA IV, you have to: -press "Y" to get in the car If FOX News thinks GTA IV can teach people how to drive, they are truly idiots of the highest caliber. | |
Feh, come on, kids are curious, they do stupid things because their brains haven't quite figured out this whole cost/benefit analysis thing. That's why children have parents, because if they didn't, our species would probably be extinct by now. | |
i think whoever thinks games encourage people to do things are stupid! it's mainly down to the people you hang around with egging you on or the area you live in GAMES DO NOT INFLUENCE!! | |
Good god! He does that? I haven't got to that yet, but you have now given my life purpose. | |
Yes, he got in the car because he saw it in a game, not because he wanted to escape the LIES in church. | |
sigh more bullshit that blames videogames when in many of these cases the parents should be blamed for buying the kid the damn game in the first place | |
Only if you choose the right option at the right time. To say any more would be a massive spoiler. | |
So if i get arrested for tripping by the cops, just claim Mario encouraged you to eat mushrooms, and you just wanted to get bigger.. all the internet adds have been driving you mad.. | |
Pffft, I say. Pffft to all these hysterical links between games and idiotic deeds. Were there any reports of a murderer who killed people by jumping on their heads twenty years ago? Or taking a run-up and rolling into them? Generally, any kids trying to emulate something they saw in a game will do more damage to themselves than others - and is that seen as the fault of games or poor parental supervision? Angry now. | |
WHAT?! YOU MEAN INTERNET TROLLS DON'T BLOW CARS UP?! :O Well, we all knew this would happen. But the captain was atleast not a total retard, saying it HAD to be and so on, only said it COULD be since they're very realistic. So +1 to him for that one! | |
Hahaha That is good stuff right there | |
Is more of an argument for not losing sight of your kid when your car keys are out in the open and your vehicle's unguarded than anything else. Couldn't help but chuckle when watching the video of police camera during chase, at the end when the kid bails and bolts for his house (even the car door is taller than he is.) Sadly, he's a better driver than some I know who're more than twice his age. | |
So is it the games fault and not the parents that allow a 7year old play mature rated games? | |
Yawn... this is hopelessly quaint. In other less interesting news, the Wii is a fad, the Xbox's new name is RRoD360, the PS3 is made out of gold bars and zzzzzzz... In all seriousness though, that's just the power of ignorance talking. And everyone just loves a scapegoat. Seriously they should release a game called "Scapegoat"(ok maybe not) | |
I think the actions of FOX so far proves that they are idiots of the highest caliber. | |
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Games Blamed For Kid's Joyride
What inspires a 7-year-old to take his father's car out for a drive? Why video games of course!
It's a well known fact that everything bad in the world is the fault of videogames. They killed the dinosaurs and are responsible for global warming. So in the grand scheme of the horrific, world-shaking things that videogames have done, teaching a kid in Utah to drive is fairly small fry.
They didn't do it of course, except in the mind of Captain Klint Anderson of the Weber County Sheriff's Office, who clearly is not a gamer himself. Hell, they didn't even kill the dinosaurs!
The story behind this is that a 7-year-old by the name of Preston Scarbrough took his father's car for a joyride on a Sunday morning, ostensibly to avoid going to church although he later admitted how he just wanted to try driving a car. After he drove through two red lights, the police became involved and chased the boy before several miles before he stopped the car and made a run for it.
The link to video games comes in after the aforementioned Captain Klint Anderson, who spoke to Fox News following the incident.
As I said, Captain Anderson is clearly not a gamer himself.
When NBC's Today Show covered the incident the following day, they got to the heart of the matter, in that Preston had watched his mother and sister drive and picked it up from them.
While videogames might not have taught Preston how to drive, it's not a big stretch to imagine that they might have inspired his little excursion. Ordinarilly, I'd argue against the idea that a game could make a young person break the law, but as Preston is only seven and seemingly didn't grasp the severity of his actions until much later, a case could be made that this is one of the first crimes genuinely inspired by gaming.
It's also a very persuasive argument for why parents should know what games their kids are playing.
Source: GamePolitics
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