DescentBB

San Andreas Makes You Graffiti 07:15 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: ps2 (8 comments)
Well at least it didn't make you murder someone this time!

Five middle-school boys in Greensburg have been arrested, charged in a graffiti blitz they blame on a video game.
The boys range in age from 12 to 14 and are charged with institutional vandalism, criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and desecration of venerated objects.

Police in the western Pennsylvania town said the youngsters have admitted spray-painting the initials "GKU" on more than a dozen buildings, including a synagogue, an art museum and a Christian thrift store. The initials supposedly stand for "gang kids united."

Police said the boys claim they were inspired by the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

Next week: "San Andreas made me have relations with the neighbour's dog."

Are kids this dumb these days?

No.

Kids are as dumb as they ever were.

But Spray paint wasn't available cheaply back in the day...

In a word, yes. But I think it all stems back to the Beavis and Butthead made me burn down my house. Seems like that was the catalyst for all this nonsense about where dumb kids get ideas. And I seem to remember grafiti being around a lot longer than GTA

[edit]My post would throw this in E&C at best ...

Heh, there is always some excuse...

back in my day it was D&D causes kids to take up sticks with trash can lids and head into sewers and stormdrains hunting rats.........

Male children between ages 12 and 17 tend to be the most evil I've found.

Well, in that case, they should learn several other things from the game:

- Working out makes you muscular. Chicks will flirt with you.
- Bicycling/Running helps increase your stamina.
- A good suit will earn you more respect and sex appeal than a cheap t-shirt and shorts.

its also the adults who believe its the games fault.

theres no way i EVER got off with blaming what I did on peer pressure, or what I saw someone else do.

it could be that kids are getting smarter; they just know to get away with crime nowadays...

Its not the kids fault, they are being who they are. Kids.

Where the hell are the parents? Why are'nt they being blamed for the lousy upbringing? Why do they always find a scapegoat and not blame the real source of the problem?

Sometimes it is the parents that need spanking, not the children.

Top Wop wrote:Its not the kids fault, they are being who they are. Kids.

Where the hell are the parents? Why are'nt they being blamed for the lousy upbringing? Why do they always find a scapegoat and not blame the real source of the problem?

Sometimes it is the parents that need spanking, not the children.

I said the same thing back when Columbine(sp?) happened.

i dont completly blame parents for the "upbringing"; its the punishment that messes with the children. if they get awya with being able to blame their behaviour on comp games.. well.. it's teir current partianel status that is fucked.

my mum and dad brought me up strict and hard, but im still an acloholic at that.

is that my parent's fault? no, it was my choice! 100% my choice.

theres many factors not reviewed in these kind of articles. the kid's upbringing, their parents, surroundings.

sorry for lack of meaning/spellling.
<3 haagy

Unix wrote:In a word, yes. But I think it all stems back to the Beavis and Butthead made me burn down my house. Seems like that was the catalyst for all this nonsense about where dumb kids get ideas. And I seem to remember grafiti being around a lot longer than GTA

Ah, yes... the infamous 'fire' censorship on Beavis and Butthead. You have to admire how Mike Judge got his shots back in during his movie with Beavis saying 'fire' several times.

But, remember, Beavis and Butthead nor the TV caused that child to burn down his mobile home. I think if I lived in a mobile home I might consider buring it down as well.

San Andreas is a pretty badass game.

and no I dont blame the kids. at the ages of 12 and 14, they're still maturing, learning, and they will do something stupid. i personally think they weren't raised right, and as Krom said, GTA was just an excuse

How can you not blame the kids? They did it voluntarily. It is their fault the act happened. Now, kids make mistakes, that is true. It's just part of being a kid. However, another part of being a kid SHOULD be learning personal responsibility. Kids should learn that every action has a consequence, and every consequence has to be dealt with one way or another. The only way I can blame the parents in this is if they fail to teach the kids that lesson.

I know it is popular to hold the parents at fault for the acts of their children. I never bought into that. While I concede that certain actions or inactions of the parents can increase the likelihood of the kids participating in certain inappropriate behavior, we have to remember that even the youngest kid has at least some free will that they can and will exercise. The older the kid, the more free will they can exercise.

The parents have the very important job of teaching right from wrong and doâ??s from donâ??ts but in the end, unless the kid is raised in a straight jacket, he can and sometimes will do things that he knows to be wrong. As I said, that is part of being a kid.

These kids need to be told that what they did is the fault of them, and them alone. Then they must be made to face the appropriate consequences. To do anything else would be a disservice to them and to society.

I actually agree with Dedman!

The kids know what they are doing. Games can't grab your hand, wrap it around a bottle of spraypaint, throw you out of the house, and force you to start spraying on the nearest wall.

Dedman wrote:These kids need to be told that what they did is the fault of them, and them alone. Then they must be made to face the appropriate consequences. To do anything else would be a disservice to them and to society.

WORD

X3

this has become the "it's not my fault" age.

People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions.

Stryker wrote: I actually agree with Dedman!

You must be evolving into a more logical person

Actually, Dedman, I think you swerved into the logic lane for a moment. I agree too.

A child's upbringing does, to a large degree, define his/her perception of reality, though, in my opinion. They should both be taken to task for it, and any excuses about a video game should be laughed out of the court room.

Stryker wrote:The kids know what they are doing.

At 12+ they don't think of the consequences of their actions. If they are neglected & get peer pressure guess what happens. They know what they are doing but they usually don't know where it's going. So I'd blame the parents at least the same amount as the kids.

Don't tell me kids don't know they're gonna get in trouble for spraypainting a logo on walls of public buildings...

Though the parents may have had something to do with this, any kid with a head on his shoulders would know the cops are gonna come knockin' if you deface public property.

It's called an "M Rating." It means people younger than 17 aren't supposed to play. Who was the idiot who gave them the game instead of a little common sense?

Nothing new...

"Lord of The Flies"
"Ozzy Osbourne's music made him commit suicide"
"Judas Priest's music made him commit suicide"
"DOOM made him go on a murdering rampage before committing suicide"

Parents and society always want to find a scapegoat so that they don't have to take any responsibility for the illegal, antisocial or downright horrible acts committed by children. The reality of the situation is much more complex.

My 2C

Where do you get good judgement?

- Experience.

Where do you get experience?

- Bad judgement.

'nuff said?

some cousins of mine blame Quake for the suicide of their family friend. idiots.

Iceman wrote:[edit]My post would throw this in E&C at best ...

Agreed, given the direction this thread has taken.

There seem to be two extremes which sometimes rear their ugly heads during debate on this subject:

"Kids are not at all influenced by parents/peers/music/movies/games/etc., because they cannot force the kids to commit these acts; therefore, the kids are 100% responsible..."

"Kids are completely controlled by parents/peers/music/movies/games/etc., so even though the kids committed these acts, the parents/peers/music/movies/games/etc. should be held 100% responsible..."

As I think everyone here should know, both views are equally wrong.

If my wife (who studied Psychology and Sociology in college) were on this forum, she would roll her eyes and say, "Oh, no. Not another 'Nature vs. Nurture' debate. It's not either one, at least not completely. You can debate which has more influence, but even then it depends on many other factors." And she'd be right.

Foil, I already said that :p

In the words of Chris Rock

"What ever happened to 'crazy?'"

WarAdvocat wrote:Foil, I already said that :p

WarAdvocat wrote:The reality of the situation is much more complex...

D'oh! You're right.

NFS2:Underground saved my friend's life (or just car) one night.

Nitrofox125 wrote:NFS2:Underground saved my friend's life (or just car) one night.

How?

He'd only been driving a real car for under a week, but played the game quite a bit. His brakes went out on a hill on a busy city street and the only reason he knew what to do was from playing the game.

well, I mostly learned to drive from GT3, probably why my dad is a bit hesitant about getting my a car with more horsepower than a lawn mower

Hahaha. I tried NFS2, unlike most games it's *harder* to drive those cars.

i can vouch for the "driving games saved me from a crash" thing. i'm not a very experienced driver on the road, since i don't like driving. but i've been playing games since forever, always prefering simulation to arcadey.

on local streets in my car, rain after a long dry spell - wet oily roads, peak hour traffic - stop start stop start. i was getting impatient, and i had to speed up quick to get through some lights. forgetting that i also had to stop quickly once through the intersection since the traffic was banked up so much. so i needed to brake hard, which i did. i noticed that i wasn't slowing down much but i figured it was just coz my brakes were wet, so i broke harder and hoped they'd dry out and grip before i hit this stopped car infront of me.
(this is all happening in a fraction of a second)
then i notice the front of the car is drifting to the left, and instantly it reminds me of ... well, a car sliding (yeah drifting, but i hate the word. fsking ricers).
it was only because i didn't want my car to move outof it's lane that i had the automatic reaction i did, which was taking off the brake and slowly reapplying as i regained steering to put the car back into the lane. my mind didn't seem to care i was going to hit the car infront, it only cared i was moving outof my driving line . ahh daytona, sega rally, screamer - you saved my car.