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Manhunt game - back on the shelfs then?
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 10:19
by Quiff Boy
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/04 ... der_claim/
Victim not killer owned 'murder manual' game
By Tony Smith
Published Wednesday 4th August 2004 16:44 GMT
The copy of the computer game Manhunt that was discovered during the investigation into the murder of a 14-year-old boy was not the possession of the killer but the victim, it has emerged.
UK retailers Dixons and Game both pulled the title from their stores' shelves last week after the parents of the murdered boy, Stefan Pakeerah, alleged that his murderer, Warren LeBlanc, 17, was "obsessed" by the grisly game and that it had inspired has murderous actions.
The victims father dubbed Manhunt "a manual for murder".
It was widely reported by the mainstream press, online and TV media that the game had been found in LeBlanc's bedroom.
However, today it emerged that Leicestershire police found the game in Pakeerah's room, not LeBlanc's, GamesIndustry.biz reports.
"The video game was not found in Warren LeBlanc's room, it was found in Stefan Pakeerah's room," a police spokesperson said today. "Leicestershire Constabulary stands by its response that police investigations did not uncover any connections to the video game, the motive for the incident was robbery."
Police believe LeBlanc murdered Pakeerah, whom he knew, to obtain money to pay back a drug-related debt.
LeBlanc's assumed possession of Manhunt raised the questions as to how a 17-year-old was able to get hold of the game. The game carries an 18 certificate, so it is illegal to sell it to anyone under that age. Now it has emerged that the game was owned by the 14-year-old Pakeerah, that question has not gone away.
reminds me of izzy's sig
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 10:33
by Loki
I've never understood the supposed link between what a mad teen watches/listens to and the acts they committ. Unless they play Judas Priest records backwards of course.
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 11:54
by markfiend
I agree with
JB. If you've got a screw loose anyway, there's going to be problems. It's the Daily Mail brigade on the old knee-jerk reaction trip again.
IIRC the same thing happened when James Bulger was killed; the papers said it was down to the
Child's Play movies. Turned out the killers' favourite film was
The Goonies.
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 11:59
by Ian - Rhythm Smurph
I thought we'd been through all this with the 'Video Nasty' hysteria of the 80's.
The age certification of games is a fair practice, for one thing it releases games produces to make stuff for an adult audience - game playing is no longer a early teenage obsession. Trouble is that a game having an adult certificate in useless if it is still readily available to kids.
But - I remember more than one occasion going into a games shop and seeing a parent buying 18cert games for their very underage kids. Once the guy behind the counter asked who the game was for and when told it was a 13 year old boy stressed that the game was unsuitable. "But this is the one he wants, " replied the mother "anyway he's a very intelligent boy and has to have the grown up games because the others are too easy for him"
I blame the parents - especially now I am one!
I tend to be of the point of view that the 'Monkey see, monkey do' connection between game/screen violence and actual crime is tentative at best in the main - though the issue of desensitization is another matter - but there are I guess always those who really can't disassociate reality from fantasy and these are probably genuine cases for concern.
This whole case, especially as it now transpires that the attacker wasn't in fact the one the has the game, really highlights I guess the general lack of familiarity and understanding of the video game medium by the adult population, couple that with the fact when a young kid commits such an horrific act there is a genuine confusion as to how this can have happened and a natural deep seated need to find a reason or apportion blame. Society as a whole can’t come to the conclusion that it is at fault per se and so finds a niche to point the finger at, a slight defect, an operable tumor – and for now that’s going to be video games – expect a daily mail lead campaign as soon as terrorism news slows down. OR the Dixons group thought they could leverage some good family friendly publicity.
The truth is that we CAN be a selfish, self centered, compassionless, blinkered, demanding and aggressive society and as a whole have a very limited understanding of cause and effect and tend to assume everything is someone else problem until its too late.
As I understand it the attacker in this case had a long history of violence and assault that became progressively worse. Maybe we should be looking at why we couldn’t help this kid out of that decent earlier on!
If we didn’t as a society like violence and destruction, then these games would never be made, and if they were, no one would buy them, because they just wouldn’t be anyone’s cuppa. We are drawn to the darker sides of life and use books, film, TV, computer games, roller coaster rides etc to sample these things in a safe and controlled manor. We can’t live like that and then target a single media for blame when someone crosses the line.
Oops – When I started this, I was only going to post a one line Video Nasty comment!
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 12:03
by Quiff Boy
@ ian:
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 12:55
by Francis
@JB - Anyone who plays Judas Priest backwards, forwards or upside down is certifiable in my book.
@Ian - Nicely put. I reckon you've got the makings of a concept album there.
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 13:35
by Ian - Rhythm Smurph
Francis wrote: Nicely put. I reckon you've got the makings of a concept album there.
My god! My Hawkwind roots are exposed!
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 18:03
by James Blast
Ian - Rhythm Smurph wrote:My god! My Hawkwind roots are exposed!
try a new hairstyle
Re: Manhunt game - back on the shelfs then?
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 18:09
by Brideoffrankenstein
Quiff Boy wrote:Victim not killer owned 'murder manual' game
That's what they said on the news when it first came out. I didn't understand when they blamed the murderer, and now they've realised
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 20:00
by Debaser
The whole censorship thing is a really tricky dilema. The people who cry foul when consorship happens are probably the most able to deal with the this is real/not real senarios and for whom censorship isn't applicable.
I now fall solidly into the censorship camp. I'm sorry but I've seen a dramatic increase in violence in the classroom, the difficulty that some children have grasping that shooting people with a nail gun will kill them. Bringing BB guns into school is thought of as a 'cool' thing, the parents who feel it's ok they're children are carrying these things and threatening others in the playground....
As someone's said previously though...I blame the parents, and the tv, and vidoes, and games, and books, and cartoons and...and...and...the violent society we now seem to be bombarded with daily.
Posted: 05 Aug 2004, 21:11
by christophe
Debaser wrote:As someone's said previously though...I blame the parents, and the tv, and vidoes, and games, and books, and cartoons and...and...and...the violent society we now seem to be bombarded with daily.
I know what you mean, and I agrea in some way. altough I think its the fact HOW we (kids and adults) are confronted by those media.
this case is a good example of how we people first look for things that arn't there instead of exepting the fact
some fool murderd "the son." after only a few days we all seem to have forgotten the little 14 year old boy is dead.
I can only have sympathi for the person who's life is taken away from him.
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 09:19
by markfiend
Debaser wrote:I now fall solidly into the censorship camp. I'm sorry but I've seen a dramatic increase in violence in the classroom, the difficulty that some children have grasping that shooting people with a nail gun will kill them...
I'm sorry? Because some trailer-trash are incapable of bringing their spawn up properly we all have to listen to
The Archers and watch
Songs Of Praise 24 hours a day? Fu
ck that.
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 10:58
by Debaser
But is it ONLY TPT who's kids end up magling their school mates with guns and the like?
In your words....f**k that!
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 11:08
by markfiend
Fair enough. Call it exaggeration for the sake of an argument.
I'm still totally anti-censorship though. If someone's fuc
ked up enough to want to kill their classmates, I don't think violent games / videos / whatever will make any difference.
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 11:37
by Debaser
Oh I know that too...and am in total agreement with you on that (always was) but but...what am I but-ting at?/ erm..ach as I said initially, it's a tricky one.
Do you not think that constant bombardment of images, ideologies and the like that are totally uncensored would have an effect, a dumbing-down on cause and effect etc?
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 14:23
by Lars Svensson
markfiend wrote:we all have to listen to The Archers
Err...tangent...but what's wrong with The Archers???
Over the past year it's had sex (lots of it), drugs (and not just the occasional sip of whisky as a nightcap), and rock 'n' roll ...
Plus very recently there's been guns (not just for hunting), arson, suicide, potentially terminal illness and more...
It's not just "oo-arrrrr where are me cows" y'know!?!?!?!?
PS FWIW I played Manhunt a bit earlier this year, but I gave up because it was actually pretty tedious. Its ambience was pretty scary, but that was about it. I have yet to murder someone violently...though the tempation has been great.
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 15:29
by paint it black
something evil this way comes
there are people out there who think LOTR is history for gawd's sake, fact remains, in are day we were much more clever. I for one wasn't unduly influenced by computer games.
..you wait,
..time passes
"kill gandalf"
..you can not kill gandalf, he is your friend..
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 22:19
by Mrs. Snowey
paint it black wrote:something evil this way comes
there are people out there who think LOTR is history for gawd's sake, fact remains, in are day we were much more clever. I for one wasn't unduly influenced by computer games.
..you wait,
..time passes
"kill gandalf"
..you can not kill gandalf, he is your friend..
I spent most of my time in the goblin's dungeon:
"dig"
...you have found a trapdoor
"dig"
...you have found a key
(great, it's the key to get me out!)
unlock trapdoor
...ha-ha, yer stuck here 'cos it doesn't work like that in THIS game
"bollocks"
...not understood (or words to that effect)
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 23:19
by paint it black
Mrs. Snowey wrote:paint it black wrote:something evil this way comes
there are people out there who think LOTR is history for gawd's sake, fact remains, in are day we were much more clever. I for one wasn't unduly influenced by computer games.
..you wait,
..time passes
"kill gandalf"
..you can not kill gandalf, he is your friend..
I spent most of my time in the goblin's dungeon:
"dig"
...you have found a trapdoor
"dig"
...you have found a key
(great, it's the key to get me out!)
unlock trapdoor
...ha-ha, yer stuck here 'cos it doesn't work like that in THIS game
"bollocks"
...not understood (or words to that effect)
you wait...
time passes...
you wait...
suddenly you are attacked by a goblin...
GAME OVER
*tip from later in life" read the book first, don't just copy tht tape from your mate *
damn butler
Posted: 06 Aug 2004, 23:53
by James Blast
OH! get back to the real world!
no, stay where you are, real life is horrible... sorry 
Posted: 07 Aug 2004, 11:21
by Padstar
Ian - Rhythm Smurph wrote:Francis wrote: Nicely put. I reckon you've got the makings of a concept album there.
My god! My Hawkwind roots are exposed!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Paddy
Posted: 07 Aug 2004, 11:29
by Padstar
Seriously........ cencorship, not a good thing, where does it stop and who decides, ouch. Im also of the opinions that the vast majority of responsability for creating balanced little humans lies at the door of the patrents, sadly in a society that peddles for us to "sue for anything" and avoid personal responsibility at all costs.
There are expceptions to most rules (which i suppose makes me a hipocrit! as i said, who chooses?) with regard to censorship, but liberty is too fundamental to mess with.
Im off to smoke a bananna,
Paddy.