Opinion: GTA Didn’t Cause Rioting in London

Posted by on Aug 9, 2011 in Opinion | 2 comments

Talking to the London Evening Standard yesterday, a police constable has laid blame to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto as one possible contributing factor to the continuing civil unrest in London.

“These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pacman and board games. Now they’re playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves.”

This is the opinion of one unnamed source, and the first comment to make the press that points a finger at video games, but it’s probably one that many hold true or will soon come to lend weight too.

As a London resident, someone with a moral compass, and as a gamer who has played GTA — and has done so for over a decade: yes, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that some of the youths causing violence on our streets may have taken a leaf out of games of that genre. Does that mean there should be a ban on violent video games? No. Why? For the same reason there won’t be a curfew: because it will infringe the rights of those who are responsible, and decent, and absolutely disgusted with what’s transpired and threatens to continue.

Again, all in my opinion, it’s less an issue of wanting to emulate a game as it is a complete and total lack of respect – respect for themselves, respect for their community, respect for society and respect for the police and government. From that, it’d be very easy for me to point the finger at their upbringing and to blame the parents, and while it may be a “contributing factor”, it’s not the definitive.

We can all speculate — another is that I personally believe that these types of youths have been able to get away with bad behaviour for far too long without harsh consequence– but we have to be careful because but in doing so, we run the risk of honing in on one factor, running with it and then tarring everyone with that same brush.

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  • Jim

    Two things:  First, what the heck are these riots about anyway?  Is something going on over in the UK that the news just hasn’t gotten to me, or is this just unprovoked violence in tough times?  Secondly, I want to know if the quoted individual ever emulated Pac Man, wandering through alleys, eating pills and trying to devour ghosts?  Is it possible that even we handed these kids some snakes and ladders that they would settle down, or would London pedestrians just have to worry about these hooligans chucking snakes from high places?  I think that video games are not necessarily to blame for this, and the society these kids grew up in is the more likely culprit.  The point being, people like Rob, and I and likely 90+% of the people on this planet could play GTA and not go out on a joy riding rampage, running over pedestrians, and luring hookers to their death for their cash.  Why?  Because our families, our teachers, our peers, and our mentors taught us why not to do these things, and how video games are not a solid basis for learning morality.

    • http://twitter.com/kidmanproject Rob Kidman

      Excellent comment, mate. This whole sorry saga has spiralled
      from a man shot by police last Thursday. There was a peaceful protest against
      the shooting and then some shady individuals started trouble and it’s literally
      barrelled from there. The violence and looting isn’t to do with the shooting,
      and those responsible know that. And I’d like to know whether the unnamed
      police officer has done a Pacman too :)