British Media Blames Games For London Riots

Earnest Cavalli

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British Media Blames Games For London Riots



Civil unrest? Political activism? Rage against the machine? According to the Evening Standard, the London riots can all be pinned on Grand Theft Auto.

In case you've entirely missed the news over the last few days, London is embroiled in a series of violent uprisings. According to Reuters [http://news.yahoo.com/london-rioters-battle-police-shooting-protest-054921704.html], locals blame the riots on political unrest, while politicians and police pin the blame on "criminal thugs."

The latest dead tree edition of the Evening Standard [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/] is emblazoned with the headline "Lawless London" and an image of two burned out cars amidst rubble on a city street. Below that headline is a blurb that reads "children as young as ten, inspired by video game, among the looters."

Initially that seems hyperbolic, but the Standard's story quotes both an anonymous police officer and a local resident who place the blame squarely on Rockstar's magnum opus. Intriguingly, neither the officer, nor the resident are referenced anywhere in the story beyond the quotations.

It should be noted that, as CVG points out, "the Grand Theft Auto series has never featured any form of interactive looting or rioting." In 2002, Rockstar released State of Emergency [http://www.rockstargames.com/stateofemergency/main.html], a game that focused entirely on causing riots, but that is neither mentioned, nor likely remembered by anyone in the UK.

In spite of whatever political or socially inflammatory motives one might read into this story, I'm most disappointed by the choice of media the Standard is referencing here. I realize that Grand Theft Auto is the rallying point du jour for the technological angst of a certain elder generation, but how can you write a story about riots in London and not make a single reference to The Clash?

What exactly do they imagine "London Calling" was about?

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/314639/wrong-gta-inspired-children-to-riot-and-loot-in-london/]

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Cousin_IT

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I'm from the UK & I remember State of Emergency. This proves GTA is to blame!
 

rodneyy

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Sep 10, 2008
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yeah its only been 12 years since gta london was released guess its taken all that time for the young impressionable minds to grow up and put into action that pent up rioting urge it implanted.
 

Stilkon

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*facepalm*

I've heard nothing about the origin of the riots that hasn't been concretely proven, but I've been told it was some idiot trying to shoot at a cop, and said cop then proceeded to kill said idiot. I've heard nothing about the supposed motivations of the shooter, but video games seem like quite a stretch. This might be sensationalism due to the Oslo shooter's motivation being nebulously connected to video games.
 

TCPirate

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I live in the UK and the media are completely stupid. I remember when Manhunt got banned over here because two teens said they were trying to immitate it. I'm pretty sure the london riots and because the government are complete and utter w**kers. If they stopped lying and did what they promised, they wouldn't have this problem.

Edit: seeing as the media want to blame one form of entertainment, I feel I should blame another...
I think it's all down to The Smurfs being released in Cinemas round here.
 

Ranooth

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Mar 26, 2008
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If GTA has taught me anything, as soon as the riots reach 6 stars the army are getting involved.
 

Seventh Actuality

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You'd probably want to mention that the Evening Standard is owned by the same people as the Daily Mail, since that particular shitrag crops up so frequently too.

Apart from that I'm just kind of...bemused. GTA? Seriously? It was probably the only video game the writers could actually name, but if you're going for outdated irrelevance, go the whole hog and blame fucking Custer's Revenge or something.
 

IamQ

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Racecarlock said:
Do you suppose they'll be raging about mass effect in 5 years?
What do you mean "in 5 years"? They already did it 4 years ago.
 

Rawne1980

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It's okay, don't panic.

Out of the entire population of the UK only about 10 people read Evening Standard.

If it ever makes it to the Daily Sport we know shit got serious, blaming games for riots in between pictures of semi naked women just doesn't mix.
 

TheDooD

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Ranooth said:
If GTA has taught me anything, as soon as the riots reach 6 stars the army are getting involved.
This @ thread

It'll always either end a riot or make it much more entertaining
 

Fanfic_warper

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London government wouldn't be the first to pin the blame on games and they most certainly won't be the last.
 

Racecarlock

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IamQ said:
Racecarlock said:
Do you suppose they'll be raging about mass effect in 5 years?
What do you mean "in 5 years"? They already did it 4 years ago.
I'm just saying it took them a really long time to start raging about GTA. The others raged about 5 years ago. The more recent scandal is mass effect, so if they're this far behind I was just assuming they'd get to that late too.
 

darthzew

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Of course video games caused the riots. I mean, they're full of senseless violence with no value whatsoever. They are devoid of any artistic merit and no good has ever come out of them. Have you ever met any gamer who isn't an unemployed, complete slob living in his mother's basement who also manages to afford an infantry battalion's worth of assault rifles?

The only flaw that I can find in this paper is that it places blame almost solely on just one game. I mean, haven't they seen Katamari? In this game, you capture demons in little balls and abuse them using evil "potions" called Phoenix Downs. Or what about Modern Duty: Call of Warfare? It's a thirty-six hour real time sidescrolling role-playing first person shooter game where you do nothing but murder babies and their mothers.

The above two paragraphs are laughable, but sadly, the people who write papers such as the one mentioned, usually believe something not too far from that. This is the kind of ignorance we're up against, folks.