Copycat killing in Thailand results in ban on GTA4....remember this story?

On 4th August 2008 a boy mugged and killed a taxi driver trying to re-enact a scene in GTA4.

As a result the Asian distributor for the game banned it in Thailand.

It yet again produced the question 'Do games have an effect on society and those who play the games?'

I will keep this short, as it is well trodden ground.

Games DO have an effect on young players. As much as the A-Team did on my hyperactive mind when I was 10 years old. The fact that GTA 4 has a rating of 18 means that I can point out that children should NOT be playing this game. If kids are playing it its either the fault of the shop who supplied it or the parents. Its not the fault of the game developers if children are playing it. No more than a child who manages to get into an 18 rated movie is it the fault of say 'Tochstone pictures'.

Also its possible to suggest that games have more of an effect on younger impressionable minds because the player is in control of the events unlike say that of movie watching so it gives of a feeling of 'power'.

However, an 18 year old mind is developed enough to understand right from wrong. If an 18 year old commits a crime based on a game, then I am sorry but there are issues deeper than just 'He watched a game and thought it would be cool to experiment'. Most adults dont go on a killing spree after watching the movie 'seven' or go killing people after listening to U music. (Its again, just the kids who do this, but again most U music released carries a parental advisory sticker, and maybe thats where the problem is for knife killings, music does not actually have an age rating, maybe it should). You cant blame music or game producers or movie creators for the actions of others if people are allowed to consume regardless of age. 99% of us go through life consuming lifes media but we dont become killers. and 9 times out of 10 where there is a killing related to media, its kids...who should not be comsuming that media in the first place...should we be laying the blame at the governments door for not doing enough? Maybe we should look closer to home. Literally.

What about other forms of media like magazines. Do they produce sex pests? Magazines like Z00, FHM and Nuts all suggest to the young mind that girls and breasts are there to be exploited. Should these magazines be managed too?

Its very easy to blame a media for the worlds troubles. Maybe it would be safer if there was no media. Maybe it would. But we cant reverse time and we need to look at the causes of how these children come into contact with this media in the first place. Its worth pointing out that before modern media as we know it, people still killed people.

It seems though that there will always be some quarters ready to blame the media as a scape goat.