Kiwi Game Developers Dispute Game Link in Grisly Prostitute Murder
Following the New Zealand Herald's rather sketchy coverage linking the Carmageddon and Grand Theft Auto series to a grisly murder, Mario Wynands, president of the New Zealand Game Developers Association has written to Jarrod Booker, the Herald reporter involved. There's also an active discussion thread about the case taking place on the NZGDA website. Wyands' letter follows:
"Dear Mr Booker,
I was disappointed to read your article entitled 'Link seen to video games in prostitute's murder.' As a member of the videogame development industry in New Zealand, I find the article to be damaging to the
reputation of a legitimate and rewarding part of local culture and the NZ economy.
The article headline is sensationalist and misleading, and the article itself is clutching at straws in trying to find a link between videogames and the actual crime.
To support your headline you quote the correspondence of one videogame player (who references a videogame series with the last iteration released in 2000), one Herald reader who has not played Grand Theft Auto
thoroughly if at all (as the game does not require you to run over prostitutes in cars), and a situation in a fictional TV show filmed in another country before the crime in question was even committed (did you
consider the show itself might have given the alledged attacker the idea?).
Indeed, within your article there is no indication at all that the Police investigating the matter consider there is a link between this crime and videogames, nor is it even stated that the alledged attacker even owns or plays videogames in the first place.
In consulting the OFLC in your article, they suggested they weren't aware of any particular link between videogames and violent crime, but are remaining cautious.
So, looking at the sources you quote within the article and given little information is provided on the alledged attacker and his psychological status, it would perhaps have been more responsible journalism to use the headline 'Unlikely to be a link to video games in prostitute's murder' or even 'A couple of our readers see link to video games in prostitute's murder.'
On the subject of whether videogames promote violent behaviour, the aggregate result of many studies is at best inconclusive when proving a link. Anecdotal evidence taking into account that the mass market
proliferation of videogames has been paralleled by a significant dropoff in youth violent crime in the US would suggest that videogames might even discourage violent behaviour.
For some credible analysis of videogames and their affect on society (rather than partly relying on fictional TV shows), I suggest reading the following article and supporting references
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerev...act/myths.html .
I would hope in the future that you will concentrate on reporting the facts rather than trying to find a tenuous link to a convenient scapegoat like videogames. Or at least wait until the Police report that
a suspect has 'an unsettlingly large collection of violent videogames' just in case it turns out the alledged criminal doesn't even own a television."