Murder Simulators: Difference between revisions

=== Video Games ===

* ''[[Deus Ex]]''. Warren Spector was asked by a mainstream media member at [[E 3]] about ''Deus Ex'' being a "murder simulator". Spector reacted in [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the coolest way possible]]: by taking the question seriously and telling the reporter in strict technical terms that while some puzzles in the game could be solved by neutralizing the threat, other pathways could be utilized by selecting alternate routes such as verbal deception, evasion, and so forth. While directly answering the reporter's question, he made the interview unusable while simultaneously making the reporter look like an idiot out of his depth.

** Army tactical manuals are still freely available on the Army web site, of course...

** His concern was desensitizing children to killing and violence, and that video games can teach a child how to handle weapons and use tactics properly.<ref>Which one would have thought a military officer would favour.</ref> However, video games often eschew realism for fun, and as such, most kids would wind up shooting themselves in the face or wondering why the gun isn't firing due to copying... say, Halo's reload animation. Or try and fail to find the circle button.

** Some of Grossman's claims have been refuted by the U.S. Military itself, such as his claim that ''[[Doom]]'' is used to desensitize Marines to the act of killing (the marines use a special software program to teach hand-eye coordination, but that's it). Another red flag is that many of the studies Lt. Col. Grossman cites to back up his arguments in turn cite ''Grossman himself'' as their primary source.

* ''[[Halo]]'' was blamed for the Beltway Sniper attacks because an Xbox and the game were found in the possession of the guilty parties. In fact, this happens to any game with guns in it if it's found in the possession of a murderer. [[Cowboy Bebop at His Computer|Don't count on the media getting the name right]] if it's not [[Halo]], ''[[Counter-Strike]]'' or [[Grand Theft Auto]], though. Not to mention the fact that millions of people own such games without feeling the need to kill people.

* The murder of a taxi driver in Thailand was blamed on ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] 4'', with the murderer confessing that he plays the game.

* After a school shooting in Germany, media coverage ran high as usual to find the common suspects, however initially the boy in question was described as a calm team player, capable in chess and tennis. Around 3 days later, all the news were about how he was a violent stay-at-home who played shooter games all day, apparently because no one in the media thought that saying the truth is a good thing, despite all the witnesses and friends having said how he actually was on LIVE TV just a day before.

* Andrew Schlafly of [[Conservapedia]] has a love of [[Insane Troll Logic]] and a hatred of video games and will invariably take advantage of the most tenuous connection to link any news story involving violence or misadventure to gaming. Highlights include the event of an apparently healthy college football star dying suddenly due to what turned out to be an undiagnosed heart condition; articles mentioned he had last been seen playing a video game, so Andy [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.phptitle=Template%3AMainpageright&action=historysubmit&diff=939108&oldid=939064 felt free to speculate] that the game was somehow responsible. He also announced that Kim Jong-un and the perpetrator of the Norway summer camp shooting were video game fans, as if this explained everything that was wrong with them, and managed to interpret a story about a boy accidentally shooting his younger brother to death because of an argument over a video game as being about the dangers of games rather than the dangers of leaving guns where your children can get them.

 

== In Fiction ==