Artifact 7

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Two kids murdered a person and wounded another. And blamed it on a violent video game.

One day last summer, two teen boys in Tennessee wanted to have some fun. The step-brothers carried rifles to a wooded hillside near Interstate 40 and took shots at passing cars. Their tally: one motorist dead, one wounded.
The boys, ages 16 and 13, later told police they had been inspired by their favorite video game, the notoriously violent Grand Theft Auto. In the game, the player steps into the shoes of a savage killer who randomly slaughters criminals, cops, and innocent bystanders with reckless abandon. The graphics depict the blood-soaked violence in glorious, state-of-the-art realism.
The boys pleaded guilty in juvenile court to reckless homicide, assault, and endangerment. They are in state custody.
The victims' families, meanwhile, filed a $246 million lawsuit against the companies involved with the game. The lawsuit against Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., and Wal-Mart is pending.
The Grand Theft Auto series and several other equally gory games are wildly popular. Though adults purchase or rent the majority of those games, there's nothing to stop a child from plunking down his or her money for the bloodiest of them. The video game industry voluntarily rates its products--E (everyone), T (teen), and M (mature)--but no regulations exist to enforce those guidelines at the retail level.
Should there be? After the Tennessee incident and others like it, some people are calling for regulations that would restrict children's access to violent video games. Opponents, however, say such regulations would be misguided, ineffective, and an assault on free speech.
With various bills pending in Florida, California, and Washington state, the debate is heating up.
Protect Kids, Protect Society
"There is a great deal of precedent for restricting dangerous things like alcohol and tobacco to minors," says Washington state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, who sponsored such a bill in her state.
Growing scientific evidence links violent video games to violent behavior, say those who favor such laws. One study, for instance, shows that video game violence increases heart rate, arousal, and anger and therefore the likelihood of violent behavior.
The interactive nature of the games--in which the player "becomes" the killer, murdering human targets again and again--makes video games even more potentially dangerous than movies or TV shows that depict violence.
Kids are more likely to blur the distinction between fantasy and reality. A group of California teens went on a killing spree which they claimed was inspired by the game Grand Theft Auto III. Afterward, one of the young murder suspects boasted to police, "We play the game by day; we live the game by night."
Let Parents Decide
Kids have always played shoot-'em-up games--it's just that the technology has changed, say those who oppose laws restricting kids' access to video games.
Such bans would be a form of censorship; it's not the government's business to decide what kids shouldn't see, hear, or play, critics say. Those are decisions for parents to make. In fact, parents are the ones who buy or rent most of the video games that kids play--including the most violent titles.
"We don't ever get complaints from parents that the rating system is broken," says Bo Andersen, president of the Video Software Dealers Association. "What you have is government trying to step in and take control of what is a parental responsibility."
Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, agrees. "There is no law that man has devised," he says, "that can mandate responsible parenting."