Virtual Violence: Training to Kill.

On August 28th, 2003, two youths, Joshua and William Buckner were put on trial for the reckless homicide of Aaron Hamel. On September 5, the Hamel family filed a lawsuit against those they felt were responsible for their siblings death, a video games publisher named Take 2. Thomas Body reports.

ARLY in the evening of June 25th, 2003, Aaron Hamel, a 45-year-old nurse from Knoxville, Tennessee, was taking the I-40 highway home, through the nearby town of Newport. Aaron’s cousin, Denise Deneau was in the passenger seat. The two were on their way back from a day out in the mountains. They were returning from a “great trip”, as told by Denise to ABC news. “My cousin said, ‘look at those flowers,’ and then all of a sudden through my window came a bullet. The heat was so much I could feel it. On my lap, I saw broken glass and lots of blood. I thought I had been shot.”

But she hadn’t. The blood belonged to her cousin Aaron, the driver of a car now out of control travelling at 100kmh against traffic. Now imagine that: being covered in shattered glass and blood, in an out of control car you have no way of stopping. And when the car fortunately- if fortune can even be considered in a situation like this- grinds to a halt against the guard rail, imagine looking to your side and seeing blood pouring from a hole in now lifeless cousin’s temple. Head shot. Instant kill. Isn’t that right kids?

On August 28th, 13-year-old Joshua Buckner and his 16-year-old stepbrother William Buckner pleaded guilty to the reckless homicide of Aaron Hamel. They had stolen two .22 calibre rifles from their parent’s closet a week earlier and had hid them in the nearby woods. On the evening of June 25th, the two headed off to a small hill in sight of the I-40 highway. They planned to shot at the side of trucks. They stated they were bored. They’d been inspired by the controversial video game ‘Grand theft auto’.

On September 5th, Hamel’s family filed a lawsuit ...

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On September 5th, Hamel’s family filed a lawsuit against take two interactive, the developers of Grand theft auto.

Now even though I consider myself to be an avid video

games player, I’m not totally sure that the Hamel’s family is doing the wrong thing.

“They need to realise that it’s inappropriate to be selling these sorts of things. This video game is teaching kids to kill”, as said by one of Aaron’s family members. From this quote I would say that the Hamel family

were doing more then just looking for someone to blame, but were searching for a remedy to a problem in society. And trust me, being defensive about these situations come naturally to video game players. More often then not we’re attacked from all sides, with the stereotype of ‘being geeks and nerds’ and the discourse of anti-socialism and ‘nerdish behaviour’. These conceptions are held by society in view of video gamers, many of the group have become well practiced in the art of defending themselves: video gameing is a creative medium just like any other, it’s no different to watching a film, it’s a developing art form etc, etc, etc…

Another point that many people who defend themselves in these situations take is that it’s never good to be in support of censorship. We live in a free society where we don not ban expressionism, whether the medium be music, film or video game.

But even if censorship should not be supported, the rating system should. The game ‘Grand theft auto’ is clearly marked with a rating sticker of 18+, or at least as clearly marked as any DVD is. Now even if many people are not aware that the rating system exists for video games, it is still illegal to sell games of an 18+ category to those under eighteen. So no problem right? Wrong. In comparison to movies or alcohol or anything else restricted to those above 18 years of age, 18+ video games are incredibly easy for kids to get hold of. The main problem is parents go out and buy this game for their kids, even though these parents would usually never get them an R18 DVD.

Therefore this situation should not have been Take 2’s fault. They marked their game as 18+. Yet in my opinion it still is. Why? It is not for making the game, but for clearly targeting the game to an audience under 18 through it’s advertising in video games magazines. Video games magazines are, by and large, for kids. Many if not most major gaming magazines around the world have at some stage run a Grand theft auto cover or advert with the help of Take 2’s market and advertising department. They are, to all intents and purposes, full-page full colour adverts for an 18-rated product aimed directly at under-18’s.

Now one thing I’d like to hear is Take 2’s defence against accusations that it’s been selling an adult experience to minors. And to an even higher extent, I wouldn’t see it too unfit for some video gaming magazine publishers to be in the same situation, because from where I’m sitting, there are a lot of people stained in Aaron Hamel’s blood.

There’s the point in right in front of us in simple black and white. If Grand theft auto never came to existence, then I believe that Aaron Hamel would still be alive today, which is the kind of binary opposition that quietens my initial, instinctive defences.

One aspect that has been silenced however is the U.S. firearm law. The fact that it was never reported that two rifles were missing for an entire week is absolutely incomprehensible. Also silenced was in my mind the idiocy of these two adolescents. If they hadn’t been inspired by Grand theft auto this week, then maybe next week they’d be setting each other in fire as inspired by ‘jackass’ or whatever the media decides as this weeks scapegoat.

So maybe it is time that this industry starts taking responsibility for its actions. Because if no action is taken, then the costs induced will be huge. Not just in human terms, but also in something that I am more then sure that will be less than happy to lose: money.