Britain's Vaz Asks Government for Video Game-related Murder Stats

Britain's Vaz Asks Government for Video Game-related Murder Stats

November 15, 2007
British Labour MP Keith Vaz, long a critic of violent video games, yesterday posed a question in Parliament to Secretary of State for the Home Department Jacqui Smith.

Vaz (left) asked:
How many (a) violent attacks and (b) murders that were judged to be linked in some way to violent video games occurred in the last 10 years...

Responding on Smith's behalf, Parliamentary Under-Secretary Vernon Coaker said:
The Home Office does not collect information on how many violent attacks and murders are judged to be linked to violent video games.

GP: While violent game play has been linked to increases in aggression, there has never been any research which linked gaming to actual violence. Vaz knows this, of course. In typical political fashion, his question is carefully phrased. "Linked in some way" could have a wide variety of meanings, including speculative linkage.

Comments

the smaller the dog the louder the barking.
What I have to say is how many games have been proved to cause violent acts.

Actually there was no video games that was proven to have caused violence.

The system knows that video games are not the cause of violence, so they throw out the case that video games caused violence.

These people can never find anything that proves that games are at fault.
Pretty obvious why he wants them.He wants to look for the direct causal link our resident troll harps about.

Well,we got your statistics right here Vaz.

0. A video game has hardly, if ever been the direct cause of a violent crime. If it was a factor, well, then the individual was messed up in the head to begin with.

If he's looking ot over turn their possible decision to lift the ban on Manhunt 2, I doubt he'll succeed.
That's like asking how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent books
or how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent films
or how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent television
or how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent comics
or how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent blogs
or how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent webcomics
or how many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to violent violent dances (the watlz! How shocking!)
linked in some way could be...every one of them. "Person passed a video game store on his way to committing murder"
Gah! I really need a preview button! How many violent incidents that were judged to be linked in some way to a lack of preview button? ;)
"Linked in some way"

Hah. And of course, the link couldn't simply be that the murderer liked playing games. It has to be a cause of some sort.

Have all these public figures got nothing better to do than blow smoke about video game violence?

I mean, seriously, aren't there more pressing matters?
No wonder why there is so much corruption in today's society, because people like Keith Vaz are major political figures that have nothing better to do with their time other than to go after extremely little situations that are not at fault.
Another piece of careful language was 'that were judged' - by whom?
Linked in some way.... that were judged....

Sure signs of bias, eh?


Heres his answer - 0.
That's going to be a short report.
It's a nasty and insidious little question. It seems all proper on the outside but it seeks to try and use opinion to help his cause a little.

"How many (a) violent attacks and (b) murders that were judged to be linked in some way to violent video games occurred in the last 10 years…"

If a person is mugged and their DS or PSP stolen, does that count?

The worst thing is that he does not say who is doing this judging of the link between the violent acts/murders and video games. If you ask a normal, informed person, they will probably tell you the truth, that there is no link between games and real life crime. If you ask a person who knows nothing of video games, they might say there are some links, but only because they are going off what they heard on Fox or read in tabloid newspapers. If you ask a very biased individual like Jack Thompson or a CCFC member, they would tell you that there are countless violent acts linked to games, and might go as far as fabricating links to push an agenda.

The question, (if it were to have any little scrape of merit at all) should have been phrased like this.

"How many (a) violent attacks and (b) murders that were found by the police or law enforcement authorities to be linked in some way to violent video games occurred in the last 10 years…"

Not only would the question be clearer and avoid the problem of bringing biased opinion into the equation, it would also make it very easy to answer.

None.
A more fitting response:

"There hve been no murders directly resulting from playing with video-games.. Have a nice day."

Stupid old gas bag.
Will that Manhunt incident be counted (forgot the victems name) where the murderer was suspected of being obsessed with manhunt, but it was later discovered that he did even own it, it was the victim who was obssesed with manhunt. Will that count? The game is linked to this violent crime as being falsly blamed for it.
There aren't any numbers..
"Home Department"

Home OFFICE!
Well at least Vernon Coaker has some sense and doesn't give Vaz the time of day. When will Vaz be out of office?
@ Scottland89

The Manhunt situation should not even count because the authority threw out the possibility that Manhunt played a role in the killing.

Jack Thompson teamed up with the victim's mother and that situation ended very fast when no one would fall for their nonsense.

It seems to me like these political figures need to do their job rather than slack off from the hard work and concentrate on messing with people's rights over little things like video games.
@ E. Zachary Knight

Hopefully Vaz will be replaced soon with someone that would do their job rather than slack off from the very major issues.
"Britain’s Vaz Asks Government to Blow Money on Something That Does Not Exist So Nobody Will Notice He Doesn't Really Do Anything."

Just my two cents.
I would like to ask Keith Vaz how much money he has accepted in return for providing passports to wealthy immigrants seeking to reside in the UK. Gordon Brown might have forgotten about the scandels that follow Keith Vaz, but the people and the tabloids haven't. In case they have though, i'll send them a little email to remind them.
No, no, Keith, don't thank me. It really is my pleasure.

@ Video Game time

Vaz has been in office since 1987. I wish he would leave too, but the people of Leicester seem to like him so its up to them to kick him out.
"So if you had to say that maybe, just maybe, some crimes were committed by a person that played video games, and you could give me that number, then I could create an unnecessary public outcry over misrepresented data... that would be fun.

What, you don't have any numbers? Fine, make some up. Nobody who freaks out about this stuff checks to see if the 'facts' are real. We'll just lie to push our agenda.

No, it's not 'wrong'. We're being 'political'. No one expects us to be honest anyway."

Think that's about the way it goes when these people are hatching these stupid ideas? I do.
@ Skylar

Sounds like you are talking about Jack Thompson.

He is the perfect candidate for making up lies to mess with video games.

I remember Jack was saying that Halo 3 was incredibly violent when being talked to on television.

I would say that Halo 3 is one of the least violent M rated games out there.
I would assume that any young person who committed murder in the last 10 years MUST have played games...because EVERY young person has played games in the last 10 years.

This is more worthless Vaz nonsense. Brits, prepare to have your rights raped some more by this guy.
@Scottland89:

The Manhunt "connection" with the Stefan Pakeerah case would not be counted. The police investigated the supposed link to game, but announced

"Police investigations did not uncover any connections to the computer game."

"The motive for the incident was robbery."

Also, the fact that the game was owned by the VICTIM and found in his bedroom kind of knocks this silly theory on the head from the get go.

However, as Vaz does not say who the judge of links will be, it could be decided by experts with evidence like this: (From and IGN interview with our favorite liewyer)

"Thompson: By the way, the reports that the game belonged to the victim are false. Somebody in a gaming magazine in Scotland or England put that out. That's false. The game belonged to the murderer.

IGN: To the kid that killed him?

Thompson: Yeah, he left it at the house of the victim. It wasn't the victim's, it was the killer's. There's corroboration of that from other sources.

IGN: How did the killer get the game in the first place?

Thompson: I don't know, but he had it."

There you go, don't listen to the police who investigated the murder, it' obvious that this man with a proven personal agenda against a company who lives thousands of miles away and was in no way involved with the investigation!
@Shoehorn O'Plenty

That was what I was trying to point out. It's linked to a violent crim however some idiot (like maybe Vaz) may include it, as it's still linked to a violent crime.

In theory, 90% of violent crimes can be linked can be linked one way or another to violent games, but they shouldn't be counted as 100% of them won't relate to the crime as the link will be someone will have onwned atleast one violent game, should it be victim, suspect or relitive\friend. Vaz may still use it to his advantage which scares me a bit as I feel their is less protection for games in the UK.

Plus I thought it was concluded to be a drug related murder in the Pakeerah case.
In addition, I think they should look into how family life and depression played a part. Maybe they the UK should also look into any correlation with neo-nazism or any other radical affiliation.

I also propose an inquiry to deal with political corruption, kinda like when Vaz was accepting payments from wealthy friends in India in exchange for UK passports. It really pisses me off when I hear about political corruption like this, almost makes you want to go on a violent killing spree, ya know?
well you got no evidence or ammo sucka
@ Majestic

why on earth would the UK need to look for correlation into Neo - nazism?
Please explain.
To be fair, Vaz is a political lightweight that nobody listens to, anyway. It's commonly felt that the only reason he's trying to sensationalise the issue isto further his own political career. The BBC are currently on the side of gamers/consumers - until that changes, there's little to fear from Vaz and his ilk.

I wonmder what his real problem is? He clearly has little or no understaunging of gaming as a medium. I'm almost certain that a little education/explanation would help him see sense, or at least expose his viewpoint as being far removed from rationality.
Suddenly, I'm thinking about those ads for the Simpson’s game.

"Video games are fake."
*gets run over by a truck*
"Want a health pack?"

OK, I know that’s not exactly how the ad goes, but cut me some slack. Please?
"How many (a) violent attacks and (b) murders that were judged to be linked in some way to violent video games occurred in the last 10 years…"

why does this guy need to be asking questions? isnt he the type that has answers for everything?
@Zerodash- You are forgetting about the Amish. They have no video games.
[...] Source: Britain’s Vaz Asks Government for Video Game-related Murder Stats Bookmark it: [...]
Research shows that 90% of all violent acts occur with a five mile radius of someone who has played a video game at some time, or at least witnessed one being played.

Clearly Vaz is onto something. Something BIG.
"murders that were judged to be linked in some way to violent video games"...

WTF does he mean "judged to be linked"? If he means "judged" like in court, then I'm sure the answer is zero. If he means "judged" by the hysterical public, then the answer is probably "every murder ever committed by a male 25 or younger."
[...] Ok so I didn’t know who was either till tonight while I was trawling though feed reader. His name is Keith Vaz and he is the Labour MP for Leicester East who is currently without his own website, apparently. Since he chirped up about one of my favorite escapes from reality, he is our phud of the week. [...]
linked in some way

I guess it will be high...because linked in someway can include found in murder victims house, found in house of person who held up store to steal money for drugs. etc
Forget the "in some way" part, you're not seeing the wood for the trees. Vaz asked how many violent attackes were judged to be linked to games... meaning that he doesn't know already.

Ask yourselves this: Why would the UK's major anti-game MP not already have this number to hand?
You know, “linked in some way” could incorporate violent muggings in which the item stolen was a game console.
Actually, the most likely reason he wants such specific statistics created is so he can pump them up even when video games AREN'T related. Much like any Massacre Chaser who says "Oh, look, a violent act, it was video game related".

I'm willing to bet that even if the statistics say "1,000,000", it won't be enough for him unless it equals the number of violent video game SALES.

Naturally, "linked in some way" can be attiributed to ANYTHING. But I'm willing to bet 'ole "video games killed society" Vaz wouldn't want to travel down that road, now would he? He might be found to be to blame (by association) for some kid hanging themselves.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
"How many (a) violent attacks and (b) murders that were judged to be linked in some way to violent video games occurred in the last 10 years…"


Zero.

Next question.
here's the answer: 0
Short Answer: Zero, these people need to think, if violent games turn people into killers, why are they still alive.
Man its Britains version of aJack Thompson.
Answer:

Somewhere around 10, probably less. . . oh wait this is the past year, then probably around 5.
Does this guy only mean violent drimes in the U.K. or everywhere? IF he balmes columbine for doom would he count all of the victims or just the two boys?

In either case this should actually benfit our side

People who have played violent games vs. # of crimes "linked" to violent crimes vs. total # of violent crimes.
I suppose...

if two people are locked in a room with nothing but a video game controller...

and one kills the other...would that be video-game related?

Saw XVII anyone?
Causality, GG.

Clearly, we can look at stats and know that 73% of all serial killers vote Republican. Let us externalize such logic and censor/ban Republicanism, seriously.
"While violent game play has been linked to increases in aggression, there has never been any research which linked gaming to actual violence."

That's the kicker. Many people think that aggression and violence is the same thing.

Let's wait until we have many 1000's murders from psychos who just wanted to see how their video game moments look in real life. And then we'll talk.
If people say that playing a video game doesn't effect the mind set of a child, then they are either biased in their opinion or haven't done their research. If a child were to pick up a controller at age 7 and start playing Grand Theft Auto it would effect his aggressive behavior. It's obvious, if a child see's violence he'll try to understand it, he'll observe it and learn it. But of course some games that are tagged "violent" aren't violent at all, like Halo. The more human violence the more effect it will have on the aggressive behaviors of a child.
Re: Britain's Vaz Asks Government for Video Game-related Murder

The input device normally used to manipulate video games is called a game controller, which varies across platforms.

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