I blame other stuff, like maybe, this: [www.scribd.com]

superbabyproject

[en.wikipedia.org]

I BLAME WIKIPEDIA!

Oh, shit, my lexikon also says how to make them. I blame all lexikons! Ban information! Information is bad!

Come on guys, it's petrol, a rag, and a bottle. When I was 9 years old, I knew that.

Wahrheit

15 & 16 years old, eh? If the parents bought GTA for them, they should be held accountable too. They put ratings on games for a reason... some impressionable younger kids will do what they see, especially in a group of their peers.

DerrickDS

I'm blame the movie Hostage. If you cant figure out how to make a molotov cocktail after watching that movie, then you definitely have some sort of concentration problems.

NightMystic

@Salen: That actually wouldn't work, so I guess it takes more of a genius than you.

SBB

i wonder what my gattaca score is for 'impressionable'

sluzzuls

I blame MTV for teaching me to be a fuckwit.

penty85

Video games really do make people do terrible things. Just look at Animal Crossing, because of mimicking the events of that game now I have a huge amount of debt to pay off.

JN64Lover

@Witzbold: Damn, I thought I was old (for a member of the gamer gen), I don't even know what that is D:

Norellicus

I'd blame the parents. If I did this at that age my Dad would've kicked the crap out of me. @Witzbold: good memories

TheLegendof_Erick

Because Molotov cocktails are such sophisticated devices that no-one could possibly figure out on their own.

"So, let me get this straight, you dip the bottle in the petrol and then eat the rag, right?"

"No, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to stick the bottle up your nose and then light your own shoes"

phicaluk

Oh i remember the Molotov Making mini game in GTA , the inserting the cloth was especially hard.

Kingdom Oblivion

the colonel's secret recipe for molotov cocktails is hardly a secret. perhaps if i were to firebomb something, i could blame it on old riot footage from a pbs documentary.

"public broadcasting taught me how to firebomb for change."

thaKingRocka

for all i know, they don't teach you how to make bombs in GTA, they just make you blow stuff up

airdom

Man, I play a lot of violent video games, so I must be violent!

BRB I need to go kick some puppies.

OiScout

These kids must be penalized for what they done. Just that.

leonardozimbres

First of all, that quote just calmed my instant annoyance. Awesome.

Secondly, correct, I was never taught that in GTA.

And finally, woo! Good thing there are no violent movies in existance that glorify crime with money, girls and an appealing "dangerous" lifestyle. Then they might contribute to these crazy kids!

But good thing that's avoided, with movies airing free on tv and games like GTA having a $60 entrance fee. Clearly, more teens on planet earth have played a GTA than seen a PG13->R movie.

/ends sarcasm, accepts media's logic as never going away.

karasu is my homeboy

Goddamn I feel old that nobody blames the Jolly Roger's Cookbook anymore.

Witzbold

It's hard to blame the kids or their lawyers for blaming video games as it seems to be a pretty good way to get yourself out of trouble these days.

The problem is the people who actually believe that crap.

Zikus

the only thing more predictable than kids blaming GTA is the snarky comebacks forumers come up with not blaming them.

MisterMcThursday

GTA taught me how to evade taxes.

Daily Mail headline waiting to happen.

In fact while we're at it:

GTA taught me to smuggle Pandas.
GTA taught me to buy dodgey DVDs.
GTA taught me to download Mp3s.
GTA taught me to be a bad father.
GTA taught me to force-feed yoyos to kids.
GTA taught me to recognise a shorter day night cycle and not bother holding down a job for any longer than a few hours at a time.

elronathon

It's not hard to figure out how to make a molotov cocktail.

But you know blaming GTA would be like me blaming Burn Notice since yesterday I watched that (great show) and one of the episodes had molotov cocktails.

kojirodensetsu

Wow, I must have missed where GTA taught me how to make molotov cocktails. I just remember walking over a floating icon on the ground with a red orb around it, and then pressing Circle. Is that how it's done in RL?

dj_fantastica

Make the kid play cooking mama! If he becomes a really good chef by the end, and can cook a real 3 course meal, then I will buy the GTA defense. SmegHead!

jonndirrt

Instead of "god made me do it" the stock answer is "gta made me do it"

Mr.Monkey

Uh, you know, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that alcohol in a bottle, with a rag stuffed in it and set on fire makes a nice little firebomb. And you sure as heck don't need GTA to teach you that either. Oy.

Yeah, let's blame a video game once more. Or, you know, I'd be interested what the Wikipedia article for Molotov Cocktails says. I bet it'd be even more descriptive on making one. I think I'll go check that out now...

Salen

Last I checked, from my many hours of GTA game time, Niko never "learns" to make Molotov cocktails. Instead, they are already preconstructed. It's just like popping down to the store and picking up a sixer...

Also, bandwagon! Who is getting on! Last call to get on the GTA bandwagon!

Phiphenomenon

Yeah, tell me what mission it was that you LEARNED to make Molotov cocktails. Kids these days are fucking noobs.

macr0planet

And I developed an addiction to prescription pills after playing PAC-MAN. So what.

gadjet

@trogam: Learn to read more!

trogam

Jack Thompson saying I told you so in 5,4,3.........

Stop blaming games when you get caught doing dumb shit!

Tr0oper

On a related note, I'd like to now blame watching Rosie O'Donnell on TV for me being a fattie.

Insert_Witty_Comment

So where does it show you how to make Molotov's in GTA again? I mean, sure it shows you how to throw them and where to find them on the street...but seriousally, one could figure out what a Molotov is if they have ever seen any riot video...
@Aye Mak Sicur: Reality Check from the parents would go a long way. Though I'm willing to bet the parents aren't even involved in their lives.

trogam

You know, I don't see anyone attempting to make Dynamite from the recipe in Fight Club. They don't actually list key ingredients but they don't list ANY in GTA.

Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.

@ChimDeathmonkey: No, it's not the kids that know, it's their hack lawyers.

AngryEddy

Not any game, GTA for all your blaming needs.

Philantrophy

Maybe if you're impressionable enough to commit crimes because you saw it in a videogame, there's a much bigger problem than Playstations?

Aye Mak Sicur

So kids now know, when you get caught, blame video games. It is that easy.

ChimDeathmonkey

So did theirs lite automatically? Did they also learn that you can hold a lit one forever without it blowing up and when you don't want to use it just jam it back into your jacket where it vanishes without setting you on fire?

NESWizard

Kids these days. No imagination. Why I remember when I was a kid we didn't need videogames to tell us how to raise a ruckus. When we would go down to the soda shop to make passive-aggressive comments towards Mr. Bisby, it was of our own accord.

Quilt

@SeriousStu: "Ace" is not an adjective.

Omnimon

OMG! Someone with actual sense. Also, the game doesn't teach you how to make the Molotov cocktail. You just magically have it in your bag of weapons. Shit, I learned how to make a bomb by watching "Under Seige 2" with freakin' Steven Seagal! I meank, its Steven "Runs Like A Woman" Seagal. I mean, thats more dangerous than some kid throwing a bottle filled with gasoline with rag stuffed in the mouth of the bottle and lit on fire.

**UPDATE** Teen leans how to make Molotov Cocktail on popular game website. GTA is blamed.

Killer_WaLrUs

@Tr0oper: Jack Thompson has stripped himself of his voice.

Omnimon

This game's fucking ace.

SeriousStu

(After arresting the kid)

Police Officer: Hey kid, was that a molotov cocktail you had there?

Kid: Uh...yeah

PO: How'd you learn how to make a molotov cocktail? It was that damn Grand Theft Auto game wasn't it?

Kid: Yes, yes it was...

PO: Yeah that's a horrible game, my kids were playing it the other day.

JGab

You know, I think Rockstar games gets off on people blaming them for their own stupidity, because, they just keep making more games that are awesome and exactly like the last one only more realistic. I'm glad that they don't buckle under the pressure of idiots and keep making wonderful games.

54r93

What they don't show you is the tamer side of GTA
Oh noes!

GTA taught me how to sit in the back of a taxi and observe the city.

GTA taught me to watch tv looking for funny things.

GTA taught me to buy clothes.

GTA taught me to play darts.

GTA taught me to walk.

GTA taught me to order fast food.

GTA taught me to give women compliments in hopes of having a sexual encounter, and getting the percentage of how that person feels about me to go up ever-so-slighty so that I can then gain some sort of special service from that person in the future.

See it's not all bad.

His_Shadow7

@elronathon: I use that as my excuse for everything now. It seems to be working, kinda like an "As Seen on TV" product.

Beatboxtaun

@iRloading:

A hooker ate my homework.

Wahrheit

@ChimDeathmonkey: Seems like it is the usual scapegoat now. Did something heinous? Blame videogames and you get a slap on the wrist and videogame developers/publishers are flushed down the crapper.

@cleasure138: Agreed! Not everyday you see someone looking at it objectively.

@TitillatedOcelot: It's because it's easier to blame games,movies and other media than actually y'know seeing if a kid is mentally-deranged and/or emotionally unstable. Videogames are the devil's bible and we're the devil spawn in their eyes...

Kutner's second paragraph really strikes home the whole point of all this. If they indeed have violent tendencies brewing inside 'em, it is going to come out sooner or later. Doesn't really matter who they use as an "excuse".

excaliburps

Geez this is becoming a once a week event. Someone blaming video games for there poor decisions in life.

One thing i will say they need to make it so minors can not purchase games under certain ages for whatever. Actually enforce a law so it's like selling smokes to a underage kid. You get fined out the anus to the point most people don't chance it.

Then the kiddies will have to find something else to blame for why the killed there best friend or burned down someones house etc.

ReisE

"it was gta" is becoming the new "the dog ate my homework" excuse for kids :P bleh. next time I punch a hooker, I'm blaming GTA.

iRloading

@TitillatedOcelot: The LIBERAL media? Buddy, why would you even go there? You think conservative codgers aren't jumping on this bandwagon too? I DO think that the media is the devil, but don't be throwing labels that have nothing to do with it.

MojoTeq

So what if it 'taught' you... did it 'tell' you to go do it!?!?

If playing a video game causes someone to go out an do something against common sense, then there is something far worse wrong with that kid.

Moosebox

@Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.:

Mythbusters made me construct air-pressure cannons to launch deep-frozen chickens into my neighbor's windows and at passing cars.

Wahrheit

@DerrickDS: I agree! I think that if kids want to try to pull this defense, then the parents that bought the copy of GTA should then be brought into it for endangering the welfare of a minor!

Actually, I don't. I wish I did, but then that leads to actually accepting that GTA had anything to do with it, which it doesn't. HOWEVER, the parent's overly accommodating stance with the kids, along with a most likely lack of involvement with their kids probably does. The way I see it, the problem with "kids these days" (and most adults) is that no one has a sense of personal responsibility anymore.

MojoTeq

Wait a second...how do you USE a Molotov Cocktail? Is there some kind of a trigger or something? Remote detonating device?

Sorry I'm out of the loop. I've been playing through my Mega Man Anniversary Collection and all I know how to do is shoot little pellets out of my hand.

Rocci1212

they're clearly using the game as an excuse. ><

shade-black

@Witzbold: That's because we have Wikis now. Easier to find the info. A lot of the cookbook is outdated and not as sophisticated as newer means. Napalm, TNT, GreeK Fire, etc. It's all there.

Personally I blame Myth Busters!

And Potassium Permanganate

Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.

So...is this evil that was obviously implanted in everyone that plays GTA a time-release kind of thing? Is there some kind of trigger-word that will cause me to succumb to an over-powering urge to kick an old woman in the chest? Soory, but I'm more inclined to blame the liberal media for running with this kind of shit, ultimately kick-starting the pussification of our nation. Why is rational thought like hen's teeth these days?

TitillatedOcelot

@Witzbold: I was JUST thinking about that. GTA is the new cookbook.

Bacardi151

Lawrence Kutner and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution deserve a round of attaboys for their level headed comments and coverage. Its refreshing to read comments like Kutners in the mainstream media.

cleasure138

Time to Glue Pigeons to the ground and shoot them! GTA is fun!

Parental Control, people!

judacris

@SBB: Sure it does. I watched Indiana Jones. Alcohol burns. :) You just gotta get one with a high enough proof.

And I was right, Wikipedia does have an article on it.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Salen

Good grief...
Hey kids, wanna know how to easily detect bullshit?
When the jerks say "GTA made me do it," ask them, "Which GTA?"

"Umm...uhh, the latest one! Yeah, yeah that's the one!"

"Which is?"

"Uh, the one where you run around killing people and stuff!"

"Are we still talking about GTA?"

"You throw moltov cocktails and stuff!"

"That could describe anything!"

"You get to steal cars and run over hookers and stuff."

"Still a bit vague..."

"Look, could you just go blame GTA? Mom says I gotta be home by 10 or I get the closet again..."

"Fine, fine..."

...dammit.

Troubadour

Ugh, didn't post correctly.

Lawrence Kutner is also a doctor on House.

Rustjive

And David Berkowitz (convicted Son of Sam murderer) blamed his neighbor's dog for his killing spree.

dry-roasted-peanuts

Am I the only one who noticed:

[en.wikipedia.org])

Rustjive

@RanChan03: We can shift blame all day - but in the end, it doesn't really solve anything.

Toastbusters

It's notable that a felony is comprised of two parts: Actus Reus (the actual incident of blowing the shit out of cars) and Mens Rea (the wanting to fuck shit up by blowing shit up).

These guys obviously enacted the Actus Reus with their own will, but GTA could certainly be a provocation of the Mens Rea.

Toastbusters

In the reality of all this, it's not the video game's fault. It's the parent's and the game store employees fault for not informing the parents about the content of the game, not carding the kids when clearly they are underage and shouldn't be playing it. Also it's the parent's fault for not taking an active role in their kid's lives. Don't blame the video game. Blame the parents and the game store employees.

RanChan03

Molotov cocktails aren't exactly the most complicated of weapons. It's not like you need instructions to get how to make a bottle of something flammable with a rag in it.

Roto13

We can blame semantics all day - but GTA is still responsible for injecting the concept of throwing dangerous weapons at cars into the mindset of some pretty stupid teenagers.
Had the media left the concept of Do-It-Yourself explosives at home, that art would've died with Lenin where it should've.

Face it, kids are pretty dumb - and when you continue to glorify explosions through films and video games (How many times have we seen a movie reviewer praise the amount of surface ruptures in a Will Smith flick over a good plot?), and then of course, provide an example of a bomb that can be made with materials found right at home, that's just a recipe for charred vehicles.

I'm not saying we take these things out of our culture, you can't blacklist something like that, and I'm certainly not a fan of censorship - but I don't think we should go around saying GTA is harmless.

Toastbusters

So when do we get to learn their parents reaction? Yes, the parents who allowed their 15 and 16 year old to play GTA? Arrest them too please...

Maddogdw

I remember an episode of Get Smart and which they showed how to make a molotov cocktail, and that was a family show!

exolstice

Well, children can be inspired as much as they want by video games and I will state that without a doubt that children are inspired negatively by certain video games.

However, inspiration is the predecessor to action. It is action and that alone that is worthy of our ridicule. Law judges "intent" after a deed is done and not before for that very reason. You cannot punish those that have not yet had the chance to take a step once at the junction of moral and ethical reasoning.

This country does not have a problem with negative inspiration as the media so claims. That only proves that expression in new forms of media is plentiful, which is a good a thing. Although you can actually debate whether or not America is actually a true Democracy, it is also a good sign in any free society when inspiration actually outruns legislation. Which in terms of Video games, it has.

The real problem is with the ever increasing poorly sewn moral fabric, which like all things involving a child finds itself right at the foot of every parent in the World. The responsibility of forging a strong sense and understanding of the meaning behind "Right and Wrong" to a child bears on them and them alone.

Patient

So saw someone making molotovs in a movie I watched a couple years back, so that means I can get away with firebombing a few cars too right? I mean I could just blame it on the movie I saw, and it wouldn't be my fault what-so-ever that I was stupid enough to do it in the first place. They should sooooo wear this shirt every day of their trial...

[www.zestuff.com]

Woden501

Dang it!! I keep missing out on all these cool mini-games in GTA... the rape mini-games and now learning how to make molotov cocktails.

Is there a list of all the hidden mini-games that can teach me how to do all these cool/fun things? Somehow I can't find 'em.

Twisk

Kids are using it as an excuse.

Most likely they just felt like being destructive, as teenage boys tend to be (c'mon, how many of you were saints when you were a teenager?) and when they got caught they went with the "video games made me do it!" defense as if they had no control over their own actions. For fuck's sake, what ever happened to personal responsibility?

And if they were "inspired" by GTA, they need help.

'Nuff said.

deadjesterx

@Omnimon:

Ace is both a noun, an adjective and a verb.

An ace of spades.

An ace swimmer.

He aced his exam.

Please, check your facts.

Wahrheit

"While Kutner makes a good point, any even better one to make is that GTA never actually teaches you how to make Molotov cocktails. Use them? Perhaps. Make them? No way."

Where the kids walking around with Xbox/PS controllers and using them to throw the molotovs? If not then the game didn't teach them how to use molotovs neither.

2SBs

I'm calling for an instant death penalty on the next dumbass that blames GTA for making them do stupid shit. If you are that stupid then you don't deserve to breathe the same air with people who have a least half of a brain.

Also last time I checked there is no mini game showing you how to MAKE a molotov, you just buy them.

heretrix

Ugh. This annoys me a lot more than it probably should.

Trilleong

They probably figured it out by doing research at the library, but made up a story about GTA so nobody would think they're gay.

Knukleur

I have to admit after playing the GTA3 I wanted to play with molotov cocktails. I tried making one and throwing it in my back yard. That's very different than throwing them at other people's cars though. And also I didn't have the correct materials so it didn't really work. I think I tried using a plastic coke bottle and lighter fluid.

collinc

Bottle of volatile liquid + a rag soaked in said volatile fluid + one lighter = one Molotov.

Idiots didn't learn that from GTA. They learned this from basic common sense. Of course, that common sense failed when they decided to USE it.

PapaBear434

@Patient: As a kid I was "inspired" by Super Mario Bros.
My grandma hated me 'cause I killed all her turtles by jumping on them.
And they practically knew me on the ER at the hospitals for all those concusions I got trying to break brick to get money, oh and this one time I ate a mushroom...

chemical_eng_mx

I believe there are those 1% of the population will be tempted to carry out the same crime in real life. I think 5-10% of the people who really enjoy this game would actually carry out the same crime if their life situation or condition is bad enough and opportunity arises. Our brain does not know the difference between virtual or real. therefore by repetitive killing and crime, it will begin to override our ability for proper judgment.

Ken

@Salen: Woohoo! You just told me how to make one. Now I can go blow up cars, and claim I didn't know how to make a molotov cocktail until Kotaku taught me.

Ad-hominem

Really, the Grand Theft Auto series are all rated Mature which requires you to be 17+. All three kids are under 16 so, if Grand Theft Auto is the problem, it would be their parents fault for buying the game.

BlingOnMyWrist

I hate the way its always the popular games that get the bad publicity. Alone in the Dark is the young terrorists handbook and the developers should be arrested under the patriotism act and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Maybe then developers would think twice about releasing crap games

Bumhug360

@Witzbold: Why you gotta go and make me feel old now?!?!?

jonndirrt

so they parents bought a game for some teens, even though its a mature game, i hope that people are not so stupid to think that this is a legit excuse and realize the kids are trying to get out of trouble and thats not the real reason. if they really did this because of GTA then the parents should be to blame for not raising their kids to know the difference between right and wrong and real and unreal.

EVIL_V2

why don't the kids ever, say, try to jump off a fifty story building or jump their car over a river or drop a hand grendade at their feet? how come they don't think the magic of just arriving at the hospital with a little less dough and infinite more lives is worth trying, too?

mysonsnameisnova

Well you know something brother, Grand Theft Auto is becoming a problem brother even if you want to defend the game man. There has been an on going pattern constantly of stupid people doing stupid things cause of Grand Theft Auto inspirations brother. Maybe, just maybe, todays society cannot handle Grand Theft Auto man...

Hulkamaniac

I don't think that the kid of fifteen year olds who go around throwing Molotov cocktails at cars just to get their shits and gigs, are the kind of kids who know how to use the pitfalls of our legal system to their advantage.

Toastbusters

@judacris: In all fairness, that does sound pretty fun

MysidianMan

They should probably blame the whole blame culture and those fucking lawyers who have no doubt encouraged the kids to say GTA influenced them.. There is no responsibility anymore.

besides no where in any GTA game does it teach you to make molotov cocktails, you BUY them in the game not make them.

jigglypoofs

@M-26-7: How did they say numbers?
This worries me.

Toastbusters

It's funny, too how many people say "DUR HURR DROP SHOVE A GAS SOAKED RAG INTO GAS BOTELL AND THRO!!11!"
That's a really good way to set yourself on fire, but make a good molotov cocktail it does not.

M-26-7

Every time I see one of these stories, I'm disgusted by how willing law enforcement agents are to play a role in criminals turning themselves into victims. And of course also the lack of critical thinking involved in blindly accepting that GTA games cause violent behavior, given the millions of people who play said games and don't commit violent crimes.

cambot3000

It's a molotov cocktail, if you've ever seen one anywhere, its pretty obvious how to make it.
"It's a flamming rag in a bottle of flammable liquid, I wonder how it works?"

Vivalacherry

Diss Harvard all you want, but at least they get the whole video games and violence thing.

M-26-7

I love to play devil's advocate in threads like this. And realize that's all I'm doing here.

But let me posit this. We're not born knowing how to make and use molotov cocktails. We're also not born thinking that doing so makes you cool. I'm not convinced there's such a thing as "predisposition" to using molotov cocktails either - if that were true, you'd see roughly equal rates of teen molotov-cocktail throwing happening all around the world, across all races, cultures and ethnic groups.

So what is it that caused these kids to do this? I'm not asking generalities. I'm asking what caused them to pick this specific act of violence, what taught them how to do it, and what made them think it was both cool and fun to do it?

The only possible answers are a) their parents and/or school, b) some genetic thing (which again is pretty easy to disprove), or c) something in popular culture. b) you can pretty much discount for the reason given above. As for a), I guess stranger things have happened. But I don't know too many parents who go out teaching their kids to make molotov cocktails.

Which leaves c). And if they can learn it from movies or books or whatever, why not from video games?

Teens are impressionable. All of them. You don't think you are when you're a teen because you think you're all grown up and you know everything. (One of the first things you learn as an adult is that you don't.) Later, most people forget what it was even like being a teen, so they don't remember all the changes they were going through. But there is a time when you're a kid and the world is mysterious and new and then there is a time when you're an adult and your view of the world is set. The teen years are that in-between period when that world-view is coming in to focus. You're learning from everything around you.

Which is not to say you look at a video game and go "that game is responsible for these kids throwing molotov cocktails". But to say pop culture can play no role in the world view of a teenager? I don't believe that. And video games are pop culture.

badasscat

I'm sidestepping the whole GTAIV bullshit connection, and wondering:

How, exactly, did they come up with 57 charges out of 3 car bombings?

masterdingo

Wht dck. Tk rspnsblty fr yr stpdty, y mnscl cck.

(Myb nxt tm "Vd Gms" wll hld gn t hs hd nd mk hm d t.)

Xiatter

I thought GTA was rated M. They shouldn't of even had the game in the first place. But horrible excuse by the way. You don't see me going insane after watching the latest Rambo film.

Quicksilver4648

Video games, is there anything it can't do?

exkon

Choosing to emulate something out of a video game = stupid and/or crazy.

Picking WHAT you emulate = evidence of sanity. Whoever said it up there was on to something. Why didn't these idiots try and drive into a wall at high speed or attempt a stunt bonus? BECAUSE they knew it would cause them harm.

catch 22 suckers. You can't claim you're crazy because self awareness negates insanity.

But you can still be fucked up without being completely crazy.

Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.

It's times like these I'd wish people would take responsibility for their actions. To me, claiming video games taught them this, is the equivilent of saying "The voices made me do it".

It's as if the police chief arrived asking "What's happened here then? Someone's been playing video games?! Oh, right. And the er.. firebombing."

DwerG

Stop blaming GTA and admit to your own damn fault that your a F*ckup.

adragonfang18

Did the police chief really need to say that its the fault of video games. Instead of saying "This case is another strong example of the serious ramifications that can come from letting impressionable teens play violent video games like this one" he should have said "This is another strong example of the serious ramifications that can come from parents neglecting to raise their own children, and leaving that duty to movies, tv, video games and the legal system." A 16 yr old should know the difference between right and wrong, and if they don't that's the fault of the parents, no one else. I sure as hell knew that there were legal consequences to fire bombing cars when I was 16, and I also knew that if I were to try and pull something off like that I would get a walloping from my dad(which I was probably more scared of than the law).

rabbibert

Why would anyone need to be taught how to stick a rag in alcohol and light it on fire? Much less from a video game, and one where the animations aren't too clear at that?

These kids obviously knew to blame GTA if they got caught- nobody should get away with that.

Jayge

@badasscat: Yes, teens are impressionable, and popular culture does show them dangerous ideas. However, there comes a point where every teen should be able to see that the line is crossed. There is a basic threshold of sanity.
It's only when the kid lacks that basic threshold of sanity that they perform these sorts of actions. And in that case, the game isn't responsible. Anything the kids got their hands on could turn into potentially influential and dangerous works. A demented teen, if given the Bible, will perform acts of violence. The same thing applies to the Torah and Talmud, the Qua'ran, hell, the works of Buddah as much as Grand Theft Auto or any other violent video game.

It's not the world that makes the killer, the killer just finds inspiration in the world to kill.

Ad-hominem

@Maddogdw: I agree with you on this the parents and the employee that sold the parents or the kids this game

RanChan03

sly and chuck taught me how to make moltovs. arnold showed me how to use them effectively and steven showed me how to be a badass with 'em.

sometimes i wish people weren't as gullible and let kids get away with excuses like this.
"Really, you learned how to make these in a video game? Well, i hope you learned how to live in prison in a video game too, because you will be there for a long time"

meltyman

Quick,hide the anarchist cookbook,lol.

BLADDERMETAL

Let's ban Wikipedia. After all it REALLY tells you how to make a molotov cocktail.

Rianq

@Toastbusters: actually it could. If the parents and gamestore owners realize all of this happening, MAYBE, just Maybe some red lights will go off and they will get up off their asses and try to educate themselves about situations like these and realize that they need to do something about themselves and not just use video games as a scapegoat for their own ignorance and stupidity.

RanChan03

... Okay, WHAT GTA game has anone went through the trouble of firebombing a car?!!?

C4 satchel at a busy intersection, you n00Bz!!!

Enigma_20XX

jesus christ, Are people stupid? GTA IV shows the use of the weapon in question. but it also shows you "how to use" a handgun, multiple rifles, rocket launchers, and hand grenades. Oh, and it shows you how to mow down granny with a moped.

If anyone involved on this case had actually played GTA, they would realize that Yes, the game is reprehensible, its got sex, drugs, violence, and terrible language....but its just a game, a story. Its about as asinine as blaming SAW III for a heroin addict overdose.

iDeNoh

@AngryEddy: It's BS thats what it is. If someone doesn't stand up to this eventually we as gamers aren't going to be able to enjoy games like GTA4. This is honestly getting ridiculous. The blame game never goes away it just changes targets.

Barf#1

"While Kutner makes a good point, any even better one to make is that GTA never actually teaches you how to make Molotov cocktails. Use them? Perhaps. Make them? No way."

That's not a better point at all, our goal as gamers should not be to prove on a case by case basis computer games are not harmful, but that even if it HAD taught them how to make molotov cocktails, these kids are simply criminals and it's not video games that made them that way.

If it hadn't been molotov cocktails from watching GTA it would have been something else. Open up an old fashioned encyclopedia and you'll find out how to make all kinds of dangerous things. The parents of these kids have failed at teaching their children the value of property, and probably on many other levels.

My kids for example wouldn't dare do something like this. They can guess the lesson I'd give them -- all their stuff, from video games, trading cards, legos, stamp collections, and so on would be piled in the fire pit in the back yard and up in flames.

weables

This kid is pretty funny, you know cause i've played GTA and CounterStrike and all those kinds of games but do I have any idea how to even make a bomb or explosive of any kind? No.... not really.... the biggest boom I could make is probably mentos + coke. Man, these stories piss me off just because i'm pretty sure video games won't help you go blow anything up and they certainly can't train you to be a school shooter since i've fired a real gun and I sucked pretty bad when it comes to those clay birds that fly out. I could barely hit one yet i've played so many FPS shouldn't that make me an ace? No it doesn't people just blame video games because it's the easiest thing to blame. Of course after all movies and music can't ever be attributed to violent behavior apparently.

PrincessAyu

MGS4 taught me how to hack powerful, world running AIs.

bobtheduck

@TitillatedOcelot: Actually, *real* liberal media would be willing to take into account all perspectives of an argument/accusation.

I actually think it's the conservatives that are responsible for all the fear-mongering in the media. :P (Hello, G.W. Bush's 2nd term? "YARR, VOTE REPUBLICAN OR THE TEWWOWIST WILL GET YOU!")

NKato

@chemical_eng_mx: What exact point are you trying to make other than advocating for forced sterilization?

Patient

Fuckin punks blame video games for the fact they're fucked up in the head.

tironabardheblu

I dont ever remember making molotovs in GTA, also, it takes a special kind of retarded to NOT know how to make a molotov cocktail.

Rajolae

This reminds me of that TV report of how dangerous "Emo" is. I fucking hate Emo, but I loved that broadcast. The funniest damned thing I've seen.

GrrSnort

...and Bart Simpson is responsible for all underachievers everywhere, right? Hmm, many of you may be too young to get that one.

stradric

Yeah, you know, I don't get it. People come around, see an accident or see something someone did that was bad and instead of basing their theories on the years and years of psychological analyzation of children and teenagers that has mainly concluded that it is indeed the relationship between the children and the parents that accounts for most everything the child grows up to be, they suddenly start blaming video games.

I guess it makes sense, these people blaming video games are probably parents after all and we all know nobody knows how to invade and control someones lives better than a stay at home mom with nothing better to do than join the PTA or, in this case (as well as many others) an angry old police chief who spends his nights with a bottle of jack trying to wrap his head around the massive labyrinth that is video gaming, and wakes up in the morning after having passed out on the kitchen floor, and realizes the only thing that video games do, (and this comes from absolutely no long term or probably even short term experience playing any video games) is cause children and teenagers to go utterly insane.

Well, someone had a good point on another post the other day. You see, these people are so quick to try and enforce the law everywhere they possibly can that they fail to realize the serious issues of depression, schizophrenia, and other unfortunate conditions that do plague many children around their teenage years because of an increase in hormones, an often, but not always, strained relationship with parents and siblings, and a major desire to be popular or fit in at school, or even to just be liked, and not pushed around. These people need help, and unfortunately for certain cases, yes, video games might be a problem when it comes to influence. Have they ever influenced me to hurt someone or destroy something?

I'll be completely open and honest about this.

No. I have never once thought that it would be a good idea to murder someone on the street GTA style, and I have never wanted to secretly assassinate someone MGS style.

And why is that? It's because I have my video games as an outlet for weird desires, but what's more, is that having no unfortunate psychological conditions (that I am aware of), I don't ever think about going out and doing horrible things.

But I'm 21, and I remember being a teenager, and it's definitely different. It's much harder to tell people your feelings, and video games provide an efficient outlet for many feelings that might otherwise cause minor family problems. Even in that situation, teenagers almost never want to do anything horrible to anyone else. Of course we would like to kick the preppy douchebag's ass every once in a while, but who doesn't?

Honestly, I'm not worried about video game influence because for every one teenager or child that takes it a little too far, there are hundreds of others who use video games now as an outlet for their hard day, and to relieve themselves of the pressures of other aspects of their lives. I am very worried though, and this is where it gets scary, I'm worried that there will be a turn around when all of the "adults" and "parents" jump on the video games are bad bandwagon, and instead of paying attention to their children's needs and concerns, they ignore them and get together and talk about why video games are bad, and in the end, ignoring your children, ignoring the problem at hand, which is you, the parent, is what is really going to influence these kids into doing very bad things.

Then again, since when have most parents ever actually accepted the fact that they are the problem?

Desmondia

plis mista offisa dunt arest meh cuz niko told meh 2 do eet

ircmaster

The problem is not the game, but the fact that the "blame the game" card is so often used kids are learning how to do it themselves.

dragonsword

Blaming GTA seems to have become a phenomenon among youth offenders as much as it has among the media. Perhaps these kids are under the impression if they blame the world's most notorious video game no one will blame them. Or perhaps police offers who have been bombarded with too much sensational media just automatically bring it up as a reason whether any of the kids have said it or not.

Ironically people like Jack Thompson are largely responsible for creating this kind of mentality.

Perhaps GTA could have made a kid aware of what a molotov cocktail is, but I think it takes more than that to learn how to actually construct one. And you know, why did their parents let these little maniacs have a mature rated game about hardcore criminal life in the first place?

MPSai

@Eville1 says SKUse me a sec.: i believe the correct recipe is given in the book; it was changed in the movie, presumably so that impressionable minds (not unlike these teens') wouldn't actually try to make explosives. however, i don't know for sure if the recipe works, having enough sense and fear of consequence not to have whipped up a batch.

geekgrrl

@Witzbold:

Someone had to mention the old cookbook, many a fun time was had with that.

Tizlor

How GTA Teaches You To Make And Use Molotovs:

1) From the parodoxical infinite storage you possess allowing you to carry virtually infinite weaponry, you wield a glass bottle filled with whatever liquid they are using, most likely gasoline.

2) Said bottle stuffed with a rag is thrown. Somewhere between the bottle leaving your hand and impacting on the designated surface, it is magically lit aflame.

Now where in that sequence did they show you how to make a Molotov?

Papa Midnight

The only way to get Molotov cocktails in GTA is to either find it on the street or input a code. Who's giving our children cocktails?!

Angryrider

what 15 year old doesn't know how to make a Molotov cocktails??

_Ted_

@AngryEddy: pretty much. first thing we do is we kill all lawyers.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

OK, this is fucking ridiculous, every time somebody fucks up they yell out, "GTA!" I swear its like the safe zone or something. Even if iwas true that the game influenced them(which sure as shit did not), they are underage, and shouldn't even be playing GTA, if the parents weren't so careless and gave a damn as to what their children did, this wouldn't ever be connected to videogames. As a parent you should know wether your little puke can play M games, or not.

Pancho_Villasan

Yeah me too me too!
I know how to use a bottle of molotov playin GTA.
1-press 5time left on the d-pad
2-aim with the left stick
3-press the right trigger!
damn I,m a effin' evil genius!

dmfamzo

Well, they actually talked to someone who knew what they were talking about, creating a fair and unbiased news article. See? The mainstream news outlets can learn something!

Thorax

You don't have to be a friggin' pyrotechnics expert to figure out how to make Molotov cocktails.
Also - These kids are bastards. They know exactly what they're doing.

Wizzard

I think blaming GTA is an attempt at a get out of jail card. Maybe if I hang with a Jamaican dude I can't really understand while shooting missiles from my attack helicopter, I may have a case to blame GTA.

DragonTG

Next thing the Gotti grandkids will use this defense to say they learned about racketeering, extortion, gambling, strippers and driving drunk from GTA. (Not that they are lawbreakers, haha..) I wonder if this is an example of what someone on here was saying about scumbags, I mean lawyers suggesting this defense more often in the last couple of years. I sure didn't know how to hate on someone until video games showed me the way. In the seventies I kept trying to jump over alligators and fly my spaceship, and I had to rely on the Boyz in the Hood the movie to show me how to start my own gang and do crimes. As you can see today, there are thousands of young people in LA who are in criminal gangs, so they must have played the old GTA, or watched The Warriors in order to learn how it's done. God knows they wouldn't have thought of performing criminal activities without some form of fictional media to teach them. When Ted Bundy said that Penthouse magazine messed him up as a kid, where was everyone then crying out to ban it? Oh yeah, it's free speech. Pretty soon they will be teaching American kids about how they USED to have freedom of expression back in the 20th century. Don't taze ME, bro.

GOLD5

Mega Man 3: showed me how to kill people and absorb their power.

whatever happened to: "The Devil made me do it"?

Costermonger

I actually subbed this story to GamePolitics.com right after I saw it on my local news last night. I didn't think it would spread this fast! Well, then again, this IS the Internet. :D

MPgmr

I stabbed my mom & dad, and it was because I learned how to make a knife from GTAIV.

I also learned how to make an RPG, so I can't wait to get out of prison.

djomg

Now the criminals are blaming a video game calling themselves mentally ill as a reason to get away from jail and/or they are really stupid.

Video

i have very little compassion for these stupid kids. i hope they get confronted in the shower after dropping the soap by a 6'7" 25 to lifer who likes to be called jessica after lights out.

TheFight

i was making Molotov cocktails at age 13... we would just fuck around and throw them around in a vacant lot by where i grew up. Was I ever stupid enough to throw them at cars? people? NO! Idiots I tell ya

HouseofPAIN

Speaking strictly from a child criminal's POV this makes perfect sense. You commit the crime. Blame a game for your actions. Then you get a lesser punishment and you get sympathy. Its like a get out of jail free card. But with you still going to jail but for a lot shorter time.

The bigger the lie, the more they beleive!

@Witzbold: Holy Smokes!!! The Jolly Roger's Cookbook. I have not heard that brought up in a while.

CapnSpank

sounds like he just wanted to blame it on gta and hopefuly not get in trouble. i mean if kids can use computers they can watch the news c,mon

richard733

LMAO!! this just keeps getting better and better. Blaming GTA seems to be the new "thing" now-a-days. Your not cool unless you cause some sort of public havoc and then blame GTA.

You see, the more these lazy god forgotten people keep blaming a stupid video game instead of seeking the actual reason, It gives more deviants a reason to go out and violate something. Theres no consequence now except that half the blame goes to GTA and the rest is determined that the punk is mentally ill and serves no prison time.

King Seafoam

@Quilt: Why did I read that in a posh english accent? It was like something out of Pride and Prejudice...weird.

I don't even care when these sort of stories come up anymore (not a jab at Kotaku :)) because I know the facts, you know the facts, and its as simple as. If it ever came down to it the facts will prevail and we shall all laugh in the faces of the silly forever frightened "protect the children" people, and their scaremongerer masters.

OkayOctane

Still, did a decent job of defending us.

TheHeartless

oh yeah, mind as well blame everything on gta.

its just these kids with mental problems that lack commonsense. I have never thought about killing anyone for playing violent video games. Unfortunately there is probably going to be no way to stop these things from happening though. People do stupid things everyday.

viscera

Every time I walk into a post office and I get pissed off....grab the clerk from behind the desk and pummel him... I'll blame GTA.

Good ol' GTA, just like the new guy at the office that doesn't speak much english. Scapegoat for the masses and bad parenting.

RyuriTatsujin

@Woden501: great shirt there

54r93

Jack Thompson:

"... I knew i would be back. The world does need me to teach these people the wrong of video games."

Shoot, if I (which i have grown up and have learned alot about personal respondsibility/respect for not only myself but for others, so the odds of this happening is not too strong at all) were ever caught throwing/making molotovs, i would just blame my ex gf. Shoot, she told me how to do it like 7 years ago, and i pretty sure i can still do it...

ZeonicFreak

@GOLD5:

they tried to ban warriors when it came out saying that it would lead to violence in the streets.

Did you know the gangs in that movie were portrayed by a ballet troup? Ever seen so many graceful gangsters.

by the way if anyone hasn't seen that movie its well worth the time for a good laugh.

especially the Mime gang.

WAAAAARRRRIORS come out to pLLAAAAYAAYYYAAAAY

onepoker

The kids should of watched A BRONX TALE then they might have learned one possible consequence of tossing molotov cocktails from a car.

On a side note what the kid actually said was "We were all playing grand theft auto 4 then the red ring of death came on we were so mad we firebombed the neighborhood"

onepoker

my bad it was broadway dancers not a ballet troope sorry for the misinformation.

onepoker

GTA may have put the idea into his head, but that doesn't mean he has no responsibility for his actions.

questworld

Wow. Let's blame a game you don't play, like Saint's Row, after commiting a ridiculous act of felon.

Just what is the world coming to?

Hot-Devil-666

WTF? Is this some kind of fad for reckless teens to blame there wrongdoings on Grand Theft Auto?

omfg_its_dally

Wow, I should read my local paper more. I knew nothing about this.

silentbob343

Now I am really getting sick of dumbass doing something and when they get caught whats the first thang they do blame it on a video game. More over the main video game they blame it on is GTA for no reason but if I got caught doing something then I would GTA 2 just to see my name on the news.

ShadowScale

This is the dumbest ever. When the next generation kids gets born by people that have actually PLAYED VIDEOGAMES(like me) i will know better than blame a game if my child behaves badly. Ok i can understand that a kid can get aggressive by playing games for teenagers. Like fighting games or shooting games. But still if youre a teenager and do such dumb things, you have problems buddy.

Damn the dumbest blaming ever was that old swedish maggot who blamed gta for people killing plants, i live in sweden and i know some teenagers between the age of 11-15 do such things when they're bored. Thats not and excuse but i remember me doing it too.

So yeah the hope is the next generation that see's that video games and computers aren't for kids of all ages, and that it really is a fun media wich one can get addicted too.

Syrish

This is just plain silly, this resembles this story of the kids in colorado that killed a lot of his classmates and blamed Marilyn Manson music for his behavior; plus, as far as i know GTA is a game that makes you use a lot of violence and weapons to achieve goals, but in no way or form teches you how to make them...

Danilov.-

GTA IV + PS3: $459:98
Google: FREE

Which is the more likely culprit?

Also: Why do comments sometimes disappear causing me to have to re-type them? I blame GTA IV for that too.

zoompooky

world's most amazing video's taught me how to make molotov's

GTA taught me that police officers are dumbasses

RoyalewithCheese

GTA taught them... Oh come on. Its rag + glass bottle + flammable liquid. It hardly takes Tthe Anarchist Cookbook to figure that out

Falcon4196

@Soldier_CLE: *ORIGINAL*

Sorry for the misspelling.

Soldier_CLE

Adding on to the pool of thoughts and opinions that have already spoken on issues like these for over a decade, I will have to say that it is more a societal issue than it is a "video game issue".

And by that, I mean that it does indeed start with the family. (And not from a political rhetorical speaking wort-of way; I mean in a proactive, not merely just nodding your head to filler-speech gesturing, but rather the "get off your ass, and figure out how to solve generational problems before they get out of hand-or-worse" social actions.

I will also say that "political correctness" may have also played a hand in all of this. I mean, when I were younger (and I think a majority of the readers here are within my age range), if you acted up, you got the switch! It was quick, decisive, and it didn't make you think "Hey, fuck you mom/dad! I'm gunna act a fool again!"

It was effective. It kept me in line as a kid, and maybe even went as far as to prevent me from really messing up in the World.

Because of the lack of operant conditioning put in place in the United States, I'd argue that it set the parameters for what are an increase in seriously degenerate youth. I hate putting it like this, since people always think that the upcoming generations are worse than the next, but it also seems to be showing within our Juvenile Corrections and Rehabilitation demographics.

Lastly, I would also blame Madison Avenue's direction, which through irresponsibility throughout the years, managed to sell/shill the droning of the masses in a sense. Sure, the consumer should remember "Caveat Emptor", but I also would like to think that there is a shared responsibility in what the marketeer is selling. Shame that it is a fantasy in my head...

Societal, Familial, Political and Marketing... But I blame parents more than anything... Well, close. I BLAME THE INDIVIDUALS, THEMSELVES!

How's that for oriinal?

Soldier_CLE

...ok.
this kids blaming GTA for shit needs to stop. the joke has went on for far too long.

thats the type of kid you don't bother spending tax dollars on. just ship him to some third world country. let us wage war upon him 17 years from now. it'll be fun.

Voltron_Force

Yeah it was the video game fault! Not his parents for not knowing wtf he does with is spare time besides playing video games.

Norrin_Radd

someone give that man a cigar or at least a pat on the back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

freespeech2