13-year-old Xbox player slashed friend's throat

[Matt Murdock]

13-year-old Xbox player slashed friend's throat with knife during row after they met online playing ultra-violent game Gears of War 3

Police believe teenager was influenced by playing violent video games.
Gears of War 3 rewards players for finding ways of murdering opponents.

Video games have been accused of fuelling youth violence after a 13-year-old boy slashed a friend’s throat following an online row.
Police believe the attack, in Clydebank, Scotland, was influenced by the teenager’s use of violent video games.
He had only known his 14-year-old victim for a few months after they met online while playing Xbox game Gears of War 3.

The 18-rated game, which contains ‘strong bloody violence’, rewards players for devising ways of murdering their opponents.

Brian Docherty, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said: ‘These games are rated 18 and shouldn’t be played by children of this young age – but online gaming may be outside their parents’ knowledge. We need to look again at what we can do to stop this.’
The High Court in Glasgow heard the boys had a falling-out, which resulted in the victim being slashed.

Popular: the X-box game is very popular with young people
Then, in a scene reminiscent of violent video games – the accused sneered at his victim: ‘Don’t die,’ before calmly walking off. The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted assault.

The victim is now traumatised and his attacker – already a father – faces being locked up when returns to the dock later this month.
Prosecutor Andrew Brown, QC, told the court: ‘The reporting officer was of the opinion that the violent video games played online by the accused may have been a factor in his conduct.’

The boys met while playing Gears of War 3 online around Christmas 2011. They later met in person and the court heard there was no animosity between the pair until a month before the slashing.

Mr Brown said: ‘The pair had fall-outs online amounting to name-calling via the messaging system used in the game.’
On April 14 last year, the day of the attack, the victim met some friends and the group later encountered the accused at a local shop. Later that night, the victim and another boy were going to a house when they saw the accused.

The accused grabbed the 14-year-old then struck him across the throat with a knife. The victim told paramedics a boy had ‘slit his throat in an argument about Xbox games’. He suffered a wound so deep it exposed his windpipe and required 20 staples following surgery.
The court was told the victim – now 15 – has refused to speak about what happened to him and has had difficulty sleeping.

A spokesman for Microsoft, which publishes Gears of War 3, said: ‘We have some of the most robust parental control systems to empower parents to decide how their children play and communicate. We have the greatest sympathy for the victim and his family.’

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[Devin]

And of course they will blame the game when it is their parents fault for allowing them to play such a game. 
Pathetic parenting - 1
Violent game - 0

[Matt Murdock]

 :ps: My comment on this : I'm not going to meet any of you irl now.. cause I don't want a dildo up my ass. Cause that's what we do the most. 

[Gmail]

And of course they will blame the game when it is their parents fault for allowing them to play such a game. 
Pathetic parenting - 1
Violent game - 0

I don't think it's the parents fault.. if a kid is so mentaly.. unhealthy.. that he will go slash his friends throat because of an argument.. meh.. it's the kids fault for being a jackass not the games or the parent's..

[Jellyfish]

By that argument, Devin, everyone on this forum has lousy parents.

[Luke]

Wow, trust me I have heard of this before, the game manhunt was banned for the same reason and so was one of the first Hitmans, I don't blame the games, I got my First GTA Vice City when It came out I was 6, yes I was 6, I am 17 now, I got it the day it came out, I have played every GTA since, and my mum and dad are not bad parents for letting me do this, as a kid i have always, been able to cope with "dying" on games, and people screaming and swearing at me, i do get frustrated at things like this, for example call of duty (that game piss's me off to the max), but that's the idea, you die, you get mental, then you wanna go and kill that guy who killed you, that's what makes games addictive. this kid must of had serious issues to seriously go and attack hes friend, to be honest some of the games what are 18 are 18 for a reason and half the population who play CoD/GTA/GoW are under the age of 18.

[Devin]

If your child is known to have mental issues, the last thing they should be doing is playing violent PC games, especially those which are rated above their age.

GTA is rated 18+ because of the violence and nudity in Single Player, as SA:MP has nothing to do with single player, you can't really generalize.
And yes, anyone under 18 playing a GTA game shouldn't be playing. Age restrictions are there for a reason, if people choose to ignore them, so be it.

[Roske.]

Yeah, it must be the game. How come the rest of the people which play that game didn't grab a kitchen knife and gutted their friend?

[Luke]

If your child is known to have mental issues, the last thing they should be doing is playing violent PC games, especially those which are rated above their age.

GTA is rated 18+ because of the violence and nudity in Single Player, as SA:MP has nothing to do with single player, you can't really generalize.
And yes, anyone under 18 playing a GTA game shouldn't be playing. Age restrictions are there for a reason, if people choose to ignore them, so be it.

my brother who's 15 has Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder ADHD, he's been playing since young but he don't go attacking people in real life, apart from me when i go in and say to him "U MAD" and scream like a bitch laughing, but that's me, but trust me there's more to it then video games why he did this, for example, the kid could of provoked him in person.

[Devin]

Still bad parenting at fault. They shouldn't let their little senseless child play violent games if they have no understanding about how to behave in the real world.

[Luke]

Still bad parenting at fault. They shouldn't let their little senseless child play violent games if they have no understanding about how to behave in the real world.

Yeah, he might have family issues with hes parents aswell, who knows?  :poke:

[Jason_Bridges]

Violent video games don't turn children into murderers... a poor upbringing and not being told what's wrong and what's right by their parents causes incidents like this.

[[WS]Jacob]

By that argument, Devin, everyone on this forum has lousy parents.

Who says everyone who plays GTA on Argonath is under 18 :poke:

[Gmail]

Who says everyone who plays GTA on Argonath is under 18 :poke:

yeah we are all 21.. right?

[Mikal]

Yeah, he might have family issues with hes parents aswell, who knows?  :poke:

And if he does it's his parents fault..