Grand Theft Auto IV has been hailed by many as the most lifelike and exciting video game ever produced. The game has broken sales records across the world, and it is particularly popular in Asia, where teenagers (especially teenage boys) have been known to play the game for 12 to 14 hours at a time — even in public Internet cafés.
But now the distributor of Grand Theft Auto in Thailand is pulling the game from store shelves following the gruesome robbery and murder of a Bangkok taxi driver by a teenager. The teen charged with the murder claimed he was trying to re-create a scenario from the game, by carjacking and killing the driver of the taxi.
New Era Interactive Media, the distributor of the game, was quoted by Reuters as saying they are in the process of pulling the games retail shelves, “and we will replace them with other games.”
Bangkok police have reported that the murder suspect is an 18 year old student who was obsessed with Grand Theft Auto. Police say the teen exhibited no symptoms of mental illness during questioning, and had admitted killing the taxi driver because of his fascination with the game.
Police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak as quoted at by Reuters: “he said he wanted to find out if it was as he easy in a real-life to rob a taxi…” Authorities in Thailand expressed disgust and shock over the murder and the student’s bizarre motivation for committing the crime.
Surprisingly, the arrested student has been described by acquaintances as both polite and serious. The boy was arrested when Bangkok police officers found him attempting to back out of a city street with the fatally wounded taxi driver still in the back seat of the car.
Later, the teen suspect claimed he never meant to kill the taxi driver, but only to subdue him. When the driver fought back, the suspect (by his own admission) stabbed him to death in the backseat of the taxi.
Grand Theft Auto has long been criticized for its graphic depictions of violence, drunk driving, prostitution and carjacking. In the United States, several religious groups have attempted to have the game banned. Unfortunately, all the attention only made the game more popular with teens.
In Thailand, the Culture Ministry is pushing for stricter regulation of games like Grand Theft Auto, which will include a rating system similar to that used in United States, as well as a curfew on playing the games in public arcades or Internet cafés.
