Will Grand Theft Auto IV be blamed for an act of violence the day of its release?

Supposed to release April 29

Does the act of violence have to be on the day it is released or is the question settled yes if it is blamed for any act of violence in the past on the day of its release?

GTA causes Cancer!!!!!!!

Ryan
Hubdub US Politics Content Editor

yea ryan, but so does ciggies, oprah winfrey and George W Bush trying to explain foreign policy. Why suspend this question because GTA causes cancer? Can't we put a warning and a horrible photo on the question instead and proceed?

Clarification from question creator, as posted on Get Satisfaction. This is the clarification that will be used to settle the question:

I'm referring to an act of violence the day of the new games release (full 24hr cycle), seeing as how its a big name, that likely means from April 29th 12am - 11:59pm.

InfernalMachine has explained this as I intended when I wrote up the question. If some act of violence occurs within that day, specific to GTA IV, not previous games.

I'm not saying 'chaos' necessarily, just anything, somebody stabs or starts a fight with another in line waiting for the game, or robs someone who did buy it, or god forbid someone actually gets killed the day of release.

I can't predict it but I felt and still feel pretty strongly that somewhere this game will be blamed for some violent act the day of release. Note, this could also include somebody foreseeing that the game results in something (harm, death etc) in the future, ie speculation.

The point of this question was to raise awareness at how ludicrous it is to blame violent acts on game, but that it very likely will happen, as absurd as it is, its just a game, as a gun is just a gun.

well i can promise you that someone will say it's going to cause an act of violence, how respectable do they have to be for this question? I mean if Jack Thompson gets on the news (and he will) does he count?

Well I'm planning to release another video game on the 29th called "Smack for Jack" with a short plot line involving locating Jack, kidnapping him and making him smoke up a storm until he sounds like Flavor Fla on a good day. That should keep him away from GTA IV and its evil toxins to allow us NO people to clean up.

hey where is the news link of the act of violence? i voted not and it said i lost.... so i wanna see the links - how can i?

nvm, found it

1) it was 11pm the night before
2) gta4 was not blamed for the act - the news says a PASSERBY did it, not a gta4 fan or whatever...

Gonzalezbr is correct. It did not happen on the day of release. The game could not be blamed for the act since it had not even been released yet. The author of the question made it clear that the act had to happen on the day it was release and blamed on the new version of the game. This was a very poor settlement. Perhaps the hubdub staff should read the question and comments before making a decision of on settlement?

OK this was a mistake on my part. The settlement has been retracted, and will be resettled after the day of release or pending further settlement requests.

Tisha...
http://www.gamegrep.com/news/9205-gta_iv_launch_sees_violence/

GTA IV launch sees violence
chautemoc | 4 hours 59 mins ago | News | Playstation 3 XBOX 360
Apparently the BBC has been reporting on violence in light of the GTA IV launch last evening; thus far we have one stabbing and one mugging. I'm going with the chief on this one: know where the line is, people.

In the mugging, an 18-year-old was robbed of his copy of the game and beaten as he walked home from the store with a friend. The victim was taken to the hospital with a broken jaw and a broken nose.

Tisha...
http://www.gamegrep.com/news/9205-gta_iv_launch_sees_violence/


No where in the article does it say that GTA IV was blamed for the attacks. Just appear to be thugs robbing folks of their games. For the question to be settled YES GTA IV has to be blamed as being the cause of the attack, for example someone was playing the game and went out and attacked someone.

bitakarma is right. The content of the game itself must be the cause/incentive of the violence.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1907172/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV-Violence-flares-after-launch.html

I am settling as 'yes' based on the mugging which occurred in Manchester. It was definitely an act of violence - it resulted in a broken jaw and nose.

Additionally, the game was certainly the cause of the violence. The boy was mugged so his attackers could steal the game. The telegraph article states that "Some anti-GTA IV campaigners have already jumped on both incidents as proof that such games are too violent for society. Keith Vaz, a prominent British Labour MP, said that news of both incidents didn't surprise him", which implies a link between the two and reports blame for the violence on the game.

This type of act was specifically envisioned in the clarification by the question creator (see comment 5).

This goes against your very own clairfication. You said "InfernalMachine has explained this as I intended when I wrote up the question. If some act of violence occurs within that day, specific to GTA IV, not previous games."
The qutoe above blames "such games are too violent for society" this specificly relates to games in the past and does NOT relate SPECIFICLY TO GTA IV. This act of violence cannot relate specificly to GTA IV since there was no linkage of playing the game to the person comitting the violence. You clairfy a queston one way and then rule another...it is getting to where it seems settlements are completly random!!!

I concur with some of bitakarma's comments. The Telegraph story does not draw a connection between the violent content of GTA IV and the mugging. While they also mention violence in this and prior GTA releases, the mugging is covered as an assult and theft without saying that GTA IV was anything more than the item stolen. Once again, settlement is an art, not a science. I wouldn't call it random, but would say that it's not a sufficently predictable process to make this site a long-term success.

"The Telegraph story does not draw a connection between the violent content of GTA IV and the mugging. While they also mention violence in this and prior GTA releases, the mugging is covered as an assult and theft without saying that GTA IV was anything more than the item stolen. "

I agree with harveyb. The same thing could have happened waiting in line after midnight for a new Madonna CD.

Perhaps the question should be whether or not this particular game will draw together a particularly violent group, waiting to purchase it? As it is the question to be decided is will the game be BLAMED for violence?

The whole point of this question was whether or not playing the game would cause violence- cleary this mugging was not a cause of playing the new GTA game.
Once again, I am disappointed with Hubdub.

I agree with greenenergy....poor settlement....

Do you blame Mars Candy Co. if someone grabbed a Snickers bar on the way out the door after robbing the cash drawer?

Looking at the discussion here, looking at the action history in the settlement details...
Seeing the fiasco here:
http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/_1027/view

My opinion: Poor hubdub.
And it's getting worse ...

I am starting to think that Hubdub admins need to start writing all questions. I am getting sick of betting on the question as it is written, then losing because it is later reinterpreted. If you can't settle the question as written it should be void. Why should I be punished because I bet on this question before the interpretation was laid out? I understand that this site is about having users submit questions. If this is going to continue to be such an issue, have users submit a question to an editor, who can phrase it clearly for posting.