7. Grand Theft Auto Games Were Banned In Thailand After An Alleged "Copycat" Murder
Whereas most gamers on the planet are quiet, well-to-do nerds who just like to escape into new worlds and enjoy the comforts of not having to go outside, there are a small minority of gamers who just ruin things for everybody. In this case, we're talking about the violent act committed by a teenager in Thailand who robbed a taxi driver, stabbed him and claimed that he was inspired to do so by the
Grand Theft Auto games. This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse, said Ladda Thangsupachai on the incident, who is Thailand's Director of Cultural Surveillance. He added, today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner," presumably unaware that his choice of words makes him sound as though he thinks cab drivers are inferior to video game shop owners. And as tragic as the incident was, it's still a fairly thin reason to ban
Grand Theft Auto entirely. I mean, the fact that the kid outright stated that he based his decision to go insane on
Grand Theft Auto is questionable, because what kind of normal-minded person does that? The issue, then, likely wasn't the game itself, but the individual involved, and something something video games/violence.
Grand Theft Auto is still banned in Thailand, anyway, so there.