7 Video Games Most Hated By Politicians

1. Manhunt Murder

Back in 2003 Rockstar Games released Manhunt, a super-gory action game that caused huge amounts of controversy worldwide and is my number 1 most hated game by politicians and or the media. In Leicestershire, England a teenager named Stefan Pakeerah was murdered by his friend,Warren LeBlanc, and because LeBlanc owned the game, Manhunt became the primary cause for this young man to turn on his friend. Pakeerah's parents were adamant that Manhunt was a major influence in their sons murder and continuously linked the game to the tragedy. Officials from both the BBFC and ELSPA emerged and said the game had absolutely no effect on LeBlanc and being only 17 at the time he shouldn't even have been in possession of the game. Despite this the game was pulled from shelves throughout the UK and Europe. US Attorney Jack Thompson was hired by Pakeerah's family to attempt to sue Sony and Rockstar. Thompson, who is outspoken about video game violence, claimed he had wrote Rockstar a letter at the time of the games release and told them to take it off shelves as it would only encourage copycat murders. Eventually it was revealed that the copy of Manhunt in question was found in Pakeerah's possession and not that of LeBlanc. Leicestershire Police confirmed that there had been no connection between the game and murder. As Manhunt 2 was announced 3 years later the controversy started again and both the Pakeerah family and Thompson stated the game had played a role in Stefan's murder and that they would attempt to get the game banned; they failed to do so. To this day Manhunt and the murder case is used by politicians to try and lay claim to the negative effects of video games. This is easily one of the most controversial and spotlighted video game debacles of all time. Despite officials from the BBFC, ELSPA and Police reports proving no correlation between the game and the murder, Jack Thompson refused to admit it and fought the case for quite some time. As tragic as the entire ordeal was there was no sense in blaming a video game that obviously played no role. In turn it created more hype for Manhunt that it would have generated on its own. Manhunt was a very controversial game that, to this day, is still a topic of debate and never managed to separate itself from the controversy, which is why it gets the number 1 spot. What other games have politicians and the media singled out? Do you think the claims they throw at the games are justified? Or erroneous? Let us know what you think in the comments below!