[UPDATE] The Evening Post has retracted their statement in a reprinted article, which failed to reference GTA as a supposed 'influence' on the young rioters. It just goes to show that you can't just blame video games when bad stuff happens. So game in peace - while you still can.

London has gone through its third night of violent riots this week, riots initially sparked by the death of a man shot by police two days prior. Since the incident, riots have ravaged through Tottenham, and have spread to other parts of London as well. A London police officer has coincidently blamed the incident on crime-related video games, with one obvious culprit being the Grand Theft Auto games.

Grand Theft Auto is a title which is not immune to bad press. It’s a game which enables player to commit crimes, therefore it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why one may think it can be related to the events in London. Since the riot started there have been reports of looting, and children have also been involved in the violence, which is a part of the officers concern. I myself am not the biggest fan of the GTA games, but I do find the game fun, despite its questionable nature.

However, it is equally naïve to just blame these riots on video games. We’ve heard the same argument over and over, but I can’t believe that such serious atrocities could be caused simply by playing a game such as Grand Theft Auto. Sure, it’s not the most pleasant game in the world, but pointing the finger at it just seems like a total cop-out.

If I was to speak seriously, it’s simply a ridiculous claim. Games do not cultivate violent behaviour, and cannot be solely responsible for these crimes. It appears that whenever there is violence, there is someone barking of the dangers of video games. I thought that these riots would be immune to these senseless arguments, but it appears that is far from the case.

Crime isn’t caused by gaming, but pure human vice. People do bad things because they are bad, not because they want to live out their gaming experiences.

Next they’ll be blaming Final Fantasy VII for terrorism. When is it going to stop?

[via gamepolitics and computerandvideogames]