Thursday, June 26, 2008

Theft Worse Than Murder - Concerned Parent

A suit is being settled against the makers Grand Theft Auto III, Hidden Sex Scenes Draw Ho-Hum, Except From Lawyers. The suit was over some hidden scenes that had more graphic sexual content then the graphic violent content of the rest of the game. Some lawyers got together and started a class action suit for the "aggrieved" buyers of GTA III. In a out of court settlement any buyer who was offended can get their money back. So far only exactly 2,676 filed claims. The plaintiffs are getting $30K and the lawyers $1.3 million. I have played some of the GTA games. Computer games franchises and sequels do very well and many who bought GTA III had played earlier versions and iterations and knew the sort of game they were getting, a violent game where you role play a criminal. However some copies of this game was mistakenly bought by clueless parents.

For example, Brenda Stanhouse, who bought the game for her son, 15 years old at the time, said in a deposition that she did not know that a player in the game could “stomp to death innocent pedestrians.”

She also did not know that the game included prostitutes, that players could kill policemen or that “a player in the game can kill innocent pedestrians and steal money from them.”

“I’m aware that there is killing in the game,” Ms. Stanhouse said in the deposition. “I wasn’t aware of the stealing.”

Let us remember the lesson of the GTA lawsuit that you can steal more with a law degree than with a gun.

No comments: