The Manhunt Murder Twist

Kikizo recalls the events and the ironies of the last week and offers an opinion on the issues they have raised.

Could you imagine murdering somebody? It's horrible to even contemplate. What if somebody told you to kill somebody? Would you do it? Could you kill somebody if you merely played a video game about killing? It sounds ridiculous but that's just what some have claimed has happened.

Stefan Pakeerah, 14, is dead because his friend, Warren Leblanc, 17, killed him. Warren lured Stefan to a park claiming they were to meet two girls. He intended to rob Stefan to pay for drugs. He proceeded to attack him with a hammer and repeatedly stabbed him with a knife, both of which he was already carrying. Warren was found minutes later covered in blood by police. Last week Warren was convicted of Stefan Pakeerah's murder and is to be sentenced in September.

The Blame Game

Manhunt is to blame, they say. Stefan's parents have launched a scathing attack on the game, and violent games as a whole. Certain media have picked up on it and have actively supported the banning of such 'evil' games. Stefan's parents have called Warren "inherently evil" but also claim he was obsessed with Manhunt. Stefan's father commented, "the way Warren committed the murder, this is how the game is set out, killing people using weapons like hammers and knives. There is some connection between the game and what he has done."

You may be familiar with Manhunt. It was created by the already infamous Rockstar North, responsible for the GTA franchise and noted for creating games that push the envelope on what is acceptable content for a game.

In Manhunt you play a put on death row. Given a lethal injection it looks like lights out for would-be 'hero' James Earl Cash, but fate has a trick up his sleeve; the execution was a hoax staged by 'The Director', who then places Cash in an abandoned city with murderous hunters let loose after him. Cash is ordered to kill or be killed, and is filmed at every corner for the pleasure of The Director, whose twisted advice Cash has no alternative but to obey. It's nasty stuff, rewarding you with a gruesome looking execution scene for your troubles.

Murder by PlayStation

The story was splashed all over the front pages, but The Daily Mail took the 'slant' too far, with a cover story headlined, "Murder by PlayStation" and a follow-up cover story that read, "Ban These Evil Games", while coverage also appeared in pretty much every other newspaper and on the evening news programme.

It was all too much for some retailers. The Dixon Group dropped Manhunt from their shelves, offering, "this was an unusual step for us in what we believe were rather exceptional circumstances. Our decision was taken in good faith out of sensitivity to the issues raised by many customers and the media."

Specialist retailer GAME quickly followed suit as a "mark of respect": "The decision was taken after careful consideration on Thursday morning. Under these unique circumstances we believe it was the right thing to do. We will be redoubling our efforts to ensure underage customers can't buy age restricted games from us, so we can continue to offer a wide range of games of all classifications."

Ignoring the Rules

Being 17, Warren shouldn't even have been in possession of the 18-rated game. How did he get hold of it? Where from? But it's relatively easy for underage gamers to buy an 18-rated game. I remember being sold Carmageddon and other 18-rated games as a teenager, no questions asked. Only very rarely was I ever stopped and asked to produce some I.D. And then I could ask my parents to buy it - not because they were ignorant of the game's content, but as they were happy that I would be safe playing it.

My parents had no real concerns about me one day trying to copy these games, but they did joke about it. I would brag about my exploits on GTA and my dad would just laugh. Never before had stealing a car and running over a large group of people for the hell of it been considered funny. But the boundaries of reality were never blurred, no matter how involving the game experience became.

Edgier Realms of Culture

Though Manhunt was labelled as 'disturbing', Rockstar was recognised by the BBC for "self-consciously pushing the parameters of taste" and mentioning that "it is perfectly valid for gaming to spread its concerns into the edgier realms of culture." But the game did manage to get banned in New Zealand, whose OFLC said "It's a game where the only thing you do is kill everybody you see. The only way you can accommodate the game's images is by an attitudinal shift. You have to at least acquiesce in these murders and possibly tolerate, or even move towards enjoying them, which is injurious to the public good."

In light of all the media exposure, it's all violent games that are now in the firing line. Once upon a time nobody really cared about pixels hurting each other. Only as games get more real is there more of a problem. Mortal Kombat was one of the first games being reprimanded for its gore and violence, which of course made it one of the most popular fighting game franchises ever. But even that looked like cartoon violence compared to things we are now seeing on current generation consoles. And imagine what a company like Rockstar could do with a gaming world which looks photo-realistic when next generation consoles arrive. This will happen all over again, it's guaranteed.

Kill Bill if You Want

Movies are now seldom blamed for murders, and entire genres of film do not get threatened with bans if they are. Games are now in competition with the movie industry as they are now more popular than ever and are even stating to emulate them.

Nobody blames any murders on shockingly violent but contextually clever French film, Irreversible, which carries an 18 certificate.

I can not understand how people can happily watch Kill Bill, with its over-the-top violence, dismembered limbs and gallons of blood, and then be shocked to see a game where someone's head has just been removed clean from their shoulders by some guy wielding a baseball bat.

James Earl Cash is the character who is killing everyone. He is doing it because he is being forced to in the storyline. You are merely interacting with the story, and watching the consequences of doing so. It takes a lot more than watching death in a game to lure somebody into a park and kill them in real life. If games did make kids kill people then the millions who've bought and played a GTA game would have slaughtered us all by now.

Industry Responsibility

"Games are played by people of all ages, from eight to 80, and all are subjected to strict regulation. There is no evidence to suggest a link with events carried out in everyday life, as many eminent experts have continually concluded," offered UK trade body ELSPA in a statement.

The police reported, "we haven't connected the game with the murder and we've already made that statement, but some sections of the media chose to ignore it. The motive was robbery."

But retailers should check ages more thoroughly, and companies like Rockstar must stop driving PR and marketing efforts for mature titles in inappropriate publications; Manhunt's PR drive started with a cover on GamesMaster magazine, whose average reader is 15-16.

And suggesting there is no such thing as bad publicity for Rockstar, Manhunt sold in record volume this last week, reaching number 14 in ChartTrack's official all-format charts, while gamers have been selling it on Ebay for as much as £60.

And if You Thought That Was Ironic...

New reports suggest that tragic Stefan, the victim, also had a copy of the game in his bedroom at the time he was murdered. It's unclear how he had a copy or where it came from at this stage, but this revelation begs one important question: if Stefan's parents are so against violent games, how did they not know their own son was in position of the game they are blaming for his murder?

Don't try looking for this update to the story in The Daily Mail. They've forgotten to report this minor detail.

Ban these ignorant journalists.

Paul Street
Contributor, Kikizo Games