14 DAY TRIAL // A videogame distributor in Thailand decided to stop selling Grand Theft Auto IV following news that a teenager confessed to copying a scene from the game as he robbed and killed a taxi driver. To my knowledge, there is no specific scene in the game that depicts the murder of a taxi driver but the confession of the murder is proof enough of the dangers of the videogame that the distributor decided not to sell it anymore.
Sakchai Chotikachinda, who is the sales and marketing director of New Era Interactive Media, told Reuters that "We are sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games".
Veeravit Pipattanasak, who is the police investigator assigned to the case, declared that "He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game". And the Culture Ministry reacted to the news by pointing to videogames as one of the main causes of violence amongst youngsters in the country. Ladda Thangsupachai, who is the director of the ministry's Cultural Surveillance Center, underscored that "This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse. Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner".
But let's face it, it's just one kid, one murder and one videogame which, at the moment, cannot actually take the blame. Videogames have not started the big 2008 Thai crime wave yet. It seems like the Thai publisher that pulled the game from distribution is overreacting to what is, clearly, sad news. I hope that Thailand does not go to the extreme and that videogaming, an activity that is enjoyed by more and more people over the world, will continue to be popular in the country.