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Columbine Lawsuit Dismissed

by Steve Gibson, Mar 05, 2002 2:58am PST
Related Topics – Activision, Sony, lawsuit, id software

The biz guys and legal folks at id Software and Activision are sighing a little bit of relief, the Columbine lawsuit against them has been dismissed in US District court. The lawyer for the family of Dave Sanders says that they will certainly file an appeal.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock granted motions to dismiss filed by Time Warner Inc. and Palm Pictures, as well as 11 video game makers, including Sony Computer Entertainment America, Activision and Id Software, the maker of "Doom." In his ruling, Babcock said there was no way the makers of violent games and movies could have reasonably foreseen that their products would cause the Columbine shooting or any other violent acts. "Setting aside any personal distaste, as I must, it is manifest that there is social utility in expressive and imaginative forms of entertainment, even if they contain violence," Babcock wrote
We've certainly had a few studies allegedly prove one way or another the influence of video games on people. The most recent trend in the past year has been that experts believe that games dont influence people. Even prompting an announcement by the US Surgeon General several months ago. I for one would gamble to say that generally games and other forms of media do influence people like anything else in the world, but not to any degree further than anything else. However there are certainly sick people out there who can be abnormally and strongly influenced by just about anything. Be it something they see on the cartoon network, in a movie, or in a video game. Should those industries be blamed if a sick person tries to emulate something they saw or did in those products? No I dont think so. Will the victims and families of victims so upset over the senseless violence search desperately for somewhere to point the finger? Yes.


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42 Threads | 120 Comments
  • #27
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    By: nakedsavage x
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    If a video game is somehow associated with an incident of violence there must be some other "factor" at work, such as environment, upbringing, etc. I've owned and played the entire Quake series, Doom, Unreal Tournament, Soldier of Fortune, GTA3, and numerous other games that depict graphic violence or are otherwise labeled as "bad". Other than a couple of fights back in high school I have neither been involved in any violence nor caused harm to anyone. I'm sure the circumstances are similar for most of the Shack readership as well.

    The number of incidents blamed on video games is miniscule when compared to how many millions of copies of these games are played by people all over the world.

    If you use the reasoning of the poeple who say video games cause violent behavior this would be a true statement:
    "Games are a direct cause of violence, so the Shack will be out of business soon- it's only a matter of time before all of their readers are in jail for murder."
    Mar 05, 2002 6:02am PST
  • #13
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    By: datafox x
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    Was supposed to be a part of that post. It seems I forgot to copy this part after spell checking it.

    I am glad that this suit has been dismissed. I think the parents are singling out one aspect of society to hit on which is not the case. It seems those people involved were seriously disturbed and needed real help. To take something you see on a "magic box" and have it influence your life is disturbing. Acting out what you do in game only shows that their minds were lacking in something. It is also good while the judge does not approve of the things in media he tossed it out on the lack of merit.
    Mar 05, 2002 4:38am PST