Thailand Pulls GTA IV Following Murder of Taxi Driver

By Jane McEntegart, published on August 5, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: , , , | Themes: Digital Entertainment
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Popular video game, Grand Theft Auto IV has been pulled from Thai shelves following the murder of a cab driver at the hands of a teenage boy.

19 year old Polwat Chino admitted to stabbing and killing a cab driver in Bangkok in an effort to recreate a scene from GTA IV.

Local police say he "had wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game.” The high school student purchased a knife in a local Tesco and went on to the Bang Phlad district of central Bangkok where he happened upon the victim. Chino stabbed the taxi driver (aged 54) 10 times and then attempted to use the cab as a getaway car.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chino neglected to factor in that not only does he not have a driver’s licence, he can’t even drive. His constant pressing of the horn while trying to reverse down a dead end street drew the attention of neighbours in the area and they called the police.

Chino paid to play GTA in a local games business. According to the Times, the boy said he needed more money to continue playing the game and that the taxi driver looked like an easy target.

Polwat recreated the crime for police and reporters (which is apparently common practice in Thailand) and has been charged with robbery, murder and possessing offensive weapons. In a police statement the boy said his parents don’t give him enough money to play the game and that, as civil servants, they don’t earn enough.

Polwat Chino could face death by lethal injection.

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Comments

Anonymous 08/05/2008 11:02 AM
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and obviously this boy was just a fine little angel before GTA4....I doubt he had any mental issues what-so-ever

jeb1517 08/05/2008 11:09 AM
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jeb1517

who steals taxis in GTAIV, what a noob

Anonymous 08/05/2008 11:28 AM
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HAHA. There is lots of funny stuff in there, chino is spanish means chinese person and it said he went to bang phlad in the district of BANG KOK???????

bluntsky 08/05/2008 11:32 AM
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bluntsky

I suppose movies, TV, and even books could be next...

eklipz330 08/05/2008 11:41 AM
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eklipz330

wow what a dumshit, with this dumass acting like that, they just proved that violent games are bad for society as a whole, cause even if he was mentally retarded, it still gave him the idea to kill the poor guy...even if he shouldn;t have been playing it in the first place...and HE WAS OLD ENOUGH TO BE PLAYING THE GAME

frozenlead 08/05/2008 11:45 AM
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frozenlead

This is like blaming gas stations that sell alcohol for drunk driving, or blaming a gun for killing someone.

hongkongphuey 08/05/2008 11:47 AM
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hongkongphuey

So let me get this straight. Man kills other man after playing GTA. Country pulls game and urges other nations to do the same. IF, he had been to church or a temple prior to, and killed someone, would they ban bibles or shut down the temples? NO!!! Something stinks here........

heffeque 08/05/2008 11:47 AM
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heffeque

I guess that in Thailand protecting kids from GTA is more important than protecting kids from child prostitution and other kinds of sexual exploitation. Politicians in Thailand have their priorities in the right order, that's for sure... (I hope nobody gets offended by this comment. Whoever does means that he/she doesn't acknowledge Thailand's problem with child molesting as being a "bad" thing. I guess most people are against molesting kids, but hey, there's all sorts of people in this world I guess).

hongkongphuey 08/05/2008 11:55 AM
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hongkongphuey

Great point! Although some in the sex trade (adults) seem content with what they did when I interviewed them. Obviously some did not, but they said it was better than the menial jobs that paid next to nothing.

All around I agree with your post though. Priorities are definately out of alignment and blaming the messenger for a deeper problem shows their ignorance.

Cheers

deadliest 08/06/2008 1:51 AM
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deadliest

he should have gone for a cop car :D
try and jack that motherfukka , that would be hilarious.
Imagine waiting for one pulling out the dude and stabbing him hihihi

Alternator 08/06/2008 2:38 AM
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Alternator

I'm an avid gamer, and used to be against this whole linking of violence with computer games (back in the days of doom street fighter etc).

But looking at some of the games coming out, they seem to be trying to become more and more realistic with the setting, and be more life like except you can do really violent stuff in them and all the while the game is selling this as something cool and fun.

I think there does have to be some level of acceptance that this along with other violent influences is resulting in a level of conditioning, and some people will be more susceptible to that than others... Unfortunately everyone is potentially susceptible to those peoples violent actions

frozenlead 08/06/2008 2:52 AM
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frozenlead

It's nothing to do with people's level of acceptance of violence in a game; it's their ignorance to not realize that they bought a GAME. It's meant for fun, not a How-To session.

Alternator 08/06/2008 3:16 AM
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Alternator

frozenlead :
It's nothing to do with people's level of acceptance of violence in a game; it's their ignorance to not realize that they bought a GAME. It's meant for fun, not a How-To session.



Certainly it's their responsibility... But there are masses of people who aren't responsible, so the problem remains (it's hard to say just how big or small the actual problem is though)

kami3k 08/06/2008 4:24 AM
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kami3k

eklipz330 :
wow what a dumshit, with this dumass acting like that, they just proved that violent games are bad for society as a whole, cause even if he was mentally retarded, it still gave him the idea to kill the poor guy...even if he shouldn;t have been playing it in the first place...and HE WAS OLD ENOUGH TO BE PLAYING THE GAME



I can say the same if he actually saw a real murder. Guess we should just ban life then uh? I'll go lobby the congress to launch those nukes to end the world alright? Oh and I'll make them do it on December 21 2012. That why all the crackpots can fell happy before the end comes. Hey at least we won't have to hear their talk of the end of the world anymore!

kami3k 08/06/2008 4:25 AM
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kami3k 08/06/2008 4:26 AM
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kami3k 08/06/2008 4:27 AM
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kami3k


Woops lol

Evilshuriken 08/06/2008 4:59 AM
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Evilshuriken

Thailand... isn't that the same place with the ya ba additcts that always ends up on the news holding a small child hostage with a giant kitchen knife?

Just because the kid played GTA IV doesn't mean he didn't have some issues, you can't blame the game for the kid's mental instability. People need to stop blaming videogames for things like this, at the end of the day normal] people can tell the difference between a game and real life.

Evilshuriken 08/06/2008 5:09 AM
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Evilshuriken

Hey kami3k, a little tip.

When I post a comment on here it takes me to a page displaying an error but I ignore it, I then go back to the pervious page and reload it. After reloading the page I can see my comment posted successfully, try that and you might avoid triple posting in the future :P

Alternator 08/06/2008 5:12 AM
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Alternator

evilshuriken :
Thailand... isn't that the same place with the ya ba additcts that always ends up on the news holding a small child hostage with a giant kitchen knife? Just because the kid played GTA IV doesn't mean he didn't have some issues, you can't blame the game for the kid's mental instability. People need to stop blaming videogames for things like this, at the end of the day normal] people can tell the difference between a game and real life.



That might not be the case though, it may be that only people above the curve can make a clear distinction. Who here isn't a product of society around them or atleast influenced by it, desensitised to bad things happening etc...

And even if he did have some issues, it was playing the game that put it in his head to go and do what he did. And perhaps given all other things were equal except he didn't play the game then this crime wouldn't have happened??

JonnyDough 08/06/2008 5:14 AM
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JonnyDough

The only crime this guy is really guilty of is being stupider than the AI pedestrians in GTA.

lobhob 08/06/2008 7:36 AM
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lobhob

Darn right they pulled GTA4, Im mean jeez they have a massively huge death rate of 1 and they FINALLY pulled the darn game. I mean its not like the kid made up that story to try to get out of the crime or anything.

giovanni86 08/06/2008 9:58 AM
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giovanni86

A. He was old enough to play the game. B. At that age he should know between right and wrong. C. Just because you don't have money for a game doesn't give you the right to go out and actually react something from it. I've been playing the GTA series since i was like 12, have yet to do any crime at all. The kid either had issues or from my personal opinion he was born a killer already, just needed to point out a video game so he could blame that and some how get away with murder. The crazy thing is we will always have murders, had them way back in medieval times. And we will have them even today. To blame violence on video games is just sad, i hope games get bloodier and more violent, they have yet to reach that level of intensity and gore violence that i personally as a gamer am looking for. My 2 cents.

kcherdch 08/06/2008 10:47 AM
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kcherdch

Woah Woah Woah. Hold your horses peeps. I'm in Thailand right now, and the news is missing information. The police are not only blaming the game, but they are also blaming the kid's parents. Many parents in Thailand leave there kids at the game store while they go shopping or when they need to go some where. This makes kids addicted to game, and when they're addicted, the usually will skip school to play games. 90% Of the crimes caused from imitating games were because parents lack the responsibility to be with their kids, and actually talk with their kids.

You must understand that in Thailand society, parents would believe there kids would have no mental problems. Parents would go to work while the kids go to school. By the time the parents come back from work, they eat then go to sleep. They expect their kids to have responsibility while they don't have much time for them, but in reality most kids lack them. Also, when parents don't pay attention to their kids, most kids will look toward games and other places where they can actually say "This is fun and they care about me." The root of all the problems: prostitute, murders, robberies that were caused by teenagers are because of the lack of care from there parents.

Yes, the game is violent, but it is only a factor towards real world crime. If parents actually give warning, cautions, or at least care to what their children are doing, this would not happen.

jeb1517 08/06/2008 11:03 AM
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jeb1517

kcherdch :
You must understand that in Thailand society, parents would believe there kids would have no mental problems. Parents would go to work while the kids go to school. By the time the parents come back from work, they eat then go to sleep. They expect their kids to have responsibility while they don't have much time for them, but in reality most kids lack them. Also, when parents don't pay attention to their kids, most kids will look toward games and other places where they can actually say "This is fun and they care about me." The root of all the problems: prostitute, murders, robberies that were caused by teenagers are because of the lack of care from there parents.



Sounds alot like America...

Alternator 08/07/2008 12:12 PM
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Alternator

Giovanni86 :
A. He was old enough to play the game. B. At that age he should know between right and wrong. C. Just because you don't have money for a game doesn't give you the right to go out and actually react something from it. I've been playing the GTA series since i was like 12, have yet to do any crime at all. The kid either had issues or from my personal opinion he was born a killer already, just needed to point out a video game so he could blame that and some how get away with murder. The crazy thing is we will always have murders, had them way back in medieval times. And we will have them even today. To blame violence on video games is just sad, i hope games get bloodier and more violent, they have yet to reach that level of intensity and gore violence that i personally as a gamer am looking for. My 2 cents.



So basically it's not fair, you shouldn't have your entertainment taken away because others can't handle it properly.

Just in case you take that the wrong way, I'm not being sarcastic, more summing up the point how I see it.

I think it comes down to an equilibrium/compromise to fit with society though. Unfortunately you might be surprised at just how many impressionable people are out there that do have it in them that if they are pointed in the wrong direction will happily go that way.

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



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