We all know that the media likes to blame video games for everything, from people shooting each other to kids stealing cars. But this reactionary approach has been used on sex, drugs and rock and roll for years.

What makes this latest case the more absurd – and more dangerous to reality – is that a British tabloid is now soliciting stories of how games turned people to a life of crime.

It seems the reactionary approach isn’t feeding the monkey. People aren’t running over prostitues in hijacked cars or blasting each other to hell often enough, so they’re now paying people to tell them what they want to hear.

They don’t even appear to care if these stories are legit, as the posting on StarNow, a British casting agency, calls out to anyone looking to make a few bucks. Or, pounds, in this case.

Tags: british_tabloid, reactive_approach, video_games

• GTA Co-Creator: Honor in Hate
• Meals in Tights: Ohio’s Real Life Super Heroes
• Teenagers Go On Crime Spree; Blame GTA
• Xbox 360 Preview: CSI: Hard Evidence
• Mom Claims GTA Helped 11 Year Old Rescue Family From Car Wreck
• Media Watchdog: Gamers Were Mean To Us!
• The Queen Loves Wii and Crumpets
• Ripten Reveals New Site Design

1 Comment » John Kershaw on March 31, 2008 6:46 pm I, as well as other gamers, are going to have a field day when it’s worked out what low-life tabloid paper is trying to do this. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.