The makers of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City are being sued by the victim’s families saying that it’s the game’s fault a 14 year old boy, now 16, shot their family members. The $600 million suit filed on Monday names the boy, Cody Posey, Sony Corporation of America, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games as the parties responsible. It claims that Posey played the game obsessively for months and that the GTA series are “virtual reality murder simulators.” While it is sad that these people are dead, the suit is extremely naive.

The game trained him ”how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity,” according to the suit.

If this were true, then Hollywood is also responsible for every action film they produce. Also, if it were true then the game would have taught him how to aim and, the last time I looked, my guns don’t have an R1 button on them, but they do have nasty kickbacks, something no game gives you the experience in. The game doesn’t teach about recoil, reloading, necessary arm strength, proper holding of the gun, or proper aiming of the gun. To say that this game teaches one to be an effective killer is misnomer. I would say a film, such as Saving Private Ryan, would do more to teach someone the realities of killing someone that GTA. I have no problem killing a person in GTA, but watching Saving Private Ryan, I get sick to my stomach every time.

The plaintiffs accuse the corporate defendants — Sony Corporation of America, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games — of a ”civil conspiracy,” saying they should have foreseen their entertainment ”would spawn such copycat violence.”

This will not hold up in court and has been disproved many times before. Knife and gun makers have been cleared many times before. They are not responsible for what owners do with them and they are far more dangerous than a video game. If the corporate defendants are responsible for this tragedy, why then is the gun manufacturer not being sued? Posey wouldn’t have killed these people without the access to a gun right? So why is the owner of the gun not being sued?

Posey had told police he shot his family after his father, the ranch foreman, slapped him for not cleaning horse stalls fast enough. Prosecutors described Posey as a ruthless killer, but his lawyers claimed his father had abused him for years.

Now we begin to see what really sent this kid over the edge. Years of abuse, which probably led to years of being ignored, giving this kid the time to “obsessively” play his games. Posey’s desensitization to violence did not begin with playing GTA. The abuse he suffered in life, most likely, led him to being violent. He watched his mother die in a car accident and his father and step-mother abused him physically and sexually. His inherent safeguards that should be there aren’t. His parents should have had a say in teaching him not to be violent. Instead, they taught him how to be violent and that it was an acceptable behavoir.

The years of abuse that Posey took is more likely the resulting cause of his homicidal acts. Abuse removes the respect you should have for others. Abuse removes the bond between parent and child that teaches love. Abuse blurs the line between the real world and fantasy. Abuse leads to ignoring the child and allowing him to play violent games for hours with no interaction from the parents. Remember the game is rated M (Mature), meaning no one under 17 is allowed the buy the game. Who bought the game for him? Who allowed this child to play a mature game not meant for him? Who allowed him to play it obsessively without checking in on him?

I also have to admit that I enjoy killing people in games. Trust me. You are all better off that I kill you sixty times come Sunday instead of doing it in real life. It’s a nice way to release the rage I feel towards my fellow idiot human beings (No, not everyone is an idiot but those that are should consider themselves lucky I have video games at home.). I’m sure others feel this way too. It allows me to release my anger in a safe way, without doing harm to others.

While it is a tragedy that people’s lives are lost, we must look, realistically at who is responsible for these people’s lives. First, and foremost, Cody Posey is responsible. Next, the parents, for allowing Posey to play for so long without human interaction and, presumably for purchasing the game. NO ONE else is responsible. Movies, books and games can, and do, move people to think about society and their role in it. But this case has nothing to do with video games being the trigger that caused Posey to be homicidal. It doesn’t matter what the platform is (game, movie, book, etc.), if you are intent on committing violent acts, you will find a way. Blaming something else is merely a way to take responsibility off yourself and eases the consequences you must face for your actions.

The court is not convinced that the respondent has antisocial personality traits to the extent that would make him not amendable to treatment or rehabilitation,” Counts said. “There is evidence that the situational nature of the violence makes it less likely that the respondent will pose a future danger to the public.”

The court declared that, at the time of the murders, he was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression, most likely caused from the death of his mother four years previously as well as the abuse he suffered. It’s obvious that no one ever sought help for the boy to deal with the circumstances of his mother’s death. How could they? They were too busy treating him like human dirt.

Unfortunately, people had to die to see this kid was slowly turning violent. $600 million will not fix this broken kid and it is a sick twist to shift the responsibility from parental negligence to a young man who desperately needs help. The parent’s failure to notice what was happening to their child and their ongoing abuse towards him is what the real tragedy is and we all ought to think twice when we try to place the blame elsewhere from where it should lie.