Wed 30 Apr 2008
Submitted by YOUR NEW REALITY
A video game reality crossed over into this realm for a bunch of kids queuing in London to buy GTA IV :
The launch of the ultra-violent Grand Theft Auto IV video game descended into real-life horror when a man was stabbed repeatedly in a queue of fans waiting to buy it.
Shoppers thought they were witnessing a promotional stunt for the launch when the blood-soaked victim staggered among them.
They realised the attack was genuine only when police arrived.
Malcolm Critchell, queueing with his nephew Jordan, said: “The victim was covered from shoulder to belly in blood. Everyone thought it was a show to promote the game.”
Another queuer, Marcus Henderson, 24, said: “It was a scene straight from the game itself. In Grand Theft Auto, when you attack someone but don’t finish them off they’ll come and get you. We thought it was a stunt put on by the makers of the game.”
The reality in the video game became the standard against which these kids were assessing the violence they were actually witnessing, and they did what you can do in the game when you see someone else being attacked. Intervene, or stand back and watch. Or run them both over with a car. They stood back and watched, comparing a real world stabbing to a fake one, and believing the reality wasn’t real. Reality didn’t look real enough.
