In those wrong hands anything and everything can be that inspiration. If the person are 'inspired' by games to do this, it is a mental condition which can be set off by anything, Be it the bible, Dr. Seuss, a nursery rime, the commercial on the last bus that vent past, the voice in their head. This do not mean that it is Dr. Seuss fault, or that we need to ban the bible.

General belief that types of media influences people are summed up by the "Hypodermic needle model" (Also check out the Bobo experiment)

I was just over reacting, because it was a shock to see someone trying to do something in real life, that i've only seen done in games to be honest.

Sorry if i've pissed anyone off with this thread.

It's just that "bam, 100 points !" is something that drivers have muttered in front of pedestrians long before carmageddon. I think Death race 2000 featured this, 20 years before. And I've heard that joke from drivers who knew nothing of that computer game, or that film.

I'm not sure the chicken and the egg are very much related, here.

This is the unsolvable problem; there are nuts out there, they play video games just like everyone else... but not all of them are rational or moral people. It's not immoral ~within context; but some [mentally unstable] individuals will indeed take things out of context. Banning certain video games in a naive attempt to pacify the demented is a ham-fisted solution to a complex problem IMO; and it solves nothing. It merely sweeps the issue under the rug ~to ferment and bubble up later; when it will be someone else's problem.

Morals do not say if something is right or wrong. All it say is that some believe it is right or wrong.

I'm getting irritated here. I hate when Morals define what is right or wrong because frankly it can't.

Let me give two examples.
For some putting yellow flowers close to blue flowers go against their societies morals so therefore it is wrong. I dare you to find any logic in that.
You can't put a square pin in a round hole so that it fit. This is logical and a example of Right and Wrong. Doing it right or doing it wrong.
Yes Morals tend to be on the logical and/or practical side but that's just by trial and error and societies and people learning during the ages what is most beneficial for them. A example is that Morally murder is wrong and the practical reason is that if murder was morally right it would kill a lot of the population that might have been useful for the society.
But that in itself do not say that murder is wrong. it's just not a very efficient behaviour.

Bah. I'm getting back to the drunk thread. More alcohol!

Let me tell you about the traditional Russian cure for dismemberment.

First, you need to collect all the pieces of the dismembered person. If some are eaten, you will need to cut up whatever ate a piece and take it out from the creature's entrails.
Then, each piece needs to be thoroughly washed in vodka. (Some sources suggest sprinkling an assembled body with vodka instead.)
After washing, the pieces are assembled together like a jigsaw puzzle. Make sure no pieces are missing.
Finally, sprinkle the body with beer. The person will now yawn and awaken.

The above is not some secret unbowdlerized version; this and other similar stuff is routinely printed in children's books. And it doesn't look like the # of dismemberments in Russia is disproportionately high.

(Yes, I realize small children are more likely to be traumatized by excessive violence in the media, and they have a right to be able to avoid it. I also watched softcore porn as a kid, for the plot, but I won't inflict it on my own children, if any.)

an asshole who sits in a car and decides to run over people doesn't need a game as an inspiration or a reason to try it in real life, he'd do it anyway... probably just the fact that he feels mighty behind the wheel (and almost EVERYBODY can get a licence) is enough for him to try, if he's mentally ill...

I'd say playing a game could actually relief him of such needs, but that's just a guess

Unrelatedly to the debate, could you be more specific ? Is that a precise slave myth ? Does it -or its protagonists- have a name ? Or is it just a popular children story by a modern-ish author ?

It's a common plot element in folktales. Typically, the hero (Prince Ivan) gets either dishonorably killed by a nemesis, or betrayed and murdered by a questgiver or associates after completing the main quest, and the sidekick / love interest / animal helpers resurrect him by means of water of death and water of life (literally, "dead water" and "living water").

Edit: you'd think the water of death would be primarily used as an instrument of murder, but no - it's a disinfectant. Off the top of my head, I can't even remember a folktale in which anyone gets killed by the water of death (though some probably exist).

Ouch.