Postal 2 blamed for arsons

Police say Running With Scissors PC game inspired three teens to set fire to eight cars and one home over three weeks.

Police in North Carolina have arrested three 19-year-olds in connection with a three-week-long string of arsons, and they're saying the charged got the idea from the controversy-seeking 2003 PC game Postal 2, according to a report on WSOCTV.

Eight cars and one vacant home were set ablaze in Gaston County near the South Carolina border, and the trio are facing more than 20 charges in connection with the crimes. Police said that teens broke into the cars and stole valuables before setting them on fire. One of the teens had previously been charged with arson, and police said he led them to the other two suspects in the case.

This is not the first time the Postal series has been tied to unlawful acts. Media reports in the wake of a Montreal shooting rampage claimed the man behind the gun enjoyed playing the game, and in New Zealand it's a crime to even possess Postal 2 since that game was banned. Postal creator Running With Scissors was also sued (unsuccessfully) by the US Postal Service for trademark infringement, while a satirical promotional site for the Uwe Boll-directed film based on the games sparked another suit over intellectual property.

249 Comments

  • -Dark_Palladin-

    Posted Oct 28, 2008 11:19 am PT

    This is stupid.

    The teen was neglected by life. It wasn't the game that made him do it. He was simply depressed by life, so he wanted to have "fun". Sure, the game might've given him the idea, but we gets ideas everywhere. From our friends, spouses, TV, everywhere. If they want to blame a game, they should blame their parents, their teachers, their friends, their TV set, and everybody on the street that they see.

  • KBABZ

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 1:28 am PT

    I know why Burnout hasn't been blamed for what you see on Disorderly Conduct each week: No guns, no people dying. And yet Burnout may be the cause for at least SOME cases.

    I'm with the bunch who say it's the kid's who are to blame. Yes, Postal 2 did influence them, but they had to be a bit iffy to be influenced in the first place. And that isn't even considering the other arson charge earlier.

  • Erebus

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 10:51 pm PT

    Running around a convieniance store and emptying a gas can all over everything while the middle-eastern store owner chases you around with a shotgun screaming "allahlahlahlahlahlah!" is sadistic fun. Tossing the match and watching as the store catches fire and you yourself are on fire so you attempt to urinate on yourself to extinguish the flames is just priceless.

    In real life, I am an occasional shopper of convieniance stores and I have never even considered something so heinous. I'd equate Postal 2 to an arson simulator as I would equate Superman to encouraging suicide by jumping off buildings.

  • Atomic_Mutant

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 3:09 pm PT

    If I had to play Postal 2 I would be tempted to commit some sort of delinquency too.

  • TKTOWA

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 11:43 am PT

    I ran down the street with my unit out peeing for an unrealistic amount of time because I noticed you could do that in Postal 2.

  • KlausW88

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 8:44 am PT

    "Police said that teens broke into the cars and stole valuables before setting them on fire."

    so where did they learn to break into cars and steal valuables?
    because you can't do that in postal 2
    like said before by others, if there is any link at all, it's probably criminals that play the game not the game that creates criminals

  • gin_rummy89

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 2:22 am PT

    the media blames video games because they can't say that some kids are just plain F*** ups

  • BLaZe462

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 2:19 am PT

    I wonder if jack thompson would drop epix if u killed him

  • alcari

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 12:48 am PT

    I'm going to shoot up an empty game-store, and blame it on Jack Thompson, just to piss them all off.

    or, to quote a certain plasticine person: "Arson? Aye, they're arson around."

  • BDL91

    Posted Jan 10, 2008 12:31 am PT

    LMAO they've always got something to blame because their little boy set fire to cars just to get them out of trouble they already done tests and its proven that video games to not contribute to crime, hey how about i shoot up a shopping mall and blame it on hitman these people who say that crap are pathetic im sure the press also contributed it as well

  • HAMODA

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 11:16 pm PT

    postal 2 is wonderful.................. but they shouldn't blame postal 2 for works of the KIDs!!!!!!1111

  • eliteking

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 7:09 pm PT

    i pissed on a short black person in the mall.... postal 2 made me do it...

  • ehuman

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 5:27 pm PT

    Obviously, these kids are not gamers. If they are actual hardcore gamers, they would never blame a videogame for their acts of violence, knowing that would endanger the videogame industry.

    They know nothing about videogames, and I would personally tell people like these that I care more about videogames than their worthless lives.

  • joelaham

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 4:44 pm PT

    Let's face violent games can have an effect on people. If what you watched and listened didn't have an effect on you companies wouldn't spend billions of dollars on television and radio advertisments. Granted not everyone who plays such games will want to pick up a gun and start killing people, but it still has an effect regardless. If anything it can weaken or make one less sensitive to real life situations regarding crimes against humanity. What shocked you yesterday may not shock you that much tommorow. Not only that, but behavioral patterns for an indivisuals can change over time. What one watches, or listens to for that matter, can either have negative or positive results which many times take time to develope in a person. So playing or watching violent material may not affect you right away, but over time it can. To what extent? That depends on the person playing or watching the material. Not only that, but we live in a society where acts of aggression seems to be the norm. Some people who are prone to aggression may gravitate to such violent games because they can act out what they can't do in real life. And sometimes you may have certain indivisuals who want more than the ficticious. That's when you see things like what occured. You may be thinking, "This guy is just a lame dude who hates games." That's not true. I am a gamer at heart, and I like FPSs and the like. But at the same time I know that if I'm not carefull, I can be affected too. Maybe not to the point of going out and killing someone, but rather how I view violent real world situations and how people are affected. I try hard to curb my gaming time, and what kind of games I play but sometimes it ain't easy.

  • Merl57

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 2:31 pm PT

    Games don't cause violence people do.

  • spec440

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 2:25 pm PT

    this is bullcrap.

    people should stop blaming games for society's ailments and start taking a good long hard look at themselves.

  • AndyRaeside

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 11:32 am PT

    I concede the game Postal 2... is pretty terrible... however in what other game can you run around with your johnson hanging out, urinating on Gary Coleman and then shooting him in the face with a shotgun, utilising a cat as a silencer ?.

    You just can't find that level of gameplay anywhere else.

  • jknight5422

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 11:01 am PT

    Wow. I think I have that game on my shelf gathering dust. Sounds like it's time to play it again. Btw, I hope these kids get 10-20 years in the Big House. Give them time to think about their crimes.

  • Crasher-Trasher

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 10:53 am PT

    They are grown ups! If they have played the game it dont mean they got the idea from it! JESUS!!!

  • SBel

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 10:19 am PT

    Games are just a scapegoat for society. Like the parents would blame themselves for a start and it saves society on paying for therapy for mental people who go out and do this stuff. Lets blame it on a game, theres plenty of games, gotta be one that can relate to this!

    What a crock of s***

  • SimonM7

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 10:16 am PT

    This sounds about right though. Postal 2 made me wanna set fire to a lot of things, including myself.

  • klugenbeel

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 9:45 am PT

    Yeah video games influence people...Halo made me want to gun butt aliens! :-P

  • Bench_Scientist

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 9:22 am PT

    I believe it...PacMan influenced me to eat ghosts

  • FOO_JY

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 9:13 am PT

    Why ? Cause you can piss on someone in the game you'll do in real life ?

    Whatever...

  • catsimboy

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 9:09 am PT

    This game is OVER 9000!!!!! years old. Pick a newer game to blame you noobs. None of this has anything to do with the fact that kids like to play with fire right?

  • Chasarsis

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 8:34 am PT

    That's right, it was Postal was influenced their actions. Not the kid who'd already been charged with Arson. Because any cause besides the video game just doesn't make sense.

  • Shodden

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 8:26 am PT

    Postal 2 is a f-ing terrible game, Jack Thompson can have this one.

  • andyrae11

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 7:56 am PT

    You know what I'm going to say?

    Probably this game effected those retards, infact the only ones playing POSTAL 2 are teenage angst ridden retards.

  • rpgisforme

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 7:08 am PT

    Blame it on the game . Anything to avoid pointing the finger at the lousy parents these kids had. I always know where my kids are, who they're with and what they're doing and so far they haven't shot, set ablaze or totalled any people, houses or cars. Imagine that? We play some of the most violent games in this house, so I can tell you, IT AIN'T THE GAMES! QUIT BLAMING THE GAMES!

  • firebubbles

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 6:45 am PT

    This is insane! One of the teens had already been charged with arson before, so how did Postal influence him in anyway? *shakes head* It is too easy to blame video games for everything because that means nothing else needs to be done to fix society. Other media have a much wider influence than video games... hopefully this blaming won't last, maybe the powers that be will find a new problem to blame all our ills on.

  • grootelaar

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 5:46 am PT

    Ok postal whas going too far this is just too far just keep it down a bit you know like manhunter 1 NOT 2

  • grootelaar

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 5:44 am PT

    THIS IS JUST **** NOBODY CAN SAY THIS WITHOUT PROOF WHO WOOD ACT A GAME LIKE THAT IT IS A FUN GAME SORT OFF BUT
    my point is they keep blaming games for every thing this isnt just fair if they stop making games many peapole will die and i mean die i know there will be a war genst gamers and anti-gamers its there own fault those kids are just MEGA STUPID

  • grootelaar

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 5:39 am PT

    THIS JUST SUCKS THEY DID IT BECOSE OF THE THINGS YOU SEE ON TV ORE THE MUSIC IF MORE PEAPOLE PLAY more games just like Bush and that guy that is dead in Irak with C&C many peapole's life have then be spared

  • AndyRaeside

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 5:36 am PT

    I think from now on I'm just going to blame all my wrong doings and actions on video games.... it seems to be a get out of jail free card for kids to get away with whatever they want these days...

    So ... why did you crash your car into the side of the old ladies Pinto ?... Burnout made me do it.

  • raze-boi

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 4:11 am PT

    This thing is just totally stupid. Sometimes games can't be blamed. Postal 2: It is banned in many countries? Yes! Is it violent? Yes! Does it tell people to become arsonists?? NO!!!!

  • raverrozza

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 4:06 am PT

    tratyu92:
    LMAO!!!HAHAHAHAHHHHAH!!!

    if we all copy what we do in computer games id spend my weekends running round a dark room munching pills and listening to repetitve music.... oh wait....

  • TheoleDominion1

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 3:30 am PT

    Sorta like when a few kids got killed trying to perform moves on each other from what they saw on WWE. You gonna blame WWE for that too?

  • War-Tex

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 3:06 am PT

    Wow.that sucks.

  • tratyu92

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 2:52 am PT

    lololol.............What's next?Halo blamed for alien invasion?!!?

  • Thorpe89 Site moderator

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 2:45 am PT

    Video games are blamed too much nowadays.

  • DiabolicalX

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 1:59 am PT

    so if my cousin likes a hello kitty adventure game (shudder), and she goes on a rampage, naturally we blame hello kitty, this may be our chance to do away with that loathsome balloon headed monster for good

  • thug_angel123

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 1:17 am PT

    how about arresting the game's dvd instead...

  • Tentunf

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 1:17 am PT

    And I blame society for Postal 2.

  • Alvaro_20

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 1:05 am PT

    wth man... why are games still blamed for stuff like this? this just can't go on forever....

  • BraindeadRacr

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 12:49 am PT

    Okay okay... So, if I play Postal 2. And then go out with a bunch of friends to stirr crap up. How is Postal to blame?

    Peer pressure? Boredom? Careless Parents? Anything? Bunch of friggin' idiots.

  • im-a-roustabout

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 12:24 am PT

    I'm so tired of people blaming games just because they got cought. It's almost in "vouge" now to blame all your "misdeeds" on a video game, regardless if you got the idea from the game or not. I'll say it once and I'll say it again, Video Games do not create bad people, Bad people just like to play these kinds of video games. You really think a guy who thinks about killing people in real life would want to play Viva Pinata? Or Grand Theft Auto? Think about it.

  • thee_Decider

    Posted Jan 9, 2008 12:06 am PT

    Remember when they used to blame arson on Beavis and Butthead? The more things change, the more they stay the same...

  • hyperslug

    Posted Jan 8, 2008 11:33 pm PT

    A lot of people are probaly going to use this as an example when they are trying to get all games banned. They don't know that Postal 2 sucks, and very few people bought it. They just choose to generalize and make all of gaming look bad, so they can become more popular in their stupid little christian fundamentalist community.

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