So this is interesting. The summer 2010 issue of Lapham's Quarterly, which if I'm reading this correctly is themed around Sports and Games, includes a "conversations" piece that includes part of a testimonial by one of the brothers of Devin Moore's shooting and killing of three police officers back in 2006.
Here's his testimony in full:
REV. STEVE STRICKLAND
Testimony before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on video games, 2006
My name is Rev. Steve Strickland. I am one of three brothers of Arnold Strickland, who was a Fayette, Alabama, police officer, who was murdered by Devin Moore on June 7, 2003. Devin made a statement in a local newspaper one day that made no sense to me whatsoever, until it got in the hands of our attorney, Jack Thompson, who knows all about what that statement meant. ‘‘Life is like a video game, everyone has to die sometime.’’ This is the violent video-game world—a world that, as far as I am concerned, is straight from the pits of hell. As I gather more information on the people who call themselves ‘‘gamers,’’ I could see how someone like Devin, who at one minute did not put up any resistance when arrested for stealing a car or when being booked, to the next minute, getting my brother’s gun from him in the police station, shooting him, and then killing two other men in a matter of less than two minutes. A game such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City could and did teach him how to do this. In this game, the people we put our faith and trust in to protect us from harm, the police officers, are the ones being targeted as the bad guys. Devin Moore practiced on this game hour after hour to kill our loved ones. It made him a more effective killer. When a society gets to the point where law enforcement are the bad guys and the thugs and the murderers are the good guys, our society will take a turn for the worse. I do not believe most of us are ready for that. Jack Thompson and others have facts and experts to back up what these games are: they are cop-killing simulators, and they will bring more deaths in the future. Our loved ones in Fayette are not the only ones to die at the hands of teens who trained on this game to kill.
Here's the wiki of the original case. Moore said something about video games, and would you look at that, this was one of Jack Thompson's star cases.
What's even more weird/interesting is that the page starts off with part of a 1577 treatise against games, specifically dice games, which basically says that games and fun are borne out of the devil.
I'm not completely familiar with Lapham's content, other than occasionally seeing it on the magazine stands and being impressed at how heavy and expensive it looks. But it sure is odd seeing this old case being brought up, apparently without any context as to what happened in the aftermath of that case.
