History Main / MurderSimulators

* The German pop science TV show ''Galileo'' once produced a feature on the alleged correlation between violent video games and school shootings. To illustrate its point about video game violence, ''Galileo'' curiously showed gameplay footage from ''VideoGame/Swat4'', which - while technically a FirstPersonShooter - is more to the point a ''police procedural'' [[TacticalShooter simulator]] that both actively ''penalises'' players for shooting and killing their 'enemies' and incentivises them obeying professional police protocol (that is, taking suspects into custody with ''minimal'' violence) at all times. In other words, ''Galileo'' used arguably the worst possible example for video game violence in then-contemporary FPS landscape.

* The German pop science TV show ''Galileo'' once produced a feature on the alleged correlation between violent video games and school shootings. To illustrate its point about video game violence, ''Galileo'' curiously showed gameplay footage from ''VideoGame/Swat4'', which - while technically a FirstPersonShooter - is more to the point a ''police procedural'' [[TacticalShooter simulator]] that both actively ''penalises'' players for shooting and killing their 'enemies' and incentivises them to maintain professional police protocol (that is, taking suspects into custody with ''minimal'' violence) at all times. In other words, ''Galileo'' used arguably the worst possible example for video game violence in then-contemporary FPS landscape.

* The German pop science TV show ''Galileo'' once produced a feature on the alleged correlation between violent video games and school shootings. To illustrate its point about cartoon violence, ''Galileo'' curiously showed gameplay footage from ''VideoGame/Swat4'', which - while technically a FirstPersonShooter - is more to the point a ''police procedural'' [[TacticalShooter simulator]] that both actively ''penalises'' players for shooting and killing their 'enemies' and incentivises them to maintain professional police protocol (that is, taking suspects into custody with ''minimal'' violence) at all times. In other words, ''Galileo'' used arguably the worst possible example for video game violence in then-contemporary FPS landscape.

See also: UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000; VideogameCrueltyPotential; HitlerAteSugar; UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode. Often overlaps with CowboyBebopAtHisComputer. MoralGuardians are normally the invoker of this trope. AndSomeOtherStuff is a way of attempting to avoid this.

* An InUniverse example with ''Film/NewPoliceStory''; the villains are a team of CopKillers who plan their murders with simulators.

However, [[SocietyMarchesOn the more widespread acceptance of video games as a medium]] [[TimeMarchesOn thanks to those who grew up as video games were becoming a major industry now having children of their own]], combined with some games like ''VideoGame/{{Hatred}}'' embracing the idea of senseless violence and bombing, as well as video games being protected as free speech in the United States (as confirmed in a 2011 ruling by the Supreme Court), has all but rendered this trope [[DiscreditedTrope discredited.]] Nowadays, mentioning that someone played violent games in courtroom proceedings is guaranteed to get smacked down by a judge for being prejudicial.

[[caption-width-right:350: As you can see, today's society is dangerously immoral.]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' games '''are''' in fact murder simulators, moreso than any other game on this list, in that your character you play as is an assassin for hire planning and carrying out murders as stealthily as possible. To date, the games has received almost zero coverage on being implicated with real life murder sprees or killings, in large part because it's not a hugely well known game series outside of the gaming scene, therefore many of the MoralGuardians that would complain about the game being a "murder simulator" barely know enough about it to comment on anything they'd find offensive. In fact, the games have been controversial for ''completely unrelated reasons;'' ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' was controversial as the final levels' architecture was based on a holy Sikh site, while ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'' was controversial because of its use of leather-clad-assassin-nuns with fetishes for violence. It's a little ironic that the game most would consider an actual murder simulator is the one with the least blame put on it for real life killings. As for the developers, they've repeatedly stated that the Hitman games are stealth-puzzle games, moreso than anything, as it's just as important to learn guard routines and weapons as it is how to kill someone in a given level, meaning loading a level and killing the target is not the idea; it's '''how''' you approach them that matters.

* After the Virginia Tech massacre mentioned above, pundits were falling all over each other to blame video games for the shooting spree; ([[NationalStereotypes that the shooter was a Korean college student probably contributed]]). Lo and behold, warrant searches of his house discovered no video games of any kind and his roommates did not recall ever seeing him play one. A little further research determined that the shooter was an unmedicated schizophrenic. Note that those same talking heads were not rushing back to correct themselves. [[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/page/2/ At least some media members recognized the scapegoating.]]

* The infamous scientist Dr. Ray Blanchard (whose rather bigoted, but influential, theories were largely responsible for advocating TransEqualsGay approach to {{transgender}} individuals for most of the 20th century) came out of relative obscurity in the winter of 2018 to try and endorse a HeteronormativeCrusader's theory that [[https://www.dailydot.com/irl/transphobic-doctor-twitter-anime-makes-people-trans/?fbclid=IwAR1VJCNsTR0rjk5H8sXS-nIHKEUWO640dNbpDFxtX6NtxRaU07Z_zmpyzJ0 anime was making children believe they were transgender]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-020FberW9U This other Argentine program relates, in some way,]] the attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, with the video game ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}''. The video is full of absurd claims, but the most stupid moment comes at minute 8:30, when they pretend to "play" ''Fortnite''.

* The fourth episode of the second season of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' has a villain whose "superpower" is the delusional belief that he's a player character in a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' clone (he even see things as if he's in a videogame, with CGI characters and a pumping techno soundtrack). He kills several people on-screen and kidnaps Kelly in the belief that she's his in-game treacherous girlfriend. He escapes at the end, but we then hear that he tried to break someone out of jail as the next mission in the "game" and [[RealityEnsues got arrested]]. [[spoiler:He reappears in the series's final season, when he's apparently cured but in reality still having to resist the hallucinations and delusions. In the end he snaps and has to be killed to prevent him from committing another murder.]]

* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is a murder simulator starting a female {{Yandere}} VillainProtagonist, who must kill '''anyone''' who are against her and her romance with her crush (and hide her victims' bodies, without being caught by people) such as [[MurderTheHypotenuse other (mostly innocent) girls who interact with her crush]] and [[LeaveNoWitnesses anyone who attempts to report her murders to social media]].

* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is a murder simulator starting a female {{Yandere}} VillainProtagonist, who must kill anyone who are against her and her romance with her crush (without being caught by people), such as [[MurderTheHypotenuse other (mostly innocent) girls who interact with her crush]] and [[LeaveNoWitnesses anyone who attempts to report her murders to social media]].

* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is a murder simulator starting a female {{Yandere}} Villain Protagonist, who must kill anyone who are against her and her romance with her crush (without being caught by people), such as [[MurderTheHypotenuse other (mostly innocent) girls who interact with her crush]] and [[LeaveNoWitnesses anyone who attempts to report her murders to social media]].

* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' is a murder simulator starting a female {{Yandere}} Villain Protagonist, who must kill anyone who are against her (without being caught by people), such as other (mostly innocent) girls who interact with her crush and [[LeaveNoWitnesses anyone who attempts to report her murders to social media]].

* An InUniverse example with ''Film/NewPoliceStory''; the villains are a team of [[CopKillers Cop Killers]] who plans their murders with simulators.

* Serial killer Nathaniel White alleged that his first murder was inspired by ''Film/{{Robocop 2}}'':

** In [[Film/{{Scream 1996}} the first film]], there's this exchange:

** In [[Film/{{Scream 2}} the second]], a discussion in a film class early on has several characters debating whether or not violent slasher flicks turn people violent. In addition, the killer [[spoiler:(at least, one of them)]] plans on blaming his killing spree on said slasher movies (such as the newly-released ''Stab''), invoking this trope in order to create [[FifteenMinutesOfFame a sensational trial]] and get the MoralGuardians on his side.
** [[Film/{{Scream 3}} The third film]] also has a discussion of this. One of the producers of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Stab 3]]'' notes how violence in cinema has become a touchy subject recently; the unstated-yet-obvious cause of this is that, a year before, the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} massacre took place. (In real life, ''Scream 3'' is probably the least violent out of all the movies.) They also speculate that Cotton's murder may have been by a LoonyFan.

** [[Film/{{Scream 4}} The fourth film]], however, does indulge in this, but instead of violent movies, it blames RealityTV and its culture instead. The killer's motivation is to become famous as a result of "surviving" the massacre, [[spoiler:much as her cousin Sidney had done]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'' parodies this by featuring protesters picketing Running With Scissors (the game's creators) in protest of violence in video games. Ironically, upon the player picking up his paycheck and getting fired from RWS, said protesters storm in with guns to ''kill everyone inside'', the player included.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Music/MarilynManson was a target for MoralGuardians after the Columbine shooting.

* The murder of a taxi driver in Thailand was blamed on ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', with the murderer confessing that he played the game. Cue the game series subsequently getting banned in Thailand for this reason.
* A couple of teens threw a bunch of Molotov cocktails and went on record saying ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' taught them how to make them. While there are Molotov cocktails in the game, such in-game instructions are only found in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars'', not GTA IV.
* There was an unfortunate case in Cleveland where the victim's father kept insisting on blaming ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' for his daughter's murder (the murderer was living with them at the time), trying to get it pulled from area stores. [[EvenEvilHasStandards The murderer went out of his way to insist that the game had nothing to do with the crime.]]

* Shortly after [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10513994 Raoul Moat]] went on a killing spree after murdering his ex-girlfriend's lover as well as injuring her, the ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Star]]'' ran an article claiming that the Scotland-based Rockstar North was planning on making him the star of the next ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' game, even [[KickTheDog bothering a grieving victim for a quote]]. In the backlash that followed, the journalist in question began criticising gamers for calling him out on his bull (trying to frame it as him being criticised for reporting it, rather than for outright lying in his blog). Luckily, in this case, sanity prevailed, and the ''Daily Star'' was [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-11467287 successfully sued for libel]].
* In Britain, the gutter press, in their quest to prove that you can blame absolutely anything on violent video games, blamed riots on ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto''. Not the shooting of a man who pulled a gun on police being morphed into claims of PoliceBrutality. Not the simmering class and ethnic tensions in the UK. Not the poor economy. Not that police funding had been cut in the name of austerity. Not mob mentality, where if one person acts out the rest landslides. No, they blamed ''GTA''. For people ''rioting''. ''Years after any entries in the series were released.'' The only GTA game to feature rioting as anything beyond an easter egg code is ''San Andreas'', which was based on the Rodney King riots... which were caused by claims of PoliceBrutality, racial tensions, and high unemployment.

** In another episode, three people in their 20s recreated a hooker killing from a CaptainErsatz of VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto and blamed their actions on the game. Their claim was that the game had warped their fragile minds so badly that they couldn't tell they weren't playing the game anymore when they hunted her down and hit her with a car and stomped her to death. The prosecution proves it for the bullshit it is.

** It is even to the point that the franchise is BannedinChina after some Chinese kids and teens were caught using altered ripoff notebooks which resembled Death Notes to make hit lists, which came off as a little rebellious.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-020FberW9U This other Argentine program relates, in some way,]] the attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, with the video game Fortnite. The video is full of absurd claims, but the most stupid moment comes at minute 8:30, when they pretend to "play" Fortnite.

See also: UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000; VideogameCrueltyPotential; HitlerAteSugar; UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode. Often overlaps with CowboyBebopAtHisComputer. MoralGuardians are normally the invoker of this trope.

* Jim Sterling discussed this idea in an episode of WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} titled "Desensitized to Violence", and criticized the idea that people are foolish enough to believe there was any correlation in the violence depicted in media (video games in particular) and real-world violence. To prove his point, he showed a video of Budd Dwyer's graphic and televised public suicide in 1987, demonstrating that while real-world violence is often more understated, it is more viscerally disturbing than the over-the-top cartoonish violence of pop culture.

However, [[SocietyMarchesOn the more widespread acceptance of video games as a medium]] [[TimeMarchesOn thanks to those who grew up as video games were becoming a major industry now having children of their own]], combined with some games like ''VideoGame/{{Hatred}}'' embracing the idea of senseless violence and bombing, as well as video games being protected as free speech in the United States (as confirmed in a 2011 ruling by the Supreme Court), has all but rendered this trope [[DiscreditedTrope discredited.]]

* The self defense killing of con man John Meehan a.k.a. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_John "Dirty John"]] by his stepdaughter, who later credit ''[[Series/TheWalkingDead The Walking Dead's]]'' methods for [[https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-killed-real-life-dirty-john-channeled-walking/story?id=60765812 dispatching zombies]] in close combat with a knife as having saved her life. Specifically, she stabbed him in the head and then, in the [[EyeScream eye]] because, "that's the softest point of entry so I wanted to kill his brain for like a zombie, essentially.”

* The self defense killing of con man John Meehan a.k.a. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_John "Dirty John"]] by his stepdaughter, who later credit ''[[Series/TheWalkingDead The Walking Dead's]]'' methods for [[https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-killed-real-life-dirty-john-channeled-walking/story?id=60765812 dispatching zombies]] in close combat with a knife as having saved her life.
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