Anyone who has been paying attention over the last few months has heard the bevvy of bonehead excuses for senseless crimes that have been laid at the feet of Grand Theft Auto IV, or maybe you haven't.

Let's see, there was: The killing of a taxi driver in Thailand reported as being designed as a copy cat killing from the game, the kids in Georgia who reportedly told cops that they learned about molotov cocktails from playing GTA IV, the gang of thugs in the suburbs of NYC who blamed the game for their evening of bat and crowbar wielding in the neighborhood, etc., etc. But now for something entirely different. Truth be told, and this is no big secret, the GTA series is plenty violent. That's why it carries a M-rating and isn't for kids, especially ones who can't tell reality from fiction. But sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. I don't put the incidents noted above in that category, but I do toss in the recent report of an 11-year-old Illinois girl whose mom credits her daughter's exposure to GTA IV with the kid's quick thinking in saving her family after their car flipped several times on the highway and landed in a ditch, leaving everyone incapacitated but her. According to the girl's mother:

"She just knew, from playing 'Grand Theft Auto.' She saw on there that
when a car rolls over, it can blow up. She knew that could happen to
us,"..."She showed the kind of bravery and courage you don't expect from an
11-year-old,"..."She stayed composed. She sounded upset, but
she knew the things she had to get done to help her parents and her
siblings."

Wow life experience beyond achievements points and an increased gamer score from playing a game? Who knew, and along with that chalk up one positive Grand Theft Auto related news story to sit along side all the crazy negative ones. Only two questions remain. The first is why was an eleven-year-old girl allowed to play GTA IV? I'm pretty sure that we'll never get an answer to that one and equally sure that her family could care less at this point. The second is what game is she playing now?

--Hobson's Choice

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