TalkTalk hacking suspect ‘addicted to violent video games’
THE 1 -year-old arrested on suspicion of carry- ing out the cyber attack on TalkTalk is a videogame fanatic who said he wanted to become a ‘professional’ Call of Duty player.
The war-game series is one of several – including Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil – played by the boy that carry 18 certificates and have become infamous for their use of gratuitous violence.
Call of Duty is a phenomenon that has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. It is a first-person shooter that puts players at the heart of the action as a soldier armed with machine guns, rifles, pistols and grenades – awarding points for killing enemies.
Call of Duty 3 shows soldiers running through London as bombs explode and buildings fall. In one controversial scene a soldier causes a Tube train to derail and explode. Other scenes show aerial attacks on New York and grenades exploding in Paris and Berlin.
Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik claimed he had ‘trained himself’ to kill his 77 victims by playing Call of Duty. It is one of a number of video games that have become so popular they are played in competitions watched by thousands in arenas and broadcast to millions online.
Groups like Major League Gaming and Gfinity organise and host eSports tournaments across the US and Britain, with the most successful players earning in excess of £100,000 a year.
In the Grand Theft Auto series, players assume the identity of a criminal working for mob bosses. Characters must carry out drug deals, banks robberies and murders. When not ‘working’, they can commit their own killings and muggings. Players can pick up a prostitute, have sex with her, then beat her to death.
Wounds and killings are graphically depicted, with blood spurting on to walls, car windscreens and the camera lens.
Resident Evil is a best-selling video games series in the ‘survival horror’ sub-genre, pitting players against mutated zombies. The games have become notorious for graphic violence, and were a favourite of Aaron Alexis, the US gunman who killed twelve in a 2013 rampage through a Washington naval base.