I know plenty of people who play video games. Some of them are older, some of them younger. Some are a little weird. Some are your neighbors(!). Some of them may even be you.
That said, none of these people I know have killed anyone. Nor have they blamed video games for their violent outbursts. Or movies. Or music.
I write about this, though it's been days since this maniac was caught, in an effort to vent. In college, the whole "do video games cause violence" debate was still hot. In recent years, its seemingly gone away, but now, thanks to this douche, its back. Some lawyer in Florida, I believe, is already looking to blame video games for inspiring this psycho to kill all those people and attempt to take down a politician in Arizona.
Remember Columbine? Video games, Marilyn Manson, and movies were blamed for this, as well. The fact that the two nuts who committed the act played a simulated Columbine "Doom" mod on their computers didn't help. They used whatever computer know-how they had to create hallways and levels of their school in a video game. Wow. That must mean the game caused them to do it.
All that shows is they had tech know-how.
Not too long ago, Rockstar Games released Bully, one of my all-time favorite video games. A microcosm of the life of a high-school kid, filled with cliques, hot girls, and teenage mayhem. The game was branded a "Columbine Simulator" by the government,and was protested even after the company (known for generating controversy with their Grand Theft Auto titles) screened the game for politicians and pointed out a lack of guns, death, and violence altogether.
That didn't stop the limitation of the game's sales overseas, however.
In a country where every show on late night television is about death, shootings, violence, and sexual attacks, are video games really the chief cause of aggression in young adults?
As a gamer, who has been defending the artistic merit of video games since junior high, I say absolutely not. Games are no more to blame than films.
Remember Virginia Tech? The asshole who shot that place up was a fan of another one of my favorite pieces of art, Oldboy, even going so far as to ape the main character's iconic image:
So I guess the general message we take from this correlation is that Oldboy, a movie about false-imprisonment and the revenge one man seeks after 15 years jailed for no reason led this maniac to shoot everyone at his college? Right.
People are so quick to blame anything over blaming the person in the mirror. Parents who pay no attention to their children who play Mature-rated games with sex and violence are more to blame than anyone else. Kids who sneak into R-rated films and are underage, who's fault is that? The theatre-owners.
It's not Hollywood or any other entertainment media's responsibility to police the content of their films. Do any of you know how strict the MPAA is? Why is violence less policed than nudity for some reason? What's wrong with the male or female form? Why is it so damaging for a young person to see two individuals, naked, having simulated sex, but its totally fine for a character to be pancaked by a pane of glass?
This debate is so bizarre to me. The ESRB and MPAA both exist to police entertainment that children and adults can enjoy. Parents who pay no attention to what their kids are doing are the villains here. Not the characters that child may want to emulate from the game or film they're watching.
I leave you all with this video. Fox News is already an established enemy, so this should surprise no one. But in this important video, on the topic of sexual intercourse in video games (another of my all-time favorite games, Mass Effect), we have champion of justice, Geoff Keighley defending one of the finest games ever produced against a panel of Fox News Retards. Enjoy!
Addendum:
I actually find myself sick to my stomach listening to these so-called Fox "experts" talk about Mass Effect. If people are so concerned with teenagers and young men learning negative female stereotypes, then why buy the game? Give your kid a Wii, condemn them to a life of boredom with a system that means nothing in the gaming landscape, and call it a day. You don't want your kid playing games or looking at material you find disturbing that could skew their vision of women, then don't buy those games. Take better care to learn about what your kid is doing. Do the policing yourself if you care.
Ugh, fuck Fox News. Fuck talking heads. Not the band Talking Heads, but the people on those shows.
I 100% agree with you on this.
ReplyDeleteI think blaming video games or films is a scapegoat so people don't have to admit its their bad parenting or the fact that they are completely unaware of what their kids are doing or how they are feeling because they don't talk to them is the cause.
I remember what Marilyn Manson said in "Bowling For Columbine" when asked what he would say to the kids who committed Columbine, and he said "I would listen ..."
ReplyDeleteThat statement speaks volumes to me.
Agreed. Plus I think the shooter looks like Sloth. That is all
ReplyDelete