In Defense of Video Games

Okay, we all knew it was going to happen.

Every time a Grand Theft Auto Game hits the shelves, video gamers such as myself have to bunker down. The Grand Theft Auto series is unquestionably the poster-child of violence in video games. Every time a GTA game comes out, the constant undercurrent of criticism for video games comes to a head.

It doesn't help that that this latest iteration is, by most sources, a milestone in video games, on all levels. The graphics are incredible, the controls are apparently amazingly tight and intuitive, and the gameplay is said to be addictively fun.

I personally am not a fan of GTA. I think that it is so realistic that it's disturbing. Even games like Gears of War are so over the top in their violence that it removes the shock factor. I just have a hard time stomaching it.

Nonetheless, the argument that video games are responsible for tragedies such as the Columbine or Virgina Tech shootings is unfounded. Yes it is true that many of the people responsible for tragedies such as these played video games.

It's also true that they ALL wore pants.

Just because a majority of prominent shooting-spree perpetrators played video games does nothing to insinuate that they caused the mayhem.

Just a simple background analysis of these killers is far more reasonable and revealing. And what do they show? The people who perpetrate these crimes are, by their very nature, outcasts of society, and are often pantently disturbed. It makes perfect sense that these people would play video games, because, unable to function properly in society, they put themselves in another world.

Now before you hunt me down, know that I am also an avid gamer and in no way believe that playing video games makes you unable to function in society. The simple fact is, video games don't make a killer. Mental instability makes a killer.

To say that someone who sees marching into a school and massacring students as justice does so because of a video game, and without said video game, would NOT have done so, is absurd.

Why is it that video games bear the brunt of this criticism, when almost all other media have more realistic, more graphic depictions of violence? Television and movies are rife with scenes of wanton destruction that make even GTA look like Andy Griffith.

Why then, do "family values" conservatives and Senators such as Hillary Clinton crusade against video games? Is it a reactionary mistrust of a rising medium? Is it because the video game industry lacks the monolithic lobbying bodies and public relations firms that the elder media enjoy?

To be clear, I always support moderation. Playing too many video games, like too much of anything, can have many deragotory effects. However, I do not see any merit in the claim that they are causing a rise in violent behavior.