Violence in Video Games

This editorial was written by: Hombre Sabio

Just as it does with everything else in life, violence creates a lot of controversy within the gaming industry. Politicians and “soccer moms” across the nation have mad e it their personal vendetta to eradicate violent games. The big thing is that they think violence in games causes kids to be violent. That’s just plain ridiculous. I know people are always up in arms about things being imitatable, but this has gone too far. I don’t see people running around jumping on things because they played a Mario game. Video games are only the cause of violence if you are severely deficient in the mental area. If you can’t distinguish between the real world and the game world, which anyone with half a brain can do, then you don’t need to be playing games.

So, where does the violence come from? What is the cause of kids shooting at cars with shotguns? The cause is very simple: incompetent parents. There are several things these parents are doing wrong. First of all, they have failed to teach their children the difference between reality and the game. That distinction must be made because their children obviously didn’t catch on to it on their own. They have also failed to take an interest in and monitor the games their children are playing. There is an ESRB rating on every game for a reason. It is to ensure that games to not reach the hands of children when the material is inappropriate for that age bracket. Finally, they have failed to see the often subtle warning signs children that have these violent outbursts exhibit. If these parents were to pay more attention to their children rather then having a video game be their babysitter, then perhaps the parents would have seen these warning signs. It is because the parents have utterly failed to do their jobs that they need a scapegoat. That scapegoat is video games.

So, now that the parent has found a scapegoat, it is time for them to preach their blasphemy to all of the others like them. They gather groups of incompetent parents together to complain about the horrors of video games to the world. It is here that they gain support from the other unintelligent masses that, while they may not have a child that has done something violent, they are completely unschooled in the subject of video games. So, these people begin clamoring as well. And now we get the politicians in involved. Striving to attain more votes, and knowing nothing about video games, politicians take up the call of these unfit parents and their uninformed followers and start crusades against the video game industry, all from the comfort of their government offices. It is then that the cycle repeats itself with another violent kid and a parent not wanting to be blamed. All of this ends up resulting in even further attacks on the industry.

Now, not only do I think that video games don’t cause violence; I believe that they may, in fact, do the opposite. I don’t know how many times I’ve been angry or upset and have channeled my emotions into games. Whether they are fighting games (like Super Smash Bros.), first person shooters (like Goldeneye), or even non-violent games such as farming simulation games (like Harvest Moon) I always find a way to channel whatever I may be feeling into the game that I play, and it makes me a much more mellow person. I’m 100% positive that I’m not the only person that does this, as I’ve heard testaments from many other fellow gamers that take the same approach as I do dealing with certain emotions.

What do those of us that find merit in video games do to take the wind from the sails of crusades against us? We fight. No, we don’t fight with violence. We fight with our wit. We fight with our words. We fight with our emotions. We fight with our intelligence. And we fight with our understanding of the industry. If the only time people see video games in the news is when there is something bad happening, then they will go with the flow and assume that video games are bad. We need to work to get a positive image of the industry out there. We need to work to get video games in the media for good things. Tournaments can be held that cost a fee to enter in (with a prize of course) and the money made from the tournament can be donated to a charity (if done on a large scale, this could be quite a big deal). Not only would that benefit those of us fighting for the video game industry, it can also benefit other worthwhile causes at the same time. That’s just one example of a beneficial event right there. We can also write letters to our representatives telling them about ourselves (ex. Jobs, grades, etc.) and telling them what we like about games and how we feel. Let them see that not everyone that plays video games is a delinquent. Don’t do it in response to bad media coverage or crusades against the industry either. Do it just to do it. Make them see that you care. The gaming community may be a minority right now, but we are growing in size and strength every day. If we make enough commotion, somebody is going to hear it. Let’s just strive to make sure that when they hear the commotion, they are hearing good things.



-Hombre Sabio