Only Gamers go on Shooting Rampages, Right?
Explaining the ridiculousness of the correlation between video games and violence.
Derek Hidey
Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: The AT Wire
- Page 1 of 1
Well, if there is one thing that the Virginia Tech shooting did for sure, it was remind everyone about how terrible video games are. For gamers, this is no surprise at all, and most of our initial reactions to the shooting included wondering how long it would take before the media and crazy nuts out there blamed it on video games.
One of the biggest advocates for banning violent video games is Jack Thompson, “Ace Video Game Attorney,” according to G4TV. As soon as the VA Tech shooting was over, Thompson was making appearances on cable news networks furthering his anti-gaming agenda. What was really great to see, however, was some hesitation on the part of the media to blame video games entirely.
According to GamePolitics.com, a blog presented by the Entertainment Consumers Association, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews featured Thompson on Hardball and “pointed out the flaws in the controversial attorney’s argument.” The following is an excerpt from the transcript:
MATTHEWS: Do you know what [Cho] was doing?
THOMPSON: We know…
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Do you know whether Cho, the shooter…
THOMPSON: No. We don’t know, but I will tell you…
MATTHEWS: … was involved with “Counter-Strike” at Virginia Tech the last four years?
Matthews said that he thought Thompson was “projecting other cases onto this case,” and that he was “projecting what [Cho] was doing four or five years ago onto what he was doing this weekend.” While Matthews appeared to be resistant to Thompson’s claims during the discussion, he concluded by stating that he wasn’t for or against any theories about the correlation between video games and violence until they are proven true or false.
Even Rush Limbaugh discounted the VA Tech tragedy’s correlation to playing violent video games. According to GamePolitics.com, during Limbaugh’s radio show, one caller said: “I’ll bet my last dollar in my pocket that this shooter will be found to have been a compulsive video gamer, and when people are living that kind of lifestyle – and college students do this a lot.”
Limbaugh opposed the caller’s theory by stating: “Not every video gamer goes out and murders 33 people on the college campus though. There’s more to this than that… it may desensitize people, but it doesn’t turn everybody into mass murders….”
Here is the problem: the current adult generation, for the most part, doesn’t play video games and, therefore, they don’t understand video games. It has been proven through history that people are always afraid of things that they don’t understand. Until the younger generations who have been exposed to video games start getting into positions of authority, we are going to face accusations made time and time again by the Jack Thompsons of our society.
Despite the overwhelmingly negative view of video games and the effects of playing them in our youth, there is still hope. This hope is shown through the slow and progressive change in our society’s beliefs. These changes are evident through the opinions older people such as Chris Matthews and Rush Limbaugh, two people who didn’t grow up with video games, but are resistant to the popular theory of violent video games causing violence.
“Find out everything there is to know about these… Super Mario Brothers. Okay, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool. I mean, what’s so special about them anyway, it’s obviously just a mob front.” — G4TV’s Jack Thompson Parody featuring Kevin Pereira
One of the biggest advocates for banning violent video games is Jack Thompson, “Ace Video Game Attorney,” according to G4TV. As soon as the VA Tech shooting was over, Thompson was making appearances on cable news networks furthering his anti-gaming agenda. What was really great to see, however, was some hesitation on the part of the media to blame video games entirely.
According to GamePolitics.com, a blog presented by the Entertainment Consumers Association, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews featured Thompson on Hardball and “pointed out the flaws in the controversial attorney’s argument.” The following is an excerpt from the transcript:
MATTHEWS: Do you know what [Cho] was doing?
THOMPSON: We know…
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Do you know whether Cho, the shooter…
THOMPSON: No. We don’t know, but I will tell you…
MATTHEWS: … was involved with “Counter-Strike” at Virginia Tech the last four years?
Matthews said that he thought Thompson was “projecting other cases onto this case,” and that he was “projecting what [Cho] was doing four or five years ago onto what he was doing this weekend.” While Matthews appeared to be resistant to Thompson’s claims during the discussion, he concluded by stating that he wasn’t for or against any theories about the correlation between video games and violence until they are proven true or false.
Even Rush Limbaugh discounted the VA Tech tragedy’s correlation to playing violent video games. According to GamePolitics.com, during Limbaugh’s radio show, one caller said: “I’ll bet my last dollar in my pocket that this shooter will be found to have been a compulsive video gamer, and when people are living that kind of lifestyle – and college students do this a lot.”
Limbaugh opposed the caller’s theory by stating: “Not every video gamer goes out and murders 33 people on the college campus though. There’s more to this than that… it may desensitize people, but it doesn’t turn everybody into mass murders….”
Here is the problem: the current adult generation, for the most part, doesn’t play video games and, therefore, they don’t understand video games. It has been proven through history that people are always afraid of things that they don’t understand. Until the younger generations who have been exposed to video games start getting into positions of authority, we are going to face accusations made time and time again by the Jack Thompsons of our society.
Despite the overwhelmingly negative view of video games and the effects of playing them in our youth, there is still hope. This hope is shown through the slow and progressive change in our society’s beliefs. These changes are evident through the opinions older people such as Chris Matthews and Rush Limbaugh, two people who didn’t grow up with video games, but are resistant to the popular theory of violent video games causing violence.
“Find out everything there is to know about these… Super Mario Brothers. Okay, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool. I mean, what’s so special about them anyway, it’s obviously just a mob front.” — G4TV’s Jack Thompson Parody featuring Kevin Pereira
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Steve
posted 4/27/07 @ 4:27 PM EST
Don't you just love it when society blames video games instead of taking responsibility for this kind of thing. Today violence is in everything not just video games, its in just about everything. (Continued…)
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