Games kill people

Everyone with half a decent education or at least some kind of common sense, knows that FOX News is nothing more than a sensationalist outlet professing to be a news channel. Their pseudo conservative stance barely masks their political agenda and imperialistic views. FOX News is nothing more than a podium for some questionable political figures in the US, which has a questionable political system to begin with.

In Europe most people nod and smile politely when FOX News is mentioned. Some of us might even watch Bill O’Really for a dose of daily humor. We don’t really pay much heed to them at all.

However in the US their audience is vast and their influence is growing. So when they produce junk like this (and please do watch the video at the bottom to just see how much rubbish they spout) it might actually have an impact on us, at least on us game developers.

I would not be surprised to see yet another investigation into the links between video games and fatal shootings. If not this time (after the shooting at the Naval Yard in Washington) then maybe after the next fatal shooting (and I have no doubt in my mind that there will be another one). And one of these days, perhaps when some of these muppet conservative, perhaps even tea party, politicians are in power, we might well see legislation with regards to video games.

Video games are an easy target, particularly when dealing with an audience that is comprised of older and more conservative generations. Every time a fatal shooting occurs voices can be heard blaming games. As a friend of mine suggested yesterday, perhaps we should have a world clock somewhere that starts when a shooting occurs and is stopped as soon as someone links games to the killer. It would be an interesting experiment. Yet video games cannot be held responsible for atrocities like this. The killer in this case apparently had a history of mental issues; he even had 2 run-ins with the police after gun related incidents. Yet he was still allowed to own guns. If you go back over the news reports for killings in the last decade there is a pattern of mental health issues or substance abuse. Yes, these people will have played games as well, perhaps even excessively so, but considering that video games are a main staple of entertainment for people since the 90s, this is is not really surprising.

At the Sandy Hook shooting the killer, Adam Lanza, had mental health issues, yet his mother owned several weapons, including an assault rifle, that he had access to.

Looking at a list of school shootings only in the US it is clear that these have been around for far longer than video games, in particular longer than the  type of violent video games from the last decade or so, which are credited for influencing some of these killers.

The US prides itself in providing the freedom for its citizens to own guns. Laws are slowly changing but the fact is that it’s still too easy to get guns in the first place and there are few, if any, checks on mental stability of the owner or people who might have access to those weapons.

I have been in the army. I have been hunting. While I can understand some of the enthusiasm over guns, I personally see no need to ever own a fully or semi automatic weapon for recreational purposes. If you fancy shooting such a gun, go to a range and hire one for the day.

There are issues with violent games, I don’t deny this. Cases like this, where an 11 year old gets his copy of GTA, highlight that kids are getting games they should not be playing. Age ratings are there for a reason and they are largely ignored by parents and retailers. At the age of 11 the moral compass of a child has not yet fully developed (the reason why children under a certain age are not tried for certain crimes) and they not only blur the lines of what is right and wrong, but also what is real and what is not. Fortunately that 11 year old is French, so it’s unlikely that he has access to a fully automatic assault rifle and by the time he is allowed to drive (at the age of 18) he will probably have learned that driving over old ladies and prostitutes is something reserved for games like GTA and in real life this would be considered wrong.

In the US however many kids not only have access to games they should not play, but also have access to weapons, some companies even actively sell weapons made for kids.

Even if games do influence some individuals negatively, the blame cannot lie with the game. What’s wrong here is not the content of the game. What is wrong here is that parents buy these games for kids who are too young and/or for retailers to sell these games to kids below the age rating.

Even suggesting some sort of tracking on how many “violent” games an individual buys or how many hours they play these games is ludicrous. If people are willing to go to that length to try and curb gun violence in the US, I would think spending that time and effort on controlling who is allowed to have guns and ensuring unfit people have no access whatsoever to guns would produce much better results.

But of course that would be stepping on an important American freedom. While games are just… well games.