Violence is Not Caused by Games

Ever since the release of games like the Grand Theft Auto series and Postal 1 and 2, there has been a noticeable uproar from concerned parents and the government about whether or not these extremely violent games are making children homicidal. The reasoning behind these assumptions is typically that violence plus video games plus kids equals shootings in school. This is not the case, according to Karen Sternheimer “In 2000 the FBI issued a report on school rampage shootings, finding that their rarity prohibits the construction of a useful profile of a “typical” shooter.” Where does this bizarre misconception that violent games make killers? The games, the gamers, and facts are what tell the true story about violence in relation to video games.

    First, lets look at the games themselves. Take, for example, GTA4 and Postal 2. In GTA4, you can do just missions and scrape by with minimal killing. However, the real fun comes when you start to build a serious arsenal and go on a rampage, killing everything in sight including the police, military and the FIB (the in-game version of the FBI). Granted, the violence isn’t necessary, but its fun and engaging, which is the games selling point. Postal 2, on the other hand, is so unnecessarily violent that some countries have banned it (economicexpert.com) completely. In the game, you smoke a crack pipe to gain health, use cats for silencers, and kill crazy terrorists that run at you with bombs strapped to their chests. There are anthrax-filled cow heads that you can use as weapons; you can take a piss on someone to make the puke, and so many more vile and disgusting things (RWS).

    So I have told you about a couple of games. This is where the misunderstanding comes in. people get so caught up in how violent the game is, they don’t seem to notice that the players  typically have enough common sense. There is a certain desensitization associated with playing these games off and on for years. The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) has put out a beautiful list of facts they have compiled about their consumers. 68% of American households play computer games. According to the US Census Bureau’s 2007 Estimates, there are 281,421,906 American citizens. That leaves 171,667,362 gamers. Imagine, if you will, that just 1% of gamers were violent people, and regularly went on shooting sprees and did other things associated with video game violence. That’s only 1,716,673 people killing and raping and other general pillaging.