Do violent video games really breed mass murderers? First person shooters, in particular, have been cited as “factors” that may have led to the the tragedies at Columbine and, more recently, at Virginia Tech. The two videos below explore this issue, discussing it from a video game player’s point of view. This documentary aims to debunk the negative stereotypes — I played a lot of violent video games and watched a lot of violent movies growing up, but you don’t see any of that behavior manifesting itself in my real life — and yes, even the notorious Jack Thompson makes an appearance.
On a side note, I just wrote an article on video game violence and children for LoveToKnow Video Games. Feel free to check that out as well.
Part One:
Part Two:
I don’t think you can blame games… if anything you can easily blame tv/movies more. After all, if kids grow up to be killers from playing video games… why don’t we have kids growing up to be plumbers dressed in red and blue?! 🙂
Great post – and great documentary!
(Maybe this explains why I run into traffic. I used to be a Frogger fan)
Good post.
I think violent games do not breed anything if kids receive the proper education. We must blame parents for that.
Thanks Michael. I enjoyed watching that. It’s good to hear the opinions of those that actually play games. The subject comes up from time to time with my adult students, and the general consensus is video games are bad… despite nearly every household in Japan owning a video game system of some sort. I’m a long term gamer, and I’ve never even been in a fight!
I play a lot of video games. Around 30 hours a week now that I don’t have school. I have to agree with the gamers, gaming hasn’t made me more violent in any way, shape, or form.