You just watch. There is going to be a Columbine-times-10 incident, and everyone will finally get it. Either that, or some video gamer is going to go Columbine at some video game exec's expense or at E3, and then the industry will begin to realize that there is no place to hide, that it has trained a nation of Manchurian Children.
Jack Thompson, GameCore interview, Feb. 25, 2005

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of the Columbine killings. I found it odd that the event went almost unmarked in the media, as I can recall being horrified at hearing that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had killed 12 of their fellow classmates and one of their teachers, wounded over 20 other students, and then committed suicide. I know very few peers who are unaware as to what happened on April 20, 1999, but I do know that the fallout from that event had far reaching impact.

The journals of the killers indicated that they were fans of Doom, Quake and Duke Nukem, and that they played for hours on end. Nevermind the fact that they also went bowling to “warm up” for what they were about to do—this factoid was exactly what the media latched onto. Video games were warping the minds of our youth.

Jack Thompson was able to use this piece of information and launch an ill-informed smear campaign against gamers and gaming. He argued that games were violent revenge fantasies. In an interview with Netjak in 2006, Thompson reacted to the pending release of Bully:

Game Informer already has published screen shots of the game, and has done a brief write-up of what’s going to be in the game. Nobody can claim that they haven’t gone into the game’s content; it’s already out there. We don’t need to play the game; it’s irrelevant to the subject. It’s going in there, and children shouldn’t be playing it.

(Source: http://www.netjak.com/review.php/1091 )

One needn’t bother playing a game when one leaps to conclusions. And anyone who played through Bully will realize, rather quickly, that this isn’t some vengeance crusade. The protagonist in Bully is a bit of a punk, but he’s an Everyman—and the gore and violence that Thompson assumed would be present in the game was … well, it just wasn’t there. And there are consequences to the actions taken by the player in Bully.

If Thompson thinks that Bully is a violent fantasy, he should try being a misfit in middle school.

That’s not to say that there aren’t extremely violent and disturbing videogames—Manhunt is clearly an exercise in violence for the sake of violence. But if games are warping our minds, then why aren’t there vast armies of plastic-bag wielding madmen rampaging on the streets?

You know what's really exciting about video games is you don't just interact with the game physically -- you're not just moving your hand on a joystick, but you're asked to interact with the game psychologically and emotionally as well. You're not just watching the characters on screen; you're becoming those characters.
Nina Huntemann, Game Over

In Game Over, Nina Huntemann touches on one of the most unique aspects of our favorite pastime. The ability to become someone else. Much of the genre is immersed in being a hero—Super Mario, Sonic, Link, Simon Belmont, Samus Aran and countless others make up a pantheon of great heros whom we, from childhood, have relished and venerated.

Who hasn’t loved the opportunity to stomp a goomba, spin attack a robot, blow up a dodongo, kill a vampire or freeze blast a metroid? But the vast majority of us don’t go about jumping on the skulls of our brothers after a round of Super Smash Brothers. We enjoy the games and are able to separate the fantasy from the reality. In most cases, we’re blowing off steam.

When I have a rough day at work and then take a virtual shotgun to the head of a zombie, who is getting hurt in that scenario?

Rhetorical questions for the win, Alex.

Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll.
Shigeru Miyamoto

Mr. Miyamoto’s point is well taken. Each genre and medium is scary to the generation that preceded it. It’s misunderstood and those who fail to try it will never understand it. The bliss of playing the perfect game is lost on many folks—but as gaming and gamers go from fringe element to mainstream, this perception is beginning to shift. As a kid, only a handful of us had in-home gaming systems. I’d probably argue that many of my peers don’t game as adults but the advent of handheld systems and greater accessibility of games has opened the pastime to the masses.

But David Walsh, a child psychologist, was interviewed by CBS in 2005 in regards to the murders committed by Devin Moore—another tool in the crusade by Jack Thompson. Walsh had this to say about the formative years of a gamer:

"…[T]he teenage brain is different from the adult brain. The impulse control center of the brain, the part of the brain that enables us to think ahead, consider consequences, manage urges -- that's the part of the brain right behind our forehead called the prefrontal cortex," says Walsh. "That's under construction during the teenage years. In fact, the wiring of that is not completed until the early 20s."

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml)

Which is why these games were not intended for children. GTA, Manhunt, Doom, etc. were all mature titles. And if parents can’t be vested enough to keep these games out of the hands of their children, then why do we blame the game publishers?

Because it’s easy. Because the public wants a villain with deep pockets. And the game development studios make the perfect whipping boy.

What’s new is misunderstood. And what goes un-researched and un-played by the angered parties can be vilified without remorse or consequence. When Charles Manson claimed that the Beatles song, Helter Skelter told him to commit murder, people who didn’t understand rock and roll wanted to run John, Paul, George and Ringo up the flagpole. Now, in retrospect, we see this as ridiculous—but at the time people wanted a rationale for why Manson committed his heinous acts. And it’s easier to hate a band then to think that someone completely mentally unbalanced can go off the edge for no apparent reason.

…

Not to get all Michael Moore on you, but riddle me this one, Batman:

Japan’s population is 1/3rd that of the United States (127.3 million to 303.8 million) and yet our murder rate is 25 times as high and our rape statistic is 40 times what theirs is. We’re talking about a culture who has Rape Man as a comic book hero. Reading said comic is socially acceptable for businessmen on the way to work on the trains in the morning. And yet, somehow, their rates of murder and rape are a fraction of what our country’s is.

(Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php)

Video games aren’t the problem. I’m not saying that I know exactly what the problem is, but it seems a shame that people like Jack Thompson can twist a tragedy into a political soapbox. Here’s the crux of his slippery slope argument in the wake of the murders committed by Devin Moore:

"There's plenty of blame to go around. The fact is we think Devin Moore is responsible for what he did…but we think that the adults who created these games and in effect programmed Devon Moore and assisted him to kill are responsible at least civilly.”

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml)

Moore wasn’t trained by video games and neither were Harris nor Klebold. What those men did was terrible, but the responsibility falls not into the hands of the game developers, but rather into the hands of their parents and our culture. Video games were, and still are, an easy scapegoat.

I don’t think Jack Thompson will ever get his way. I don’t think that the creative voice in video games will be stifled by him nor his lackeys. But I do worry that people give him too much credence. I know by posting this here I’m preaching to the choir—clearly a community of gamers will all agree that Thompson is an idiot—but outside of this community there are those who think what he has to say is worthwhile and valid.

Gaming has always been, for me at least, a form of escapism. Those who seek refuge from their daily lives are going to be drawn into the totally immersive worlds created in games. Who wouldn’t want to feel like a hero every day—even if it is only for an hour or two at a time? The nature of video games—much like comics, movies, novels, music and most other art forms—is to take you into another world. It would be a shame to rob anyone of that joy. What we need to recognize is when a fellow gamer is losing touch with reality. When the fantasy begins to bleed into his or her daily life in unhealthy ways that is where we, as friends and siblings and parents, need to talk to them and get them the help that they need.

The answer isn’t to pull the plug on games. The answer is tapping into the real issues of isolation and distress. Violent games aren’t the cause. But when a gamer begins to obsess over them, they can be a symptom of something that needs to be addressed.