Since the events of Sandy Hook Elementary School, gaming's image has taken another pretty damn hard hit both in the US and the UK. In the US, there has been a huge removal of arcade cabinets across America as well as new anti-video game groups emerging, and on the reopening of Sandy Hook Elementary School, people gathered round to burn violent video games in protest. Now, I'm not trying to upset anyone at least with this point but the fact that the whole shooting is being blamed on video games rather than an unbalanced individual being exposed to various mediums, in a state that had reasonably unimpeded gun laws is just plain ridiculous. Yes, the Connecticut school must grieve, but why turn it into some new-age style book burning? Here in the UK, it's not as grim, but more attention has been put into the violent video game issue. Like a recent survey conducted by PriceSpy.co.uk that stated Birmingham spends more per person on 'violent' video games than any other city in the UK. They also added: "There could be a correlation between recorded crime and those who buy violent video games." It seems like the more time 'violent' video games are mentioned in the UK media, the more parents are shouting their unsubstantiated, nebulous views on content that isn't appropriate for their children. I say children because why would any parent or guardian appear on national television to complain about content for their twenty-year old child? Maybe if their child had some sort of mental illness, but I'm really moving away from my point. The point I'm trying to conclude this article with is, people can't let events like Sandy Hook Elementary School completely warp their minds towards video games or any kind media. Yes, the Newtown shooting was a tragic event, but it wasn't because of video games; he was just a troubled young man, it was that simple. Did you enjoy being a gamer in 2013? Share your observations about the last 12 months of gaming in the comments thread.
Thomas James Hunt is a British Video Game Critic who is a rather unpleasant character in the journalism world. So brace yourself for some nasty behaviour in the form of articles.
