10 Ways The Video Game Industry Has Gotten WORSE This Decade
4. How Gaming Is Viewed By The Media
Mainstream media has always had an uneasy relationship with video games gradually becoming a greater part of culture in western society.
It's easy to understand, to a degree - the boomer generation hadn't come of age when the industry fully came into its own. I’m certainly not trying to be ageist, but the NES, Atari 2600, and Sega Master System were closer to “toys” when we had them as children, so it’s not surprising older generations still don’t "get it".
The saddest thing is that while I don't buy the notion of games - and by extension, gamers - getting worse, the optics around the industry haven’t improved all that much, either.
There have been some truly horrific acts and tragedies this decade, but what infuriates is whenever the motivation for these acts is talked about. If the perpetrator is a millennial or younger, the finger is immediately pointed at video games, claiming they’re desensitising, abhorrent, and hold no artistic value.
No evidence exists to support such a theory, and never has. We need a much more adult and informed discussion to take place in 2020 and beyond.