7 Reasons We Should Be Worried About Video Game Violence

2. Scapegoating

Whilst there are games that deserve to be denounced, the moral panic that surrounds them often results in the industry as a whole being tarnished. When horrific tragedies such as the Columbine shootings, or the Sandy Hook massacre occur, video game violence always appears on the news agenda. This often leads to video games becoming the scapegoat for organisations such as the NRA or the tabloid press. This is often because those committing the atrocities are said to regularly play violent video games, and therefore are regularly cited as a cause. The majority of perpetrators in school shootings are also young adults, and therefore highly likely to be playing the popular games such as COD or Battlefield. The fact is, it would probably be harder to find 18-30 year old men who don't play violent video games than those who do. This scapegoating can also lead to games being misunderstood. An example of this is a game that emerged in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings. Around a year after the tragedy, Ryan Lambourn posted a game on various internet sites called "The Slaying Of Sandy Hook Elementary." In the game, you play through the events, starting by shooting your mother, then after collecting a semi-automatic rifle, you head to the school and proceed to shoot children. After completion the game switches to a "gun control" mode, where you don't have ready access to firearms. It's then much harder to kill and the death toll at the end is starkly lower than what can be achieved with a gun. In the credits, Lambourn encourages players to contact their representatives about gun control, whilst also providing links for more information. At the time of its release much of the media failed to play the game through and discover its point. The game forces you to engage with its rules, and therefore players are able to get a more crystallised understanding of how much of a difference gun control could make in scenarios such as Sandy Hook. However, what should have been a novel attempt to engage people in the gun debate is tarnished, as Lambourn previously released a similar video game days after the Virginia Tech shootings. The game seemed to have no real message or point other than shock factor, capitalising on the heartbreak of the time. It's these small instances that allow games to be blamed for society's ills, and gaming - as a medium - suffers for it.