Violence in Video Games
Thursday, June 21st, 2007Violence in Video Games: Part One
Recently, as I was watching some late night TV as I often find myself doing, I noticed an interesting discussion taking place on Much Music (for Americans, it’s an MTVesque channel in Canada). The roundtable-like show entitled MuchTalks was centered around ‘violence,’ mainly in teens and involved a number of ‘experts’ from psychological backgrounds, community groups and a few musical artists, including the lead singer of Billy Talent, Ben Kowalewicz.
When I happened upon the channel through my ADD-like surfing, I caught their conversation just as they were discussing the prevalence of video games in the role of violence in adolescents. Initially, I was perturbed that I had come across this discussion, as I had to stop dancing and singing to Justin Timberlake’s ‘What Goes Around’ that I had set on repeat in iTunes, simply to pay attention.
However, as they started getting their ‘experts’ to speak and give their opinions, it rekindled my own opinion on the subject and made me realize that even people who go to university and study the mind can be complete morons. Along with that realization, I also wondered the obstacles that eSports will face in this area as we strive for more TV time and what actual psychiatric evaluation has to say on the subject.
We have all seen the news stories, the lawsuits and the politicians pointing their fingers at music, movies and video games as catalysts into child and teen violence, but why is that? Many people will point to their sheer stupidity or ignorance, but the truth of the matter is this; anyone out to criticize the developers, movie industry or even musical artists for acts taking place around the world are misrepresenting the appropriate blame and facts for certain gains.