The Violent Video Game Excuse

If you’re a gamer you have probably heard of the violent video game excuse. Well if you haven’t it is when a person blames a video game for inciting a certain action that can be interpreted as violent to themselves or others. Anders Behring Breivik, Norway’s alleged mass killer, testified Thursday that he used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to train himself to shoot and then used that training to kill 77 people last summer. Breivik also confessed to using the MMO World of Warcraft in order to justify his isolated planning. This isn’t a new debate a continuous debate about whether a link exists between video games and violence has been ever-changing.  While a scientific study would be the most logical reason to decide this conducting one and creating a definite answer has been troublesome. In an article by Christopher Ferguson it would seem those who start playing video games at a early age are able to distinguish reality from fiction and actually relax an individual rather than incite anger. Other variables such as spending too little time or even skill can play a factor, causing studies to be inconclusive.

 

 

Video games and violence have been debated on a constantly and have spawned a lot of notorious figures on both sides such figures like Adam Sessler and Jack Thompson. One of the most notorious cases pertaining to video game and violence was the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado in 1999 when it was assumed that Doom influenced the teenagers who carried out the mass murder. For years “Grand Theft Auto” has been targeted many times for its promotion of violent behavior. For example within the CNN article John Sutter mentions the case in Alabama in 2005 of how police officers were killed by 18 year-old Devin Moore and that Grand Theft Auto was to blame for inciting the incident. Sutter also highlights that a lot of people play video games to such a degree that it has become a common item, look at Breivik’s own psychological motivations rather than his Xbox, and training in a virtual reality doesn’t mean you can do it in reality.

 

S. Sutter, John. "Norway mass-shooting trial reopens debate on violent video games - CNN.com."CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.