Here we go again! I am still somehow surprised every time a certain news outlet produces a story wherein videogames are berated and depicted as being Satan’s own medium of corrupting the minds of children and teens.
Exhibit A, the article pictured above from the Friday, 16th March edition of L-orizzont.
For those non-Maltese speaking readers out there, the title roughly translates to: “The effects of violent videogames on the mind!” (Oh my)
What I find fascinating about this whole debacle is how videogames is the only artistic medium that is singled out for the violence they may (or may not) depict. When more mainstream artistic mediums such as music, literature or film depict violence on the other hand, no one seems to bat an eye. Why is this so?
And of course this goes without mentioning the fact that the vast majority of gamers out there are not unlike other regular people. Gasp! So gamers aren’t all psychopathic serial killers? No, they are not. I have played violent videogames ever since I was very young and I have turned out completely normal (I hope).
This particular article also asserts that children grow up to be “morally immature”. Firstly, if that were true, I’m pretty sure that by now Earth would have descended into an apocalyptic wasteland with naked people running around killing each other and tea-bagging corpses (come to think of it that sounds a lot like Day Z).
Secondly, whilst it is true that some cases of mental health issues have linked the person in question with the playing of violent videogames, it is never determined that the videogames themselves are the cause. The victim is often pre-susceptible to mental health diseases, thus videogames merely serve as medium through which these people at first manifest their psychosis.
Besides, it’s not like other artistic mediums haven’t inspired violent behaviour in the past. Mark David Chapman was inspired to kill John Lennon after having read the book The Catcher in the Rye. Also, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate then president of the United States Ronald Reagan after watching the movie Taxi Driver.
So the point of this article is to point out the idiocy of singling out a particular artistic medium for its content, when other mediums may contain the same (if not more explicit) content. It is highly probable that this view is brought about in no small part with the old mentality that videogames are just mindless toys for children to play with. But that’s another argument for another time.
