Okay, this never gets old. I love watching video-games-into-violence theories. I love to watch them flit past on their way to oblivion (not the game). Bye-bye, quaint theories!
Not to be offensive about this (because I don't mean to), but I have heard this one since grade school. This issue pre-dates Jack Thompson by far. When I first heard about the video game violence issue, it was back in the starting age of Mortal Kombat! Where have we gotten with this? Well, we've done some more research with newer and better methods, Jack flubbed up and trumped up alot of charges, and every now and then someone wonders if there's any truth or proper corralation in the theory.
My answer: Nah, it's not all there.
I say this from both my personal observation and, yes, even research. Because I've had to do this at least a few times in the course of education in the past. The patterns I see don't necesarily bear out that games equal violence and violence equals games. I will explain. The normal reaction out of your average person from a violent game (an FPS, say, ranging anywhere from the most modern things all the way straight back to Doom) is fun. In many cases, the fun is violence for its own sake. That is true. However, the normal reaction to this is relief of tension and not "I wanna kill shit for REAL now!".
Games are suppose to be more theraputic than anything else. Having fun is a means to alleviate the desire to maybe kill your irrate and narrow-mind (possibly pointy-haired) boss. Some years ago, my brother worked at a natural gas company, and he and his co-workers deathmatched Duke Nukem in their spare time. I think they just considered it fun (and not to relieve stress, per se) but I never heard of any fatalities and my brother is currently a successful priest. So far, no evidence of madness on the personal or non-personal level.
Now then, I hear about these cases where violence has happened and somebody blames a video game. Right, because the game tells the player literally to put down the controller, pull out an AK-47, and go wild? I think not. Gaming industries are not out to kill people. It's bad for business. So, in no way (out of self-interest if nothing else) could they be putting in ANY message that says "Go kill people for REAL.". No. The problem is interpretation, and it is strictly in the minds of the players.
Lemme go over this little scenario as example. You turn on your system (console or PC, doesn't matter), get into your game and play. Violence is happening via pixels and sound effects. Fun is being had. At what point does this become 'pick up a shotgun and kill your family'? Two reasons. Something has gone wrong internally, or something has gone wrong externally. And both reasons are a personal problem of the player, not the game he happened to be working. If it's internal, it means something just snapped. There was an unhealthy psychological build-up that went boom. It's not anything anyone did on purpose, game or otherwise. It's just there, and it doesn't even have to be logical. If it's external, then someone's caused something like severe repression or possibly the onset of some badass anger issues, and when it's 'return of the repressed' time, someone's got a gun ready.
I talk about this like it matters what I say. I'm funny like that. But I guess someone has to say it, so the people opposed to my view can watch my counter-theory flit on by and wave as it passes on to oblivion as well (still not the game). I like to think I give perspective a twist and a turn, stand people on their heads 'till they see what I see. If it doesn't, at least I'm entertaining.
*Does a prat-fall to keep regular*
Have a happy!
