When in doubt, blame the virtual

Whenever tragedy befalls us dealing with young people and guns, it seems like video games are probably one of the first things to go in front of the firing squad. And from an accountability and responsibility perspective, it seems like many of these individuals love to blame the one thing that makes it seem like the games had anything to do with it.

What gets me here is same issue of blaming toys when children freak out and hurt themselves, or when kids imitate cartoons or movies. Seriously now, you know that humans don’t have the super human ability to fly, but does that little guy?

Yet some of us are quick to point the finger at Counterstrike when the NIU shootings occurred as well as the Virginia Tech ones.

Fortunately for gamers everywhere, the ECA (Entertainment Consumers Association) stepped up to the plate:

“Blaming video games for the behavior of the mentally-challenged is vile on many levels. And, as Generations X and Y mature, it is extremely likely that just about all of us have played at least one video game at some point in our lives.”

What can I say but, “Wow.” Who knew that an association would actually speak the words of wise? Good for the ECA. It’s easy to blame something that can’t fight back isn’t it. And it’s even more admirable when there are those that step back and say… “Hey, just because a crazy person gamed, doesn’t mean that all gamers are crazy.” Maybe it’s time that certain people start thinking about the definition of crazy, instead of trying to answer the illogical with logic.

Photo Credit: (Atari, Gracinha & Marco)