The Truth about Video Game Violence

Note: This is not to be confused with the media and violence article

What they want you to think: Video games are the cause of all youth violence. Games inspire them to rip off cars, gun people down, and run people over.  Video games need to be out of the hands of the youth.

The Truth: "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."¹  Ever since there have been video games, there has been violence.  I mean stomping on goombas in Super Mario Brothers, to shooting exploding soldiers in Contra.  Since then a whole new division on video game violence has been created the Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB).  They issue a rating from Early Childhood all the way to Adults only.  Who's fault is it that a parent buys a game like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for her 8 year old.  GTA:VC is rated M for mature (not to be confused with Adults Only, which is basically video game porn) for gratuitous violence.  Sure the parent can buy it because they are over 17, while a child that is 8 cannot.  I commend game retailers for finally cracking down on this.  The fault lies in the parents of the kid that bought the game.  They don't care.  The parent should read the rating and then determine whether its for their kid or not. If you want to complain about violence, why not bitch about Super Mario Brothers, for its gratuitous goomba-stomping, or Duck hunt for shooting down innocent ducks.  For the last fucking time, if you cannot discern right from wrong, and need a video game to tell you what's right or wrong, they shouldn't have let you out of the asylum.

Final Summation: The fault for spreading video game violence, once again, lies in the ignorant parents that buy a violent game for their underage kid.