I'm not in the group dealing with violence with games, but I have to admit I find the topic quite interesting. I have to put a disclaimer up right now; I am an avid gamer, so my opinions are quite biased. I find it interesting that so many people are ready to decry games for inspiring violence in children. This debate first began with television, but was easily moved to games as games gained in popularity. As far as I can tell. the gist of the issue as defined by people who think games cause violence is that: 1) people play violent computer games, 2) they become desensitized to the violence they perpetrate in the games, 3) this desensitized state allows them to commit violent acts without second thought or remorse. I realize that is an overly simplistic view, but I believe that is the heart of the matter. I don't believe it for a second.

This type of logic has not yet been advanced to explain other societal ills. As far as I have heard, no one has ever claimed that car racing games cause car accidents. I think the logic can follow the same track (no pun intended): 1) people play car racing games; 2) they become desensitized to the car crashes and the reckless driving; 3) this desensitized state allows them drive recklessly and get into accidents without a second thought. I have yet to hear anyone claim that an accident occured because playing "Super Mario Cart" made them forget that cars don't just bounce off of trees, or that they ran a friend off the road because mario made it look like fun. Nor has anyone claimed that playing "Need for Speed III" made them think that they could successfully outrun police cars in a high speed chase. Did the game "Driver" cause a single person to embark on a life of crime as a "wheelman"? What about other genres? Does playing sports games turn kids into athletes? Does "Tetris" turn kids in geometrists? In my opinion, these answers are "no". I don't think games turn people into things. I think poeple turn games into what they need. A kid who is into sports plays the sports games. A kid who is into cars plays racing games. A kid who is into violence plays violent games. Isn't that they way it has always been? Kids play sports; kids play with Hot Wheels cars; kids play war/cowboys&indians/cops&robbers.

On a last note (finally), let's look at game sales. Most of what I have written can be considered anecdotal at best, so let's look at a few provable facts. What are currently the most popular games? Are violent games the best sellers? The following information is accurate as of 10/14/00, and can be confirmed at http://www.gamerankings.com. Top selling Sega Dreamcast game--NFL 2K1; a sports game. Granted, football is a violent sport, but from the "kids emulate what they are playing" stance, this makes it a sports game, not a violent game. The rest of the Dreamcast topten has six non-violent games and four violent games (where violence means violent combat is a main feature of the game). The top selling gameboy game is Pokemon Silver. The violence of Pokemon is a matter of some debate, so brevity's sake, we will call Pokemon violent. The rest of the topten--54 violent, 5 non-violent. Four of the violent games are Pokemon games. Nintendo 64 top game--Tony Hawk's Pro Skater; non-violent. Nintendo topten--7non-violent 3 violent. PC titles--top game is The Sims: Livin' Large; non-violent. The topten; 7 non-violent, 3 violent. Playstation top game; Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Topten--6 non-violent and 4 violent. The point of these figures is to illustrate the point that the games that sell best are generally the ones that do not feature a lot of violence. The best selling game of all time was Myst. There was not a single moment of violence in that game. It is true that a lot of violent games exist, but they are not the only games out there and they are not always the best sellers. What matters more, that a lot of violent games are made, or that most games that people are playing are non-violent?

After all of that writing I feel as if I should tie it all up into a neat little conclusion, but I will leave you to make your own. Anyone have anything to add, or want to disprove or contest what I wrote? I truly find this topic interesting, so any discussion on it is welcome.