Links didn't want to post correctly so I removed them. Check out the original blog post with working links on ButtonSmashing.com. Whenever election day rolls around, politicians and parents start making a lot of noise about the negative effects of video games on the impressionable mind. Every few months or so some stupid kid decides to blame video games for his act of violence or drug use. Why? Most likely because a lawyer tells his parents that it will be the easiest way to get the dumbass out of jail with the least possible penalties. The parents get their brat back sooner. The punk gets out of jail quicker. Lawyers get the fame. Politicians give the appearance that they care about the community. And gamers everywhere get punished by getting tighter restrictions placed on their purchase and even the occasional ban. HOW IN THE WORLD IS THIS FAIR? (The Run-On Summary) Occasionally some misinformed and unfortunately outspoken individual will back you into a corner and force you to defend your hobby for the simple fact that they do not enjoy it and they feel the world would be a better place without it, regardless of the prior history of violence from which society itself has spawned this art form imitating life. I dedicate this blog to them and will direct them to it whenever they shoot-off at the mouth. I always point out the violence in movies and the laughable efforts of the MPAA with their rating restrictions. How many parents don't you see taking their kids into the theater to watch the latest horror movie or adult comedy? Or kids sneaking into theaters. One argument they like to come back with is how video games are more "interactive" and watching murder on screen is different than actually "committing" it in a game. Fine. It does take a little bit more to actually control your character and I have to admit sometimes it takes it to a more personal level, albeit slightly. But does that necessarily create a killer? Scarface. How many perfectly normal and occasionally good father's don't you know that can recite complete scenes from that movie? Or the Godfather? With absolutely no acting experience. Ask them to act in any other movie and I'm willing to bet they will suck badly. So from over-exposure to those violent films their viewers have neither become killers nor actors. I've played the Grand Theft Auto games to death. Don't ask me to recite a single line. Don't ask me to fire an actual weapon. I don't know how to do either. I'm a 30 year old man and I've been playing games as long as I've been able to hold a Joystick. Yes, I said Joystick. One of my favorite games on the Atari 2600 Computer Entertainment System (1977), was a multiplayer game titled Combat. It involved one-on-one battles to the death with tanks and airplanes. Since then I have played games where characters have been killed, mutilated, burned, decapitated, impaled, prostituted and more. All by my hands. Guess what? I'm ok. In fact I'm one of the most blood sensitive guys I know. I can't watch gore without cringing. Some years ago there was a suicide on the 710 Freeway in Los Angeles which was televised in graphic detail. They interrupted children's cartoons to show this. I was entertaining my now Godson and watched the whole thing covering his eyes the whole time and frantically looking for the remote. I was already a young adult and according to all the "research" after all the violent video games I have played in depth, I should not have been phased by what I saw. Needless to say I was deeply disturbed and remember the morbid details to this day. Kids, it's illegal to buy a game that is not rated for you. Politicians, keep your noses to what you know. Parents, do your job and stop pointing fingers.