"It's those volent video games. He played them for an hour a day."

I overheard a coworker saying this a couple days ago in regards to the Adam Lanza, a man who one week ago was completely unknown and will now forever be remembered as the Sandy Hook shooter. This is not known to be factually true (and also oddly specific in the case of this particular quote: "an hour a day"). It is true Adam Lanza played some violent video games but the extent of his playing or how much of his life it took up. Just for the sake of argument though, let's just say he did play lots of violent games. I am not so much concerned w/ what one guy I work w/ thinks but of people's overall attitudes toward gaming.

Now, I know a lot of gamers will try to brush off the idea that violent video games create violent behavior off as ridiculous using themselves as an example. "Of course playing video games makes you violent," they will say voices dripping in sarcasm, "Why I murdered a habbit of nuns myself the other week!" This is great if your ultimate goal is to be flippant but does not seriously address the issue at hand. Of course, playing violent games do not lead to violent behavior in 100% of cases and I don't think anyone is really saying they do. The question is not whether but how much and when violent video games can awaken violent behavior in people already inclined towards violence and otherwise.

In the case of Adam Lanza, it seems pretty clear cut: if you notice a mentally ill person getting too involved in games with realistic violence, you really gotta take a good hard look at that situation. Most situations aren't so clear cut though and so I think the gaming industry and gaming community needs to take a good hard look at itself and seriously address the issues like these--and not just for the sake of worried parent either. If we want games to be taken seriously as art and entertainment form on par w/ literature or film, we need to also acknowledge the negative aspects of creating and consuming such a powerful medium.