Games Don't Kill People, People Kill People

Violent media has long been a very slow moving and easy target for politicians and social commentators. Some kid in the US kills a few of his classmates, and suddenly John Romero is the most evil man alive. Hmm - actually, that's not so far fetched.

Violent media has long been a very slow moving and easy target for politicians and social commentators. Some kid in the US kills a few of his classmates, and suddenly John Romero is the most evil man alive. Hmm - actually, that's not so far fetched. Nonetheless research into the real, longterm effects of violent media, like computer games and gory movies is few and far between. That was until the US Surgeon General's Department got into the picture, and declared gaming safe for the children of America, and therefore everywhere else.

The report, ordered by then US President Bill Clinton following the Columbine High School massacre, states that there is no clear relation between a violent game or film, and violent actions in real life. What it does find, however, is a clear link between media and those predisposed to violence in the first place - in effect, violent games are just one of many influences that could tip someone over the edge, not the sole source of such reactions.

Of course, whether or not this report will get anyone to, I don't know, maybe change US gun laws, or have a look at the unrelenting viciousness of most schoolyard environments to those who don't fit into the blue-eyed norm, or even get Limp Bizkit to stop moaning about whatever it is they keep going on about.
Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General