I can't being myself to write the details of the tragedy but if for some impossible reason this has passed you buy you can find them here.
Firstly, case of perspective, this is a deeply heartbreaking tragedy, this is not an opportunity for attention seeking and initially we had no intention of commenting on it. Unfortunately, as we had predicted the finger of blame is being pointed towards the gaming industry by those too afraid to look a little harder and find a convenient scapegoat.
We have already touched on the subject before and for that just check out this entry. It will be an eventual aim of this project to publish a full and unbiased analysis of the impact of video games on people, taking into account the relevant studies and pointing out those that fail to support the conclusion they have reached but for now here is out view which will be expanded on in a Vlog on our YouTube channel.
The problem is that Adam Lanza was clearly a mentally ill young man, no sane person would murder their own mother and the 6/7 year old children in her care. It is a tragedy of huge proportions as is any senseless loss of life. The cause for his mental instability is unclear and his unhealthy response to violent entertainment may have acted as a catalyst for his imagination, fuelling his specific methodology for his crimes but the fault doesn't lay with that entertainment. The reason I know this is because I can gleefully play Manhunt, Hitman, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty or any other game that people who seek attention from the media chooses to pick and I have and would never harm another person except out of self defence, let alone murder my own mother and small children. He was disconnected from reality and clearly lacked human empathy, that is the sign of someone who is mentally ill, not a gamer. We, as gamers, understand that we are engaged in a fantasy and have no interest in acting out on them, no matter how cool the experience is. It is certainly a fact that those of mental suffering with the kind of antisocial mental illness are drawn to extreme forms of entertainment. This is the same argument that has been levelled at books, music and films and at every turn this has been shown not to be a corrupting influence, the obsession with it is however a potential cause for concern. If your son or daughter is sitting in a dark room playing COD muttering "Die, die, die" with no sense of enjoying the experience (which would show they are aware they are wilfully engaging in fantasy) under their breath you don't blame the game they are playing if they do something terrible, you turn the power off to their room and take them to see a therapist immediately.
Not all media is suitable for everyone, the very young and the mentally deranged can form an unhealthy connection with it and that is when you seek an intervention because there is something wrong, not with what they are reading/listening to/playing but with their mind. They need help, taking the media away won't help them, they were damaged before and they will be damaged after.
As a parent this may not be your fault, it may be something natural but it is your responsibility to know your child's mind and to do something about it because their mental health is on you and those who supply care to your children. Sometimes you need to ask difficult questions and face unpleasant truths but every mass shooting of this type was avoidable, not by limiting the access of anything in particular (of course 0 guns means 0 shootings but the US is clearly not going to take things to that extent) but by identifying mental health problems and addressing them.
