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.
Hello, Gaming Anarchist Collective,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this interesting post. Guns are obviously the reason for any tragic shooting, and that's an issue that needs to be addressed rationally. Mark Chapman was found with a copy of Catcher in the Rye on him, but no sensible person would say that the book made him kill John Lennon. He was a lonesome sociopath, with the 'right' to have access to a gun. The gun laws in America need to be changed.
As I'm sure you know, studies on adults have shown that there doesn't seem to be a link between playing video games and lack of empathy/increase in aggression. Obviously children shouldn't be playing violent games, rated '18' at all, ever.
However, I do think playing video games is going to have some effect on the player - our brains are what we do with them.
We're social animals, yet so many people live alone in the West, feeling detached from the world and from themselves. It's not just because of video games, of course, but I think it's too easy these days for people to stay indoors, immersed in their own little bubble of instant gratification. When we stay at home pouring our precious time into shooting pixels on a screen, or watching the TV equivalent of junk food, we're missing out on enjoying each other - sharing this short life with lovely, REAL people.
As with all things, it's a question of balance. There's nothing wrong with TV or gaming. But when you're compelled to stay in and complete the next level (for that satisfying quick fix of serotonin), rather than going out and being with other people, your consequent social interactions will be effected. We need to practise being kind, loving, compassionate, and warm to each other, as well as enjoying our games and films, so that we can all feel like we're part of something bigger than ourselves - there's nothing better than not thnking about yourself for while, which is precisely why people want to escape into TV and video games. But you can escape from yourself by immersing yourself in the beauty of the people around you. And maybe that will stop people from feeling so detached, quashing, rather than nuturing, the desire to harm.
Jules - www.youaresunshine.wordpress.com
I absolutely agree, anything is a matter of balance, there is a bunker attitude in modern culture where we are encouraged to associate with others less either through convenience or protection, this seems to be an underlying cause for dehumanisation of others and the subsequent actions of the mentally unstable. There is a real social element to a number of games but unfortunately the number of players who engage positively isn't optimal, there are too many that use it as an opportunity to be unpleasant to others which hopefully will continue to decline in time.
ReplyDeleteThat said perhaps some study should be made into the rates of violent crime over time factoring in the relative increase of distance travelled by people and ease of committing violence on fellow people. It might well be the fact that there are just some people who for a variety of reasons become broken and that has always been the case.