Editorial: Thoughts of violence don't come from a console

Source: NYTimes.com

I have taken a two handed claymore +10, hunted down another, and backstabbed them with it. I have jumped on cute turtles and used their shells to hurt other cute turtles. I have waited patiently in a crane high above a city with a claymore mine behind me, to watch my back, while waiting for the right time to pull the trigger and get a head shot. I have even pulled an innocent bystander from their car, run over a prostitute, proceeded to joy ride with said car, and run it off a bridge. I have done those things and so much more for over 25 years playing video games. 

Source: screenshot 'The Legend of Zelda'

The first game I played when I got by Nintendo at the age of ten had me taking a sword from a strange old man because he thought I needed it. I then used it going around slicing bushes and bad guys all while trying to save a princess. And for the next 25 years would do this again, over, and over, and over in one way or another. Sometimes by myself and sometimes with friends.  When I was successful I would raise my hands in the air, while trying not let go of the controller, and congratulate myself. When I failed I would yell at the TV in some uncontrolled gibberish mixed in with a four letter word, or words. I have even mixed in a few horror movies at WAY too young of an age (Looking at you Aliens in the theatre when I was 9 and Disney's The Black Hole at 7).

Don't fix the blame, fix the problem

Through all of this, I have never violently hurt nor killed another human being. Why? Good parenting. My Dad made it a clear that education was number one and my responsibilities at home was number two. When both were done to above satisfaction and sometimes beyond expectation, then I was free to choose what I wanted to do. Quite a bit was gaming, some was sports, and the rest was friends, music listen, and movie watching.  All mix into this was by Dad being there for me, first as Father to make sure I got things done, then Dad to make sure I was ok and know I could call on him for anything.

Am I the outlier?  No.  I am the norm and so are many of my middle school, high school, and college gaming friends over the past couple decades. So are the thousands of gamers who post videos of their gaming on YouTube or Twitch TV.  Then there are the millions of people around the world who play video games every day just before work, after school, and after putting the kids to sleep at night. The outliers are those who didn't have solid parenting at home, go out to hurt other people, and just so happen to play video games as well.  Those are the lives that need fixing. So much time, money, and energy is wasted on placing blame on something we can see in plain sight rather than something that takes hard work to see and focus on.

Am I a scientist with a Ph.D?  No.  Am I well renowned expert who has written many books on the subject?  No.  So what am I?  I am gamer with over 25 years of experience playing some of the most harmless and violent games during the birth and many transformations of the video game business who never has nor ever wants to violently hurt or kill another human being because a video game convinced me it was cool.