It seems like no matter where I look, whether in popular or less conventional news sources, the video game addiction discussion is raging. This is not to say that it is suddenly a hot topic, for it has been for quite some time, but at the moment it is overwhelming. Admittedly, I am adding to the blaze with this column but in my mind it is worthwhile for the consumers of an industry’s product to balance out the rambling crackpots with limited experience and the researchers who mistake correlation for causation.

There are certain words that can be thrown around to easily garner the attention of people and the word “addiction” is one of them. This word makes us think the worst in people without fully understanding their history and current situation. To call someone an addict brings about powerful images of criminal-like behavior and assumed guilt. Unfortunately, many gamers are being labeled as addicts and the stereotype of a fat nerd hunched over his computer in his step-father’s basement is the first image that comes to mind.

But also to blame is the poor work of researchers, politicians, and academics which cherry pick ideas and stories to satisfy their personal vendettas, goals, or conclusions. The circle of bad information and weakly derived hypotheses from those we trust and look to for answers is endless. It is very easy to call someone an addict and this is a hard accusation to defend against. When reading the work of some I find it amusing to the extent they make assumptions. While there is much writing on the perils of video game addiction, there is debate on how to determine if someone is a true addict. Is it the amount of hours played per week? Or perhaps there is a degree of acceptable physical or psychological damage that must be exceeded?

Despite the bad press gaming receives for addiction, there are other activities that far surpass it in terms of relevance and legitimacy as a real addiction. While there are people who spend too much time gaming, there must be 10 times as many compulsive cell phone users in the North America. But you will rarely hear about this because the cell phone is utilized by everyone and not just a select demographic as in gaming. Just wait – I am predicting it now – in the future we will all be in shock and awe when a teenager’s cell phone is blamed for encouraging him to commit a heinous crime. You can take that one to the bank. It is asinine but today’s mainstream media makes it possible. What ever happened to someone just being crazy? Unfortunately, it is popular at the moment to blame this sort of thing on gaming. Comic books and heavy metal were the targets before and gaming is just the new kid.

A few months ago, we at Kokugamer had a story about a young adult who, after playing some video games, went on to kill his young cousin with a knife. The man had a criminal record, a history of violent behavior, often carried weapons, and was playing video games until 3am with the young boy the night of the murder in their grandmother’s house. The grandmother, typically, blamed the video game as the root cause for the grandson’s murder. I’m not sure who is more idiotic; the man who stabbed a child or the grandmother who knowingly left a defenseless child with a criminal. It is no wonder why we have so many imbeciles on the street given the piss-poor parenting skills and bizarre mindset of many adults. In any case, this is the sort of story that all too often is front paged when gaming is the topic. We blame the game and not the parents who had an easily accessible pistol for the child to get hold of.

More recently, I came across a rather amusing article from none other than the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), which read:

“…gaming industry claims that the link between violent computer games and
aggressive thoughts or behaviour is unproven are reminiscent of the tactics of
tobacco companies in questioning the link between smoking and lung cancer.”

Are you serious? Comparing gaming’s influence on behavior to smoking’s scientifically proven harmful chemicals is just laughable. Millions of cataloged deaths compared to a handful of bad eggs. At first all we had to worry about was the harm to the smoker. But then babies started coughing and second-hand smoke was born. Now third-hand smoke is a reality as the chemicals cling to your clothing so you can enjoy them for the rest of the day as long as you are wearing them. Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the ACL, went on to say, “…there is overwhelming evidence linking violent video games and aggression,” but for some reason utterly failed to expound on that evidence. Thanks for coming out Jimmy boy. Dick cheeses like this with a microphone in their face can be found everywhere and should be brushed off quickly.

Overall, the gaming addiction topic is being way overblown compared to its relevance in society. For some reason some of us think that before gaming psychopaths and prison-bound kids didn’t exist. Keep an eye on your kid and I won’t have to blast him with my rifle for spray painting my garage door and kicking over precious lawn gnomes. Blaming the video game is just an easy escape route for the failings of society. I highly doubt that it is just coincidence that the individuals who commit brutal crimes also have underlying problems but it is much easier and sensational to skip investigating and instead pick a game to blame it on. The game is never the root of their problems. Your well-mannered child will not just suddenly wake up one morning and try to rob a liquor store. The media should relax regarding the video game addiction topic and not constantly hit the panic button whenever some idiot does something wrong but has a copy of Grand Theft Auto for their system. If we were to hold all activities to the same bar that gaming is oddly held to then I wonder how many of us would not be on some sort of medication.

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