Trade in your violent video games for ice cream

Gamers in California are being persuaded to trade in their violent video games with offers of cash and ice cream.

Ed Berberian, the district attorney for the county in which the offer is taking place, launched the buyback programme which encompasses not only violent games, but toy guns, too.

Gamers can take their violent titles to their nearest GameStop and get a cash refund, or to Ben & Jerry’s where the county will cough up for an ice cream of their choosing.

The campaign is set to launch in October, and follows a similar programme instituted last year to buy back real guns. The point of the ice cream for games initiative is to “inspire people to become part of the movement to creative peace in a violence-free environment.”

Berberian said getting rid of toy guns and violent video games could have a major impact on a child’s development (a major negative impact if you ask me), and could “alter how one later addresses conflict situations”.

This is not the first game trade in programme of its kind in the States – in 2013 a town in Boston offered coupons to people who gave up their violent games, and before that – in response to the Sandy Hook shooting – a Connecticut town announced plans to collect and destroy violent video games. The plan was later scrapped, though.

Would you trade in your copy of Battlefield for an ice cream cone? Let us know in the comments and forum.