The violence in video games debate is like some kind of ugly rash that refuses to disappear for long. Just when you think you’ve sent it packing for good, someone does something stupid and someone even more stupid finds a way to blame video games.<\/p>\n
Of course, this debate didn’t exist when all people played was space invaders and Donkey Kong. I don’t recall any animal cruelty activists blaming Duck Hunt for a lack of vegetarians; the real problem started with the FPS genre. And that genre began with John Carmack.<\/p>\n
Upon its release, the original Doom was a sensation. Aside from it being completely cutting-edge for the time, it was also the most violence and gore the world had seen in a video game – and so it began. After the infamous Columbine shootings, Doom became a scapegoat for the perpetrators violent behavior, and many speculated that too much time spent killing John Carmack’s monsters had incited violence in the boys, causing them one day to bring guns to the classroom.<\/p>\n
Over the years since then, we’ve seen the debate wax and wane since then, depending on whether or not politicians and the mainstream media choose to get on a soapbox and preach the dangers of video game violence. <\/p>\n