Brain Candy

An Addiction to Gaming


This is a topic that politicians, parents, lawyers, therapists and the media have pushed and pushed. Are games robbing our youth of their education? Of their friends? Is World of Warcraft turning your child into a blubbering social reject? YES, DAMMIT, YES. In fact, there was a case where I live about two years back. It concerned a boy named Brandon Crisp. He ran away from home, was missing for a very long time and, eventually, his dead body was found. Why do I mention this? This boy played Call of Duty to a point that his parents described it as religious. They compared it to him being in a cult, and they say he ran away because they took it away from him. But what they fail to realize is that taking away someone's favourite belonging is not a good way to handle things. On top of that, the fact that he ran away because of this shows that he had some temper issues. This issue here wasn't a boy whose life was robbed by that vile, vile Call of Duty series, it's one of parents being disconnected from the world that their children now live in.

Video games have long been blamed for what people say is a rise in violent behaviour amongst youth and young adults. People lose their scholarships, their education, their jobs over this. But do they really? No, of course not. Games are  form of entertainment. No, they're art (but that's a topic for another day), but either way, they're no different than television or movies or, hell, even reading. If someone stays home on a day off and turns on the computer to listen to some music and reads 4 books while listening to their favourite artist, are they addicted to reading and music? You just thought 'No, of course not, it's a book and music". But if I replaced books with video games, most people would say right away that the person in question needs help, or a life, or to join a sport's team. But what people fail to realize is that, time and time again, video games are proven to have no relation to violent behavior. If someone is addicted to videogames, or believes that stealing a car and running over seven hookers and taking their hooking money is acceptable, they had some problems to begin with.

Reading through the newspaper, or online articles, you'll often see videogames or consoles in the headlines, usually followed by some bad news. Stuff like "Man kills mother over Xbox", "Assault caused by Grand Theft Auto" and news along those lines. What they fail to mention, though, is that these people are simply casual players of videogames. Just because someone owns a console, or a certain videogame, doesn't mean that videogames are behind the crime. People need to understand that videogames are just a form of entertainment, same as a movie or a song, not murder simulators.