PSP World

CNN Blames Video Games for German School Killing

One day after a tragic school shooting in Germany, major media outlets are already trying to make a connection between the violence and video games. A front page story on CNN.com early Thursday read: “Police searching for a motive behind the shooting which left 15 people dead in Germany have found 15 guns at the killer's home, as well as videogames played by other mass killers.” The 15 guns belonged to the boy's father, who was an avid firearms enthusiast. What was the game cited as the preferred pastime of violent psychopaths the world over? Counter Strike of course, and reportedly the shooter Tim Kretschmer was pretty good at it.

Of course, there were other things he was good at too, like firing real live guns at the local shooting range. According to his father, Kretschmer would practice shooting guns for hours in the forest behind the family home. And yet, video games like Counter Strike, found on the teen’s computer are pulled in as a possible cause for the violent tragedy.

Why are games given so much explanatory power when it is plainly obvious that guns, and easy access to them, is the most important factor in this story? The US political psyche has long sought to place blame for the epidemic of mass murder on violent media like films, music and video games, steering the debate away from the most important issue – gun control. In America, the notion that access to guns should be limited is abhorrent to the independent, wild west mentality that still pervades much of our political culture.

However, placing blame for tragedies like this on the game industry is not only harmful to the millions of non-violent gamers in the world, it is a dangerous and irresponsible cop out.

The first reason why it is ridiculous to place blame on Counter Strike is that video games are not the common link tying all psychopathic school shooters together – guns are. If a school counselor or psychologist was asked to profile violent shooters on the basis of a love for video games, they would come up with a list almost as long as the number of students in their school. Unlike the relatively small percentage that has owned a firearm or used hard drugs, the majority of 17 year-old boys have played a video game before.

Furthermore, violent tendencies do not seem to increase with exposure to video games. If that were the case, we would see many more gaming journalists and World of Warcraft addicts going on violent shooting sprees. The most prolific members of the video game press are exposed to more than 40 hours of violent games per week, but the media is quick to characterize an occasional Counterstrike match as an unhealthy “obsession”.

If a government ever did decide to ban violent video games in the name of public safety, they would have a difficult time figuring out which titles to censure and which ones to allow. That is because the vast majority of mainstream video games are violent in some manner. Just about every game ever made, from the kicking and stomping Super Mario Brothers to the sword-wielding Final Fantasy series involves violent conflict and killing. The only conceivable reason why titles like Counter Strike and Grand Theft Auto are singled out for debate is because they feature realistic depictions of humans shooting each other with guns. If governments are prepared to ban virtual representations of guns, perhaps they ought to look more closely at banning the real thing.

Counter Strike, played by Tim Kretschmer, is a realistic tactical shooting game featuring terrorists and special forces troops.