Blog 6: The "Evil" of video games

Many critics and the media claim that public shootings in recent years could be the result of violent video games, but they are wrong. The individuals that shot fellow students at Columbine High school were known to have played Grand Theft Auto 3 and critics were quick to accuse the violence in the game for encouraging them to commit the crime. True, there is violence in the game, but if this game alone caused the men to shoot people at their school, why were they the only ones? Millions of other Americans have played this game and its sequels, but we don't see a million different cases like Columbine. The GTA series does not encourage violent crimes, in fact it clearly discourages it. When you drive recklessly or shoot anybody in the game, cops will arrest you. The more crimes you commit, the more cops that come and eventually the military will stop you. It seems obvious that violent games like GTA will not persuade individuals to shoot people in their community.