Part 1: Video Game Violence

From pong in 1972 to Super Mario brothers in 1985. Video games have come a long way from their origins. Thanks to technology all types of games are becoming all the more real, but is virtual reality creeping its way into the real world? Are certain people more prone to trade in their controller for a real weapon? With the recent wave of mass shooting tragedies from the theater in Colorado, a Ski temple in Wisconsin and most recently perhaps the most affecting in scope and age of the victims. Many are looking for answers more specifically an answer to a question that keeps coming up does part of the blame…belong to the game?. Cody is co founder of Icon Remnent, a local gaming club based out of the Pharr library bringing together gamers from around the valley to think, discuss and play. The majority of studies so far do stand as inconclusive and the statistics show a rapidly sliding scale. With recent research by the Washington post showing ten countries. Their levels of video game consumption and gun related murders. The Netherlands more than doubled the U.S. video game consumption rate yet the united states stood high above the nine countries having more than triple the amount of gun related murders and despite the stats, the Icon Remnant gang still sees games getting a bad rep. The issues of nature versus nurture and parenting seem to come up a lot more than first person shooters and gaming systems. From a group of peaceful gamers in Pharr, to the juvenile detention center in Edinburg, where community relations director Ricardo “Rick” Guerrero has seen thousands of valley young people with issues related to violence and to him the violent games and media aren’t getting off that easily. But there is a thru line between our icon kids and rick and it has to do with issues of communication and parenting. But is it what’s happening under that familial one roof…be it violent video game playing or otherwise…influencing violent behavior in the outside world? Join us tomorrow night for part two of virtual violence does part of the blame belong to the game?