As a rule, I try to ignore people who make up their own words.
Be it the jingoistic drivel of the political correctness movement
or George W. Bush’s grim assaults on the good queen’s
English, I turn a deaf ear.

But when the National Institute on Media and the Family, a
Minneapolis-based non-profit organization, coined the term
“killographic” to describe “graphic depictions of
brutal violence” in video games, I knew I couldn’t stay
silent any longer.

NIMF is the political interest group responsible for bringing
Congress an annual report card on the video game industry. In a
December meeting with high-ranking congressional representatives,
NIMF founder David Walsh posited that ultra-violent video games are
responsible for creating “casual violence and a culture of
disrespect among our children.”

Dr. Walsh is not a stupid man. He holds a doctorate in
psychology and has authored several books on the role consumerism
plays in the lives of American youth. His opinion has currency both
in the press and on Capitol Hill. Nonetheless, Dr. Walsh is wrong
about the effect video games have on America’s youth.

For over 20 years, the government has blamed video games for a
perceived decline in social morality. In 1982, Ronald
Reagan’s surgeon general opined that “video games may
be the leading cause of domestic violence in America today.”
Since many of us weren’t even alive at that time, it is
perhaps worth mentioning that 1982’s slate of ultra-violent
video games consisted primarily of “Centipede,”
“Space Invaders” and “Pac-Man.”

While some studies imply that playing violent video games may
have a negative impact on children, many others show that video
games have significantly less effect on children than do music,
television and movies.

Gerard Jones, author of the book “Killing Monsters,”
proposes an alternate view of video games. Mr. Jones believes that
video games provide a way for children to sublimate their socially
unacceptable urges. Instead of turning to playground bullying or
sibling abuse, video games let children vent their anger and
frustration at a neutral target. Fantasy and make-believe are an
irreplaceable part of growing up, Jones contends, a necessary step
in learning to cope with the real world.

As a non-murdering video game player, I share Mr. Jones’
view on the subject. And I’m not the only one. At the same
time NIMF was releasing its views on killography, the tireless crew
of video-game fans at www.penny-arcade.com were organizing a
Christmas charity drive for the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
All said, their efforts generated more than $125,000 in toys and
cash donations. What brought these people together as a community,
what motivated their extraordinary generosity? Nothing more than
their love for video games.

I’ll leave you with that.

— Fletcher Christensen is a psychology and mathematics
senior. His column appears every other Tuesday. He can be reached
at dailyopinion@ou.edu.
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