When Video Games Become Too Real

An 8-year-old boy allegedly shot and killed his grandmother recently after playing the “Grand Theft Auto” video game.   Grand Theft Auto IV,’ a realistic and vulgar game  that has been associated with encouraging violence. It awards points to players for killing people. Clearly this was a case of a failure in supervision by an 87 year old and the parents who left the child with the 87 year old. The 87 year old is  probably at that age is incapable of such supervision.  Just about every kid plays violent video games today (another case of poor parenting in society), with many speculating they are a terrible influence on the lives of children.

Anyway, Marie Smothers, 87, was pronounced dead inside her Slaughter, La. (no joke...the great irony that the town where it happened is named "Slaughter") home with a gunshot wound to the head from a very real gun used by the 8 year old.  Police initially thought the shooting was an accident, but now believe it was intentional. That brings up the question of the effect of the garbage, the computer games kids are addicted to today, on children and society.  So do video games that rely on extreme violence affect society, or does this violent society we live in lead to people creating these type of video games? Personally, I don't see the attraction to any computer/video games, but then I grew up without them. I'm kind of thankful for that too.

The first question to ask is, "How did the 8 year old get his hands on the gun"? The responsibility lies with the owner , unless some outsider came and interfered with her weapon storage plan. In this killing there was no interference. And if you have children in a home where there are guns (another crazy habit of about half of Americans who allegedly keep them for "protection"), that comes with an added responsibility to educate them early and often so they grow up to be responsible around firearms. What was an 8 year old doing playing Grand Theft Auto? The game is rated M (for mature) and nobody is supposed to be able to purchase it unless they are 18 or older. Somebody bought that game for the boy or let him have access to it., and that is the bigger issue, not the idiotic video game's effect on the child.

Whether one believes that violent video games beget violence or not, I just can't imagine why anyone would allow their 8-year-old to experience the kinds of visual experiences that first person shooter games so realistically convey. That implies guilt by the parents as much as by the grandma baby sitter who was watching that 8 year old. Apparently none of them  understand that video games can't raise children, responsible adults do.

There is some evidence from research on the subject that there is a distinct gap/dysfunction in a young child's ability to distinguish between “the game” and reality. Killing in these games has become so prominent that the player focuses only on the death count, which is the reward. Is it possible that the child merely acted out the game on his grandma because the game was more real to him than the reality of life. If so, it is sad and a warning that the current generation of kids (and by implication the adults of the future) may be less empathetic to others, desensitized to violence and more inclined to not be able to differentiate reality from games. 

This brings up an adult component to the violent/ vulgar video game of today. In our vulgar culture it seems to me that too many adults spend way too much time playing video games of all sorts (Should not video games be for children, not grown-ups?), neglecting their responsibilities to work and family and distracting them from modeling good/loving behavior for their kids. When adults behave irresponsibly, so will children. Teaching positive values and modeling them with our own good behavior might make the coarse culture of today less attractive to kids.  But then to expect adults to be responsible role models today is about as real as those idiotic video games.