I'm a video gamer. Not a murderer.

Anyone who plays games and spends a large amount of time on the Internet will probably have seen this video at some point in the last few days:



It shows a debate (I use this term loosely, as debates typically take place in a manner approaching fair to an audience willing to listen) on the Alan Titchmarsh show, between editor of Computer and Video Games Tim Ingham, insufferable waste of air- read TV personality- Julie Peasgood, and Kelvin Mackenzie, who was largely inconsequential to the argument- admitting that he doesn’t play war games, and making the comment that the age of the average gamer is 33 and bringing up the irrelevant fact that one of the Jamie Bulger murderers used to play games.

A great deal of praise has to go to Tim Ingham, who, in the face of this blustering, belligerent bint shouting down his claims with apparently non-existent- and definitely not named- studies, stayed calm and composed, making the point that games such as Modern Warfare do have BBFC certification in the same way that films do and that they should be viewed in the same sort of way.
When he brought up the government-commissioned Byron report into games, which found no links between violent video games and behavioural problems- precisely the opposite of Peasgood’s mystery piece of research- he was jeered by the audience in the manner you would only expect to find in a pantomime. Or possibly question time with Nick Griffin.
Peasgood (who it should be noted, despite being “categorically against violence for entertainment” actually voice acted for the game Martian Gothic: Unification) spent the entire interview spouting unsubstantiated, crowd-pleasing rhetoric, which made the audience cheer, and the entire game industry cringe.

An audience less horrendously set in their narrow, archaic mindset could possibly have been open to hearing some of the benefits of games- including improving cognitive skills in older people to mention one which would be directly of interest to the Daily Mail wielding viewers of the show (the link, by the way tells of a named study by real scientists).

The games industry is in something of a renaissance period, the relentless march of technology is giving developers finer and finer brushes with which to perfect games that appeal to all ages. Modern Warfare 2 has demonstrated that a game can be as cinematic- violence and all- as any war film (also as dumb). Games such as the original Bioshock or Heavy Rain have proven that games can be as challenging and thought provoking as any novel and the fact that you play as a character means that they can be far more immersive.
The wide availability of broadband connections and games which support online play give me the opportunity to play with my friends in Norwich- which is a good 80 miles away, often talking for hours at a time (a fact I think even Peasgood would have to concede is indicative of good social adjustment) whilst we play games that actually reward team work.
And once you get past the baying idiocies of some online game lobbies, I’ve actually had a lot of interesting conversations with Americans and even some English speakers from European countries, giving me a small glimpse into their world.
And these are the benefits that I, personally have experienced. I’d like to consider myself well adjusted- and I certainly have never killed anyone, even though I used to play games like Grand Theft Auto or Doom (both of which collected controversy in their days). I also used to play games like Animal Crossing.
I chose games not for their violence, but for their interesting presentation of ideas and for their ability to provide escapism, and in a world were a moronic audience can jeer a piece of rational thought, whilst their mouthpiece spewed fallacious, irrelevant claims to further approval, can you blame me?