The political debate about the effects of violent video games on people, and especially on children, is far from over or forgotten. The relative lull in the discussion stems more from a lack of current events bringing the subject more into the limelight than any sort of resolution or desire of the interested parties to drop the topic. Dianne Feinstein just recently spoke out proving it.
Feinstein is a Democratic Senator for California, and is well-known for her championing of gun control legislation. She has taken a stance regarding violent video games now, as well, calling them “simulators”.
I think the really violent video game becomes a kind of simulator to practice on… And it enables the individual to become much more familiar with that depiction of death and blood.
The belief that video game violence can acclimate someone to violence in reality is hardly a new one, but the implications of violent games as practice simulators is a worrisome belief with the amount of information certain organizations are able to get.
While Feinstein does think Congress should consider regulating games, hopefully they will only take this belief so far to heart. Preventative crime-fighting by timing a person’s hours playing certain video games is not a huge leap from the logic stated in the quote above, and it is difficult to imagine any good coming from the resulting legal attention.
