Media Defends Games Pre-Emptively

Following a school shooting in Montreal, Canadian media not only didn't look at violent video games as the cause, but actually rushed to defend them.

Victims of the 1999 Columbine shooting weren't even in the ground before the media had found the reason two kids decided to shoot up their school: Marilyn Manson and the bloody first-person-shooter DOOM.

I was quick to grab newspapers yesterday after finding out another school shooting had just happened in Montreal, Quebec.

The Ottawa Sun ran a photo of the killer, 25-year-old Kimveer Gill, on the front page and the article inside looked at the contents of his blog, which mentioned his favourite video game was Super Columbine Massacre an RPG where players control the Columbine shooters.

After seeing that, I was just waiting for it. Once again, the video games made him do it.

Instead, I get home and fire up my computer to find this article:

Experts: video games not responsible for shooting

Despite the fact that the authors have clearly never played Postal 2, I was impressed. Rather than pointing fingers immediately, the reporters found level-headed experts to comment on the situation.

But while the reporters may have misinterpreted what Postal 2 is about (the tagline is "The game that's as violent as YOU make it"), Gill clearly misinterpreted Super Columbine Massacre.

According to game's creator Danny Ledonne, the game wasn't made to glorify the Columbine shooting, but rather the opposite. To peer into the minds of shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to understand why they did it and also to critique the reactionary blame in the media.

He was also quick to post this statement in responce to the shootings.

The shooting was a tragedy and we'll probably never know what was really going through Gill's head, but music and video games don't drive people to murder.