I recently tackled the controversial topic of violence in video games in one of my critical hit articles but yet another story has emerged that’s sure to bring this debate back into the limelight. During my time exploring the World Wide Web I stumbled across a story from an English newspaper, the Daily Mail. In the article they explained how a 13-year-old boy attempted to rape his mother before killing her with a .22.
That’s horrific enough and of course video-games became involved as soon as the young boy blamed it on Call of Duty. Apparently his mother had taken the game away from him for a separate incident, which prompted the boy to grab a gun and kill his mother.
This is sure to explode in coming weeks with every media donkey jumping on the “end violent video-games” train, but lets take a quick look at something here.
- The 13-year-old boy was playing a game clearly not designed for younger people. Prompting questions about how he obtained the game.
- The gun that he used to kill his mother was a present for his 11th birthday.
- There is no rape in Call of Duty, outside of the insults use in voice chat
I couldn’t imagine anything worse to happen to a family but I cannot see how Call of Duty or any other game can be blamed. Buying your kid a game intended for those over the age of 18, buying them a weapon and exposing them to a vulgar online community; none of these would be considered smart parental choices.
You can read the full article on the Daily Mail website here.