Yesterday, after President Trump blamed the video game industry and the Internet for the recent mass shootings, former Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé came to Twitter to set the record straight by sharing facts which contradict statements by the President himself and other members of the GOP.
The blame on video games started this past weekend with Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
Patrick said the federal government must “do something about the video game industry” and that video games teach people to kill, ignoring extensive studies that contradict his statements.
Here's part of Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick's appearance on Fox & Friends, where he uses the El Paso shooting to call for federal government intervention in the video game industry, more prayer in schools, and more saluting the flag, among other things. pic.twitter.com/8xqkEyvvH7
— John Whitehouse+ (@existentialfish) August 4, 2019
Among those studies that contradict the statements by Patrick and McCarthy: Violent video game engagement is not associated with adolescents’ aggressive behaviour: evidence from a registered report by the Royal Society Open Science: “The results provide confirmatory evidence that violent video game engagement, on balance, is not associated with observable variability in adolescents’ aggressive behaviour,” Violent Video Games and Violent Crime: “We find no evidence of an increase in crime associated with video games and perhaps a decrease”, Violent video games and real-world violence: Rhetoric versus data: “Contrary to the claims that violent video games are linked to aggressive assaults and homicides, no evidence was found to suggest that this medium was positively related to real-world violence in the United States. Unexpectedly, many of the results were suggestive of a decrease in violent crime in response to violent video games.”
In previous years, even the Supreme Court rejected the idea that gaming causes violence. What Patrick did not state during his interview is that he has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association nor McCarthy said he has received donations from gun groups.
McCarthy said: “I’ve always felt that is a problem for future generations and others. We watch from studies shown before of what it (video games) does to individuals.” However, he did not mention any specific info to back up any part of his statement.
clip here — it's very much jumping off Tx. Lt. Gov Dan Patrick's comments to F&F earlier pic.twitter.com/J8PqvNtvz0
— John Whitehouse+ (@existentialfish) August 4, 2019
Last night, Reggie Fils-Aimé shared one extensive study, especially for people unfamiliar with the gaming industry.
“When the ill-informed are being critical of the gaming industry and community, this is a very powerful story. The facts are that countries with high per capita gaming revenue have fewer gun-shooting deaths. Except the US, where 4% of the population own 43% of the guns.” [Reference: There are more guns than people in the United States, according to a new study of global firearm ownership].
A graph shows stats of video game revenue and violent gun deaths among first-world countries. It is clearly seen that the United States has more deaths. Along with his message, he shared a tweet by Geoff Keighley about how the video game industry helps communities.
“Facts are facts,” tweeted Fils-Aimé. South Korea, when compared to the US, has the most video game revenue AND one of the lowest violent gun deaths.
Facts are facts. pic.twitter.com/sSEbdYZcgE
— Reggie Fils-Aime (@Reggie) August 6, 2019
While gaming has contributed to the reduction of violent crimes even when violent games are released, little times this fact has been mentioned until politicians blame the gaming industry. Patrick and McCarthy did not mentioned the main points of the shootings, especially about the one in El Paso. They did not respond to why was there a man at El Paso focused on attacking Latinos in Texas, where Latinos mostly of Mexican heritage have been for centuries. They also did not mention anything about gun control in the El Paso mass shooting. Starting September 1st, Texas will allow gun owners to carry handguns at churches.
Even a politician, among others, reacted against the statements by certain members of the GOP.
Hey @realDonaldTrump: Our son plays video games like Fortnite & Overwatch. So I play them to be cool. No mentions anywhere of a Hispanic "invasion"; or Mexicans are "rapists"; or immigrants should "go back" to where we came from. Also, see chart below.#VideogamesAreNotToBlame https://t.co/sln20oRhby
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 6, 2019
I went on Fox News with @DanaPerino to talk about how video games don't cause real life violence, why this only happens here in America despite gaming and esports played worldwide, and why mainstream media needs to get it right #VideogamesAreNotToBlame pic.twitter.com/FFKxEGK90P
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) August 5, 2019
I’m gonna leave this here…
#VideogamesAreNotToBlame pic.twitter.com/r9RCzNTsAh
— 3lectr4in_Gigahurtz (@shanethetrain23) August 6, 2019
boomers are at it again #VideogamesAreNotToBlame pic.twitter.com/bl4B4IrWjW
— luca (@shehateluca) August 5, 2019
[Sources]: @existentialfish (Twitter); @Reggie (Twitter); @geoffkeighley (Twitter). PC Gamer: Republican politicians say videogames partly to blame for mass shootings.
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