Games and Violence

I was the lone man out amongst a bunch of strangers in a small school-sponsored mini camp. I was the new kid, attending my senior year in a new town. This was suppose to be a team-building friend creating shindig. I was there for the extra credit.

As part of the team building exercises we played a calvinball like game. Kickball, with a whole bunch of balls, each side trying to get the most balls possible across the field into the opposite teams goal.

I'm no sportsmen. I get nothing but air and that's trying to kick a soccer ball. Still, some things, like running, doesn't need any eye-hand coordination. So I played the game.

At one point me and a tall dark haired fellow were running towards the same ball. He got to it first, but I just kept on running. I got to him and gave him a full armed push, sending him sprawling. As I ran to grab the ball I heard a couple of the teachers talking,

"What happened? Did he trip?"

"No. That jerk pushed him."

As I ran by I could see the disappointment and even hurt in the teacher's eyes.

That's the only time in my life I've ever attacked a stranger.

I keep hearing people worry about video games making kids violent. If you're going to worry about something making your kids violent, worry about sports.

Now--this is somewhat facetious of me. For all my inability--I love sports, especially any game I can play with half-way competence. It's fun! Now, does it inspire some violence? Absolutely! It's unfortunate, but competition, especially in contact sports, tends to have that sort of an effect.

Sports are more violent then video games, and they inspire more violence. Probably because sports are real and quite physical.

Yes, some poorly designed experiments correlate games and violence. But maybe you should compare playing games to something else then doing nothing. How about sports?