Violence and Video Games gets the ProCon treatment

Nonprofit charity organization ProCon.org recently launched a video games section dedicated to the debate about whether or not violence in video games contributes to youth violence.

The structure of the site puts a ton of research on the topic at a user's fingertips from both sides of the argument. Most of it might seem like old news to gamers (such as the purported links between violent video games and the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech shootings), but there's also a lot of good background information not everybody knows off the top of their head.

For example, the site traces the violent video games debate all the way back to 1976 arcade game Death Race where players ran over gremlins with cars. Apparently there was such an outcry over the game (and rumors that its working title was Pedestrian) that they burned Death Race arcade machines in arcade parking lots.

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Nonprofit charity organization ProCon.org recently launched a video games section dedicated to the debate about whether or not violence in video games contributes to youth violence.

The structure of the site puts a ton of research on the topic at a user's fingertips from both sides of the argument. Most of it might seem like old news to gamers (such as the purported links between violent video games and the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech shootings), but there's also a lot of good background information not everybody knows off the top of their head.

For example, the site traces the violent video games debate all the way back to 1976 arcade game Death Race where players ran over gremlins with cars. Apparently there was such an outcry over the game (and rumors that its working title was Pedestrian) that they burned Death Race arcade machines in arcade parking lots.

Our first instinct having read that bit of information is to make a smart ass joke about the violence committed on the violent video game, but ProCon.org isn't about snark and partisanship. It merely presents as much of both sides of an issue as possible -- which is why we're glad to see that video games are getting a little bit of the ProCon love for the benefit of the general public.

Video Games [ProCon.org via GamePolitics]