Murder Simulators

Why is it that video games can't get away with anything? Any time any game has any thing even vaguely offensive in it whatsoever, the media lose their damn minds and go insane, making massive amount of controversy out of nothing. Why is this never a problem for books? Sure, it was in the past, but I think we've all gotten over the fact that "OH MY GOD CATCHER IN THE RYE HAS THE F-WORD IN IT!! BURN IT!!!", haven't we? And even that bullcrap about Harry Potter turning kids towards the occult was more of a bandwagon thing because it the books were popular, wasn't it? So why do people start screaming every time they find out you can suffocate someone with a plastic bag in Manhunt 2?

At first you'd think it's because the interactivity of video games. After all, there's a difference between watching or reading about violent acts and actually pretending to perform them. But the problem with that is that it's all fictional. There's no difference between them because it's all just part of a virtual world. And don't give me that crap about how video games turn people into murderers, because we all know that's bull. And you know what? Like 50%* of murderers were inspired by Catcher in the Rye (meaning that they completely missed the point of the book, by the way). Mark David Chapman was arrested with a copy of the book in his possession. By their logic, books make you a murderer too! And hey, Hitler liked movies! Big fan of American cinema! Guess movies are evil too.

No, the reason people get worked up about it is because it's new. It's the same crap every single new type of media has to go through. The period of being "evil". It's just a bunch of old white guys who have never even touched a video game controller in their lives making a fuss out of things that they know nothing about.

"Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about Rock n' Roll."
-Shigeru Miyamoto, Head Designer, Nintendo

 *It's called hyperbole. Look it up.