The Questions it Raises
Driving down Route 88 in Illinois Thursday night, it all felt the same: same rush hour traffic, same time of the evening, same podcasts playing. There was no eerie presence. There was no gut feeling. But, something was wrong. Something terribly wrong. I just didn't know it until I saw the sign flashing Northern Illinois University Closed.
That moment, that sign is forever burned on my heart because I soon learned the horrific reason why NIU was closed.
But, looking back on that moment, I can't help but feel frustrated that in the wake of this tragedy, the first report I heard of the event focused on how the shooter was dressed "like a video gamer character".
From New York Post's article "College Killer Crazy for Violent Video Games" to Illinois State Representative Robert Pritchard to Jack Thompson's Fox News interview, the reactions by some seem to equate the violence with video games.
It goes beyond just these media outlets and politician. There are comments throughout the Internet from citizens that call into question the possibility that video games are potentially to blame for the violence seen all too frequently on school campuses like that at NIU:
Litlebritdifrnt: My guess is that this kid was obsessed with video games, violent video games at that. I have said for quite some time that violent video games are desensitising (is that even a word) children to death, and wounding. The people on the video games get shot and get up to play another game right? Then why not people? In their warped minds their victims are nothing more than the characters on the video screen, kill them, no problem, they will be there to kill again tomorrow. I could be wrong but how many school shootings were there before video games came on the scene?
Stan: We have so desensitized our youth about killing that it is easy for someone to go on a rampage. Movies, video games, music and other forms glorify it and there is no sense of "mortality"; instead you just have to hit the reset button and start the game again. Unfortunately, life does not work that way (from Why? Some Thoughts on ChicagoTribune.com).
Despite some wanting to shift the focus to video games as the culprit, horrific acts such as NIU seem to stem from a myriad of reasons and by limiting the scope to video games does little other than minimize the problems facing society. As James Paul Gee states, "The issue of violence and video games is widely overblown. Debate over violence in video games is one more way in which we want to talk about technology doing things to people rather than talking about the implications of people's overall social and economic contexts".
Like many things though, it is easier to point the blame at one thing as it helps us to cope, it helps us to feel as though there is a solution to acts of senseless violence.
Thus, the one thing I am convinced of is that there will be more news, more prime time shows, and more articles again raising the issue of the value and problems with video games: do video games promote violence, do video games promote anti-social behavior, do video games instill a false sense of reality, do games desensitize, why are schools using video games in the classroom, should we stop our children from playing, and other such questions.
While Henry Jenkins and others have addressed these issues in numerous ways, it is inevitable that educators, instructional technologists, and administrators will face a barrage of questions when video games are brought into the learning environment. How will you support the implementation of video games into the classroom as a viable instructional practice? How will you handle the aforementioned questions that concern many parents? How will you handle a view the stereotypical views of gamers and gaming that exist today?
And through it all, the one thing that really matters now is that our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Gayle Dubowski, Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Ryanne Mace, Daniel Paramenter, those wounded, and the entire NIU community struggling to come to grips with the unexplainable.
