Can video games make you a mass murderer?

In today’s global economy, an event in one part of the world can send shockwaves reverberating across the planet. We are more connected than we have ever thought possible and everyone can find something easily that will delight him/her or cause serious fear and pain in him/her.

In light of the recent unnecessary and pointless terror attacks that have occurred all the way in the United States of America, the usual issues are raised such that people tend consider if the phenomena are as innocent as people say it is. In today’s world where cash makes the world go around, this is important because truths have had to be ignored for the sake of whatever profit.

Now the nation that we know as Nigeria does not have people who make technology that would attract famous gamers like PewDiePie and Ninja of YouTube and Twitch fame respectively, this is only because the country possesses citizens overtly ambitious and aspiring, whilst the sort of people who make the games at the companies such as EA, Activision, and Take Two are more fulfilled with just making the games rather than the promise of profit.

This is not to say that there are no such people in this country, but many know the result of a Nigerian programmer teaming up with someone more business savvy. He loses sight of the more subtle path because he does not want to miss out on the recognition the business savvy person would get unfortunately. This is asides from the fact that the gaming industry is far from an easy buck. Not many people are keen on starting from scratch.

With this said, Nigeria is a country with citizens who crave for games. There are articles in papers on a regular basis talking about the addictions many Nigerian youths have caught unfortunately without much nuanced statistics.

A game very well played by Nigerians is the first-person shooter Call of Duty. The El Paso shooter in his manifesto mentioned ‘Call of Duty’, in a revelation that, along with other condemning words was enough to plunge the stock of Activision Blizzard by 6.1%. Comments were made by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, that made it seem like he thought games caused the senseless terror.

Does he have a point?

In a world where the technology gets better and the characters become sharper, the whole experience is far more realistic for the players who have developed a real satisfaction for what they do in the game.

In a religious society like that of Nigeria it is near impossible for the average male to want to do what I will refer to as an “El Paso”. I say this because I played video games during my younger years, they had gore and they were an opportunity for me to experience actions that always seemed to be exclusive to the grownups. I was never moved to murder however despite the types of games I would play. The truth about video games for those who do not play, is that they give you a moral freedom to do as you like that feels okay and even good. They provide a terrain where consequence is nonexistent for the player.

Now the thing with the western world is that due to technology and the rise in godlessness or atheism the society receives bad mixes of humans. Numerous studies show the correlation. You have a child that has had games since he was little, playing online all the time with unstoppable broadband and the latest console.

The parents enter his room and have satisfaction in their eyes because they have been able to provide a great time for their kid or at least given them the latest toy so they are not left out in the school fun. A time comes and the kid gets more and more with the more violent games that are really clapping their hands for his accomplishments with the amount of people he has killed online.

The kid’s parents join in to play on the weekends, then he gets Call of Duty which is the ultimate along with Uncharted and God of War, his actions seem perfectly right in the game. In real life he makes bold declarations and no one tells him that this is not right. It even seems pretend. He happens to reside in gun wielding, 2nd amendment loving America where the people would die to put a gun on their flag. His enemies, all those who get in the way of his desires, do not even realize how much of a ‘bad ass killer’ he is with the weapon. He was in the top 30 in his region for most 1st person shooter games he played online; he looks at his enemies in a way that they’d know he shouldn’t be messed with.

Do you really believe it is a mental health crisis or just a case of the wrong sort of empowerment? The man feels purely vindicated and then hears a speech from his favorite public figure who has an issue with something happening somewhere. He goes there and lays waste to the problem causers and leaves a manifesto behind. Those who are on his forum hail him before their website gets shut down. Ban these games in America for their public’s sake?

The case is very nuanced so I will let you decide in the comments below as I would love to know what you think.