Videogames and violence

I was reading this article about a 17 year old boy who was dubbed the "Halo Killer".  This young man was apparently obsessed with Halo 3 after being incapacitated for months following an injury.  He played it constantly up to 18 hours a day skipping meals and hardly sleeping.  His parents started to limit his playing time.  According to a January Associated Press report, the teen planned the murder for weeks before entering his parents' bedroom and shooting them both in the head. He reportedly said "Close your eyes, I've got a surprise for you," before pulling the trigger and then altering the crime scene to make it look like a murder-suicide. He then fled with the game.  He was convicted and sentenced for 23 years to life avoiding the death penalty because of his age.  The defense attorneys and prosecutors blamed the crime on the teen's "addiction" to the game Halo 3.

A lot of people are so quick to tie a murder to a violent game because the accused played a certain game before they did the crime.  Most notably with Doom and the Columbine High School massacre.  Yes, those kids played Doom and Wolfenstein 3D but there is NO evidence the games had anything to do with their decision to kill all those kids.  They were also fans of several violent movies.  Natural Born Killers and The Basketball Diaries just to name a couple.  In The Basketball Diaries the protagonist( Leonardo DiCaprio) wears a black trench coat and shoots schoolmates in the hallways.  Sounds familiar to me.  A lot closer resemblance to what actually happened at Columbine than what is played in Doom or even Wolfenstein 3D.  Why not blame it on a movie?  They have been around far longer than video games, are often more violent, and are more widely available.  Why not even blame it on a book?  I've read some pretty violent books over the years and it's a lot easier for a minor to pick up a violent book than see a R rated movie or get M rated game.  Books have no ratings.  I've never seen a R or M rated section at Barnes and Noble.  I've never been carded when I wanted to buy book.  Where are the lawsuits against the movie companies or book authors?

Another thing people usually look over is the child's home or school life.  Those can easily be factors of what makes these kids "go crazy".  Do their parents fight?  Is there spousal abuse or even child abuse?  What about the kid being bullied at school or even at home by their siblings.  Are they being harrassed?  Do they have a disorder?  There are tons more factors that go into why these kids do these things than violent video games.  I'm not sure what else I can say on this subject.  It's been debated over and over again.  I just wanted to put in my two cents and I'm sure I've missed some valid points too.  To top it all off, I suggest watch this episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit about video game violence.  www.megavideo.com/

Please feel free to comment with your ideas and beliefs.