Vice president Joe Biden met with members of the video gaming industry last Friday; to speak about what role violent video games may play in incidents such as the recent school shooting in Connecticut. Biden claimed a neutral position, stating that while no hard evidence has been made to link exposure to video game violence to real life violent tendencies, the subject does deserve some further research. He also acknowledged that a large amount of the general public believes that such a link exists, and that this may affect further discussion on the matter.
Biden’s positions on the subject, which many have described as “agnostic”, may come as a bit surprising. With many lobbying for more strict regulations on violent content within games and films, the White House could have made the decision to side with this very vocal agenda. While Biden was vague as to what exactly was discussed at this meeting, he and President Obama are expected to state their plan of action sometime tomorrow.
The White House’s statements may not seem like much, they have stated that they are not singling out any particular medium, and are working alongside people like Electronic Arts’ CEO John Riccitello (who appeared alongside Biden at a recent press conference). Hopefully these discussions lead to the general public realizing that there is more to gaming than stereotypical ultra-violent shooters. It will also be interesting to see what becomes of the “further research” the vice president called for in his conference.
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