Donald Trump says video games cause of rising violence; game developers critical
Video games have been linked to real-world violence, US President Donald Trump told gaming industry leaders in a meeting after a school shooting last month reignited a national debate over guns.
The talks between Trump and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) trade group yesterday came less than a month after a teenage gunman shot dead 17 people with a semi-automatic rifle at his former Florida high school.
It was the latest mass shooting in a country with more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually.
After the Florida slaughter Trump pointed to video games as a possible contributing factor in firearms violence.
Gaming industry figures trekked to Washington in hopes of persuading lawmakers that virtual violence does not trigger real world outbursts.
In the meeting, Trump “acknowledged some studies have indicated there is a correlation between video game violence and real violence,” a White House statement said and shared a video on their YouTube page.
“The conversation centred on whether violent video games, including games that graphically simulate killing, desensitize our community to violence.” After the Florida shooting Trump said that he’s “hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people’s thoughts.” …read more
