Pardon me while i kill your family.

I play videogames. A lot of them violent in some way. Some of them involve "high" amounts of violence.

So if the media is to be beleived, this means i am going to kill you and your family at some point.

Check any website or "family" oriented page about videogames. You'll see something like "playing violent videogames increases the likelihood the gamer will commit a violent crime"

No. It doesn't. Not directly, at least. I've racked up "kills" in videogames that probably total higher than some cities. I've shot people in the face, sliced them in half, kicked them in the shins, slammed them into walls, kicked them off ledges. In some particularly hilarious ones, slammed them against walls with explosive weapons.

But the key difference between myself and say, the kids involved in school shootings that apparently "practice" on games beforehand is that i can, hold onto your pants here because i'm about to explode them (cookie for getting the reference), CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE between FANTASY and REALITY.

The fact it's interactive means nothing. You can watch action movies and think being a gun toting action hero would be awesome. Or play a videogame like Aliens VS Predator and think stalking people only to rip thier spine out with the head still attached is great. This does not make you a danger to society. What makes you a danger is if you think any of these things are actually viable in the real world.

I've never fired a real weapon at a person. I've fired plenty of foam darts (Nerf guns are awesome, lets be honest) at people. I've fired a real weapon a few times at a target. I don't dream of re-enacting the highway sniper mission from GTA. I have several training swords and other hand-to-hand combat items around the house/yard. We do occasionally have a swordfight or something break out. But i'd never handle a real sword in a manner intended to harm another person.

The problem is not with the gamers, regardless of age, the gamer is not the person at fault - the fault lies with the parent. Either for not engaging the child and teach them the difference between the real world and a game, or for not teaching them the magical thing we call consequence while they were growing up.

You could go outside right now and punch the next person you see in the face, like i'm sure many gamers do in things like GTA. You do that in the real life and you may or may not get away with it. But if you don't, you're in serious trouble. You can't just carjack the next car to go past and drive away for a while. Actions in the real world have a consequence that makes the videogame equivalent look small. As i got older my parents told me i could do whatever i wanted if i was prepared to deal with the consequences. Oddly enough, i've learnt to keep out of trouble.

Now if you'll excuse me i'm going to go find a chainsaw, hessian bag and some overalls so i can go all Dr. Salvadore on your family.