I Am A Sick Person

At least, according to this reporter, I am.

Soap box time.

Dear Terrence O'Brien,

It appears that your complaints about Manhunt 2 are being directed at the wrong people. Allow me to put you in your place. For starters, the people who play this game are not sick people. It's quite obvious that you're not a gamer, judging by the comments you're making. Said comments are actually quite ignorant, and I think it would have made yourself look a lot less stupid if you would have actually done your research and interviewed real gamers before writing your article.

Gamers play games for a number of reasons, but really it all boils down to wanting to immerse oneself in an entertaining and fantastical environment. To experience things that they will never get to experience in real life -- such as flying an airplane, driving a car at super high speeds, and yes, killing people.

I can't honestly see how you could come to the conclusion that I'm a sick person. I work for a software company. I write code. I QA computer programs. I buy my sister a gift when it's her birthday. I plant flowers at my parent's house in the spring because my Mom loves flowers. I own a cat, and I love him very much.

But I'm a sick person because I'm also a gamer? You're an idiot.

Games don't make people kill people the same way guns don't make people kill people, the same way spoons didn't make Rosie O'Donnell fat. You take away the guns and people will kill people with a piano. Take away the games and people will still kill people. (They might kill more, because you took away their games. Jackass.)

I agree that little kids shouldn't play this game. But banning the game isn't the right answer. It's the responsibility of the parent to know what's best for their children, not the gaming companies. It's not the gaming companies' fault that two immature young adults had a kid and have no fucking idea how to raise it. It's not the gaming companies' fault that someone is a bad parent and dedicates no time to their kid, instead leaving them to entertain themselves, alone, with video games.

Blame the fucking parent.

People kill people because they choose to. I have never had a problem between recognizing the difference between real life and fantasy. Whether this is a result of my upbringing or of my embedded moral code, I can't say. But I have played games my entire life, and I hesitated the day I had a clear shot at a deer when I went hunting with my grandfather.

People kill people because they choose to. Stop saying other things make people killers, because that's a load of bullshit.