People without backgrounds in psychology really shouldn't use anecdotal evidence to prove their opinion on an issue as delicate as this. Believe it or not video games, as with many other forms of media, have the ability to shape future reactions in anybody, especially those with still developing minds like a 13 year old boy. (...)
Provided the subject in question is easy to persuade. It's fair to assume that most parents instill basic moral values in their children and if a video game is enough to make someone commit murder, it is equally fair to assume that said person was unstable to begin with.
You call it anecdotal evidence, I say it's
history repeating itself. A few generations back, science books were the works of Satan and were mass burned, later Rock 'n Roll was the music of the Devil that made teens commit adultery, even later violent movies made teens act agressively, a bit more recently Hip Hop and Rap was believed to raise a generation of pot-smoking gangsters
(...and that belief is still alive and well in some places) and now it's video games that turn you into a serial killer.
People
fear what is unknown to them, they fear things that are unfamiliar. Moreover, objects are easily blamed for people's shortcomings as they cannot defend themselves - it's easier to say that a video game caused your kid to go on a killing spree, easier to say that your child smokes pot because of the music he or she listens to or that he or she had sex because the TV shows these days are so oversexualized.
No. No, no, no - screw that noise. These things happen because parents are not paying enough attention to their children
or fail to instill moral values in them - it happens because the computer, console or television set is treated like a nanny and those are the effects. A video game can piss the player off, yes, but if someone goes as far as to killing or raping another person over it,
especially their own mother, I'm willing to wager that said person is already a bit screwed in the head. Games, songs, books or films could just be triggers - that's the truth. It's
infinitely easier to blame something rather than take the blame.
EDIT: Now, just to clarify, I'm not saying that the parents are
always the guilty party - sometimes we're just dealing with a sick person who snapped all of a sudden without doing anything that could alarm the parents, teachers or neighbours previously. 99% of the times it's the parents who are to blame - children who are neglected or abused can get wonky and it's no suprise if they snap at some point. I mean, this boy was given
an actual firearm at the age of 11, he was
shooting in the house earlier - that sounds like reasonable parenting, right?