The meeting began with Trump showing a montage of video game violence to attendees. This montage can be found on the official White House YouTube channel as an unlisted video, and features scenes from multiple titles in the Call of Duty series (including the highly controversial No Russian mission from Modern Warfare 2 that simulates a mass shooting), the horror game Dead by Daylight, Wolfenstein, Fallout, Sniper Elite, and The Evil Within.
Watch the video game violence video that Donald Trump showed at his meeting today right here:
According to a report by Rolling Stone, this montage shocked some members of the meeting into silence. Those in attendance representing the gaming industry defended the content seen in the montage by pointing out that the games on display are rated M for Mature, and aren’t meant for children.
Video game executives weren’t the only ones in attendance at Trump’s video game violence meeting. The meeting was also attended by members of The Parents Television Council, who apparently claimed that there is a correlation between video game violence and real life violence. It’s worth pointing out that while studies have found a link between aggression and playing video games, they have been unable to definitively prove a correlation between violent video games and real world violence.
Another argument against the idea that video games play a role in mass shootings in the United States is that many other countries around the world have access to the same video games, yet don’t seem to have nearly as big of a problem with mass shootings. Regardless of what side of the issue one falls on, though, it’s clear that the debate about video games and their impact on mental health is far from over.
Source: Rolling Stone
