The boss of Electronic Arts (EA) has denied there is any link between video game content and "actual violence
John Riccitiello spoke out on the subject during a conference call
with bank analysts following his firm's latest earnings forecast.
But he acknowledged that his industry did face a "perception issue".
The topic has become the focus of political debate in the US following shootings in a Connecticut school and a Colorado cinema.
After
the incidents, the National Rifle Association (NRA) - which itself had
been accused of culpability - said the video game industry sowed
"violence against its own people".
Republican
congresswoman Diane Franklin subsequently proposed a sales tax on
violent titles, saying the money should be used to "finance mental
health programs and law enforcement measures to prevent mass shootings".
Former
Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader went further, accusing
games publishers of being "electronic child molesters" and demanded
regulation.
Research studies
Vice
President Joseph Biden was recently tasked with heading an inquiry into
the causes of gun violence and specifically looked at the issue of
computer games.
He concluded: "There is no hard data as
to whether or not these excessively violent video games in fact cause
people to engage in behaviour that is antisocial, including using guns."
However, during an online video interview, he also referred to a 2008 research paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
It said that a study of US and Japanese youth had suggested playing violent video games was "a significant risk factor for later physically aggressive behaviour".
The research team behind the report also published a follow-up paper
in 2010, in the American Psychological Association's journal, saying
there should be "public education" so parents and schools could address
the issue.
But the vice president said the studies had
not made "the next connection" - that game playing actually led to
violent acts - and concluded that more research was needed.
Wrestling with critics
As
well as being EA's chief executive, Mr Riccitiello also chairs the US's
Entertainment Software Rating Board - which decides what age guidance
and warnings should go on games packaging - and the Entertainment
Software Association (ESA) lobby body.
He said his
industry had been "stunned and horrified" by the recent shootings but
denied it had had a role in these or other attacks.
"There's
been an enormous amount of research done in the entertainment field
about looking for linkages between entertainment content and actual
violence, and they haven't found any," he said.
"Hundreds of millions of dollars of the research has been done [and] has been unable to find a linkage because there isn't one.
"Now,
having said all that, and with all, if you will, humility about the
world we live in, we understand that while there may not be an actual
problem, given all the finger pointing going on in the press, there
appears to be the perception of a problem, and we do have to wrestle
with that."
He added that other members of the ESA were also ready to "step up" to tackle the issue.
His comments follow other calls for the video games industry to do more to engage in the debate.
The PC-games-focused site Rock Paper Shotgun recently published an editorial suggesting those involved in the industry had tried to avoid discussing the issue
in order to avoid fuelling the cause of critics with "knee-jerking
agendas". But it added it was "irresponsible" not to try to convince
the NRA and others that they were wrong.
"There is
no-one who needs to know about the effects of video game violence more
than gamers themselves," the site's co-editor John Walker told the BBC.
"So
far all studies have shown that games do not cause a person to become
violent, but that doesn't mean we should become blase about it or
dismiss it out of hand.
"Gamers and producers need to
frequently talk about the subject and be seen to openly discuss both
the positive and negative effects gaming may have."
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