Wait, what year is this? Did we travel back to the 1990s or something? Has Jack Thompson come back to haunt the industry once more?

Because somehow, in 2024, there are still journalists who both don’t understand popular video games and blame them for crimes and other controversies.
With this example being the shooting of insurance company CEO Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione. Yep, even with a crime as recent as this one, there are still media outlets trying to find any excuse under the sun to blame video games or other forms of entertainment for the events. It’s patently ridiculous, and just gets more embarrassing the more you look at it.

Especially given the game of the moment is Among Us. Yep, the popular social deduction game is in the firing line this time, with lots of outlets commenting that the shooter played it in the past and that it somehow ties into his recent actions.

Except here’s the thing.

Everyone played Among Us a few years ago. It became a mega viral hit after a few popular streamers and YouTubers played it, and ended up being one of the biggest indie success stories of the 2020 Pandemic. In fact, it was so popular than the runner up in the last US election played it on stream too, as did numerous politicians and celebrities.

Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun)

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020

It’s as mainstream as a game gets.

So, of course Mr Mangione played it. He played video games at a time where Among Us was popular, like so many millions of other people online. You may as well as say he played Mario Kart or Pokémon or Minecraft at that point.

What’s more, the game isn’t anything particularly interesting or violent either. No, as anyone who’s actually played it knows all too well, Among Us is simply a social deduction game like many others. You’ve got a bunch of players who are trying to survive and do their tasks in a hostile environment, and one or more imposters who have to pick them off or turn them against each other.

In other words, it’s Werewolf/Mafia as a video game. Or The Traitors, if you’re more familiar with TV shows than party games.

So nothing too special there. Even if you were somehow looking for a thematic link to these events in the suspect’s interests, Among Us wouldn’t be it.

And regardless of that, even if him playing Among Us was somehow notable (which it isn’t) and the game was somehow thematically relevant to recent events (which it also isn’t), that still misses the most obvious point under the sun.

Video games do not cause violence.

Media in general does not cause violence

Seriously, the stats have been calculated time and time again. There have been numerous research studies debunking that claim from every angle. There’s a population of billions that proves video games don’t cause violence, by being avid gamers that have never committed a crime in their life.

It was bullshit when it was Mortal Kombat in the firing line, it was bullshit when it was Doom or Call of Duty or GTA in the firing line, and it’s bullshit now with Among Us in the same situation.

But hey, we’re not expecting common sense from you folks in the media. Because at the end of the day, none of you really think video games or other media are the reason at all. You’re not that stupid, no matter how easy it might be to think that.

No, this blame game is all just a nice convenient way for you to avoid having to actually take responsibility for anything. To avoid having to look into the social causes behind these crimes, or the reasons that so many people seem so angry or stressed these days. Actually doing that research would reveal that mental health support is minimal or non-existent, that people are losing their homes and livelihoods over easily preventable medical issues and that a healthy society cannot function if a small percentage of the population have a million times more money and power than everyone else. It would reveal some very uncomfortable things that those running the papers and news channels and news sites really don’t want to be discussed, and bring bipartisan political pressure on those who have hollowed out much of society for their own personal gain.

Hence the complete avoidance of an actual discussion on the causes of these events. It doesn’t matter that the evidence points to those things as the cause rather than video games. Or that every piece of evidence involved in the case has “anger with the state of the American insurance industry” as the most likely cause for the crime.

No, it’s got to be redirected towards the media scapegoat of the day instead. Because a population angry about music/TV shows/films/tabletop games/video games/YouTube/whatever else is a population that isn’t angry at corruption and politicians and private equity firms.

So let’s not play that game anymore, okay? Let’s stop blaming video games and other media for tragedies like this, and focus on the real issues at hand instead. Because Among Us isn’t an assassination simulator or training tool, and it had nothing to do with the situation at all.

Thanks for reading