[Cerek]

Originally posted by Vaskez: A little kid's brain is like a computer program waiting to be written. It's up to the parents to teach the kid right from a young age and control what the kid does/sees until they are old enough to decide for themselves. Sounds like the parents stuffed up BIG TIME in the case of these kids. I'd blame the parents, such young minds are too impressionable so whatever influences they had are to blame.

I see the same arguments whenever a case like this comes up.

The game is innocent.
The kids were messed up already.
The PARENTS are to blame.

Ask yourself this, if there is nothing wrong with the game, then why does the argument always come that "The parents should be aware of - and control - the influences the kids are exposed to."?

That would include preventing them from playing violent video games at too young an age. But if there is nothing wrong with playing violent video games, then why do the parents get blamed for letting the kids play the game in the first place?

The bottom line is that young minds ARE impressionable - and whether you want to admit it or not - video games, movies, TV shows and other common media DO have an influence on those impressionable minds. I'm not saying these things are completely to blame, but it can NOT be denied that they are a contributing factor. Even the psychologist agreed that the game could be considered a "catalyst" for their behavior - but he also said the game itself didn't bear sole responsibility for their actions.