The video game industry has found itself in the cross-hairs of naysayers once again. Thanks to a series of statements made by willfully ignorant politicians, the idea that video games are the cause of violence and mass shootings has reemerged from the depths.

We’ve discussed this topic more than once and the industry has covered it ad nauseam, but there is something interesting that’s been lost in all this, or overlooked at the very least.

The gaming industry is a wasteland of warring factions; PC gamers vs console gamers, hardcores vs casuals, noobs vs veterans, PUBG vs Fortnite, EA vs all, etc., etc. But this whole violence debacle has truly brought the whole gaming industry together. 

Up until now, the biggest question in society about video games has been what to do about violent games. But it’s almost like society in general considers video games to be something of a nuisance, that they want to toss into the garbage can. And so really what we feel is that rather than answering the question of what to do about violence in video games, we can, through the games that we create, once again make video games a topic of popular discussion and popular culture, then gradually you’re going to see society come to understand video games better and understand what they’re all about. At that point, once that understanding is there, people will become able to address their concerns about violent video games from a position of understanding rather than a position of being on the outside looking in.

– Shigeru Miyamoto, 2007

For the first time in a while, the gaming industry is speaking out as one. To steal from South Park, we are fractured but whole.

No segment of the gaming industry is agreeing with the politicians who claim that videos games are the root cause of violence, each faction has come together to voice their collective disdain for the notion.

During a recent summit at the White House, Trump and other anti-gaming personalities released a video that depicted extreme violence in video games. They posted the video on the the official White House YouTube channel (without any warnings or advisories to what it might contain) and it quickly became one of the most disliked videos on the site. With over 86,000 dislikes and less than 3,000 likes, the public’s opinion on the video is clear. 

On the flip-side, Games for Change recently released a video in response to the White House’s. It depicts some of the most caring and beautiful aspects of games, and its been liked at a rate of nearly 75 to 1, compared to the White House rate of about .03 to 1.

If that’s not an overwhelming consensus, then I don’t know what is.  

As has been the case in the past, games are being used as a scapegoat for larger societal problems. But times are not grim, games aren’t going anywhere, and the majority of people have appear to disagree with the violence propagandists. Time and time and time and time again, studies and research have proven that there isn’t a quantifiable correlation between in-game violence and violence in the real world.

A majority of people coming together in support of gaming is a stark change from decades past . This isn’t a time to fret, it’s a time to remember that although we all have our preferences, likes and dislikes; we’re all still gamers.