One of the good things to come out of the violence in video games discussion that has flared up since the Sandy Hook tragedy last December is that it has given people in the video game industry a chance to stand up and let their voice be heard on the subject. Last month, Adam Sessler had a very intelligent interview over on Fox News (which normally doesn’t happen on that channel) and now it is David Jaffe’s turn.

Yeah that David Jaffe, the very outspoken creator of Twisted Metal and God of War. It seems CNN reporter Erin Burnett did not want to take no for an answer in an interview on the rise of violence in America where video games were concerned. Take a look at the video and see for yourself.

http://youtu.be/blH3Shg3nX8

Here is Jaffe’s response to the interview.

This should go well.

Dear @ErinBurnett : you, ma’am, are at best an idiot that @cnn should be ashamed to have as an anchor. At worst, you are the worst kind of American: one who has allowed the healthy desire for success to morph into a capitalistic cancer that makes it ok to ignore the facts in order to make your product more appealing, regardless of the consequences. To make matters worse, your own views about video games- which you seem to have no problem sharing with your hundreds of thousands of viewers- clearly have not been formed by any actual research or real life experience with the medium. 

I am sure you will think yourself quick and insightful when you tell me- a video game director/designer accusing someone from another industry of making products for profit regardless of consequence- that I am the pot and you are the black kettle. However, if you actually listened to your guests and read the studies (aka if you actually did some….some….hmmm, what’s that word you journalists have for it? Oh right: RESEARCH!) you would see you are wrong; you would see there remains- after years of studies- zero evidence of video games with violent subject matter causing real life violence.

On the flip side- you know: YOUR side- there is very real evidence that our society suffers greatly when our news media fails to properly inform the public. 

The fact that you think a guy who ‘trains’* on a shooting video game would be granted the skill to horrifically, tragically kill those CHILDREN in Norway only serves to show how little research you do before you open your mouth in front of your world wide audience under the guise of delivering news. I’m not sure what makes your argument look more ignorant: the fact that you don’t back up your idiotic statement by showing a correlation to the current health of America’s agriculture sector with the popularity of Farmville OR the fact that the sick, deranged evil loser who killed those poor kids in Norway had picked such a poor ‘training’ tool that after 700 hours of play, he was only capable of hitting little kids with his bullets versus the well armed pretend terrorists and highly skilled virtual soldiers that he was battling in the game. 

Shame on you. But more importantly: shame on your profession. It deserves so much better.**

David