Unlike most of the gamers who send me messages, however, he didn’t write to criticize something I’d said in the press about the possible negative impact of certain video games. Instead, his letter asked me to help “those of us who are tired of being judged because of something we choose to do as a hobby.”

His concern: with all of the negative attention on video games, the term “gamer” is “rapidly becoming derogatory.” Although Metzo admitted he had not always agreed with the stands I’ve taken in the past, I was struck, even touched by his letter.

“For over a year now,” he writes near the end, “I’ve written letters to newspapers, TV stations, and politicians. I’ve either never been answered, or I was insulted by the reply.”

I can see why Metzo is concerned. Even more than a character in a “Street Fighter” video game, video games themselves have taken it on the chin lately. Bills designed to keep mature games out of the hands of kids have popped up in state legislatures all across the country.

Last summer’s “Grand Theft Auto” pornography scandal spurred a nationwide recall of the game and threw the industry’s rating system into crisis. The fallout prompted Sen. Hillary Clinton and others, including myself, to seek greater oversight and accountability from the mostly unmonitored industry.

Suddenly, it seems that nearly everyone who cares about children has something to say about video games. And most of the time these people don’t have many positive things to say.

As I’ve said for years, some video games, especially ultraviolent and killographic games, and certain industry practices deserve some public condemnation. The evidence for a causal link between violent games and violent behavior is mounting. And with so much money to be made, some in the industry often seem to lose sight of their public responsibility to protect children.

As I’ve said before, however, there are a lot of very good video games. The term video game shouldn’t be derogatory, and the term “gamer” shouldn’t be a dirty word either. Criticizing the people who play video games for the irresponsibility of some in the industry is nothing more than guilt by association. Millions of people—hardworking, responsible adults and healthy, happy kids—play good video games.

Censorship and demonization are not the answer. If we antagonize thoughtful, reasonable people, we’ll only make it harder to reform a flawed industry and protect our kids. We’ll never find “the better way, the more effective way, to allow both freedom and responsibility to co-exist,” that Matthew Metzo hopes for in his letter.

But if we make an effort to be MediaWise, to Watch What Our Kids Watch, we’ll realize that gamers are people like us. Some of them are probably the people we love.


David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the MediaWise Movement, a program of the Minnesota-based National Institute on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org). His latest book, “Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen,” is a national bestseller.