Last Minute Productions

[Read original article here]

In this world of figures such as the infamous Jack Thomson and a myriad of Politicians ready at a moment’s notice to tar and feather any part of the gaming industry they can get their hands on, the incessant mewling of “concerned parents” and certain companies (cough-taketwo-cough) gleefully drawing scandal and controversy into their bosoms the video game industry is under a near constant public scrutiny. With a plethora of pseudo-studies claiming that video games cause mass homicidal psychosis in everyone exposed to them there is no shortage of ammunition that these political mudslingers and ambulance chasers can lob in the direction of anything connected to a joystick.

Thankfully amidst the sludgy haze of the dozens of studies claiming video games are shaped by the devil in the very bowls of hell and shipped directly from central 7th circle onto retailer shelves throughout the world there is some hope. A recent examination of the effects of video games on by Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson (co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media) entitled Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do dispels many of the unreasonable fears about that have been fostered by the likes of Jack Thompson and makes some pretty surprising revelations about the effects of games on young children along the way. The following is an interview by Adam Sessler with the two authors who give a brief synopsis of the prevailing message of the book.