It's really pretty simple. The mainstream media doesn't get jack shit when people plug their televisions into a console and boot up their favorite game- instead of tuning in to watch the inane drivel they pump out over the airwaves. So it's completely logical that they use their infotainment outlets (Fox News, CNN, nightly news programs, etc) to stir up public sentiment against video games. It's a competing distraction, and every minute you're busy playing WoW or Halo 3 you're not watching any commercials.

It's not just that video games are a competitive activity that's caused such a media backlash- there are a million things you can do with your time that don't involve watching TV. But the big difference between reading books, camping, crocheting, etc. and video games is that video games are competing for money with the media right on it's home turf- your television screen. That's right, you turn on your TV, tune the signal to a local source, and then toil away in front of it for hours- and the media doesn't make a damn cent. That's why there's been such a huge backlash against video games in the mainstream media- they're trying to keep their market cornered.

Oh, of course they'll happily take any video game publisher's money when those companies want to put ad spots on the airwaves. But still they'll unleash fiery waves on invective, call in "experts" to bash gaming ad nauseum, and villefy game producers as irresponsible every time some unsettled person who happens to play video games does something illegal or outrageous. Note that as the study says, video gaming has become commonplace in our society, so it's pretty likely that just about everybody getting into trouble these days has played a video game at some point in the last year. NEWSFLASH- THOUSANDS of CRIMINALS go to CHURCH every year! Obviously churches must be gathering places from which criminal conspirators plot their capers...

Look what happened in the aftermath of Columbine. Where were the "experts" blaming the parents for letting their kids build bombs and procure firearms without their interference? Apparently the "experts" were all to busy blaming video games and music- Doom 2, Marilyn Manson, and KMFDM. Doom 2, is a game that doesn't even require a television to play, and both of the artists cited as influencing those kids were signed to independent labels (nothing records and Wax Trax!, respectively) whose record sales didn't inflate the media conglomerates pockets. Oh, they listened to edgy, independently produced and distributed! If only they'd listened to Britney Spears and watched Everybody Loves Raymond religiously, those boys would never have gone wrong!

And so the vilification of video games continues, but all the evidence suggests that video games are only going to get more commonplace, and the more people are exposed to and enjoy them the less relevant and effective the media's anti-video game marketing campaign people will become.

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