Congratulations to all of my readers, I am now officially in my third semester of writing this column and for those of you who are still with me, I thank you. Now let’s do what we came to do.

It has recently come to my attention that there is a new group of video game developers currently working with Christian organizations to develop a series of video games that are laden with Christian themes and positive moral values in an attempt to direct kids away from games that support “violence for violence sake.”

Now before anybody takes this the wrong way, let me say this. I am not against Christians, Christian gaming, or the spreading of positive moral values in any way, shape, or form. The part of this entire situation that I have a problem with is the assumption that there is a problem with video games as they exist right now.

For the past few years I have listened to the media portray video games as an evil device used by massive corporations to recruit children into lives of sin, crime, and all around villainous behavior. These types of accusations have given society at large a wrongful impression that people who play video games are uncaring, insensitive people, who are naturally violent and sometime even cold blooded murderers.

This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. It is true that there are a small percentage of people out there who have used video games in the plotting and preparation of horrific events such as, and similar to, the Columbine shooting. That fact does not mean that there is something wrong with video games; it means that there is something wrong with people.

Any time you see a newsflash about somebody being killed, or a violent act being committed, nine times out of ten I would be willing to bet that the perpetrator had a hundred different reasons for doing what he did.

“I saw it in a video game,” will never be one of them.

My original point remains, the idea of Christian gaming comes into the picture. The main idea behind these games is that violence for violence sake is a bad thing. I’m sure many of you may agree with this. But the fact of that matter is that no game is designed with violence without purpose as an objective.

Games today have storyline, plot, and a reason behind everything that happens in them, some may be more violent than others, but this violence is no more than a reflection of the human experience. People kill each other every day, murders occur almost regularly.

The release of these new Christian games is almost insulting as it sends a message to the rest of the video game developers out there that something is wrong with their games and it should be fixed. This type of assumption is no different than racism, sexism, or any other form of discrimination. It sends the message, “You are wrong and I am right and there is nothing you can do about it.”

If we continue to enforce this type of thinking then we are essentially nullifying the rights those who came before us fought so hard to secure. Christian’s have a right to make games, the same as anybody else. But to advertise them as an “answer” or as a “better alternative” are just nice ways of raising yourself above a crowd where you are no better or worse than anybody else.