Do Video Games Contribute to Violence?

This a hot topic in politics and is absolutely ridiculous. In the words of Chris Rock "Whatever happened to crazy", its mind-boggling to me that any halfway, not crazy, intelligent person would play a video game and translate it to the real world. I love to play violent video games and I'm probably the most non violent guy you will ever come across.

Video games for me serve 3 purposes 1. They can test skills such as puzzle-solving, timing and intelligence 2. They can relieve stress, and 3. My downtime becomes something I look forward to.
If somebody goes and shoots a bunch of people it doesn't matter what video game they've been playing. I mean what if they were playing a game like God of War, are we saying that they will attach blades to 6 foot pieces of chain, put them on their hands and go looking for Mythical Gods and Monsters.

If somebody is a violent person then thats the way they're gonna be, I just don't believe that a non-violent person can become violent by playing a mature rated game. In my opinion play your games, love your games and enjoy every minute of it. Leave the violence to the people that have become violent for a number of reasons. Some people are just violent or crazy and its not gonna change if they start playing Viva Pinata and Super Paper Mario.

The way the world looks at gamers is that they're nothing but slackers, nerds and pot heads. I can't tell you how many dirty looks I get when somebody I just meet asked me what I like to do and I tell them I enjoy video games. I know many successful people, including myself, who love to play video games.

In fact I would make the argument that video games can actually prevent some violence. Think about it have you ever met a violent person who likes video games. It gives people something fun to do when they're bored and boredom can cause people to do some pretty idiotic things.