The 10 Most Ridiculous Things Blamed On Video Games

Nymphomania

There are so many agents and physical motions that can let off sexual feelings, to the point where someone can transform into a nymphomaniac. Hmm, what about a Wii Fit board? Believe it. Amanda Flowers, a 24-year-old woman from Manchester, claims Nintendo’s workout peripheral turned her into a sex addict. After falling from the device, Flowers said that even minor vibrations—such as from a food processor—”turns her on.” On top of that, a doctor informed her she suffered a damaged nerve, which provoked “persistent sexual arousal syndrome.” Once could only imagine what would have transpired had she fell down a flight of stairs.

Real-Life Violence

For over two decades, the media has made videogames the mark for nearly every fatal shooting and violent act to occur across the nation. Take the Sandy Hook shooting for instance, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 22 children and six adult staff members at an elementary school in Newtown, CT. The young adult was mistakenly confused for his brother, Ryan, who “Liked” the Mass Effect page, leading a number of gun activists to place the full blame on the EA-published title.

Then you have the Aurora Shooting massacre, which led James Eagan Holmes to open fire in the Century 16 multiplex during the midnight opening of The Dark Knight Rises: killing 10 and wounding 70. Criminal profiler Pat Brown was quick to throw accusations during his interview segment on CNN: “He was always playing the video games. And I’m not saying video games make you a killer. But if you’re a psychopath, video games help you get in the mode to do the killing.”

Through such tragedy, the one thing most interesting about both cases is each subject was labeled mentally ill. Being an avid fighting gamer and having put in endless hours, titles like Street Fighter haven’t encouraged me to go out and roundhouse kick innocent people in the face. Nor has have the millions of players who’ve tapped into Grand Theft Auto been directed commit arson and homicide in broad daylight.

Debate it all you want, the strong correlation between fantasy and real-life violence still seems pretty far-fetched to most normal people.