On Thursday President Donald Trump met with representatives of the video game industry and anti-video game activists (with dubious qualifications). The meeting, which was closed to the press, was held in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. that resulted in the deaths of 14 students and faculty members.
Speaking at a meeting on school safety a week after the shooting, Trump claimed video games were partially responsible for the violence, saying, "I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts."
Attendees at the meeting included the CEOs of ZeniMax Media (Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, Prey) and Take-Two Interactive Software (Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock); the presidents of video game trade groups, including the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB); several members of congress; homophobic activist L. Brent Bozell III; a TV blogger and the writer who coined the term "murder simulator."
But even better than the motley assemblage of voices, none of whom seemed to have much to offer concerning a nonexistent link between gun violence and video games, was the awesome montage of video game violence screened to provoke shock and outrage.
Instead, it's an 88-second tribute to why people love video games. Check it out up top. The reel includes highlights from Wolfenstein, Fallout 4 and the infamous "No Russian" mission from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Enjoy an excellent Wolfenstein stealth kill and a failed Persuasion Attempt in Fallout 4, resulting in a Nick Valentine assist (nabbed from a video posted by Dan Ryckert of Giant Bomb).
Worth noting that all of the games featured in this White House video game montage are M-rated (the ESRB equivalent of R-rated). None of them are meant for kids. https://t.co/NkAldM99BJ
— Adam Shaw (@AdamShawNY) March 9, 2018
Meeting attendee Melissa Henson, of the pro-censorship Parents Television Council, told Kotaku Trump provided live commentary of the video, pointing out how violent the scenes were.
"This is violent, isn't it?" Representative Vicky Hartzler described Trump as saying in comments to The Washington Post.
His commentary, unfortunately, was not included with in the violent video game reel posted online. No specific games or titles were mentioned throughout the meeting, nor was any empirical connection between school shootings and video game violence offered.
Perhaps inexperienced with posting video game clips to YouTube, the White House left comments open. As of publication, the top comment reads "really crazy that Canada has the same games but not as much gun violence. HUGE coincidence."
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