I disapprove of racing games, but I will defend to the death your right to play them…..and be bored.

Seth 4:10, paraphrasing Evelyn Beatrice Hall, paraphrasing Voltaire.

There is a very comfortable spot at the intersection of pretension and justification that every writer endeavors to live. For we have the tendency to embody the only negative aspect of intellectualism, the ugly truth that we (think we) know better then you and are going to prove it. So whenever a pitch of ignorance heads right for our wheelhouse and we’re holding in our hands that redwood sized bat of justified indignation, we’re just going to go ahead and knock the cover off that ball of lies and parade around the bases to the thunderous applause of those who need to seek the truth.

As you may or may not have heard, German scientists invented another type of colossal bomb this week with a repot that states that aggressive driving in video games leads to aggressive driving in real life. You can look at the hypothesis, that say that more realistic ‘graphics’ (I’m personally getting sick of that term, let’s start using something more appealing, like ‘visuals’) are causing the blurring of the line between reality and fantasy. Sounds reasonable right? A complement, albeit a backhanded one, to the advancement of technology, but don’t be fooled. This is nothing more then a new swerve by the ‘won’t someone please think of the children’ crowd to equate violence in video games.

You would think I’d be happy that there was a chance for the disowning of the poorest branch of my beloved hobby’s family tree, but no. I would be a fool to join this chorus of disapproval towards the ‘turn left’ crowd in our midst. Scolds will to anything they can to chip away at the parts of reality that don’t agree with or understand, and the tactics that they are using to try destroy racing games is no different then when they go after shooters. And it should be no surprise to find that the gas tanks of their ‘engines of change’ are filled with hypocrisy.

But don’t take my word for it; take a closer look for yourself:

The researchers first questioned 198 men and women. Those who played the games most often were more likely to report engaging in aggressive and risky driving and getting in auto accidents. Those who played these games less often reported driving more cautiously, the researchers said.
The researchers then studied 68 men and found those who played even one racing game took more risks afterward in traffic situations on a computer simulator than those who played another type of game.
Then the researchers had 83 men play either a racing game or another type of game, and found that those who played the racing game reported more thoughts and feelings associated with risk-taking than the others.

Did you see it? Look again:

The researchers then studied 68 men and found those who played even one racing game took more risks afterward in traffic situations on a computer simulator than those who played another type of game.

A computer simulator? They supposedly incited aggressive driving using a video game, and then proved it in a computer simulator! All this shows is a blatant disregard for a human’s ability to distinguish fantasy for reality in the name of junk science. The forces allied against gamers will not doubt seize upon this and wield it to score cheap points among the ignorant when the time is right. Because, if and when they finally come to take our virtual guns away, they will use this to take our car keys, and piece by piece we’ll be lucky if they leave us Pong before they move on to the next ‘dire threat’ to civilization.

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Comments? Questions? E-mail me at seth410@gamertransit.com. Complaints? Oooh, the Germans are mad at me. I’m so scared! Oooh, the Germans!
Back of the Bus is © 2007 by Seth “4:10” Robison, used with exclusive permission by gamertransit.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.