Trump discusses violence with video game execs and critics
President Donald Trump raised concerns about the graphic depiction of violence in video games at a White House meeting Thursday with members of the industry and some of their most vocal critics.
Searching for ways to respond to last month’s Florida school shooting, Trump has questioned the impact of video games, although decades of research have failed to find a link between gun violence and graphic depictions of violence in games. Meeting attendees said he sought to hear from all sides.
“He asked a lot of questions and he raised concerns with the violent nature of these games and asked the question: Is this causing the kids to have (this) violent behaviour?” said Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R—Mo.
Those attending the meeting from the video game industry included representatives of the Entertainment Software Association and the Entertainment Software Rating Board and two CEOs of video game publishers.
Also attending were a representative of the Parents Television Council, a conservative watchdog group, as well as conservative activist Brent Bozell — a longtime critic of video game violence who founded the council — and the author of a book linking mass killings to violent video games.
PTC program director Melissa Henson said she sought to convey the challenges of keeping violent games away from kids “even for the most diligent parent.”
She described the meeting as a listening session, saying there were no decisions about next steps.
“I don’t think there are easy answers and I don’t think that we’re going to be able to figure out the solution in the course of a one—hour conversation,” Henson said.
Industry representatives argued in advance of the meeting that there was no correlation between video games and gun violence.
The Entertainment Software Association released a statement saying studies “have found no connection between games and real—life violence” and noting that games are played in other countries that don’t have the same level of gun violence. They expressed hope that the meeting will “provide the opportunity to have a fact— based conversation about video game ratings ... and the tools we provide to make informed entertainment choices.”
Trump has focused on video games as he seeks solutions to deal with the scourge of guns in the wake of the Florida school shooting that killed 17 people. After weeks of public deliberation — including expressing support for some gun control measures — Trump has not yet outlined what he would like to see in legislation.