This is one of those cases of which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The fact is violence existed before video games. Video games are a reflection of true life, not the other way around. If someone were to make a game about kids going into schools and shooting up other kids well, that's probably because we all saw it happening in the news. Just like war, or crime, or stealing cars, etc. These behaviors aren't condoned by anyone.
I mean, I don't think stealing cars is a good idea, but then again I don't have a criminal mind. A criminal mind is going to break the law and hurt others, and doesn't need a video game to come up with ways to be stupid.
So everyone who wants to blame video games needs to lay off. As a parent, my daughter won't be playing games that are overly violent. Why? Because she is DEVELOPING. I can't keep her from knowing about and understanding violence, but I want to have talks and ease her into it. Life is hard enough without thinking that violence in the answer to problems. If she hits a kid in school because violence seems ok, then I am to blame. Not the video game or the video game developer. Bad role models are everywhere. It's my job to make sure she has good ones, which means no violent video games. It's called parenting! But peta, if my daughter knows not to pull a cat's tail since she was age two, I think she can handle harpooning a few whales in a game now that she's over the age of ten. Afterall, kids have been pulling cats tails and men have been whaling since before any of us were born. It's nature for us to hunt. Maybe you should try it sometime, it's a real carnal and animalistic thrill. It's part of what man is. We're hunters, just like sooo many other mammals. Embrace what you are. No need to fear it.