By: Kyle James | 03-19-2018 | News
Photo credit: 1UpForge & tmj4.com

Video Games Cost One Girl Her Life, But This Man Turns Them Into Art

Critics of video games have long suggested that playing violent games correlates to violent behavior in the real world. I don't think that is necessarily true, at least not to the level that is concerning. The average child doesn't commit violent acts of violence or killing anyone, yet as many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games.

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So when a startling act of violence is committed by a child, violent video games become an easy scapegoat. One case of violent linked directly to video games took place around 1 p.m. Saturday in Monroe County, Mississippi. Sheriff Cecil Cantrell says a 9-year-old boy grabbed a gun when his teenage sister refused to hand over the video game controller and shot her in the head. The bullet went through her brain.

The mother of the two children was in another room feeding lunch to other kids when the shooting took place. Sheriff Cantrell says the investigation is ongoing into how the boy was able to access the gun. The boy's 13-year-old sister was rushed to Le Bonheur's Children's Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

This case begs the question would this same young boy have shot his sister over any other dispute? Was it simply chance that the gun was available during this particular argument? Perhaps the real cause of this lies deeper than any mere object or hobby. It may have been a bicycle or a skateboard that the pair were fighting over when the boy found the gun.

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There is one thing that is certain, the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry isn't going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, the video game business grew past Hollywood several years ago and more than half of the 50 top-selling video games contain violence.

Yet cases of violence committed by children are relativity few and far between.

There can also be positive impacts from video games such as one man in Oshkosh, Wisconsin who takes old video games and turns them into art. Jeff Farber started a business that repurposes old video game systems called 1UpForge. Farber doesn't just make any kind of art, he makes functioning art for your home.

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/31d56c4d5433517c479aea8c9e5b1aa4a3fc70854457e00b72bf2d98af9324ad.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">1upForge | Esty.com</span>

1UpForge's website says he likes to keep video game pieces out of landfills and "curate small bits of video game history at the same time."

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/5c741384d6de677687c7b2d8bf2b36003eb75e73ab8844c98b4416401ea3d33e.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">1upForge | Esty.com</span>

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/603272ea396b8864848d09c6db8aec091305d4e258418d864e30dbabd1f5b299.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">1upForge | Esty.com</span>

Jeff Farber is an example of the positivity that can come from video games, while the young boy who shot his sister in Mississipi represents the darkest side of the phenomenon. Much like school shootings, violence is part of a root problem with mental health, and not the tool used to commit the heinous act.

<i>On Twitter:</i>

<a href="https://twitter.com/MAGASyndicate">@MAGASyndicate</a>

Tips? Info? Send me a message!

Source: http://www.wtva.com/content/news/Teen-shot-in-head-by-9-year-old-in-Monroe-County-477207783.html https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/oshkosh-man-turns-retro-video-games-into-art-on-website-1upforge

Twitter: #Violence #VideoGames #MentalHealth #Mississippi #Wisconsin #Shooting

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