Why the video game industry has to talk about gun violence

The Entertainment Software Association’s decision to even attend Vice President Joe Biden’s meeting on gun violence sent shockwaves through the gaming community.

Gaming site Gamasutra’s editor-in-chief Kris Graft said that talking with Vice President Biden was tantamount to accepting responsibility. “If you’re among the ‘game industry leaders’ entertaining this question in the court of the Vice President of the U.S.A. and his task force on gun control and violence, you, my well-meaning friend, are stating that you’re part of the problem, and therefore, you are part of the problem,” he wrote. Graft’s piece, in turn, set off a backlash of its own, with critics saying that the game industry has to continue to address the issue or risk being left out. As IGN writer Casey Lynch said in a response to Graft’s piece, “this conversation will happen, whether we’re a part of it or not.” That much, at least, is true.