Leland Yee discusses his videogame vendetta

Gamecyte recently interviewed California State Senator Leland Yee about his crusade against “harmful” videogames in an interview that pooled the questions of games media writers across the ‘net. I was asked to provide my own question for Mr. Yee, but sadly I am told he “did not answer it.” I merely wanted to know why Yee had to resort to hyperbole and scaremongering to get across his valid warnings about children and videogames, but I guess it was a bit too confrontational for the video.

Either way, the interview (Gamecyte has a full transcript too) provides an interesting glimpse at Leland Yee’s agenda, and is an excellent example of the myopic views of the anti-games lobby. Most telling of all is Yee’s dismissal of facts that undermine his “games are harmful” position. This quote here perfectly sums up the mindset of people like Yee:

Of course, if Mr. Yee had bothered to read all the material on a subject he feels strongly about, he’d have realized that the reports are FAR from consistent and that claims of videogames and violence links are highly disputed indeed. However, by his own admission he has NOT read all available material, yet is bold enough to claim that every report backs up his belief.

And that is my problem with Leland Yee. I respect his concerns when it comes to protecting children, but it’s the fact that he and others cannot do it without the ignorance, the twisted facts and the straight-up lies. This is the question I asked him that he did not answer — why? Why lie? Why is it not just as harmful to contribute to a mass hysteria over videogames with petty scaremongering that isn’t fair on anybody, be they worried parent or vilified game designer? But I didn’t get the answer I wanted.

Hit the jump for part two of the video.