The role of video games in society has often been debated for better and for worse. For example, some games can absolutely help people in certain ways. Video games are a kind of “escapism” and can thus be used to calm people down or spark their imagination. Others can be used to creatively teach people things or highlight how to care for animals and people. But, inevitably, some say that video games “do nothing good” and are responsible for certain real-world events, and Tekken 8 boss Katsuhiro Harada isn’t having any of that.
How did he get roped into this? Not in the way you’d think. French President Emmanuel Macron recently stated that “social media and video games” were responsible for the riots in his country. We’ll break down the circumstances in a bit.
But getting back to Harada, he noted on Twitter that it was not only foolish to blame video games for the riots but that, over time, people have tried to blame video games for everything:
When a fan wisely noted that playing Harada’s franchise since the start “made him a martial arts master,” Harada jokingly said, “True!” So yeah, he’s not buying that video games caused any of the issues he mentioned.
Another reason it was foolish for Macron to go down this path was the true reason for the protests and riots going on in his country. If you haven’t heard, a police officer shot a 17-year-old student during a routine traffic check. Like many deaths that have happened over the last several years by police, many are noting that it wasn’t warranted and demanding action. Yes, riots and damage are being caused, but there are just as many protests, and some say that the unrest is all over France.
So is the President really going to say that video games inspired all of France to go and fight the police and destroy lots of things? We don’t think so. We doubt many of them even know about the upcoming Tekken 8.
What this really speaks to is the unrest within humanity itself. These last several years have been stressful, to say the least, regardless of what country you’re in. The deaths of these people at the hands of authorities is a subject that is still heavily debated today. But eventually, people will be pushed over the edge when they feel nothing is being done.
So, Mr. President, if you want to “bring calm” to your country, as you claim, don’t throw shade at video games. Instead, try and do something responsible to prevent such an incident from happening again.
