The World's Most Dangerous Video Games

Guns Magazine, April, 2001 by Scott Farrell

Remington and Colt have come under fire recently for putting their guns "in the hands of children" ... in the form of video games. In a statement issued last December, the anti-gun Violence Policy Center criticized these two manufacturers for "marketing guns to children" in their Remington Top Shots and Colt's Wild West Shootout computer games. These two games allow players (children and adults alike) to choose from a collection of realistic firearms. In the game from Remington, players participate in a variety of shooting sports, including trap and sporting clays. The action-style game from Colt puts players in the role of a frontier sheriff armed with various Old Western revolvers and rifles.

"Through these games, gun makers offer virtual versions of their deadly products to children to introduce them to firearms and engender brand loyalty in future customers," said VPC spokesman Marty Langley. "Such flagrant marketing of a deadly product to children has not been witnessed since the days of Joe Camel and Spuds McKenzie."

Although the report did not offer any criticism of more mainstream computer video games such as Quake, Unreal, Marathon, or Duke Nukem - all of which allow players to commit various acts of violence against virtual human beings, albeit with non-brand-name flamethrowers, rocket launchers and machine guns - it did call for legislative action against these brand-specific games. And the call did not go unheeded. According to a Cox News Service report, Massachusetts Representative Edward Markey said that this report revealed "the depths to which this industry is sinking." Markey threatened to introduce legislation into Congress to allow the FTC to charge entertainment companies with "unfair trade practices" if they "engage in niche marketing to children of a product that would be illegal for them to buy."