Ego Shooters, a genre where the player sees through the eyes of the game figure, have always been the center of attention for the media if some school tragedy happens.

It started in 1999 with the Columbine High School massacre, where the a major reason for the happening was quickly found in violent movies and games that Eric Harris and Dylon Klebold supposedly played. The games as well as their passion for firearms should become the scapegoat of this tragedy.

The same scapegoat was chosen for the Red Lake High School massacre in 2005, where Jeffrey Weise killed seven innocent people.

These are just two examples from the United States. In Germany, the shooting in Erfurt, lead to a major change in the firearm laws as well as entertainment area. The german news media was fully blaming the Ego-Shooters as the reason for this happening, where Robert Stein went back to his old school and shot classmates. This so called "Killerspiele" (killing games) where in the center of attention for more than 4months straight and everyone that was somehow famous wanted to say out his opinion about it. Unfortunately, they all had the same opinion about those kind of games and were voting for a banning of games, which included some kind of shooting action.

It seems obvious, why the media tries to pick on the Ego Shooters: seeing through the eyes and having a weapon on the left or right side of the screen as if you would carry it yourself. Also the main goals of those games look simple: kill everything you see without mercy. So the scapegoat is easily formed and always exaggerating the parts of it that seem obvious. Ban these games and the youth of today will not be always see violence and play it. Seems easy doesn't it?

But when it comes down to scientifically proving the point, all the "advantages" of banning the games seem to disappear. Case studies showed that video games, even ultra violent ones, will not raise the violence level of a teenager. The teenager has the skill to distinguish between the video game world and the real world. This has also nothing to do with the background of the teenager, because everyone reacted the same way and showed, that they just see it all as a game.

This kind of games even have a positive effect on the youth. Scientists found out, that people that play 3D games, 3D Shooters, have a better reaction than others and can also think more three dimensional. So this is a total contradiction to the always displayed fact, that Ego-Shooters just raise the violence level of the children. Also Teamplay orientated Online Shooter (e.g. Counter-Strike) also train the communication with other people, even when it is through playing a Computer Game. Counter-Strike bases upon the scenario of Counter-Terrorist and Terrorists playing against each other. The primary goal is not to kill everyone but to fulfill a mission: planting a bomb / preventing to do it. So the importance in the game is how to create a tactic that works to fulfill the mission and not "what is the best way to kill the opponent".  This is the most popular online game next to World of Warcraft and some people already make a living with playing these games. This is mostly in the Korean Area, where the people don't look at games like a danger, more like a perfect form of entertainment for everybody.

Everybody should have their own opinion, whether they accept this kind of games and want to let his / her children play it or play it themselves, but it is not right to stereotype each game and use it as a scapegoat, if something terrible happen. The media and politicians try to find a scapegoat for everything that hides the real facts for happenings.

Scapegoats are always searched there, where no reaction and defense is available. Ego-Shooters have a bad reputation but they should not be put into an even darker light.