Although some people feel that the families of the victims of the Columbine High School massacre are justified in suing manufacturers of "violent" computer games, it seems that the majority of Australians might disagree.

In a poll recently run on ZDNet Australia, it was asked whether these families could be justified in their litigation against computer game developers and publishers. An overwhelming 78.44 percent of ZDNet Australia respondents believed that these game companies should not be held responsible for the massacre at Columbine High School.

Steve Wang, vice president of the Sydney studios of the Australian game developer Micro Forte, agrees with the poll and believes that these sorts of issues should really be handled by society itself rather than through litigation.

"Society has decided that guns are allowable," says Wang. "Programs that show people being tortured, shot, maimed, as acts of a brutal psycotic or a vengeful lover are also allowable."

Wang emphasises that this is not a new argument and that computer games are just like other forms of media and have only a certain level of impact on the behaviour of individuals. Even then, what becomes of that impact is dependent on what type of individual is involved.

"The Port Arthur [in Tasmania] massacre was loosely connected with [Martin] Bryant's fascination with evil horror videos," says Wang. "Does this mean we should sue the movie people? Would that be a solution that would prevent further killings?"

Although the causes for these types of violence can never easily be acertained, Wang is adamant that society has the means at its disposal, particularly in Australia, to shape what can be done to prevent further violence. "In Australia, our society's decision was more to target the means," explains Wang. "Recognising that many factors such as emotional and mental ones could contribute to this situation, the solution might lie in trying to remove the means of destruction."

"The result was to impose stronger gun laws to try to limit the means of this action,"says Wang, "That was Australian society's choice. Ultimately I believe it is an important issue for society, and one that the society must make a decision on."

Wang was also insistent that there are scores of other children who play these games or watch violent material who don't go on killing spree after viewing these media. "If we want to take action, we should not shoot the messenger, we should destroy the message," explains Wang. "I believe it is an important issue... I don't believe pointing the finger at a single case helps the problem."

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