The murder of the young Louise revived the debate on the potentially harmful influence of video games. The industry quickly wanted to condemn “all free acts of violence”.
Owen L., the main suspect in the Louise murder case, revealed to the investigators who had left his home last Friday to “racket a person to calm down” after having argued with another online player during a Part of the famous Fortnite video game. It was there that he would have crossed Louise. Panic in the face of a teenage girl who shouted and tried to defend herself, he would have gained several fatal blows to her. Very publicized, the news item did not fail to relaunch the debate on the potentially harmful influence of video games.
Quickly, professionals in the sector wanted to defend the video game industry, arguing that these products “do not make violent”. In a joint press release, Video Games Europe and Union of Leisure Software publishers (SELL) assure it: “Video games remain above all, works of entertainment in the same way as cinema, books or music.” And to underline: “The many recent scientific studies all demonstrate, and rigorously, that there is no correlation between video games and violent behavior in real life.” However, they recognize that “the murder of little Louise arouses a lively and legitimate emotion in the country” and claim that “the video game industry is shocked and condemns all acts of free violence”.
At the microphone of Bfmtvthe psychoanalyst Michaël Stora tempered this point of view on Thursday morning. “Playing video games a lot will reduce the drive gauge in a certain way, […] It will lower inner violence because there is a cathartic effect, “he first posed, before noticing:” Except that it can happen, among some individuals who already have great weaknesses, that It triggers, why not, passages to the murderous act. “