Jesse Walker Offers a Short History of Game Panics

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Death Race
flickr user Jim Merullo

For decades moral guardians have warned us about the alleged evils of video games. They make people violent. They make people gamble. They're too addictive, too hypnotic, too bloody, too risque. If they aren't leading kids to drugs or delinquency, they're turning them into school shooters. And they might even make you fat.

As part of Reason's comprehensive "Video Game Nation" coverage, Books Editor Jesse Walker offers some highlights from the history of game-driven moral panics.