Following the tragic school shooting in Tacloban that claimed the lives of three students, it is understandable that society is searching for answers. However, proposals to restrict or ban video games find no support in the overwhelming body of available evidence. If the objective is genuinely to protect children, policymakers and communities must address the real factors underlying violence rather than turning to convenient scapegoats or quick fixes. The debate echoes similar discussions worldwide, with countries taking divergent approaches: China, for instance, implemented regulations in 2021 limiting minors' online gaming to specified hours per week, while other nations have relied primarily on age rating systems and parental controls as regulatory tools.

The author writes not only as an educator and industry representative but also as a parent. Over a career spanning 25 years in higher education — including the last 16 years dedicated to building game development education in the Philippines — he has observed firsthand how games can foster creativity, collaboration, technical innovation, and problem-solving. During that time, the Philippine game development industry has grown into a respected creative sector, generating career opportunities in game development, software engineering, digital art, animation, design, and related fields. This growth has gained additional policy support through the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act (Republic Act 11904), enacted in 2022 to strengthen the country's creative economy.

Decades of peer-reviewed research present a consistent picture. While no single study can be considered definitive, the overwhelming weight of evidence provides little to no support for the claim that playing video games directly causes real-world criminal violence. This body of research aligns with the position of the American Psychological Association, which in 2015 affirmed that there is insufficient evidence to establish a causal link between violent video games and lethal violence. Violence is a complex human behavior influenced by many factors, not by a single medium. As with films, television, books, and other forms of fictional media, video games are enjoyed by millions of people without dictating how they behave in the real world.

The conversation, therefore, should shift toward where responsibility genuinely lies.

Modern game platforms already offer multiple layers of protection for young users. As a parent, the author and his wife set up their daughter's Roblox account under parental supervision. The platform required identity verification to activate family supervision features, applied age-based restrictions by default, and sent a notification when she recently entered the 13+ age bracket — all while allowing the parents to retain oversight. Her Android device similarly operates under a supervised Google child account, enabling the parents to approve apps, manage screen time, and apply content restrictions. These safeguards illustrate that developers and platforms have invested substantially in digital safety.

This model of shared responsibility was echoed during a recent Senate hearing, where psychologists, mental health professionals, and other resource persons stressed that meaningful intervention must tackle the root causes of youth violence, including psycho-emotional well-being, family and home environments, bullying, social isolation, and broader societal factors.

Under this framework, developers provide internationally recognized age ratings — such as those from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system — and parental controls, platforms enforce those safeguards, parents remain actively engaged in their children's digital lives, schools promote digital citizenship, and the government strengthens mental health services — building on the mandate of Republic Act 11036, the Philippine Mental Health Act enacted in 2018 — while pursuing evidence-based public policy.

Protecting children and supporting the Philippine game development industry are not competing objectives. Both can — and must — be pursued simultaneously. The real question is whether society will embrace solutions grounded in evidence, responsibility, and collaboration, or continue to blame the wrong target.

Norman Lee is the chairperson of the Game Design and Development (GDD) program at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) School of Management and Information Technology (SMIT). He also serves as a board member of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and as chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Technical Panel for Game Development and Animation.