Let’s face it: video games are all around us. If you don’t play them, you’ve at least watched someone else play them. It comes as no surprise that with popularity comes controversy. Controversy such as people, whose vision of reality and fantasy become blurred, therefore causing trouble for anyone who gets in their way.Way back in June 2005, an 18-year-old was charged with the murder of three men in Alabama, two of which were police officers. A similar incident happened in 2004, where a 14-year-old shot and killed his father, stepmother, and stepsister. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Why would these boys go and shoot those people?” Well, according to the lawsuits that followed, it was the makers of the video game Grand Theft Auto, not the parents that are to blame.The thing that bothers me is that the parents had no eyes put on them during this case. “Oh sure, our son kills three men. But we don’t like having the blame put on us so let’s instead shift the blame onto the game that we think is violent.” To me, I think that the parents should’ve gotten some flack. I mean, is it not the job of the parent to teach their child the difference between right and wrong? I know I wouldn’t let any child of mine out of the house unless they knew that what happens in video games isn’t a sign of what is right. But these kids apparently didn’t get that sort of attention.And speaking of attention, what are kids doing playing these sorts of games anyways? These games have a very clear rating of “M” for “Mature.” The video game rating system was put into effect so that knuckleheaded kids can’t walk into a store and try to buy a game out of their age limit. But somehow, the kids are able to purchase these games. How do they do it? Is it a dim-witted clerk? Do kids just look older these days? Or is it the negligent parents who buy games without even considering what the little letter in the corner of the front of the box means?When it comes to playing violent video games, it’s important to remember that not everything you see is real. Unfortunately, some people will never understand this.