We’ve heard the claim time and time again: violent video games lead to violent children. But we’ve never considered the inverse logic, which is no less true and, perhaps, even more so: violent children lead to violent video games.

In the past decade, countless studies have been conducted on the effects of video games on the developing mind of a child. Just two weeks ago, the United Kingdom initiated a study of its own on video game violence. And this time, remarkably, the game companies are cooperating.

According to Paul Jackson of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers’ Association, ELSPA representatives are more than willing to work with the British government on this issue. But Jackson also points out that the video game industry is “too often blamed for everything from obesity to youth violence,” and hopes that this study will help clear the industry’s name.

Every generation has found some sort of scapegoat to help explain the rebellious actions of children and adolescents. In the 1960s, rock bands took the blame for teenage delinquency. Today, it’s video games that are held responsible.

But it could be argued that these “bad influences on the developing mind” are not affecting their audience as much as their audience is affecting them.

Children and teens are generally aggressive by nature. Only a few are aggressive to the point of being earnestly violent, but it is not uncommon to see young children wrestling with each other or playing “cowboys and Indians.”

Video games simply give youths another, safer outlet to express themselves. They can vent their pent up aggression on their friends in a virtual world rather than in real life.

But virtual violence cannot directly lead to teen violence unless there has been an error in parenting. Any child who has been taught some sense of right and wrong can distinguish between a video game world and reality.

All the time and money that has been spent on investigating the impact of video game violence should instead have been spent on researching better ways to teach children the difference between right and wrong.

In the end, whether we like it or not, it’s not video games, but we, who bear the greatest influence on the developing minds of children.