In a recent school shooting in Germany, a troubled and bullied kid went on a killing spree, wounding 37 and killing at least himself. He was apparently disillusioned by an economic situation that would have sent him straight from the school into unemployment. This is very sad and a horrible waste of talent that no modern society can really afford in an age of global competition.

Now, after the desaster, politicans across the board are trying to "understand" what happened, i.e. come up with lame excuses for their incompetence and offer rash, unreflected but popular strategies to address the issues. Germans - with their tradition of state control and a somewhat troubled history of civic freedoms - have an universal approach to this: Verboten! As such, it is not surprising that first-person shooters (such as e.g. Half-Life or Quake) are targeted for censorship.

I do not want to argue about the pedagogical value of such games. However, in a society where freedom is considered one of the fundamental values [1], censorship is not an option. I do think that access to violent computer games should be limited to adults and that children should be educated about proper use of modern media in school. But teletubbyfying entertainment is simply ludicrous.

The gravest failure lies with the parents, and to a lesser degree with teachers and local society as a whole - they are co-responsible for the failure to educate this young man and offer him a future. At the end of the day however, he pulled the trigger - so the primary responsibility lies with him - and certainly not with the game industry or with the Internet in general.

The proper questions to ask would be: Why did the parents allow him play FPS for such a long time? Why did they not recognize that he had social and academic problems at school and react accordingly? Why did the teachers not discourage bullying at an early stage? And finally: how long will Germany continue on its current trajectory, where qualified labor is desperately needed, but the structures in education and the labor market are so inflexible that talented young people do not get the chance to excel and pursue happiness?

[1] Germany national anthem begins with "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit ...", i.e. "Unity and Justice and Freedom ...".