'Doom' designer John Romero has defended video games from accusations from American critics that they inspire violence.
Doom
The 48-year-old programmer is the co-founder of id Software and is responsible for creating the iconic 1993 first-person shooter which saw players take control of 'Doomguy' and fight hoards of demons from Hell as well as other popular gun-toting titles such as 'Wolfenstein 3D' and 'Quake'.
Romero, like many developers, has had critics in his native US accuse him of spreading violence with his games, but the designer refutes the claims insisting it is America's gun culture that is responsible for the high percentage of violent and fatal incidents.
During his keynote talk at the GameOn Ventures conference in Toronto, Canada, Romero said: "I believe games are cultural and the violence that we see in the world goes beyond games. Plenty of countries play games. Canada, Germany, Japan, England, Ireland... They're all hardcore consumers of games, yet we don't see similar outbreaks of violence in these countries. It's not the game, it's the gun. It's not the computer, it's the culture. It's not the player."
Romero also spoke about the developments in the gaming sphere in recent years, especially with mobile phone titles, and what can actually be classified as a video game.
He said: "Computer games weren't games according to people who played board games back in the 70s. While console games were not games according to computer game players in the '80s... As we expand the boundary of games, people question whether it's a game at all. Is 'Gone Home' a game? Is 'Life is Strange' a game? Is 'Her Story' a game? Yes, I think they are.
"When we push the boundaries of games, when we experiment with the medium to see what it can do, there are always those who will question if the new work at the end is still within the boundary, when in fact it has just pushed it."