Dave Grossman (author)
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is Professor of Military Science at Arkansas State University. His career includes service in the US Army as a sergeant in the US 82nd Airborne Division, a platoon leader in the 9th (High Tech Test Bed) Division, a general staff officer, a company commander in the 7th (Light) Infantry Division as well as a parachute infantryman and a US Army Ranger and teaching psychology at West Point.
During heights of video game controversy, Dave Grossman has been interviewed on the content of his books, and has repeatedly used the term "murder simulator" to describe first-person shooter games. He argues that video game publishers unethically train children in the use of weapons and, more importantly, harden them emotionally to the task of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single typical video game.
Bibliography
- On Killing (1995) (ISBN 0316330116), an analysis of the psychology of killing both in the military and in civilian society, which he calls killology.
- Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill : A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence (1999) (ISBN 0609606131)
- On Combat (2004) (ISBN 0964920514), "a ground-breaking examination of what it takes to perform, cope and survive in the toxicity of deadly combat as a soldier in a foreign land and a police officer in the mean streets of urban America.".