The White House released a video on YouTube earlier this week that was a montage of extremely violent scenes from video games that have been taken out of context and spliced together. This seems to be a step towards blaming mass shootings on video games, rather than any other number of societal problems.

The video was widely criticized for its attempts to link video games to gun violence, and taking only the most extreme examples or out-of-context clips. It would be no different than splicing together shooting scenes from shows like 24 and blaming gun violence on TV shows.

In response to the White House's video, the non-profit group Games For Change released their own Youtube video. #GameOn together! focuses on exploration, creativity, relationships, logic, sheer beauty - elements of gaming that is rarely shown by the media.

Of course, many of the games shown in this video do indeed feature violence, though that was mostly left out of the video. It would be disingenuous to say that games like The Last of Us, Portal 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Overwatch, and Shadow of the Colossus aren't violent games in their own way, yet they all appear in the #GameOn video. Perhaps the creators are interesting in showing that violence in games, as in other media, is on a spectrum; there is no reason to demonize games over anything else.

While there are many more examples of video games that feature no on-screen violence - Gone Home, for example - the creators decided to go for visual spectacle above all. Unfortunately, artistry won't have the same traction as graphic violence - but it is a step in the right direction.

While you have to commend the people at Games for Change for their intentions, this won't do much to convince people whose minds are already made up about video games causing violent behavior. Still, it's a powerful reminder for those people in the know - the ones who actually play these games, and study their effects on society - that games can be beautiful and, perhaps, effect positive change in the world.