Game Violence

[834n]

I'm writing an essay about violence in video games effecting violence in real life, and want to ask your opinions on it (getting the opinions of people is a big plus in this assignment).

I think most of us are familiar with this debate, on weather or not video game violence has an impact on people. Do you think that games have no direct correlation to real acts of violence? Do you think that they do? Are you somewhere in between and think it depends on the person or the game? Any ideas of what should be done about it?

Personally I think it's the person in the first place. Obviously small children will be more affected than teenagers and adults, but I do think someone already of a deranged mindset might get ideas from a particularly violent game. I do not, however, think that video games are breeding the next generation of psychos and criminals.

[Yeahduff]

I think aggression is something that is in all of us, and while video games may coax it out of us, it also provides a fantasy world to exercise those aggressions in a healthy way.

When video game violence translates to real violence, video games are typically a very small part of the equation.

[Killbert-Robby]

I agree with Duff on this one. People who commit acts of violence "because of games" were fucked up to start with. Also, lets face it, its this generations scapegoat. First it was comics, then movies, then tv, now this. Nobody wants to go out and say "The kid shot 10 other kids and then himself because he was fucked up and brough up in a fucked up enviroment where he was able to do this", because then we ALL are to blame, rather than just a new-ish industry thats easy to blame.

[Jim North]

Sorry, no time to answer. I'm off to kill my neighbors to collect the parts I need for this damn quest!

[MixedMyth]

For adults, I think videogame violence really only affects people who are mentally unstable to begin with, in which case it's something latch on to through no fault of the game. However, I personally don't think young kids should be playing really violent games. I suppose I favor a ratings system such as is already in place. I'm not a fan of censorship, so I wouldn't want to ban anything.

[IVstudios]

According to the Bureau of Justice, the number of violent crimes committed has been dropping sharply over past years. And according to what I have read, is at an all time low.

Some researchers (I don't feel like looking for a specific article, but if you look around I'm sure you could find one) believe that this decline may in part be do to the increase in he number of violent video games. Rather than increasing violence, video games may in fact offer a safe outlet for people's violent tendencies.

So no, I do not believe violent video games cause violence. And I think people who believe they do need to look at the statistics.

[Jim North]

Well then they'll just start in again with complaining that vidgames rot your brain.

"These awful 'games' make people too lazy and stupid to go out and kill each other!"

[MixedMyth]

I should point out, Bean, that we're not exactly a good random sampling of people to ask.

[834n]

Thanks so far guys, this will be helpful.

According to the Bureau of Justice, the number of violent crimes committed has been dropping sharply over past years. And according to what I have read, is at an all time low.

Awesome. That's a good stat to ad.

I should point out, Bean, that we're not exactly a good random sampling of people to ask.

Heh. Too true. Maybe I should post the same thing on some sort of forum that would mostly think the other way.

[MixedMyth]

Thanks so far guys, this will be helpful.

According to the Bureau of Justice, the number of violent crimes committed has been dropping sharply over past years. And according to what I have read, is at an all time low.

Awesome. That's a good stat to ad.

I should point out, Bean, that we're not exactly a good random sampling of people to ask.

Heh. Too true. Maybe I should post the same thing on some sort of forum that would mostly think the other way.

Nah. Then you're just stacking odds in two directions and it's a matter of which side responds the most. What you need is a potential neutral place to ask.

[Rkolter]

I found that after playing GTA: Vice City for several (dozen) hours, I drove more aggressively (Beth even commented on it). I also was shorter tempered when dealing with frustrating people. Eventually I stopped playing and settled back down.

I have never really felt the urge to gun people down after playing shoot-em-up games though. I think that this game just particularly spoke to my visceral needs. I -like- driving aggressively already, and I have always wanted to beat the shit out of people who annoy me. I could do that in the game, and it reflected a little in my day to day life.

I don't think that videogames will incite joe average to go commit murders and rip the lungs out of his victims, or attack random passers by with baseball bats or try to run your car off ramps. But depending on the game, it might just nudge you a little towards aggresssion.

[Black Sparrow]

Yep. I agree with everyone else.

I use video games as a means of catharsis. When I'm frustrated with something or someone, I boot up Oblivion and stab goblins or snipe npcs for an hour or so. By the time I'm done, the stress has passed and I'm capable of tackling whatever problem I'm having in real life. Getting lost in a video game is a break from real life, and the only people who would become violent because of video games are the ones who are disconnected from reality as it is. I may play a violent, evil character in many scenarios, but I have yet to hear anyone I've known for a while comment on me becoming more evil or violent because of it.

[CJBurgandy]

I personally believe that if games directly influenced the behavior of youths today, that Phoenix Wright would be causing a high record in law school enrollment, but I just haven't seen proof of that yet. I think the same about violence. So once I see a sudden rise of young lawyering geniuses running around wearing ascots I might get worried about video games causing violent behavior.

[Killbert-Robby]

Thanks so far guys, this will be helpful.

According to the Bureau of Justice, the number of violent crimes committed has been dropping sharply over past years. And according to what I have read, is at an all time low.

Awesome. That's a good stat to ad.

I should point out, Bean, that we're not exactly a good random sampling of people to ask.

Heh. Too true. Maybe I should post the same thing on some sort of forum that would mostly think the other way.

Look for the Mothers Against Everything forums or something

[IVstudios]

I personally believe that if games directly influenced the behavior of youths today, that Phoenix Wright would be causing a high record in law school enrollment, but I just haven't seen proof of that yet. I think the same about violence. So once I see a sudden rise of young lawyering geniuses running around wearing ascots I might get worried about video games causing violent behavior.

But it would also cause a massive rise in perjury, wishy-washy judges and trials decided almost entirely on flimsy testimony and circumstantial evidence.

It might even cause a bunch of people to create avatars using the characters from the game.

[Killbert-Robby]

I personally believe that if games directly influenced the behavior of youths today, that Phoenix Wright would be causing a high record in law school enrollment, but I just haven't seen proof of that yet. I think the same about violence. So once I see a sudden rise of young lawyering geniuses running around wearing ascots I might get worried about video games causing violent behavior.

But it would also cause a massive rise in perjury, wishy-washy judges and trials decided almost entirely on flimsy testimony and circumstantial evidence.

It might even cause a bunch of people to create avatars using the characters from the game.

*looks at your sig, and prays to God it is so!*

[CJBurgandy]

It might even cause a bunch of people to create avatars using the characters from the game.

One could always hope.

Too bad mine is a canadian reference.

[Lunar]

It might even cause a bunch of people to create avatars using the characters from the game.

One could always hope.

Too bad mine is a canadian reference.

Go Canada! Wee!

[The Neko]

I think it really depends on the person who plays them. Some people can play violent games or absorb violent media and come out completely unaffected by it, whereas others can be much more susceptible for imprinting.

In those rare cases where some psychopath goes on a shooting rampage and has sat next to a video game sometime in his life, people find it easier to blame the game than it is to think of the person as having been damaged before that. People come up with conspiracy theories for the same reason, they feel that there has to have been some meaning to an event that was really just a lunatic doing something unimaginable.

In the case of these violent crimes surrounding video games, I believe that if it wasn't a game, it would have been something else that would set them off.

[Phact0rri]

there was an article a few years ago in a videogame magazine I read about, desenstizing one with videogame violence. The guy was commenting on when you see someone shot in real life. not matter how many skulls you've smashed in the virtual world, still doesn't come close to seeing the real thing.

Most gamer nerds playing their manhunt2 would still pee themselves if they saw a guy being gutted in front of them.