Scythe
Task Mage
Awesomely Cool Member Guy
Quite Possibly Mad
Posts: 533
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Post by Scythe on Jul 7, 2004 9:06:58 GMT -5
Have any of you ever noticed how many adults blame video games for their childrens problems? There was a radio story on NPR the other day that was prettyy one sided, saying that violent behavior and insecurity among teenagers directly stems from video games in many cases and how terrible they are for kids. I was kinda pissed. How many gamers do you know who say "Oh, that guy killed that other guy on that game, so now I should go shoot my classmates at school today?" (If you DO say that, I'm sorry if I offended you, please dont shoot me.)
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Post by devo2 on Jul 7, 2004 9:13:02 GMT -5
I've always found that argument to be ridiculous. At the age where a child has the motor coordination developed to play those FPS games, they have already developed the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.
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Post by piñata on Jul 7, 2004 9:19:03 GMT -5
Besides which, games like "Doom" are excellent stress relievers. I almost think the censors want kids to blow up real people instead of fake people. Taking away an outlet can only cause more Columbines, not less.
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Scythe
Task Mage
Awesomely Cool Member Guy
Quite Possibly Mad
Posts: 533
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Post by Scythe on Jul 7, 2004 9:33:43 GMT -5
Absolutely right. Video games are THE best possible outlet for anger and stress, and they help develop reflexes and quick thinking.
I kinda figured this would be a one-sided debate when I started it. Had to say something though.
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Buddha
Parlor Mage
OMGWTFBBQ?
Posts: 234
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Post by Buddha on Jul 7, 2004 9:58:28 GMT -5
I'm sure some of these "mature" adults look only at the violence and not the storyline of the game. A lot of violent games have a well developed plot. Like pinata said..doom is a great one. Or resident evil. I've enjoyed all the RE games I have played and I haven't gone on any mass killings thinking everyone is a zombie. There's this little thing called common sense. What is it you ask? It's the little guy in your head saying that's a bad idea. Don't run across a highway.
At columbine the 2 guys were supposedly influenced by the matrix. Well that's a movie...but still. There's a bigger reason than video games why people do things like that. Look at all the violence in the world. Watch the news..read the paper, you hear a lot more than you'll ever see in a game. However, even with the violence in the world...you still got a conscience and common sense. There's another option called choice. Choice lets you decide what you will do. You can't force a person to do something he doesn't want. Study for test...or don't study for test. It all goes down to this- video games aren't the problem. There isn't a problem at all. Video games only give people ideas. It's the person who commits the crime.
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Post by devo2 on Jul 7, 2004 21:17:30 GMT -5
I kinda figured this would be a one-sided debate when I started it. Had to say something though. I could take the other side if you like...
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Post by Elfie on Jul 7, 2004 21:22:41 GMT -5
Here's an interesting question. There's no doubt that kids who play violent video games are more likely to do bad things than other kids, at least from what I read, but is the video game causing this, or is it just that the same personality that is prone to violence is also prone to enjoying violent games? If that is the case, the playing violent video games is just another symptom, not the reason why the kid does it, and fighting one symptom won't remove another.
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Post by SuperBassX84 on Jul 7, 2004 22:47:22 GMT -5
I did a paper on this, though I'll be damned if I can remember the content thereof. Figures. Basically, yeah, games are stress relievers. I don't do pot, don't smoke, don't drink. Know why? 'Cause I have video games. I can sit at a computer for HOURS and emerse myself in another world. I get away from the problems of this world, learn some problem-solving abilities, and have some fun. If I blow the Fork out of a few aliens, so be it. Another point that hasn't been brought up here is that very seldom do the parents that rant about the violence of video games ACTUALLY HAVE FUN WITH THEIR KIDS. These are the MORONS that trust the video game or the TV or the microwave or the fork and electrical socket to babysit their kids. They are horrible parents, and rather than admit that, they'd rather blame it on someone else. Forking useless asshats.
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Post by DarkAngel on Jul 8, 2004 18:25:57 GMT -5
If a child sees a game like Grand Theft Auto, and gets the idea in his stupid head that it looks like fun, and he should go out and kill 10 people for the hell of it, video games aren't the problem. The problem is as Bass said, parenting. A child can be manipulated in any way that the parents want them to be. If parents wish their child to be a good citizen, they will teach them right from wrong. If they don't, they will sit back and let their kid get warped by the media. I agree that video games to an "untrained" child can be dangerous. But if a child is taught that they are just games, and killing people is wrong, then they are no harm at all.
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Post by devo2 on Jul 8, 2004 21:43:24 GMT -5
A child can be manipulated in any way that the parents want them to be. If parents wish their child to be a good citizen, they will teach them right from wrong. If they don't, they will sit back and let their kid get warped by the media. It's a little more complicated than that' ALL parents want their children to be good citizens, it's just how they go about teaching it. Some ways are sucessful, some are not. And it's not so much that children get corrupted by the media, children were bad long before what we consider "media" even existed. It has more to do with the fact that if parents neglect their children then the child never learns to respect authority, never learns to control anger or urges, and never learns right from wrong (philosophically speaking, not literally or legally)
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Post by SuperBassX84 on Jul 8, 2004 22:05:33 GMT -5
Indeed. My parents weren't always the best parents in terms of "let's go do stuff together," but they instilled in me a very sexy morality. Sometimes TOO sexy. My little brother's 10, but he knows right from wrong. He could sit and play Doom and GTA and Halo and games like that all day long and never consider the idea of going out and killing people. Why? Because he didn't grow up, he was raised. My mom, my dad, me, my sister, my brother, my grandparents. We raised him. We taught him right from wrong, fantasy from reality.
Hell, even if you don't know proper techniques to teach your children, you can at least take a half-hour and look at the game they're playing to see if it's sadistic violence or not. Jesus....
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Post by stalin on Jul 9, 2004 1:26:31 GMT -5
Truthfully, I think a lot of the hype about it is just because parents are looking for something to blame for the violence in todays society (which hasnt really gone up since they were kids) and they are to afraid to acknowledge the possiblity that it could be their fault.
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Post by Ape on Aug 6, 2004 16:28:32 GMT -5
I don't think violent video games cause violence, but rather teaches it. I don't think a kid plays a game and thinks "wow, i just killed that person...i want to do it in real life now" but rather "Wow, i never thought about killing a person like that. Now when i kill <person> i can do it the right way" I know i don't play a game and then want to go out and kill someone, but it can teach me/a child how to swing a sword/knife or something, so if the child was already violent, the game really just taught them how to go through with killing someone. As for the parents thing, they're wrong. I can understand being worried about a younger child playing a violent video game, but when its anyone over age of say...5-6 years old, i'd say its doing no harm at all. The younger kids, capable of taking knives/sharp objects to pre-school, are quite capable of being manipulated by the game in my opinion. So video games really aren't the cause of the violence, but they don't help the situation either. So meh, play on.
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Post by Alicia on Dec 12, 2004 13:24:12 GMT -5
I think it's what you make em.
I think for the person who plays the game and gets crazy ideas or shooting people, I think that person would have considered it anyway.
Sorta how people say seeing someone on tv smoking causes you to do it...I think it would have crossed your mind if you were that easily manipulated anyway.
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Post by Static on Jan 15, 2005 11:36:47 GMT -5
I have essentially the same opinion of everyone else here. Video games aren't neccesarily to blame. It is true that some kids are extra impressionable and video games may influence their violent behavior, but in a perfect world, their parents would actually know their tendencies and keep unsuitable games away from them.
Interesting point: According the 2000 Guiness book of world records, Germany has the strictest policy involving video game violence. Any violence in video games must be directed towards zombies, monsters, etc, not people.
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(LK)
Artificer
Posts: 733
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Post by (LK) on Apr 12, 2005 22:19:41 GMT -5
I have essentially the same opinion of everyone else here. Video games aren't neccesarily to blame. It is true that some kids are extra impressionable and video games may influence their violent behavior, but in a perfect world, their parents would actually know their tendencies and keep unsuitable games away from them. Interesting point: According the 2000 Guiness book of world records, Germany has the strictest policy involving video game violence. Any violence in video games must be directed towards zombies, monsters, etc, not people. damn that sucks:( i guess it depends on who's playing the video game really
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Post by devo2 on Apr 13, 2005 1:08:00 GMT -5
I will totally agree with that. Different people respond differently to stimuli.
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Post by Ape on Aug 13, 2006 13:31:58 GMT -5
Sorry for reviving such an old thread, but i've heard of some groups trying to ban some games recently and it made me want to stab one of them. Then i remembered this thread and thought i'd get a much shorter prison sentence by posting here instead. I didn't re read any of this so i'm sure these points have been made, but i'm kind of venting here. Games are NOT to blame in any sort of way. I may have said otherwise before, but i was wrong. People who blame video games for violence are only using it because its sucy an easy target. And what was the blame for violence 30 years ago? Movies right? Movies were too violent, they caused violence. But what about before there was violence in film? Could it have been books? Surely there was too much violence in books. But what about 100's of years ago when half the world couldn't read? What caused people to be violent then? The answer is not video games, movies or books. Humans are violent by nature, as are most earthly species. To further prove this point, look at poorer countries in the mid east who either have no games/movies in general, or have VERY heavily censored programming. What causes them to be violent? One of these anti-video game Forktards would probably say something along the lines of "Oh, well they are archaic, they aren't civilized like we are" Hmmm, interesting, yes, so archaic people who have NO outside influence on them are violent...no influence by games or movies. So they are, shall we say, NATURALLY violent. Now, lets take a look at the parents. Why did the parents allow their child to play such a violent game? Doesn't sound like good parenting to me. And how do these kids have access to guns? Parents, if you don't want you kids to shoot people, DON'T LET THEM HAVE GUNS! Games have a rating in the bottom corner, you should abide by those. Also, DON'T LET YOUR KIDS HAVE GUNS!
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