Violent Videogames Poll

[Windmage]

Do you think that vilent video games are responsible for turning their players into violent murderers?

I don't think this has been discussed on here, so I thought I'd gather opinions

I got the idea after seeing a rather sad news story about the murder of a child. Apparently her sister and her boyfriend killed her by using moves from Mortal Combat.

 

[Slyguy46]

I personally don't think so, but there are some outstanding examples of Video Games to Real Life Violence.

I believe however, that violent Video Games are therapeutic, and actually calm people down.

I'm saying that It's a Possibility.

 

[yoyolll]

It's a hard question.

I think in America, it does heavily affect some people, especially those who run around yelling phrases from games while shooting cops or something.

It definately is true that it glorifies violence and killing.

But, since this doesn't seem to be a problem anywhere except America, I can't really make a clear stand on it.

Edit:
Ok, to make things a little more clear, my answer would be yes, because in this country violent video games are making many people more violent.

The undeniable proof is all the news reports we've heard about people imitating video games by harming people.

For example, (I have no idea where or when this happened and I admit I have no hard proof of it, but if you'll take my word I did see it on the nightly news) there was one guy who had an amazing runescape character, and he had a bunch or rare items.

In the "wilderness", his character was attacked by some mob of skeletons or something like that and this man lost all of his rare items.

Shortly after, he jumped off a building and killed himself.

I'm not trying to say that video games will make you kill someone or anything like that, but unfortunately, there is a small percentage of people who imitate these games and end up harming people.



One more thing, I think it's totally redicilous that people are voting in polls just for the hell of it without reading any of the posts or arguments. I've noticed the high amount of people saying "no" and decided either this was the case or they just lack intelligence and the ability to derive information.

 

[Zerg006]

First off, it's spelled Mortal Kombat. I'm sorry but I had to correct that.

And in my opinion, violent games do not create violent people. A lot of violent games contain scenarios that will almost NEVER happen in real life, and they contain elements that cannot happen. For example, in most games, you can get shot multiple times, and live. Try that in real life. It rarely ever happens. And the people that DO get violent from videogames, tend to be kids or teenagers, which brings up the question, where are their parents?

And if those two killed the girl with moves from Mortal Kombat, they had better have been the Fatalities. I mean if I were a judge and had a case where two kids ripped the beating heart out of someone with their bare hands, I think I would salute them. Then I would scream "Finish Him/Her!" rip their spine out, and yell "FATALITY! FLAWLESS VICTORY!"

 

[Dakare]

I think it would only happen if the person is already mentally unstable. So yeah, in certain intances, yes it could happen.

 

[Zerg006]

Thing is, all those "studies" that say that violent videogames lead to violent people are full of complete bull****. The data on those are NEVER conclusive, so it's never based on cold hard fact. Just interpretations.

Which is why Jack Thompson will NEVER win in his war to ban videogames. Because A)That's a violation of the First Amendment and B)He's Jack Thompson. I'm serious. Two gamers sent him a bouquet of flowers showing sympathy cause a lot of gamers hate him, and he threw it out, saying it was a prank

 

[animaldude]

That guy doesn't seem to like anything modern... he supposedly is opposed to videogames and rap music. I personally hate rap music and think it is hate music, etc, but you have to accept the fact that it's a part of young culture. I say that it's up to the parents to decide if their children should be effected by these games or not. The government shouldn't get involved. The kids who have parents that don't care what they play will probably end up being the bad kids that do drugs, etc. If the government takes away violent videogames from them, then they'll get into drugs at a younger age. As a result of this more kids will be doing drugs because they will all be influenced at a point in there life when they are most vulnerable...

lol that was an interesting theory

 

[yoyolll]

The government doesn't need to get involved, it's just stupid neglectful parents and their stupid daydreaming kids.

Zerg, that's the whole point, the crazy scenarios that can't happen in real life are being attempted. People start to beleive they can get shot multiple times, and they think killing a man is as simple and insignificant as finding a gun and pulling the trigger.

People try to act these things out in real life without being completely aware of what they're doing. I think it's a mild form of schizophrenia, but violent video do make these people violent.

Banning video games is stupid, making them less violent is common sense, because little kids are impressionable and not all of their parents care enough or are even around enough to know what they're playing.

 

[Zerg006]

That guy doesn't seem to like anything modern... he supposedly is opposed to videogames and rap music. I personally hate rap music and think it is hate music, etc, but you have to accept the fact that it's a part of young culture. I say that it's up to the parents to decide if their children should be effected by these games or not. The government shouldn't get involved. The kids who have parents that don't care what they play will probably end up being the bad kids that do drugs, etc. If the government takes away violent videogames from them, then they'll get into drugs at a younger age. As a result of this more kids will be doing drugs because they will all be influenced at a point in there life when they are most vulnerable...

lol that was an interesting theory

And can you believe that some people consider videogames to be just as dangerous as drugs and actual violence? N00bs

 

[webmasterbob]

There is a chance that if an emotionally unstable child were to play a videogame acts of violence could come from the situation. However, playing an M rated game is really no more exposure to violence than the watching of an R rated movie. M rated games are not sold to children under the age 17. When this occurs the ESA *not ESRB, ESRB simply rates them* takes action.

In the end, it comes down the responsibility of the parent/guardian. If a child is emotionally unstable or just plain too young for a mature title than the parent should simply not purchase the game for them. In all honesty I'm disgusted when I hear a six year old child talking about killing a prostitute in GTA...it's just not right.

Game maker have the right to create violent videogames; it's their form of art and expression. These games are made to be played by 17+ year olds. The ESRB will never slap on a rating without a reason, people need to learn how to use them *and it's odd they don't when we see commercials and ads every day informing parents about the ESRB system...*

 

[yoyolll]

There is a chance that if an emotionally unstable child were to play a videogame acts of violence could come from the situation. However, playing an M rated game is really no more exposure to violence than the watching of an R rated movie. M rated games are not sold to children under the age 17. When this accrues the ESA *not ESRB, ESRB simply rates them* takes action.

In the end, it comes down the responsibility of the parent/guardian. If a child is emotionally unstable or just plain too young for a mature title than the parent should simply not purchase the game for them. In all honesty I'm disgusted when I hear a six year old child talking about killing a prostitute in GTA...it's just not right.

Game maker have the right to create violent videogames; it's there form of art and expression. These games are made to be played by 17+ year olds. The ESRB will never slap on a rating without a reason, people need to learn how to use them *and it's odd they don't when we see commercials and ads every day informing parents about the ESRB system...*

But do you not agree that, under the circumstances you've given, a child killing prostitutes in GTA from the age of six will become conditioned to violence and see these things as almost normal and may even go out and commit something similar to what he's been exposed to?

 

[Capt. Zeroth]

Well I notice that some young kids after playing a game get really excited. They jump up and run around holding an imaginary gun and shooting everything. When I see this, I can't help but image what they would be like with a real gun... Now I think that with a stable person, video games are fine. But when you give them to an unstable person, they would probably get a little carried away.

BTW, did any one read about that group of NJ mothers who wanted to ban the Nintendo plastic gun case thingy for the Wii? They said that it was a horrible tool of destruction and they didn't want it in their house. Don't want it in your house? Don't buy it!

 

[webmasterbob]

They can try all they want, Nintendo is protected under the US Constitution. The only way the government could silence the gun peripheral is if it can be proven beyond all reasonable doubt that it presents a clear and present danger to the American people *this is known as the present danger clause set by the US Supreme Court during the 1919 Schenck vs United States case.* In any case, this clause has allowed Nazi and KKK representatives to stand on Jewish neighborhood streets and preach hatred and propaganda against minorities, Jews, etc. Therefore, I see very little chance of anything being passed to ban the Wii Zapper.

Honestly now...it's a piece of plastic! You can go to the Dollar Store and purchase a fake gun which children use to "shoot" each other with all the time.

 

[Capt. Zeroth]

Hmm, look what i found: OMIGAWDCLICKME

This is an article examining brains on video games. Here are a few quotes:

The video game Tetris, among the earliest games to launch the industry, involves falling tile-like tetraminoes that a player must quickly maneuver so they fit into space at the bottom of the screen. In the early 1990s, Richard Haier, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Irvine, tracked cerebral glucose metabolic rates in the brains of Tetris players using positron-emission tomography (PET) scanners. The glucose rates show how much energy the brain is consuming, and thus serve as a rough estimate of how much work the brain is doing. Haier determined the glucose levels of novice Tetris players as their brains labored to usher the falling blocks into correct locations. Then he took their levels again after a month of regular play. Even though the test subjects had improved their game performance by a factor of seven, Haier found that their glucose levels had decreased. It appeared that the escalating difficulty of the game trained the test subjects to manipulate the Tetris blocks mentally with such skill that they barely broke a cognitive sweat completing levels that would have utterly confounded them a month earlier.

Since then the pair has also found that gamers can visually track more objects simultaneously than nongamers and that playing video games improves this ability. Their latest research on the visual precision of gamers is forthcoming in Psychological Science and the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Green says his main interest is the brain’s plasticity, but cautiously concedes there may be practical applications to playing video games. “Strong peripheral vision is useful to law enforcement, firefighters, and the military. They need those enhanced skills,” he adds.

There is also something in there about increased attention span.

 

[animaldude]

I think Nintendo even redesigned the thing to look less like a dangerous weapon... (that's why is doesn't feel as good as the third party one (Not that i've used the 3rd party one but that's what I hear))

 

[yoyolll]

Guys, really, this isn't what the thread is about. I seriously feel alone because I'm the only one who voted yes in the poll. Can you really deny that a child conditioned to violence isn't more likely to commit a violent crime?

Parents should really be more responsible with 6 year olds trying to play GTA.

 

[Liriano]

Thought this was interesting. Maybe video games can encourage more than just violence.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/videogames.yahoo.com/feature/gamer-uses-virtual-training-to-save-lives/1181064

 

[Windmage]

Guys, really, this isn't what the thread is about. I seriously feel alone because I'm the only one who voted yes in the poll. Can you really deny that a child conditioned to violence isn't more likely to commit a violent crime?

Parents should really be more responsible with 6 year olds trying to play GTA.

I agree with what yoyoll says regarding a 6 year old playing GTA.

A child that young is more often than not, not mature enough to grasp the finality (is that a word?) of death. If that is in their lives all the time, they'll become numb to it; it'll seem perfectly fine to go out and kill some random person. Children tend to be very easy to manipulate.
The same thing could happen to a mentally unstable teen, or an adult.

This is why I put that videgames could creat violent people.

I believe however, that violent Video Games are therapeutic, and actually calm people down.

(quote from slyguy, btw

I also agree with that statement, because I play GTA often, and if I've had a really bad day, it serves as stress releif. And no, if I did not have the game, I would not go into the street and shoot someone.

 

[yoyolll]

Why am I still the only one that said yes? Didn't we just agree that video games do create violent people? Sure, it's a small percentage of people but you can't really deny it.

 

[Windmage]

They can create violent people, or push already violent people over the edge, but they don't necessarily do this. Hence why the choice "Its a Possibility" has more votes.