Do video games make children violent?

[Keanumoreira]

Well do they? Debate.

 

Edit to edit: Ok, seeing as to how I am overwhelmingly alone on this, and in light of convincing material, I change my vote from yes to something else.

 

I see now that perhaps I wasn't right to judge so lightly, and as proof myself, I can say in agreement that I was wrong. Whether or not games make children violent or not, I won't be one of them to say they are.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Keanumoreira

[risinxereon]

the fryckin cartoons on cartoon network etc. are makin them stupid and violent because thats what the current cartoons are... lets scrap CN, Disney, Nick and make AN (Anime Network)... bring back the anime that was on adult swim and on scifi those that arent comedy crap... like Inuyasha, Bleach, Blood +, code lyoko or something like that... Maturity makes them more mature about the violence they watch... Make something new that we want to see and make it like those i've just mentioned... Edited December 21, 2010 by risinxereon

[Keanumoreira]

the fryckin cartoons on cartoon network etc. are makin them stupid and violent because thats what the current cartoons are... lets scrap CN, Disney, Nick and make AN (Anime Network)... bring back the anime that was on adult swim and on scifi those that arent comedy crap... like Inuyasha, Bleach, Blood +, code lyoko or something like that... Maturity makes them more mature about the violence they watch... Make something new that we want to see and make it like those i've just mentioned...

 

I agree with eliminating Cartoon Network.

 

That channel has gone way downhill in a short timeframe. I always knew there was something odd with that channel, even before it became "odd."

[WizardOfAtlantis]

Edit: I've chosen yes because it seems obvious doesn't it?

Absolutely not. It's only obvious if you want to make it obvious and therefore not have to look any further. That's irresponsible escapism on whoever's part that is saying video games are the cause of anything except escapist good fun.

 

The article you link to is filled with the usual Propaganda that is always disproved...and look in fact that all of those cases that people tried to bring against the game and its parent companies failed. What a coincidence. Just like the case against Judas Priest.

 

And the claim that a video game trained him to kill three cops? That's laughably pathetic.

 

Anybody that attacks someone when they're not expecting it, even if the one attacked is trained, can kill somebody. Get a gun out of the deal due to surprise and you can kill a lot more than one body. As tragic as it is, it's those cops' fault that they didn't handle the situation and allowed a kid to grab a gun from them. It is their fault that it happened, plain and simple. They got themselves killed. Violent confrontation is my field. I know what I am talking about. To think that this video game sufficiently trained some kid is pathetically irresponsible.

 

Maybe he got lucky. Maybe he had natural physical talent. Maybe he should have done a lot of things differently in life. Maybe his parents were total morons. Maybe the cops were a little undertrained. They were certainly underprepared psychologically if not physically for the situation as they were the highest authorities in grade of maintaining control of that situation there at that moment, of that there is no doubt! But whatever the cocktail of factors involved, a video game was certainly not one of them.

 

People are always looking for a scapegoat when they just don't understand what happens or why in a situation.

[risinxereon]

the fryckin cartoons on cartoon network etc. are makin them stupid and violent because thats what the current cartoons are... lets scrap CN, Disney, Nick and make AN (Anime Network)... bring back the anime that was on adult swim and on scifi those that arent comedy crap... like Inuyasha, Bleach, Blood +, code lyoko or something like that... Maturity makes them more mature about the violence they watch... Make something new that we want to see and make it like those i've just mentioned...

 

I agree with eliminating Cartoon Network.

 

That channel has gone way downhill in a short timeframe. I always knew there was something odd with that channel, even before it became "odd."

 

yeh and my brother watches it so in my own opinion -- my brother = annoying -- so anything -- my brother watches = annoying -- and -- the stuff he watches = makes him annoying

 

it's as simple as e=mc squared where widthxhighth= idgra

Edited December 21, 2010 by risinxereon

[ub3rman123]

I think that the reason that games are being fingered is because someone wants a scapegoat, and preferably a scapegoat with millions of dollars to sue. The reason people do things like that is because they weren't brought up right. It's not the video game that make people violent, it's why they play it. If they play it because their parents ignore them or don't feel like raising the kid themselves, it can lead to these kind of people deciding to go out shooting people.

[AliasTheory]

This topic is going to get busy soon. And no, it isn't obvious.

 

I share the same opinion as WizardOfAtlantis and I've discussed this fairly heavily before. There is a multitude of external factors involved such as mental disorders as well. To say these violent pieces of media directly cause violence is a hasty conclusion. Non sequitur.

Edited December 21, 2010 by AliasTheory

[MizerD]

NO it doesn't. I find playing aggressive games stops me being aggressive in public because I disperse my frustration throughout the games I play.

[BlackBaron2]

I don't believe you can make a blanket statement so easily. I would think it depends on quite a few things.

 

Define "child". If you mean teenagers as well as tweens and small children (anyone up to the age of 18) it's a different matter to if you're talking about small children and tweens, because teenagers have different hormones and are a completely separate group, for the purposes of discussing behaviour.

 

So, I would say it depends on the child, in the sense of it depending on the age, and how their parents have raised them. Small children copy everything they see and hear, so I definitely don't suggest giving them violent games to play. Older children and teens, it probably depends on how graphic it is and the presence of other mature themes like drug use, swearing, sexism/racism/homphobia of NPCs, how scary the game actually is, and anything involving naked people. It depends on whether or not the child is able to understand the difference between fantasy and reality--so age is a definite factor, and so's the child's mental state, when determining whether or not they will do something they saw in a game/movie/TV show/comic.

 

I remember the Manhunt case. You'd have to have something seriously wrong with you to just randomly kill someone, based on a game or not. I played the original Doom, and Quake 2, when I was about 11, and I'm definitely not a serial killer.

[risinxereon]

I think that the reason that games are being fingered is because someone wants a scapegoat, and preferably a scapegoat with millions of dollars to sue. The reason people do things like that is because they weren't brought up right. It's not the video game that make people violent, it's why they play it. If they play it because their parents ignore them or don't feel like raising the kid themselves, it can lead to these kind of people deciding to go out shooting people.

 

i think the games are based off of influence by the tv shows kids watch... after they watch them this is how they know what they like to play... anything similar to what they want to see... they watch CN all the time and the people making that crap ruled out the people of anime only to mock them in there own crude way forgetting that its about the viewers which happen to be kids and all they think about are getting back at what they were forced to watch (anime) as kids when the kids want to watch things that are similar based of what the older generation watched with more detail or just considered more advanced... etc... or something like that... the people that make that crap only do it for themselves and thats why those in favor of watching anime can care less about cartoons because we are those kids and the peole that make that crap are just selfishly minded... like a teenage punk eating all of the food at dinner forgetting his family... low-life-self-centered...

Edited December 21, 2010 by risinxereon