Do video games make children violent?

[evilneko]

Quick answer: No. It is a helluva lot more complex than that.

 

I'll try to get back to this later. I've got some errands to run.

[TheCalliton]

of course not!

*slaughters an entire village of innocent people*

lets face it, it depends on the game, the parents, the kid, the kids that the kid knows, where he lives, what the year is, his brain chemistry, and just how his genetics are.

 

To say yes or no for sure would be stereotypical, and WRONG!

i have grown a little violent i suppose, but the games have more so allowed me to understand how awful suffering is. I love combat, but the suffering that the guy with hsi guts spilled out is enduring is awful, and i nearly cry when i see such pain and agony. Pain and fear are awful, and to see someone experiencing it hurts me so, but combat is amazing! A battle of physical wits! a match of strength! so glorious and challanging! its why i take Tae Kwon Do. i am master of my body now, i can do things that others can only dream of, i am a warrior, but i am also a lover. I love peace, and i enjoy war, but i would have to choose peace, the suffering that endures from war is awful.

 

so in short, i guess im leaning more towards no, in my own case

[Keanumoreira]

 

it may show them new ways how, may inspire them to try a different technique, but it is not responsible for their violent ways, they are.

 

 

But that's still a serious downside is it not?

I wouldn't say so.

 

Let's say the kid is a crazy chicken murderer.

 

He currently knows how cut off the head to kill it. Lets say a game teaches him that you can apply pressure to certain points in order to cut off air circulation.

 

It still leads to the chickens death either way, so I wouldn't view that as a issue.

 

I see what you mean, and I agree.

[Vindekarr]

Yeah well that cuts both ways Keanu.

 

They may have shown me that my knowledge of human anatomy can be used to commit murder, but they've also shown me some things that have had a major positive benefit on my life.

 

For example, I've learned a LOT about how vehicles work, enough that I've actualy been able to, after some research, to take those learned lessons and apply them to real machines, with instant positive results. (my first attempt, a shoddy backyard weight reduction jod, made my then car, a Starrion, a LOT faster)

 

I was however, already very mechanicaly minded, ever since I was a toddler I've had a fascination with machines, and have been watching motorsport atleast weekly since I was 4.

[Chaosblade02]

I remember when Mortal Kombat 1 was first released in the arcades, and the first time I ripped someones head off with Sub-Zero, it was like the coolest thing in the world. I do have a sick sense of humor, and often think things are funny or amusing that lots of other people would find appalling. I'm not a violent person and just think that people take some things too seriously. Sometimes I display humor in certain things just for the shock value, if I know I am among a group that would find that particular behavior appalling. Edited December 23, 2010 by Chaosblade02

[WrathOfDeadguy]

The newest form of entertainment media will always be the most controversial and the most demonized. It has happened with everything back through the ages, even literature.

 

Don Quixote- which is widely regarded as the first novel in the modern form- was arguably written as a satire of this phenomenon (though Cervantes could never have admitted to such for fear of his life and livelihood, so it's impossible to know for sure). The story centers around a man who reads tales of knights-errant and decides to become one, failing miserably at it and causing a great deal of trouble in so doing. As it so happens, around the time Cervantes was writing his best-known work, the authorities in Spain were getting themselves into a moral outrage over the effect that those chivalrous tales were supposedly having on the population (mind you, most of the population couldn't even read). Among other things, like being Jewish or Muslim or generally anything other than Catholic, and sometimes even that wasn't good enough, especially if you were a woman. Funny story- there never was a rash of people running about reenacting the exploits of fictional knights, while the damage the authorities did in trying to 'protect' people from all that devilish fiction and other 'satanic influences' became quite legendary. Mel Brooks and Monty Python had a grand old time with the material those outraged moral guardians provided.

 

Fiction doesn't make people make bad decisions. People make people make bad decisions. People who try to restrict fiction on the grounds that it might make people make bad decisions tend to be the ones who make the worst decisions of all.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Wrath_Of_Deadguy01

[marharth]

Also like to add, I would prefer if no one had this discussion at all.

 

I the next question after "do video games make children violent" is "how should we censor video games?"

 

My big issue is really that stuff will get censored in the fear of childrens safety. As I said before freedom is more important safety.

[Keanumoreira]

The newest form of entertainment media will always be the most controversial and the most demonized. It has happened with everything back through the ages, even literature.

 

Don Quixote- which is widely regarded as the first novel in the modern form- was arguably written as a satire of this phenomenon (though Cervantes could never have admitted to such for fear of his life and livelihood, so it's impossible to know for sure). The story centers around a man who reads tales of knights-errant and decides to become one, failing miserably at it and causing a great deal of trouble in so doing. As it so happens, around the time Cervantes was writing his best-known work, the authorities in Spain were getting themselves into a moral outrage over the effect that those chivalrous tales were supposedly having on the population (mind you, most of the population couldn't even read). Among other things, like being Jewish or Muslim or generally anything other than Catholic, and sometimes even that wasn't good enough, especially if you were a woman. Funny story- there never was a rash of people running about reenacting the exploits of fictional knights, while the damage the authorities did in trying to 'protect' people from all that devilish fiction and other 'satanic influences' became quite legendary. Mel Brooks and Monty Python had a grand old time with the material those outraged moral guardians provided.

 

Fiction doesn't make people make bad decisions. People make people make bad decisions. People who try to restrict fiction on the grounds that it might make people make bad decisions tend to be the ones who make the worst decisions of all.

 

As skeptical as the public may be, I think it would be in everyones interests to keep violent video games for both economic and social means. It is a part of our culture afterall, and do we really want to try and seperate ourselves from such a culture?

[TheCalliton]

Also like to add, I would prefer if no one had this discussion at all.

 

I the next question after "do video games make children violent" is "how should we censor video games?"

 

My big issue is really that stuff will get censored in the fear of childrens safety. As I said before freedom is more important safety.

densorship i sWRONG!

if someone wants to see a huge pair of ******* then let them! it is their right to see and hear what they want!

im gonng shut up before i go on and say something ill regret

[Balagor]

For once I agree with @TheCalliton. We can not silence an issue. Discussion is necessary,otherwise all the myth surrounding the issue will survive,