According to Patrick Masell, recently the media has bombarded Americans with images and stories concerning a famous and morally corrupt video game called "Legend Theft Auto." GTA 3 and its sequel GTA: Vice City has sparked record sales as well as protests and news reports across the globe. Most of these reports and protests question the game's graphic content and the effects it may have on its audience, especially teenagers.
On this topic I can actually say he may be right, but the way I see it is a game is not the problem. Its the people they see in their neighbor doing the same thing like on the game. You will be surprised how people live there lives. Teenagers usually look at the game, and just play the game, but if you are weak minded It probably can happen.
Well this is a truly interesting and complicated question Kat. The problem is not with the game, the problem is with the people that play the game. If you are a psychopath the game can give you some ideas that you can apply in real life with terrible consequences for other, but if you are a normal person you will have fun playing the game and that's all. Games don't kill or make them bad, people kill people.
I don't get it. Why don't we blame violence on movies? Why always the gaming industry is blamed for it? Violent games are meant for adult that understand the difference between the game and real life.
Oh but they do blame the movie industry for violence and comics and even music. Anything that is an easy target is blamed, just so they can avoid the root causes if the problem.
I am sick and tired of hearing about violence in video games their is just as much violence in movies, TV, and even music.
This. I don't like how people are criticising about violence in video games but not in TV and movies. So stupid.... If they are going to critique that then mind as well say everything in the world is violent.
Parents should obviously know what their kids are doing and read the labels put onto video games. I'm also quite fed up with the media trying to make video games look bad when in fact it is the result of bad parenting or often mental disorders. I'm not sure if you guys have heard about what happened here in Canada, but two teenagers saved an old man out of his burning house on the way home after buying GTA V from the midnight release. Guess what happened? Most media decided to ignore this news because nothing is worth noting, which feels more like the media is waiting for another opportunity to tell adult citizens about how bad video games are when in fact there is no correlation between violence and playing video games.
Video games are no different than movies, tv shows, music or books. I am sick and tired of the media trying to make the gaming industry a scapegoat everytime someone does something violent. Any person who commits a REAL LIFE act of violence is personally responsible for their action. End of discussion.
Well they do. Movies had ratings long before video games did. Early video games were also quite violent but the limited graphics capabilities meant that the violence wasn't something that could be related to reailty. As the technology improved and we approached lifelike realism in video games, the censors also stepped in. So video games are not being singled out at all. It's just that the technology has caught up with the movie industry and pornography and violence can now be conveyed through video games. In a way, it is a back handed compliment to the video game industry and the progress it has made in the last 30 years!
Seriously, can someone understand the difference between reality and virtual reality? When someone is angry, they tend to scold people around them or slam the door shut. Similarly, I'm a gamer and I love to kill some random strangers on GTA so that I can get rid of my anger. It's just an outlet and gaming is my way of coping up with issues found in my society. If smoking, drinking, scolding or even watching violent movies is just a form of entertainment, so is Gaming! Will someone ever understand that it's not going to make me any more violent than I already am?
I think that the world has gone mad with political correctness. That's what parental guidance stickers are for.
Video games aren't to blame for murders, the idiotic parents who don't know how to take proper care of their children should be to blame. Want to know something about the guy who committed that horrible school shooting a while back, where he killed many children? Well he had played some violent video games, but his favorite game was Dance Dance Revolution. Seriously, look it up. I've played violent video games since I was a young little guy, maybe 10 or so. It didn't desensitize me or make me want to be violent. Video games could be impressionable to some children, but that's because of mental problems, not because of the game or media the child was exposed to. Parents need to start being parents and stop being lazy and actually protect their children, don't let them play these games if you think they're "impressionable" Kids aren't usually as dumb as you think. Some can be quite smart. Some can be crazy though. I just wish they'd lay off of video games and actually try to be parents. The same with the media, play these games for yourself, have your kids play it, idk. The only thing I can see kids copying is swear words.
I don't think anyone here is suggesting that it would make anyone more violent - at least not directly. But the point is that the other activities that you mention (with the possible exception of ' scolding' ) are generally controlled in society. Do you think that children should have easy access to tobacco, alcohol, violent/pornographic movies? If not, why should video games be any different?
Yes, they do it, but why the discrimination against games? I mean, only adults are supposed to play R 18+ games, right? Why do they buy their kids these violent games in the first place?
I'm not sure I see where the discrimination is but I don't know why adults allow children to play these games. I know many otherwise responsible parents who wouldn't dream of allowing their child to watch adult movies or touch alcohol or tobacco. But they don't think twice about allowing these games and ignoring the ratings. I think a lot of it is ignorance of the vast improvements in the technologies of video games. They still associate gaming with the blocky, limited graphics of the 80s.....
I don't believe that there is any link between video games and violence, statistics/facts show that violence has gone now as game sales have increased. Argument invalidated!
This argument has been going on for years. To be honest, I think it's just down to the type of person who plays the game. If someone is capable of committing crime seen in a game, anything could probably send them over the edge, not just a specific game. Most people are smart enough to know better, thankfully.
That's very true and also if a video game makes you capable of committing a crime then their is something wrong with you and you should not be able to play gas or watch TV, or movies etc...
