I do agree there is a fair point there but this "debate" has been going on for decades with TV shows, movies and music as well. They say video games are different because you're controlling how things go and are more influenced but in my opinion TV/Movies, any form of media which you don't necessarily need to think as much has more of an impact since you're more immersed. A forum full of video game lovers probably isn't the place to ask as well haha.
Nah media is everywhere around those little teens, so I don't think as single video game would alter their entire personality and force them to make bad choices whatsoever.
Violence has nothing to do with video games. It's just media crying over that so they can have something they can talk about, when a teen is violence everybody starts blame video games cause they really never experienced it, and they have some idea about violence and they start complaining.
I've said it before and I'll repeat it, and always will: Hitler, Caligula, Ghengis Khan, Nero, Charles Manson, Richard Speck...none of these men played with video games. I truly consider anyone that blames gaming for theirs or others violent natures is out of touch with reality, cannot form an intelligent thought on their own without the idea being fed to them via the media. I am proof of this. My favorite games are Silent hill, GTA series, res evil series, Manhunt one and two. I have a license to fire and use a semi automatic. I am a vegan that can't hurt a fly. Playing with games, and getting a gun license did NOT turn me into a viscous killer. I still check my labels for milk, meat and egg products, and cry at sad movies. I am a TOTAL human capable of all sorts of emotions. Gaming is my passion. It always will be, but playing it will not turn me into anyone else than what I am. Those that claim gaming 'changes' them, are weak, useless drones of an invalid media based society.
"Legend" Theft Auto? You'd think that after all these years those guys would learn to properly name the thing that they are SO against. I remember reading Jack Thompson QQing over the San Andreas coffee mod. Well, not that San Andreas was all that great imo, once you get to the part where CJ gets "abused" by that chick, it started going downhill fast.
We don't need any more censoring in this country. If a person is mentally stable, playing a violent video game isn't going to cause them to do anything violent. If you were going to go on a murder spree, you were probably going to do that regardless of whether or not you play GTA.
Video games are the easy target. These games aren't even supposed to be played by minors but it is never brought up in news stories how these young kids are actually getting their hands on these games. No, lets not blame bad parenting for this, no, no, no. It is ridiculous. Movies don't get as bad a rap as video games and it is unfair.
I think if you're really susceptible to mimicking things you watch or see then definitely. But how is that different than watching a violent movie? Or reading a violent book?
What I don't get is why do people like to talk bad about video games myself. I mean all you have to do is don't play if it bothers you that much. You are just wasting gamers time by acting like it is a huge problem.
Violence has been on tv in movies way before video games were created. Video games come with a content rating and it is up to parents to monitor the types of games their children play. At the end of the day, a video game will not impact a strong minded individual.
It is true like you said Rohan it is up to the parents. These parents are not monitoring their kids and then they want accuse these videogame companies for being so focused on making their games violent. I just say you need to observe what your kids are playing most of the time and you can find out easy by looking at the rating.
Mature video games are meant for mature audiences, so when authority figures let impressionable young people to play such games and then let it reflect upon their behavior - Of course it's going to cause problems, much like when kids watch shows and try to emulate their favorite characters. It's like people don't even think about why things get an age rating.
I don't think that video games are that influential in making kids violent. I think that they are just using it as a scapegoat, because even if they might influence kids to do certain things, common sense should tell them that something is right or wrong.
Kids are violent due to many things that surround them. I do not believe that it is the games that are the only trigger. There are other things like domestic violence that can make a kid go violent.
If someone is already mentally unbalanced, you could show them a Disney movie and they would see messages in it telling them to kill people. If someone is healthy and values human life, they can play Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt or The Suffering and not harm a single living being. I'm compassionate and love my little dog and I wouldn't hurt a fly, but I'm a huge GTA fan. Violent video games do not affect healthy people ,so parents and the media need to stop blaming games for problems caused by mental illness or bad parenting.
Took the words right out of my mouth. You can't blame a video game for setting off a mentally unbalanced individual when they were clearly wrong in the head before the game came out. Everyone just wants to find comfort in blaming the lowest common denominator, which just happens to be that a lot of people play video games so it must be the issue! It's amazing that for every 1 person who commits a violent crime and plays video games there's thousands (millions?) that are perfectly stable. I guess those people don't make for good headlines though.
The idea that video games cause violence flies directly in the face of what science has said otherwise. Video games don't make a violent person, and most people that have mental issues or violent tendencies have already developed those traits long before they pick up a controller. By blaming video games, people are taking the focus away from the real issue at hand, and that's how poor our mental healthcare system is in the United States.
It's already the 21st century, I think that gamers or humanity as a whole is mature enough to judge for ourselves whether what we see in entertainment mediums should be mimicked or not. I think the subject of violence isn't as taboo as it used to, it's certainly not as big of a deal anymore that what we see will shock us or intrigue us into committing violence ourselves.
They seem to care so much about violence in video games but they certainly don't care about it on television! All they talk about on the news is violence, violence, violence..
