Do violent video games cause violence in real life?

Post Reply New Topic

No, I don't believe so. If anything, I think they serve as a cathartic way to release potential anger and violence, and get it out of the way.

I should know, because at the height of the crisis involving my ex-gf and my family, I played the first level of Scarface: The World Is Yours for PS2, over and over again, to get my anger out in a positive way.

Why is it ok for Children to reinact GENOCIDE, a comdemnable crime among the civilized socieites of the world, when they play Cowboys and Indians. Yet it's not ok for them to play as a law abiding hitman killing savage crminals? (Punisher, Max Payne).

Oh god...

Yeah, I'd put my mother in the "moron" category. Let's see: "yes, you will turn into a killer from Halo", "you having aspergers makes a much higher risk of snapping and killing people". Etc, etc. Lol, my father doesn't give a s*** though. And personally, if I hide my trail well enough, I'll go play them anyways

i really don't understand how the poll is biased

Considering I have put thousands of hours into videogames of various levels of violence over the past 20 years or so and I am a relative pacifist (unless myself or those I love are targets of aggression) I'd say that they don't cause it. Sometimes you get kids who are already mentally not all there because of bad parenting or physical abuse who happen to enjoy violent video games. When they act out at school and beat some kid up the parents never want to blame themselves so they look around the kid's room, find Grand Theft Auto and 'AHA! there is the culprit!. Now I'm off to the bar. Make yourselves dinner, kids. I don't give a sh**'

no.

i dont think violent video games make people violent, in fact it curbs the urge for violence. like after playing fallout 3 for a few hours my urge to kill and cannibalize people for health goes away

Yeah, really this isn't anything new. Before this it was horror movies. Oh no, someone with a history of severe mental problems and an even longer history of violence killed people dressed as a character from a horror movie he watched obsessively? Ban Jason and Freddy!! Before that it was clearly heavy metal making kids kill one another. Someone get Tripper Gore and call a hearing, I hear Judas Priest might do something harmful to others like sing!!

The list goes on, playing AD&D clearly made you a dangerous psychopath who would kill his/her parents and try to summon demonic entities with the corpses, Elvis was obviously dangerous to the young people, before that comic books were corrupting kids, oh and communism, even before that jazz was a clear evil influence and lets not talk about witchcraft or heaven forbid.. dancing... the list goes on. There's always something the young like that can be used as a scapegoat because those older don't understand it and feel threatened by 'how young people are acting today'.

I have to say the way the poll is phrased is just a bit biased.

That being said,
1. No, not necessarily. And certainly people don't usually exhibit violent behavior of the same kind and extent as what they're consuming. (e.g. the need to jump on a koopa)
2. But... yes, playing an excess of violent games does teach you at a fundamental level that violence works better than diplomacy. And that makes you somewhat more likely to select violence as a solution where otherwise you wouldn't. For most people, this is a tiny bias, and it can probably just be written off as grumpiness. But not everyone has such a great sense of discipline, upbringing, presence of mind, grasp of reality, understanding of outcomes, or enough years under their belt, etc. These people are going to be affected more than the general population. And from the rare person in this high-risk group, you can sometimes see some pretty heinous sh*t. It's not that they think 'hey, violence works'... it's that they act on what they know without considering the point at all.

End result,
As a society, could we do some good by limiting or eliminating violent media? Sure. Can we do that in any lasting way without becoming a bunch of fascists, and losing our rights to our desire for safety? Certainly not. But that argument is a red herring. The point is, we should be teaching kids at a young age that violence is a last resort if a resort at all, and not glorify it with nationalism. We should be teaching kids that there are lasting effects of violence that corrupt everyone involved.

If a kid gets to the age where they can enjoy violent media, but don't have the tools to deal with it in their head, and so they act out violently in response -- they have not failed us, we have failed THEM.

ok, the argument is "video games causing violence in real life" if someone plays grand theft auto, they will think that playing grand theft auto will make them murderous car jackers. well, what if they DO play mario?