Those Who Think Video Games Lead To Violence It really makes me mad...

[dvalkass 0]

I had to do a talk on this a year ago (year 8) my opinion was that computer games do partially add to the cause of violent crimes by kids, if a parent let's their children have 18 rated games when they aren't that old is teaching them bad things. Admittadely my parents let me watch 18 movies and play 18 games but I don't go crazy and kill people, most of the cause is probably due to an earlier experience or something and this causes the child to react and do something so horrific. Computer games are only partially to blame for these crimes and you can lead that blame down to the government, think about Australia they have banned many games or have had games like GTA: San Andreas specially altered to contain less violence and such content. Australia has no violent crimes related to games as far as I know. America on the other hand has quite a few violent crimes somehow supposed to be related to computer games, and if you think about it America hasn't banned or had any games altered (as far as I know). So in my opinion computer games are partly to be blamed but most of the blame should be put on the personality of the person, if the person has a violent personality then they are more likely to be violent when shown these violent images in games. This is just my opinion so don't go shouting and moaning please.

[edmarkcore 0]

America hasn't banned or had any games altered (as far as I know)

They just came out with a 2nd edition of GTA:San Andreas...they took out the notorious sex scene that got it pulled off shelves to begin with and some of the other stuff that got the game changed from an "M" rating to an "Adult Only" rating.

I think a lot of this could be solved if parents took control over what there kid was renting. I work at a video rental chain, and there are a lot of parents that are totally oblivious to what it is that's in the games their kids rent. We have a policy where if a kid is trying to rent a mature rated title, they have to have their parents permission. If the kid is by themself, then they cannot rent the title. You would be amazed at how many dropped-jaw parents I see when I tell them why the game their children want to rent is mature rated. A lot of the kids beat around the bush, telling their parents "Well, there's just a little bit of shooting, but it's not that bad" when they're trying to rent something like Resident Evil 4. It's become a popularity contest with kids.....like they aren't cool to all of their friends unless they can rent the newest zombie-splattering, head-bashing game on the market. I had an 10-year old come up a while back, wanting to rent GTA:SA...and this was the origional version, not the newer one that just got put onto the market. When I told him that he had to have a parent here so that I could get their permission, he told me "Oh, it's ok, my mom already said I could rent this game".

Going back on topic, yes, violent personalities and violent video games won't make a good combination, but for those that are under the age of 17 who aren't, by law, allowed to purchase these games, the parents need to be more in control over what their kids play. Not to bring up a sore subject for anyone, and I apologize if I do, but do you really think the parents of the kids that commited the Columbine incodent had any idea as to what their kids were doing? And the blame for that whole thing was put on video games.

[Glockmeister 0]

There was this article I read a few moths about about this issue. It tried to correlate the crime rate to releases in games, that have caused controversy. They couldn't find it, and in fact found that the crime rate for youth has actually gone DOWN. It concluded that the whole Video Games issue, didn't really exist, and that people were making it up.I will try and find that article.

[icemarle 0]

Ahh, It depends, really... B)Back in the day, there were no video games, yet, there was violence. Obviously some other factors can influence it more...Personally, I think that TV or some other environmental factor can have a greater influence over violence. Let's say the kid grew up in an initially violent neighborhood, wouldn't that be a greater factor? Another could be the mental state of the person. Is that person prone to crack, or not? Plus, people want to act like they see on TV, or some other thing. When you play video games, doesn't that already put you in the action? Why do you need to do it yourself, when you can make the one your controlling do it for you? It's all the matter of something to blame."Oh he's doing this, it must be because of this..."Face it, it's human nature... Oh, and by the way, not all video games are violent.

[ankushbhargava 0]

I think it all depends on the machurity level. You've probably heard it so many times - a childs mind is like clay. Experiences could mould him into a good kid or could bend his mind towards being 'not so good'.I've seen so many kids and adults that play these video games. I can say that about 75% of them are addicted to it. Once they start they don't get up for like 3-4 hours! Now imagine a young kid (or maybe even a young adult) playing a violent game for 4 hours...picking guns, killing aliens, blasting enemy troupes...I feel that some of these kids when troubled by something in real life might think of trying to resolve their problems just as do in gaming...thru violence! They don't know what is right or what is wrong. they only know one way of solving their issues - violence. Yes, game rating is very important, and so is parent's role in deciding what their kids play with.

[Ryo 0]

I don't think its the games at all. I think its more about the parents. If you have bad parents that don't care about what you do then your probley more likey to do violence then playing a game. Now it could be the games. Your the game player and you have a gun or what ever the weapon is and your going around killing game players.

[Frantic_Monkey 0]

Video games have nothing to do with school shooting and all that other crap people blame it on. People have nothing eles to blame, so they blame video games because they think that will be the solution. I play a video game and say, "Wow that was fun!" not "Wow I need to shoot somone at school!" It was mostly the person and his personal life and how he thinks it sucks and that some person should pay for his sucky life.

[.hack//GU 0]

face it, not only a little, more and more the graphics nearing reality. in one side, it mix a reality into virtual world, in the videogame itself, ... yeah it's so fun if you think that way, that we are advancing to a world where our dreams are real.in the other side, by nearing the reality in that virtual world, ... so many people could no longer see the differences in them, moreover for people who closed their hearts from the outside world. They tend to take things they often do in videogames as a common sense.and if those pople play Manhunt...

[mojoman 0]

Last Post Date---> Nov 20 2005, 09:38 PMthis topic was from like 2 years ago man

[thejestergl 0]

Oh yeah, killing really is too far unless you're THAT dumb. But it's not just video games....it's TV too. There are more violent TV programs then video games, even music videos. It's sickens me how people learn off TV how they're supposed to be like, and that we have such crude "role models" who are into sex and crime. Seriously...

Yes I have to agree that it isn't JUST video games that cause violence. Not saying that video games does, but if it really does have to do with the influence of things other than your mind then TV, music, and other people in general are to blame as well. Yes violence is highly shown in games and most teenagers play these games for entertainment but that doesn't mean they are going to grow up to be serial killers. I play a lot of violent games but I don't have thoughts of killing others around me. Actually when I talk to most people who play games which involves killing they tell me that they play it get out anger a lot of the times. So it could be possible that video games take out the stress, and hatred that builds up inside people. It works the same as beating a pillow to death, just another way to calm yourself down. Personally I feel that music is probably more influential than video games, TV, or members of society because it is (this sounds stupid) more catchy. It is proven that rhythm helps some people remember things and is a better way of "learning". Of course this is only for some, and people can make an arguement that visual aid helps them study. This only proves my point more that it is more than just video games if anything.

hmmm .... sorry to offend you .. but i must say that video games is partially contributing to the violence nowdays ... Im not saying this because of anything ... im also a teenager that love to play video game ... but the truth is that video gaming will affect teenagers .. im not saying all video games ... but some of them are definately are ... i love to play video game .. the only thing we can do is that dont let video game dominates our life ...

Video games, music, and other such things may actually contribute, but it isn't proven. Some people say that it is a sub-conscience thing that people just don't realize. Which is logical because people don't know that even if you glanced at something that had no meaning or sugnificance at the time being may play a vital role in a dream that you have that night. I know that I have had dreams with people in it that seemed very random but then the next day at school I see them walking. I have never spoken nor even noticed the person before that period. So the violence in media may be set at the back of a person's mind without them realizing it. Then again, they say that video games cause kids to have a short attention span, so who knows?

[sheepdog 10]

Ahhhh......so now it's video games? In my youth it was Rock and Roll, and of course, television. All works of the Devil, don't ya know!? (just kidding) People always have to have something/some one to blame. Nobody is ready to take responsibility for their own actions. Control of our own lives and personal freedoms are beimg taken away left and right by a government that only makes things worse by making new laws to further limit our freedoms. With metal detectors at the doors of so many of our schools these days, can any of you even imagine that at one time children carried guns when they had to walk to school in hopes of shooting something to eat for dinner on the way home?

[garbage 0]

Well I am an addictive gamer, and I love playing Ghost Recon, Now Im not sure if games lead to violence, but sometimes I feel like I get the itchy finger, and I want to go GTA on some folks..Naa Im just playing.I think that folks who say that gaming causes the violoence are all full of crap, and just need something to blame it on. First off the individual who is violent more than likely has had issues regardlesd of what he is doing apart of his psycho life. Yeah the violence may trigger something in his head, but its because he's not all there already. He has to have a screw or two missing already.Why? well what so called normal person is going to go and start shooting up people because they do it in the game. Not very many im sure, and thats because they dont have crap wrong with them. But people will still try to find something to blame it on. Jsut like a few years back they said music was causing our youth to become violent and suicidal. I say it, its bull crap, most of thoise kids where that way because the parents trated them like crap, because society is cruel and treated them like crap. thats why people do the things they do, not because the record album they listen to told them to do it. Nobody can tell you what to do and n0obody can make you do things like that. It all comes from you the individual. You know if its right or wrong so you make the choice.So whoever is out there doing the blame stop..

[goldtupac 0]

I really hate all of the people that think video games train kids to kill. In the colombine school shootings, they said that the kids played video games, which is why they committed the crime. I'm not saying that they are wrong or right, but if you look at the statistics, as video game sales increase at a substancial rate, the number of violent crimes are starting to decrease. I want to put a story on my school's website about people's reactions to this. I would be interisted for some feedback about this from all of you out there. I figured that we have a pretty disperse group of folk on this website, I would love to hear everybody's reaction to these video games.
Personally, from looking at the statisistics (computer gaming monthy has a story on this), I'm standing by my opinion that video games are not completely corrupting our minds, and turing us into zombies. I am also saying that some people do not have the mentality to realise that these are games, and do what they see in the games. From research, I've figured that the amount of these people are about one in every 5 million.

Yes people some times think that the world and video games is the same or what ever. But i know that video games dont lead to violence. How? i know how because i have been playing video games since a youngster (5) but i have always been violent because of the way i was raised not how many video games i played. These study's on "violent video games making people violent" is just false. In no way has video games made me more aggressive toward other people (besides crap talkers online).

[Gravedigger 0]

There are so many thugs around stabbings are heard of daily in our Town, but certainly I don't think as a result of video games. That is just stupid thought. I have read news that has shown results of video games being good for kids.

[iGuest 3]

Replying to garbageI'm not saying tht they always cause violence, but most of the time it does! there are too many people otu there tht think its okay to cause violence just because they saw it on tv, a movie, or they did it on a vidoe game! its mostly little kids who will think its ok, but no 1 can control it but there parents! if its rated for violence then its the parents responsibility to not buy it for there kids! it will corrupt a childs mind! teens can control themselves. Small one cant! I think its the parents fault!-reply by Kymie