Decadance

Eh, sure it can, thats what a rare events logistic regression is for. And while the universal behavior (violent games and violent TV) universal in exposer, the time of that exposer varies, and therefore, can be quantified.

All that being said, I think the theory is total crap, but the social scientist in me felt the need to remind myself what I do actually does have real world usefulness.

starseed1981

NO. Shitty parenting causes violent tendencies.

james2025a

This is a myth that has been concocted by the media and the government to some extent. They might have laboratory findings that state that there is a direct correlation between video games and violence, but in lab settings you could prove anything to be true if you desired. I work in a hospital and i have seen how results can be way off base IMO. Simply taking a small sample of the population and testing them does not give you an accurate overall result...it just gives you the results from a few people. With the media, political correctness and religion being the way they are these days any act of violence will be attributed to either video games, movies or music. I wonder if all the Iraqi insurgents/zealots play video games as those fuckers are killing people every day. Its just utter bollocks. At the end of the day it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that there child is being looked after in a fit way and being raised with the right moral fibre. In this day and age there are too many parents that are very young and have not matured enough to really raise a child in the best way possible. It makes me sick to see vioent acts on the street being blamed on games like GTA. Before the game ever came out people were stealing cars and killing one another. If anything i would believe that these games may help eleviate the problem. I could go on, but at the end of the day the lawmakers who never play a game, meet gamers face to face or even talk with the game creators are going to blame any form of media that has some allusion of violence. Not many people ever blame the bible for making people kill....but that book has started more wars and killed more people that every game/movie/cd in the world put together.

FantasticVSDoom

Although I agree with most posted here, and research shows for the most part a correlative link and not a causal one, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any merit to the fact that there may be a strong link. I would say it can’t be good for children to see so many violent images (video games and any other forms of media). We can’t really say definitively what that does to people as they get older.

j123vt_99

I really want to say no because I think it is a cop out to say games are responsible for violent acts.. but I know when I play an hour or two of Burnout on my PSP and then get in my car to drive for the little bit of time, my driving is slightly affected. Not that I am trying to do barrel rolls, but I am not as cautious as I should be.

So in a more impressionable kid, I suppose it is somewhat possible.

Doc MacGyver

Granted, but cutting corners a little tight after playing San Francisco Rush (something I would frequently do back in High School) is very different from playing Grand Theft Auto, purchasing an assault rifle, buying an illegal mod kit to make it fully auto, taking it into school and executing the football team.


-Doc

mmconhea

of course we as gamers, people with our lives together and jobs, who grew up blasting aliens on Atari are naturally going to defend that video games do not cause violence. We are really basing that on our own lives and experiences. We would never do anything like school shootings. Grotesque violence is just absurd!

Yeah, we grew up on games and we turned out okay. Yeah, we grew up on games where when we killed an bad guy when we were kids, the blocky guy without a face just disappeared on the screen.

Today’s games are different. They are so realistic and detailed in the way murder happens on screen, that I worry how the kids that are growing up playing these new crop of games will turn out.
Yeah there’s no evidence. That playing a game will make you violent, but really is it going to help the situation. Will kids that grow up with games like Manhunt and GTA since there were kids be desensitized or more acceptable to that kind of behavior. Possibly- I don’t know, but I’d like to guess yet. It seems to are starting to see hints of it now, with “school shooters” seemingly mimicking video games they have played.

I am an avid gamer. And I used to just refute the argument or outright deny it to protect the industry I love, but you have to put that aside and wonder. There is a possibility. We are impressionable and designed to soak in info as we grow- there’s nothing saying that we can’t soak in the violence, simulated or no, that we see in front of our faces on a daily basis. – It may not make us violent, but it will at the very least not make us as appalled at seeing it again, which to me is the perfect breeding ground for more violent activity.

Despite that I play violent games (though not just because of the violence), I strongly feel that game ratings and banning sales to kids is a great thing that is protecting our industry, and hopefully lessening the impact, if any, of violent games on the developing behavior of kids that somehow get to play them.

LockStock

No. They don't CREATE violent tendencies since everyone already has violent tendencies. It can enhance them if the kid's upbringing hasn't been good and the environment he lives is hostile.
Violent video games are hardly THE main factor for kids being violent. It could be ONE of the factors but you can't blame them ENTIRELY for kids flipping out. Their upbringing and environment plays a huge role as well and can't be ignored.

Doc MacGyver

I agree with you that there is a required maturity level and that the ratings system is important. Eliminating these games (which some proppose) is not the answer. Doing that would be like banning me from eating steak because a 2-year-old could choke on it.

...or I guess, more accurately, because a 2-year-old would take that steak into school and beat the football team to death with it.


-Doc

Michael Corvin

Youtube!

CKMorpheus

A quote from the film 'Scream' seems appropriate.

"Movies don't create psychos! Movies make psychos more creative!"

Replace movies with Video Games and there ya go.

j123vt_99

It doesn't in an adult.. but take an impressionable kid, play the game 5-6 hrs a day for weeks and it could make it a little more likely.

i hate saying that and i guess i'm playing a little bit of devil's advocate.

fumanstan

To be fair, I think there certainly are cases where a game can be solely responsible for specific cases of violence. I believe that even the most innocent of children can see an act of violence, from whatever the source, and have a light bulb go off that says "hey, that's pretty cool... i'll try it too!" It's not necessarily violent things, but any thing that they wouldn't have thought of before. Say seeing a cool bike jump in a TV show and thinking about building one yourself and trying to jump it... to more violent acts like shooting squirrels, or maybe blowing up mail boxes.

It's like those movies or shows where someone from a completely different culture comes to a new one and picks up the habits of the new.

But i agree, most of it is just human nature to be curious and influenced by whats around them. We're stupidly impressionable

Spicollidriver1

Ok I really hate to bump old threads but I didn't want to start a new one for this but wanted to still ask what everyone thought and this thread fits the discussion. According to multiple books coming out, and deeper research in to the Columbine shooters video games had nothing to do with this (big shock) and these were just deeply disturbed kids. Not only was it not games but they weren't bullied and were known bullies of others.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...?se=yahoorefer

"The two teenagers who killed 13 people and themselves at suburban Denver's Columbine High School 10 years ago next week weren't in the "Trenchcoat Mafia," disaffected videogamers who wore cowboy dusters. The killings ignited a national debate over bullying, but the record now shows Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold hadn't been bullied — in fact, they had bragged in diaries about picking on freshmen and "****.""

After all these years are we gonna get an apology from all these morons that blamed video games . Everyone has different reactions to different things and you can't blame a group because of the actions of a select few nutjobs.

dvdsteve2000

I don't know about violence from video games, but if I ever become the best golfer in the world, I'm suing the shit outta Tiger Woods for his '09 game

DVDChris

interesting article Spicolli. It always makes me mad when people blame video games for other people's actions.

DeanoBKN

People (or should I say, the media) always needs a reason or a finger to point the blame at someone's actions.

If I was to go murder somebody tomorrow, and leave behind no reason as to why, someone could easily go to my video game shelf, see Call of Duty, GTA4, and Resident Evil 5 and blame video gamess...

Look on my wall, see my movie posters of Casino, Godfather, and Taxi Driver, and blame movies...

Check my iTunes library, see some gangsta rap or heavy metal, and blame music...

When in fact, none of the above would make me a killer. At least not yet

Goat3001

Good article. Good to know it only took 10 years for our society to realize that shooting up a school has nothing to do with video games, movies or music but with ignorant parenting.

Instead of spending so much time and money on making sure our video games weren't too violent and our music/movies too graphic over the last 10 years and spent that time and money making sure parents were doing a better job raising their kids and being aware of possible psychological issues, I wonder if the Va Tech shooting would have happened....

pinata242

How can you know any one or a combination of those things is not to blame for your homicidal tendencies? How can you be sure that if you have a different set of influences you still would have killed?

I think you're too close to the source to have your opinion on this matter taken seriously, killer

dsa_shea

No, I don't believe that. However, I do believe that terribly made violent games can cause people to get angry and upset, and even act out for having spent 60 plus bucks to be served up a turd sandwich.

Ocelot

i do believe gaming violence have some influence on behaviors. However, it's all about balances and many other factors in life. The debate will never end really, just like every other little things in life...

Spicollidriver1

In that sense Video game do make me violent so I will concede that point to you.

Randy Miller III

Absolutely they do, at least to some degree...but it depends on the willpower and self-control (or lack thereof) of the individual. Any repetitive stimulus, interactive or not, provokes some kind of effect over time.