Are Games really to blame? (Violence, death, neglect...)

[AngryBastard]

the problem is nut the games...it's the human brain itself.....pppl become addicted to certain things in video games and want to do them in reel life.....(mostly the violence), it triggers the mind...something they never did, they want the adrenaline rush i guess...
this is a very complicated topic and everybody will have their different views on it......
put there are many steps one cud take to prevent this from happening to them...                    

[bAnDiT]

hoss? what kinda of psychedelic trip alyuh on??

By reading this thread you would think no one is responsible for their actions. There is always SOMETHING else that can be blamed.

Nonsense.

There are men who grow up in violent areas, with perfect excuse to come out criminals, and yet they grow into responsible young men with good jobs and families with strong moral values.

Exactly baego
in the same way a parent should not allow a child to become so game-whorish and allow an "it" tho control THEIR child's life                      

[Bob]

Man if violent media made people violent could you imagine what kind of person id be?

                     

[Imperial_X]

Umm....
[_[

What's the bad part about practicing hand seals?
]_]                    

[DeadEyes]

aight now there are good points on both sides, but listen there will always be EXCEPTIONS on both sides, i mean i grew up in DIBE, long circular, next door to some of the most notorious gunmen in the north, now am livin in belmont, an i eh hadda tell allyuh wha kinda sh!t does go on in there, but yes, there are many parts that make up the human personality, as baego pointed out, they could come from good homes but that doesn't necessarily mean they will be good children or good people. My clan calls me Daddy, to my amusement at first but i realised that's kinda the role i play and I've come to appreciate them as friends, and yes parenting plays a large part in it, but people need to understand that it's NOT ONLY PARENTING, and that it can come from many areas, if we as a society actively practice this in general, not only at home, but at work and socially it would help, but i recognise this is no longer a feasible or even remotely SANE direction to go as society has already deteriorated to such an extent that doing that now won't help MUCH.                    

[rb]

imo it's mind over matter. The weak minded are the ones that fall.                    

[Crixx_Creww]

hmm @ rb sama sounding like orouchi dere
lol                    

[butter_knife]

can some answer me with my question?

Who here has read The Lord of The Flies by William Golding?

if ur too lazy too read hte entire book at least visit

http://www.gerenser.com/lotf/

and read what the book is about

some people are naturally violent
some people are also naturally intellectual

the people we were shapes today's society right?

maybe im off topic in saying that the World is Naturally Chaotic and Order is only man's dream

Video games arent forms of chaos, so how can we become more chaotic? They dotn make us chaotic, WE do.

Some might disagree with my words though. this prolly is different from the topic and hand. But im making sense right?                    

[PsiVal]

Yes you are making sense though i have not read the book have seen cut outs like quotes etc. We all want 2 bring Chaos 2 Order or Order 2 Chaos...anyway there are the natural factors that make us who we are but also the artificial factors all a combination 2 create an Individual...games are jus a piece of d pie...games really dont make us violent, it may trigger something inherent in us 2 make us respond in certain ways but it didnt make us do anything...we are responsible 4 what we there are factors that do determine what our actions may be but they are many not just 1                      

[pain323]

lol
seriously it's the parents                    

[Mez]

impo i think that yes some people are more agressive than others naturally thas how genetics made you
but playing of violent video games for extended periods regularly does increase agressive behaviour, albeit not exactly to the extent where i go around shooting people with shotguns cuz i think they look like the uglies in doom. but it has been shown and i see it in myself , sort of a bloodlust that comes after a while                    

[Kayode]

Some of the best Street Fighter and Tekken players are the fat nerdy bobolees who will take licks, cry and run in real life.

Some of the worst serial killers/rapists is de men listening to Mozart symphonies and playing chess.


Saying that violent videogames make people violent is a gross oversimplification, because you assume that videogames are the only attitude-forming factors in their lives.


It also assumes that the violent videogame made the person violent, and not that the violent person chose the violent videogame.


(And just a note: if that is the reality, we should all be thankful for violent videogames. Better they running over people in GTA than killing people in real life...violent videogames are an outlet for natural human aggression.)


Finally, it often assumes that we're talking about violence in a negative, antisocial context (beating poor defenseless Chun Li) as opposed to a more acceptable one (fighting Nazis, saving the world from aliens, and rescuing your family in Manhunt).


Also, "humans react to stimuli" does not equate to "humans imitate stimuli". Notice that there are as many people repulsed by MK and GTA as there are who adore it?

If you react to violent stimuli by being violent, the penchant for that type of violence was in you already. If you watch it and think it's either offensive or ridiculous, you're on a different head.



Some people are naturally agressive, and the stimuli they're exposed to is the least important factor in bringing violence out. It's crucial formative things like family life, school life and social interactions.


As for the tests that indicate how brainwaves react to exposure to violent videogames...it's only obvious that when you go into combat mode in some game that you're going to exhibit aggressive patterns.

Football players feel the same way before a match...as do the cheerleading squads.

But to say that those experiences turn you into an aggressive or violent person is nonsense.


And personal experience doh mean all that much.

Myself aside, I have partners who live for fighting games and fighting competition, but will be the first to back away from an unnecessary or stupid fight. Strongy comes to mind.

I've never been to a movie with my friends and left the cinema feeling violent or imitating Wong Fe Hong, Neo, or Maximus. Me and my partners leave violent movies eager to talk about how good or shitty it was.



One more thing, the whole desensitization aspect is also misrepresented.
Videogame violence desensitizes you to videogame violence.
Not violence in general.
How many gamers were laughing at the Iraqi beheading videos the same way they laughed at Sub Zero's fatality or a SOF2 sniper shot?

I almost threw up.




Anyway, here are some links with material and professional opinions on the matter.

http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolutio...pact/myths.html

http://www.womengamers.com/articles/gameviolence1.html

http://www.sirlin.net/Features/feature_Violence.htm

http://www.digitalvillage.org/dv_jenkins1.html                    

[New Era Outlaw]

Some of the best Street Fighter and Tekken players are the fat nerdy bobolees who will take licks, cry and run in real life.

 

HEY! I have feelings too, you know.....
(sniff)                    

[TriniXaeno]

well said kayode!

Violent games do make SOME people more aggressive.

(Which answers the question)

(Unfortunately I'm willing to bet the majority of people who would actually play these games in the first place would be the kind of people spurred on by aggressive behaviour and most susceptible to its ills.)

Let's find an easy demographic to work with.

Women are quite easily accepted as the less aggressive of the two sexes.

We could probably take a poll and see how many females prefer Sof 2 (violent) overs The Sims (non violent)



For anyone who came in late and missed it, the question asked by this thread, "Does the Playing of violent video games cause a person to be more agressive?"

The rest of talk about people who commit acts of violence , bad parenting, priests, the sims, etc...is all us going off topic as we so love to do.

Now maybe we could start another thread so that the other issues you all are so keen on going on about can be discussed.


for example:

Do bad parents make bad children that like violence?

Or better yet

Do violent people like violent video games?

Does Michael Jackson play Little Nemo Dreamland Adventure on Nesticles?

(oh and as for the fat nerdy bobolees who play tekken and street fighter....while they may not be able to physically beat a real life opponent, they still act more aggressive due to violent videogames, perform hand seals, do katas with broom sticks and throw imaginary Kamehameha's at their friends) I have plenty footage as proof.

                   

[Kayode]

Is making a hand seal and performing katas with broomsticks violent?


That's not how violence is qualified.

Who is violent? The basketball-playing jock who kickin people ass and teasin them, or the fat nerd and his grinning display of impotent geekery among friends?

Next we'll be saying that cosplayers are violent.





Anyway, I never said in my post that violent videogames make anyone aggressive.




Unless you're talking about the aggression displayed onscreen while playing, or aggression/frustration displayed when you lose (keeping in mind that chess players throw tantrums during tournaments), I'm not of the belief, and no research I've seen has indicated, that playing violent videogames increases aggression in the long term or medium term.


Military training makes people more aggressive. Hard living makes people more aggressive. Abuse.

Violent videogames? I think they only give aggressive people an outlet and something to imitate. But to say that a mild-mannered person will start playing GTA and then develop an aggressive mentality over time...personally I think that's ludicrous.




The rest of the comments are essential to the discussion.

Gamers don't live in a bubble. Attitudes aren't formed in a bubble.

There's no real way to know whether aggression or violence displayed by players of violent videogames is caused by the games, and not by other factors.

Unless you're comparing prancing around like little girls imitating Goku to actual antisocial, aggresssive, violent behavior.

If anything, I'll say that in my personal experience, gamers are some of the least violent and aggressive people around.                    

[TrinireturnofGamez]

summary :
  no form of stimili [ except brainwashing ] will make anyone deny their basic nature completely, it may make them more aggressive , but it does not make them murderers or thieves like some of the media potrays them as.
     This is just a stupid point put forward by a media that never enjoyed the sweet simplicity of quake !                      

[DeadEyes]

and there we have it. i think this has been thoroughly discussed. i will create a new thread for ya'll to hash out one of the major issues i saw brought up here...                    

[Bourbon_Ghost]

can some answer me with my question?

Who here has read The Lord of The Flies by William Golding?

if ur too lazy too read hte entire book at least visit

http://www.gerenser.com/lotf/

and read what the book is about

some people are naturally violent
some people are also naturally intellectual

the people we were shapes today's society right?

maybe im off topic in saying that the World is Naturally Chaotic and Order is only man's dream

Video games arent forms of chaos, so how can we become more chaotic? They dotn make us chaotic, WE do.

Some might disagree with my words though. this prolly is different from the topic and hand. But im making sense right?

iread the book and yuh know what i guess it is relative
so coodoes to man!

BOOYAH!                    

[TriniXaeno]

which is why it is so important that we read the question and answer accordingly.

Reading and comprehension is key. We cannot just stray off into our own arguments for risk of diluting the original poster's true purpose for his thread.

The question was not whether they act violently, the question was whether they became more aggressive. There is a HUGE difference.

For example, a boy going from sitting quietly in a corner reading a book to executing katas with a broom stick after playin killik in Soul Calibur 2.

That is definitely a case of a violent game making someone act more aggressive.

Comprende??

(ps for Kayode, you did say that in your post...read it through again)                    

[Kayode]

Who closed this topic, and why?


Anyway, I didn't say anywhere in any of my posts that violent videogames make anyone (or *some people*) aggressive. In fact, I posted to the contrary twice in the first post alone.

Point it out for me. And don't point out where I said that someone in combat mode playing a game exhbits aggressive brainwave patterns, because that is now what was meant. And it definitely doesn't equate to *some people*.


As for someone doing a kata: Any martial artist (and even scientific research) will tell yuh that practising a kata has to do with focus and concentration...not aggression.

That's why they're called martial arts. Performing a kata is akin to performing a dance or playin an instrument.

If you had said that the person was going around beating people with a stick, it might have made more sense.

But a kata? Nah.