Videogames and violence, thoughts?

[Bobbybroccoli]

While this has been going on for years, the recent Connecticut Massacre has prompted much concern over our favourite form of interactive media, and even a program that allowed parents to send in violent games for a 25$ gift card for Church related activities.

This program was later cancelled after it was made clear the program runners weren't going to sell the videogames to fund schools or make parks, but destroy the games.

Then the NRA calls the videogame industry an "underhanded shadow industry". We all know that the NRA is not always the best source for informed opinions, considering they made 4 videogames all about using guns.

Now game industry heads are meeting with Joe Biden to discuss all this. I am not all that confident with the medium;s ability to win this fight, even if Biden doesn't consider videogames to be the only factor related to violence in children.

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I've grown up on videogames. Some of my favourite memories include zooming around in go karts filled with turtles and plumbers, and saving the day talking sponges in square pants.

I am at this point in time: A. Interested in cars beyond getting from point A to B, and B. walking around at the bottom of the ocean.

The most violent videogame I played as a child was Lord of the Rings III, for Gamecube. It was rated Teen, and the only reason my parents bought if for me was because I told them I played it a friends house, which I had.

The game was quite violent, atleast by my standards. You battle waves of orcs, and they in vilent manner, sometimes through beaheadings if you pulled off ridiculous combos. But there was no blood. Enemies fell to the ground and slowly faded away. Also, I'M FIGHTING A FICTIONAL RACE OF PILLAGERS AND MURDERERS. This is still one of my favourite licensed games ever, and I did not want to grow up to be a swords man.

My parents were cautious of this game because it was slightly violent. I understand that know. I actually never had any desire to play an violent media of any kind. I was a pretty big wimp when it comes to that. My parents never had to worry about me playing any of those games (I was even scared of the LoTR game at first) so I never had the chance to be exposed to this "underhanded shadow industry".

My parents were not idiots. They did not let me watch movies or games that would be too violent, like the Matrix, which I watched with my dad. Presently I still don't like scary movies, but I like violent games. I love playing shooters with my friends, but I play the shit out of games like Kirby's Epic Yarn because both games are what they are: games.

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TD;DR, Parents decide how their kids grow up. I didn't like playing violent games, and my parents supervised me when I did. There are ratings systems, and parents need to follow them.

I should note I live in Canada which has a drastically lower murder rate. Still, the U.S influences us in many ways, and I hope however this debate turns out is not one of them.

Share any opinions you have on this matter.

[Kunera]

I've always held the same stance on this matter: everyone loves a scapegoat, and video games are an easy target.

When I was younger, my parents weren't really strict about game ratings, but depending on my age, they had their reasonable limits. I didn't get around to playing GTA or anything until I was probably around 15/16, but I wasn't dying to play it anyway. When I was younger, the most violent games I tended to play were games in medieval settings.

Basically, people that would rather blame video games for violent actions are full of shit, and ignoring the real problem, being the mental issues that the kind of people that would shoot up a school have. It's a lot easier to feel safe when you just say "if we stop video games, the bad things will all go away," instead of worrying about individual cases involving nutjobs, and how they can come from anywhere.

Now don't get me wrong, rating systems are there for a reason, though I've always felt that they're fairly flexible. For example, Super Smash Bros. Melee was rated Teen, but is it really that serious, to argue against a 10 year old wanting to play a game with such cartoony violence? The point being, yeah, a 5 year old has no business playing games that are rated M, but when they're older and the age gap is much smaller, it's not really that big of a deal. I mean, a 16 year old only has a year before they can go out and get M rated games on their own anyway.

[VoidForce]

I've played plenty of violent video games throughout the years and I've never used a gun to go on a murder spree. I think that violence in video games shouldn't be such a major issue. It's not the fault of the video game that somebody may be mentally unstable, just how it's not Marilyn Manson's fault that the Columbine shootings happened.

I do believe that ratings are in place for a reason though and if they're followed properly then children will be better off for it. On the other end of the scale, I don't think that they should ban certain games entirely or make them change content when it's already intended for a mature audience. Adults should be allowed to play them by their own choice, not have that decision made for them.

[Mismo]

Blaming tragedies like this on solely violent video games alone makes me actually really fucking angry. It is so fucking obvious that isn't just one factor that plays into when a person decides to something horrifying as this.

The most obvious factor, how easy it is for Americans to get a hold of guns, and not just a simple pistols but fully automatic assault rifles that they use in wars. Not saying that is entirely what is to blame, just that if there were a better gun control system it could have been avoided.

I remember one of the guys that claims that video games is to blame say something along the lines and 'the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun'... What the fuck! You say the violence in video games encourage people to do these horrific deeds while you yourself says that everything can be solved by guns, and people with mental issues have a hard time differing good from bad. You are encouraging violent behavior yourself with such statement.

Also more factors that can play in. I don't say I know how your health care system is but nothing is perfect and can always be improved, and by this I mean that people with mental issues need help, not just be labeled as weirdos but someone that can help them, talk to them and understand what they are going through.

Again this guy I mentioned earlier also acknowledge that mental health issue can be a problem. But his solution was that you should make a list so you can have control over them and know that MIGHT be a danger risk. Way to go dumb fuck! Instead of helping people over come their mental problems we can just keep a close eye on them and hope that shit doesn't hit the fan! Fucking great!

Also Americans are not the only ones playing video games. For example we Swedes (a lot of us) play video games, and as far as I can tell there have been few school shootings at all. Actually I can't think of a single one. Maybe something else is problem huh?

I don't want to say that the USA is complete shit hole and that I actually really know how it is there.

But all this say, it all comes down to one person and what they did, and the fault is theirs. Not what an entire industry has in some of their products.

So don't use video games as a scape goat just because you want to keep your precious guns.

Relevant

[Jackho]

RoboCop, Terminator 2 and The Matrix were some of my favorite movies as a kid. I played GTA3 when I was about 6, I beat Manhunt and Silent Hill when I was 11. And I've only carried out like 3 school shootings, tops.

Seriously though, I was exposed to a shitload of violent media thanks to my older brothers, and it hasn't had any negative effect on me. Regardless of your upbringing I don't believe violent media leads to violent people, you need to be already mentally unsound to be inspired by video games, or anything else, to harm others.

[LemonCrush]

I have no thoughts on it.

The problem is people, or rather adults, do not see video games as legitimate. So, they don't keep an eye on them the same way they do movies or music. They view them as silly or whatever, so they just let their 12 year olds play games where you're blowing people's heads off.

[LemonCrush]

At 1/12/13 01:30 PM, Jackho wrote: Seriously though, I was exposed to a shitload of violent media thanks to my older brothers, and it hasn't had any negative effect on me. Regardless of your upbringing I don't believe violent media leads to violent people, you need to be already mentally unsound to be inspired by video games, or anything else, to harm others.

While this is true, there's no way a parent can know how their child will be affected.

If it were me I would not let my kids play violent games until they're a little older.

Hell, when I was a kid, I played Mortal Kombat...but it's so cartoony and rediculous, I don't see it to be an issue. However, realistic games with realistic guns and the like...I wouldn't be so cool with for a young kid.

[Openwounds]

People are diluted to think that violence in video games plays a significant roll in the creation of a real life murder. If someone has mental instability and THAT is not recognized by the people around them - THAT is this issue. As far as the 'church' stepping in... they're hypocrites! They have a crucified Jesus and violent scenes EVERYWHERE in their teachings. Sure they're teaching what happened or why it happened.. but it is still violence. I say - bring on the blood, bring on the gore, and bring on therapy for those who need it!

[scoutthesoldier]

It always seems to happen with kids, I guess it's because they aren't mature enough to handle the violence you see in the games. Maybe some kids can actually handle it, but not many.

[Painbringer]

Violent video games keep violent people off the streets.

And that's a fact.

[orangebomb]

Like everyone else here, it does upset me that people who associate violent video games with mass shootings, although I've gotten to the point where I didn't stop caring at their egregious slander, but now it's simply nothing more than white noise with credible evidence saying that it's the opposite. Scapegoating anything is often a popular tactic by certain groups of people to get what they want, often either backfiring on said group, or the situation festering out of control into a polarizing debate where nothing gets done.

While there is no singular or concrete answer in how or why mass murders happen, a good estimation is actually within the grasp of virtually everyone's thought process, and has been told to them many times, yet it seems like these people are not getting it. Violent video games, while they do glamorize violence to a certain extent, are not the reason why, nor is it an excuse for murderers to go blast students {or anyone else} with guns. If anything, most video games keep mentioning that they don't condone or support any type of violent behavior in real life, generally in a subtle fashion, but sometimes explicitly, such as the GTA games.

The fact that a church would do such a thing is basically deplorable to themselves and to every other logical person out there, and this isn't the first time that certain churches tried to stick their noses into the world of pop culture. Considering that more and more violent video games are being made everyday, not only does the video game industry shrug this all off, this also reiterates the fact that, they are here to stay, and there is nothing that the soccermoms and backwards politicians/religious leaders can do about it.

[Ceratisa]

My thoughts? Maybe it effects highly suggestible people. But then again those are the kinds of people who are likely to break from other things such as other media and even peer pressure.

Me I played fallout 1 and 2 when I was like 11 and that had some messed up crap in it honestly. -New Reno remains one of my favorite atmospheres in the entire series.

In the end isn't it REALLY about parenting? If you, as a parent, notice your child is mentally immature or something is off about them, maybe you should monitor them tad more?

Maybe if they are prone to reenacting violent things on games or T.V. you need to have a serious discussion about the differences between fantasy and reality.

And maybe if they still can't seem to grasp these basic ideas you take away harmful sources of media from their life.

But I can't say cause I'm not a parent, nor am I mass killer. Though I do know that people love to blame something else if it lessens the blow of responsibility or consequence.

[Dr-Worm]

It's scientifically unsubstantiated and patently absurd to claim that violent videogames are directly responsible for any violence in real life. The VG forum isn't the place to start a gun control debate, so I won't harp on about it here, but it is painfully obvious that the NRA's statements about games are nothing more than a desperate attempt to shift the conversation to something, anything aside from the actual deadly weapons used in these killings.

Violent videogames are the result of a culture that glorifies and fetishizes violence, not the cause. That said, they do perpetuate that culture (not in a special or more intense way than other forms of media like the crazies claim, but they do contribute to it), and that's where I get a little bit conflicted. Obviously censorship isn't the answer. Instead, I think that given the glut of samey shooters and action games we're drowning in, it's already in game developers' best interest for them to try harder to find more creative verbs to base their games around than "kill."

[Thecrazyman]

At 1/12/13 12:45 PM, VoidForce wrote: I've played plenty of violent video games throughout the years and I've never used a gun to go on a murder spree. I think that violence in video games shouldn't be such a major issue. It's not the fault of the video game that somebody may be mentally unstable, just how it's not Marilyn Manson's fault that the Columbine shootings happened.

I do believe that ratings are in place for a reason though and if they're followed properly then children will be better off for it. On the other end of the scale, I don't think that they should ban certain games entirely or make them change content when it's already intended for a mature audience. Adults should be allowed to play them by their own choice, not have that decision made for them.

It's hard to believe the NRA would really go that far into bringing video gaming entertainment into politics and this is one of those things that seriously need to stay out of politics.

The one thing I will however bring up is people who haven't already must come to the realization that Age & Maturity just don't mix, only one thing that ever dose come close is growing up as the people we choose to become thus explaining the big reason why that kids need to grow up as people first and once there done with that, only then they'll go after other things (single or multiple interest matters not).

This is why the ESRB Ratings need to change, sooner or later they have to do that because the Age ratings just aren't working, they never had since the day they began considering the fact I notice children getting a hold of M rated video games and some of them are just immature, even some adults today are just immature to the core itself and that's just really messed up.

What ESRB really needs to do is what Indie Games back on Xbox Live did, change it to content ratings entirely, like for example you have your Comic Mischief, your Violence (Blood and Gore), Sexual Themes, just Maturity Level (one that doesn't relate with age what so ever) and whatever else that can be included so as long as age isn't included (the reason why I say this is focusing on Age just won't work, some parents will still buy there kids the kind of video games that really go above there age limits and they will, no matter what).

That said, mixing Age with Maturity only dose a LOT more harm then good, it will and the one thing I also notice with Newgrounds is that the games and movies don't feature content ratings, none of them do witch is something Tom Fulp will one day have to look into as well.

As controversial as it sounds, people have to come to the realization why Age and Maturity just don't mix, I said before and I'll say again.

Welcome to the new world era.

[Thecrazyman]

At 1/13/13 06:51 AM, Thecrazyman wrote:

At 1/12/13 12:45 PM, VoidForce wrote: I've played plenty of violent video games throughout the years and I've never used a gun to go on a murder spree. I think that violence in video games shouldn't be such a major issue. It's not the fault of the video game that somebody may be mentally unstable, just how it's not Marilyn Manson's fault that the Columbine shootings happened.

That said, mixing Age with Maturity only dose a LOT more harm then good, it will and the one thing I also notice with Newgrounds is that the games and movies don't feature content ratings, none of them do witch is something Tom Fulp will one day have to look into as well.

Scratch that thought my bad, totally forgot they did featured other contents since the redesign, turning off auto play content shows it, my apologizes on this part.

[ZJ]

At 1/12/13 08:44 PM, MonthlyVolatile wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwAo8lcAC4

That was spot-on. Thanks for sharing.

Also, I think the Jimquisition covered this topic well:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/669 2-Desensitized-to-Violence

[Mismo]

At 1/14/13 02:20 PM, ZJ wrote:

At 1/12/13 08:44 PM, MonthlyVolatile wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwAo8lcAC4

That was spot-on. Thanks for sharing.

Also, I think the Jimquisition covered this topic well:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/669 2-Desensitized-to-Violence

Indeed he did, I've watched the Jimquistion before you linked it here but I want to say that even tough he himself warns you both before starting up the video and during it that it has some disturbing content in it. Watch at own risk, because I felt terrible after seeing it and was afraid to sleep because I thought I'd have nightmares.

[Entice]

People talk about banning things because it's an easy solution. All they have to do is say "violent video games should be banned! weapons should be banned!" and they can go home and pretend that they helped stop violence. It doesn't even have to actually happen, they just use that opinion to feel like good people.

Mental health is an extremely complicated topic that requires proactive solutions, so no one wants to touch it.

[Thecrazyman]

At 1/14/13 06:34 PM, Entice wrote: People talk about banning things because it's an easy solution. All they have to do is say "violent video games should be banned! weapons should be banned!" and they can go home and pretend that they helped stop violence. It doesn't even have to actually happen, they just use that opinion to feel like good people.

Mental health is an extremely complicated topic that requires proactive solutions, so no one wants to touch it.

And the people that simply talk about banning things that shouldn't even be banned to begin with are forgetting the fact that what they ask for will do more harm then good in the long run.

As for Mental Health Issues, it isn't easy to determine who's mentally ill and who isn't mentally ill and in some cases some of those individuals never had mental issues to begin with until some point later on in life.

One classic signs of mental breakdown for those who seen the film Full Metal Jacket (or parts of it for the matter) is Private Pyle, an individual who never had mental health issues until in the later parts of the film and the reasoning to why he started to have mental problems is when Gunnery Sergeant Hartman discovered a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyle's foot locker and decided that every mistake Private Pyle makes is punishment for the rest of the platoon (with Private Pyle being spared in the process).

In response to that, the platoon in turn decides to restrain Private Pyle on a bunk bed and beats him with bars of soaps raped in wrapped in towels and in the aftermath of the incident he ends up talking to his M14 rifle as Private Joker (not to be mistaken from The Joker from Batman) takes note about Private Pyle's mental breakdown.

This one example from the Full Metal Jacket film (as much I as I don't like to do spoilers unless I have to otherwise) shows that even certain people who didn't have mental issues to begin with can end up showing mental health problems in the later run of life and I'm also for certain other examples exist.

[naronic]

No matter how many times you bring up this topic in this forum the response is always going to be the same.

I personally know a guy in my neighborhood whom was apart of this "campaign" to get rid of video games "from the social norm", some crap about getting back to family values and furthering societal contribution.

I personally told the guy that I was offended that he would compare me and a bunch of other fun loving people I know to mass murderers because of a hobby we share.

[Swag-in-a-Bag]

If a individual is already violent and can't tell the diff between fake and real then there's already a problem

[LemonCrush]

At 1/15/13 01:25 AM, naronic wrote: No matter how many times you bring up this topic in this forum the response is always going to be the same.

I personally know a guy in my neighborhood whom was apart of this "campaign" to get rid of video games "from the social norm", some crap about getting back to family values and furthering societal contribution.

I personally told the guy that I was offended that he would compare me and a bunch of other fun loving people I know to mass murderers because of a hobby we share.

Should have asked him what "family values" he's talking about and where/why he subscribes to those ideals. Chances are, it was religion, which is filled with disgusting violence, rape and slavery. And religious art is filled with the same.

[SandmanNLD]

At 1/12/13 09:18 PM, Painbringer wrote: Violent video games keep violent people off the streets.

And that's a fact.

Hear Hear!

Not like i'm going all Hitman on peoples ass on the street.

[kazumazkan]

oh boohoo im a lazy parent

[TheSporkLord]

Hmmm. I'm sure my idiot aspie kids will be unaffected by this horribly gore filled mindless video game violence!

[Chemich]

Jimquisition: DESENSITIZED TO VIOLENCE.

Jim Sterling makes a realistic point on video game violence, proves that parenting is the major cause of kids being dipshits. If parents would stop being lazy and have some personal accountability their kids wouldn't be so screwed up, and end up getting sent to juvie down the line as well.

It's the responsibility of the parents not to CENSOR everything, but to teach kids the RIGHT way about doing things.

Don't blame the kids for being fuckups, it's the parents fault for not preventing it. Though nowadays future generations seem to be lacking any intelligence whatsoever, it's a sad truth that hopefully one day will get resolved before... well... I'd rather not talk about that.

[Halberd]

At 1/12/13 09:18 PM, Painbringer wrote: Violent video games keep violent people off the streets.

And that's a fact.

This is true if it weren't for my rape simulator games I would be out on the streets raping real women

[Osuka]

At 1/12/13 09:18 PM, Painbringer wrote: Violent video games keep violent people off the streets.

And that's a fact.

that´s why the japanese are making Rape simulators?

now seriously, the most violent people i meet never played a video game in their life
the problem is how easy is to get a gun

[Jewelz123]

I've recently realised that games that you play where everyone just kills each other isn't a problem. Everyone agrees and knows the score and its the point of the game. Where things get messed up is when choice is put into the game. If you can choose whether or not to kill someone and it isn't really the point of the game then it will truly mess with your mind.

Thinking of DayZ here, a post apocalypse game where players do what they must to survive. Thing is, there is no mutual agreement or red team blue team mentality. It's all up to you how to do it at the end of the day.

Thing is, me and a few friends played solid in November and December, racking up 30 hours a week and eventually noticed a change in real life perception.. our real life personalities got a lot colder and things were kinda messed up! Luckily we noticed in time and managed to stop before December was over..

Maybe got immersed a bit too much =/

[SocialistClock]

Every since ive played farcry 3, ive had the craziest urge, to go hunt bears with a machete.