Violent Games effect on Children

[ImaSmartass2]

Normally I wouldn't be posting such things on the forums, but with the mention of Newgrounds "Torture Game 2" on Fox news (lol right?), I wonder about the opinions of the people here on Newgrounds. Studies with children and violent games leads to violent behavior, according to child psychologists. Are some children naturally violent or is it the fault of the game?

According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry:

Studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become: "immune" or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see, and show more aggressive behavior with greater exposure to violence. Some children accept violence as a way to handle problems. Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. In addition, children with emotional, behavioral and learning problems may be more influenced by violent images.

Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with videogames. Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and lead to:

poor social skills
time away from family time, school-work, and other hobbies
lower grades and reading less
exercising less, and becoming overweight
aggressive thoughts and behaviors

Their Site

ApparentlyThe American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) represents over 7,500 child and adolescent psychiatrists who are physicians with at least five years of additional training beyond medical school in general (adult) and child and adolescent psychiatry.

On the opposite side of the arguement: Two researchers at Harvard:

Two Harvard researchers have concluded that there's no data to support the notion that violent video games cause the kids who play them to act out violence in real life, contrary to the vast majority of media outlets that would have the public thinking otherwise. The $1.5 million study, which began in 2004, closely examined 1,200 children after bouts with violent games like Grand Theft Auto and not-so-violent titles like The Sims.

Psychologists Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson found that for most kids, playing these games was nothing more than a stress reliever. Sure, some children displayed a playful aggressiveness after hours spent with a violent game, but this was no different than what children experience after seeing a martial arts action movie.

Some researchers, including the Harvard psychologists, even suggest that video games have a positive effect on the brain. Steven Johnson explores this concept in his book Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter.

I personally think that the mental effect on a child's brain is minimal at best and it is fairly short-sighted to suggest that games cause violence, there are other factors in children's lives that are much more worthy of examination.

Fox News Coverage of Torture Game 2

Simple solution, DON"T LET YOUR CHILDREN PLAY THIS GAME

Fox news, and their "expert" need to actually study before making such statements. Also they don't view Newgrounds as "A legitmate gaming site"

Thoughts, Opinions, and anything else here!

[The-evil-bucket]

I think Tom and Jerry is as violent than Halo.

[arxarts]

in my opinion you need to know your kid, for example, if you give a 5 year old grand theft auto, he might develop criminal patterns, might. but if you know your 5 year old is mature enough to know stealing is bad, let him play and suffice his need to do dirty deeds, therefore he is less violent (has an outlet), learns about the justice system and knows if he gets caught in real life stealing, he is fucked up...

[marksteiner]

I think it's silly. It's not a result of the video games, it's a result of bad parenting. They let their children have the bad games. Games are not like drugs. If you can't have the game, it's not like you'll go find it in an alley from a guy selling it for 500 dollars and buy it just to get your fix of violence. Parents who are to blame undoubtedly will go for the video games because it is an easier choice than going to a psychologist because their kid is acting up and confessing that them and their spouse fight a lot. People who bring it to the attention of the media are only wasting their time. There will never be a law against violent video games.

[D2Kvirus]

Can somebody fill me in on whether there were any stories linking Ted Bundy's crimes to the fact he often drove in his VW Beetle beforehand?

If not, why not - it's the same type of story: stating that an object is inherantly evil and corrupting, and can be linked to somebody's violent and/or criminal behaviour.

[Calvinand]

I love Fox News on video Games, have you seen thier coverage of Mass Effect? With the torture game they just went with low-blows, calling the author some "kid from south Africa", not asking anyone who supports the game what they believe, taking that review out of context (it sounded more sarcastic than serial killer), and posting how much people spent on guitar Hero WTF?!?

[DontLikeYou]

eventually there going to know

[Jon-86]

Pretty Fox lady says: "Understandably child experts worried, about the games potential impact on kids. Will it make impressionable youngsters numb to torture?"

So why havnt the government sponsered the game if it has this effect? They could brainwash the nations youth to the idea guantanamo bay is alright and just a bit of fun :P In all seriousness, I dont know how kids think these days. The most violent game I played was Manhunt and I was still young enough not to know right from wrong. I will admit I felt some 'bloodlust' if you can call it that. But did I go out and kill someone? No!

[DeIirium]

Retarded people shouldn´t be allowed to play videogames.

[Korriken]

At 7/26/08 12:39 PM, D2Kvirus wrote: Can somebody fill me in on whether there were any stories linking Ted Bundy's crimes to the fact he often drove in his VW Beetle beforehand?

If not, why not - it's the same type of story: stating that an object is inherantly evil and corrupting, and can be linked to somebody's violent and/or criminal behaviour.

In other news tonight, the REAL reason Ted Bundy decided he had to kill. We all knew it, I just decided to point it out.

[MultiCanimefan]

All I know is that some where, out there, Jack Thompson is reading this thread and orgasiming as he writes "ZOMG LULZ I TOLD YOU SO!" But seriously, if a child is mature enough to play a game like The Torture Game 1 and 2 and Grand Theft Auto, regardless of his age, then he should be granted permission to play it.

[Villhelm47]

Regardless of my opinion, every major, current source of gaming entertainment has some form of child prevention whether it is the consoles' parental controls or the many programs available for content-blocking on computers.

A parent should not be allowing their child time with any form of entertainment with which they are not familiar beforehand. With prior knowledge on what is in games, parents can make the decision on whether their child is in fact mature enough to be playing the games. I began playing very violent video games at a fairly young age, but, other than giving me no sympathy for people who oppose something which don't understand, I doubt it has had any real negative effects on my mental development. If anything, video games have always served as one means of stress relief.

In the end, all it comes down to for most people is developing a balance to ensure healthy playing habits. Everyone's tolerance is different, so establishing where that level is before pushing it definitely can have benefits, especially in the case of children.

[homor]

except there is zero real pyschologicial evidence to support any of this.

and anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

[D2Kvirus]

At 7/27/08 02:42 AM, Villhelm47 wrote: Regardless of my opinion, every major, current source of gaming entertainment has some form of child prevention whether it is the consoles' parental controls or the many programs available for content-blocking on computers.

No they don't, Fox News says so. Instead, they emit psychosis rays that make your children become robotic murdering machines that could go off at any moment, and find it impossible to tell the real world from the one they play in.

For example, did you know one person played Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 then murdered their wife and child? No, wait, they didn't play it, they were in the game - surprising even low blow merchant Jack Thompson missed that one.

Can somebody PLEASE invent a new entertainment medium soon so gamers get a little peace and quiet? Comics, cinema, rock n' roll, VHS and the internet have basically been let off the hook because games are the current fad and, therefore, the current bandwagon to jump on, and they need a break!

[CousinIt]

The guy who said he wanted to kill someone was a fucking maniac,the game did not make him this way.
The news anchor saying she wad "disturbed" by it.
Yeah,thats fucking bullshit,she is a liar...she is only saying that because people would think less of her if she was in favour of the game.

If you don't want your children to see and play these games,then DON'T let them!
Newgrounds has a rating system and everything,be a responsible fucking parent and monitor what they are doing online,don't fucking bitch and cry when they find something you don't like either.

[D2Kvirus]

At 7/27/08 12:37 PM, CousinIt wrote: The guy who said he wanted to kill someone was a fucking maniac,the game did not make him this way.
The news anchor saying she wad "disturbed" by it.
Yeah,thats fucking bullshit,she is a liar...she is only saying that because people would think less of her if she was in favour of the game.

I'm always amused by the way they try and make out there's a sliding scale of corruption - the classic one being that Person A watched Film X ten times before going on a killing spree (for example, Nathan Martinez/Natural Born Killers, and Cho Seung-hui/Oldboy).

So, to use this logic in the logical manner, Martinez was perfectly sane before watching NBK, got progressivly madder as he watched it more times...and, by the way, at which viewing did he decid eto buy a gun?

And, if after viewing seven or eight he decided to buy a gun, is this because the NRA have subliminal messages embedded in all videotapes that are only accessible once you watch the film end-to-end seven times, encouraging the viewer to purchase a firearm at the next opportunity?

If you don't want your children to see and play these games,then DON'T let them!
Newgrounds has a rating system and everything,be a responsible fucking parent and monitor what they are doing online,don't fucking bitch and cry when they find something you don't like either.

The amount of kids asking people to buy them GTA IV is both scary and irritating - mainly as there's always somebody who'll do it. I had that in work before when some guy was the fence for a couple of 12-13 year old kids and a copy of San Andreas (made annoyinger still by the fact the kids he bought the game for were both barred from our premeses), and gave the guy a verbal ear bashing for both of these, as well as fined him on the spot (or, to put it another way, gave myself an Unofficial Pay Raise). I've also had the kids downloading cheats for The Warriors and Vice City, another couple of 18-rated games, on previous occasions (and using the logic that cheats make games fun - fucking idiots). Then again, I've also had them telling my colleague to "fuck off" for kicking them out for being obnoxious little shits who thought it was funny to log every PC onto sluts.com - sort of showing thr level of maturity and assholishness of the type of people who want to play 18-rated games despite being far too young to do so.

[zNelson24]

Sigh. Ok, lets go over this agian.

It is the resposibility of the parent to make sure tht their kid dosent play violent games if they dont want him or her to do so. The developers they point fingers at normally provide parental controls and ESRB ratings to prevent them from getting their hands on these games and playing them.

And people also go around saying video games start shootings. Video games dont kill people, people kill people. People just started blamming the game industry for the shootings as though they planned it, and the media is only making it worse destroying our democracy and people dont even know it.

Video game violence isnt the issue, dont go and try to keep kids from it. There is also violence in life and you cant just run away from it by censorship. If you censor violence, you migh as well censor life itself.

[callofdutyfreak]

Human Beings are naturally violent. Ever since we were created (Either through eveolution or intelligent design im not getting into that debate here) we have been killing, Killing animals for food. Killing other humans for land, food, women etc... Video games probably do desencitize people to violence. However, if people are properly educated by their parents about the differences between reality and virtual reality then there should be no problem letting kids play GTA.

[JealousInquiry]

I admit, that these things that include violence in them do cause them to be... well screwed in the head, but if the parent or person in charge doesn't stop them from viewing such horrrid acts, they might aswell just be the cause of the behavior instead of the footage viewed.

But it also has to do with the person themself. If they're dull enough in the head to actually immitate such acts then... well you see my point.

[SAMURININJAJAMES]

I think its a resault of bad parenting not video games u give a kid a video who hasnt been taught wrong from righthell probably get influenced in the end its all about them being guided by a GOOD PARENT.

[zNelson24]

At 7/27/08 02:50 PM, SAMURININJAJAMES wrote: I think its a resault of bad parenting not video games u give a kid a video who hasnt been taught wrong from righthell probably get influenced in the end its all about them being guided by a GOOD PARENT.

There might be some parents in the world who think of television and video games as a hypnotic device designed to keep their kids distracted and quiet while parents do as they please.

[KeithHybrid]

If you believe Faux Noise, you probably believe Jack Thompson, and if you believe him, then you're an idiot.

[ImaSmartass2]

At 7/27/08 06:53 PM, KeithHybrid wrote: If you believe Faux Noise, you probably believe Jack Thompson, and if you believe him, then you're an idiot.

You obviously need to read the entire thread, I only knew about the coerage because of the newgrounds wikipedia article, I have no connection whatsoever to Faux Spews, actually read the thread and you might not be percieved as an illiterate moron.

Whatever,

Bye.

[Calvinand]

I agree that any violance from games is solely a result of bad parenting, and anyone with a basic understanding of the issue can recognize that; the problem is when people like Fox News and Thompson start making up information that people do not recognize as biased. It's a battle of public relations and the people who will really end up controlling the game industry are not gamers, not game designers, but these radicals who can influence regular people to protest, boycott, and write nasty letters to congressmen. You know what congressmen do, whatever people tell them, angry people write about violent video games= more restrictive laws. That's just the trend I see anyway

[DeIirium]

I´ve played GTA since i was 7, and i´d be pretty pissed off if some asshole forbid me from playing it.

[drDAK]

Videogames, like 99% of everything in the world out there, should be used in moderation.

It is true that when overdone it can cause bad social skills and confusion of reality, but most people do not use videogames as such.

[Drakim]

At 7/25/08 07:37 PM, ImaSmartass2 wrote: Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with videogames. Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and lead to:

poor social skills
time away from family time, school-work, and other hobbies

I stopped reading there. So, one hobby might lead you to play with other hobbies less? (because that is what it is saying).

NO SHIT. If I find a fun hobby, I tend to use less time on other hobbies because I am a human being and have limited time to use for hobbies every day. And there is nothing wrong with that. Hobbies don't have feelings and get hurt when you neglect them in favor of new better hobbies.

[ImaSmartass2]

At 7/28/08 03:26 PM, Drakim wrote:

At 7/25/08 07:37 PM, ImaSmartass2 wrote: Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with videogames. Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and lead to:

poor social skills
time away from family time, school-work, and other hobbies

I stopped reading there. So, one hobby might lead you to play with other hobbies less? (because that is what it is saying).

NO SHIT. If I find a fun hobby, I tend to use less time on other hobbies because I am a human being and have limited time to use for hobbies every day. And there is nothing wrong with that. Hobbies don't have feelings and get hurt when you neglect them in favor of new better hobbies.

You seem to be thinking that this is my logic, had you read the entire thread, I choose the pro-gamer opinion and cover both side of the issue. I don't really believe what those so called "experts" are saying, but in order to be fair I put in their arguement too. Which in retrospect was pretty stupid, expecting people to read the entire thread, I should have posted my opinion first, then linked to the opposite side of the arguement, instead if stating the opposite opinion first.

One has to much expectations of those with large amount of logic. Also I hope that you realize that I don't watch Fox News.

K, whtevr , bai

[Drakim]

At 7/28/08 03:57 PM, ImaSmartass2 wrote:

At 7/28/08 03:26 PM, Drakim wrote:

At 7/25/08 07:37 PM, ImaSmartass2 wrote: Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with videogames. Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and lead to:

poor social skills
time away from family time, school-work, and other hobbies

I stopped reading there. So, one hobby might lead you to play with other hobbies less? (because that is what it is saying).

NO SHIT. If I find a fun hobby, I tend to use less time on other hobbies because I am a human being and have limited time to use for hobbies every day. And there is nothing wrong with that. Hobbies don't have feelings and get hurt when you neglect them in favor of new better hobbies.

You seem to be thinking that this is my logic, had you read the entire thread, I choose the pro-gamer opinion and cover both side of the issue. I don't really believe what those so called "experts" are saying, but in order to be fair I put in their arguement too. Which in retrospect was pretty stupid, expecting people to read the entire thread, I should have posted my opinion first, then linked to the opposite side of the arguement, instead if stating the opposite opinion first.

Actually, no, I was thinking of your post as mainly a big repost of an article. I wouldn't be so stupid to automatically assume that it reflects your opinion like a mirror. That's more than unlikely. I was just bashing the article source and the world in general.

[atation]

This it the truth, just listen and don't bitch. Video games have SOME effect on kids. Normal people like you and I play games and we realize that it isn't real. The rest are psychopaths who have no mental stability. Plus, the US government only wants to place the blame on some goddamned thing. Hell, it was music in the sixties, TV in the seventies, movies in the eighties and nineties and now it's video games. Welcome to the new millenium.