Murder and mayhem are main attractions to video games like Grand Theft Auto and Doom and have boosted popularity among young audiences. Some child psychologists say prolonged exposure to content that rewards killing and destruction fosters aggressive, anti-social behavior and they have lobbied hard to restrict access. But game makers and civil libertarians say teens are capable of separating reality and fantasy. Ratings boards and regulations, they say, are poor government substitutes for effective parenting and they point to recent studies that even suggest potential benefits to the estimated 70% of American teens who own at least one of these games.
 

Well, once you get outside, in certain zones, at certain times you'd realise that all this protection and censorship means nothing(if you live where I live at least)and life beats the games.
Just saying.

I think FPS and PVP games does worse then violent games, once saw a video of counter strike and the number of swears that were being said because they simply died was very funny.

Originally posted by Thenarius

Well, once you get outside, in certain zones, at certain times you'd realise that all this protection and censorship means nothing(if you live where I live at least)and life beats the games.
Just saying.

Just doing a research thing and needed something to do it on. I live in the U.S.A. and people blame everything on someone or somthing instead of themselfs. Its sad how people are blame GTA for shootings, but the only links there are is that they are male and depressed.

The major flaw in this argument is while yes it can have a desensatizing effect on people games do not teach you to kill. The lack of realism is to high, if you picked up a sword and use it like mose mmo toons use theirs your going to end up hurting yourself most likely. As for the gun violence issue, I've never played a single game that explains "Little timmy this is how you load a gun, heres how the safty works." And if you own a newer pistol you get my point, the safety on the more modern fire arms are insane.

 Japan have the most violent culture today (movies,games), but the lowest rate of murder.

Its a culture thing. How you raise kids and so. You leave a kid with only violent movies and games, and no grown up person to talk to....shit will hit the fan.

Well if you are mentally unstable (for the most part), maybe violent games can cause violent behavior. It's all up to the player, not the game. For example, we can easily say that a young male brought up in an abusive home (his father beat his mother, etc) has a high percent chance of doing the same thing. With video games it's different; You are FORCED, to some extent, to dispense your disbelief that "Yea, im blowing this guys brains out but at the end of the day it's only a game".

But like I said, it's all up to the players mental stability, I think. Not to say that all mentally unstable individuals are incapable of playing video games without wanting to murder someone later.

Just my opinion =).

Originally posted by daarco

 Japan have the most violent culture today (movies,games), but the lowest rate of murder.

Its a culture thing. How you raise kids and so. You leave a kid with only violent movies and games, and no grown up person to talk to....shit will hit the fan.

 

Yeah i think most of everything has to do with parenting nowadays, they are to lazy to do it themselfs and need the goverment to do it for them. Or they just sit there kid in front of a TV or PC and just let them go. Alot easier than doing somthing about it and teaching them something (thats what schools for right. lol) or sending them outside (cause you might have to keep a eye on them) parents are way to lazy nowadays. Its sad

I'm not sure how much legitamacy a poll of this nature can have when it is brought to a pro-video gaming website. That's like asking if guns cause more violence then they deter to folks in an NRA meeting.

Back in the late 70's when i was playing dungeons and dragons people said the same thing about that game too. Shortly after that they were blaming lyrics in rock music.

The point is, like other people have said, society tends to look for a scapegoat to place blame for their woes instead of accepting responsibility.

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Originally posted by steelrain666
Murder and mayhem are main attractions to video games like Grand Theft Auto and Doom and have boosted popularity among young audiences. Some child psychologists say prolonged exposure to content that rewards killing and destruction fosters aggressive, anti-social behavior and they have lobbied hard to restrict access. But game makers and civil libertarians say teens are capable of separating reality and fantasy. Ratings boards and regulations, they say, are poor government substitutes for effective parenting and they point to recent studies that even suggest potential benefits to the estimated 70% of American teens who own at least one of these games.
 

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There are always some 'expert' claiming how you can change a boy into a gril if you will rise them as opposite sex and such crap.

The fact is, adults are fucked up as much as the kids but we have different expectations of our youth.

It is a hypocrisy only.

Blame the idiot parents and no one else. It’s all about pointing fingers and that’s all people seem to be doing except pointing it at themselves.. Back in asia, when my dad was young, he was dreaming about the ancient chinese warriors. Him and his buddies would fight with sticks and wooden swords dreaming about decapitating their foe and all. Today, he’s far from a murderer, he was a doctor for a long time.

American kids would be playing indian and cowboys and let’s not forget that rape, incest, murder with a gun, gun duels, bank robbing and other not so “right” behaviours. Most of them turned alright.

While video don’t actually leave room for imagination, I think it calms down many individual and if parents cannot monitor their kids, then that’s where the problem is. It’s not hard to carefully watch over them and explain them that, what they play, is a game and yada yada… if the kid cannot see it, then by all means, stop letting him freely play these types of games.

I’ve been a hardcore PVPer, Internet Asshole and FPS player since my early teens. I’ve never hurted anyone in RL nor have I seen any of my friends actively doing a Mortal Kombat finish move on someone. Reality is a tragedy for some but without any guidance, god knows what’s in their mind.

If you want a fair example of human stupidy over the internet/video games then just look at how a 45 year old mom/dad start’s crying on Ventrilo over an EPIC LOOT. Now ask yourself, what kind of kid are they raising?

True Story
 

People letting the DVD player and the Xbox raise their children is the problem not the content  of the game or movie. I remember when i was in school if i got into trouble, what the school did to me for punishment was nothing compared to what my father could dish out. Now days if a kid gets in trouble the parents coddle him and blame the school.  Its all about accountability and parents have none.

There is a correlation between violence and video games.

The reason for this is not fully understood. Are violent people attracted to violent things (most likely)

Alternatively would a calm, well adjusted person take what they see in a video game (or other media) and apply it to real life(not likely)

Children learn much more about violence and how to behave in society from their parents (prior to being teens) and from their peers (teen years).

There is a term I can't think of, but basically it means you are prone to something. I think violent people that take what they observe in video games and act on it are just triggered. They would likely be triggered by something, at some point in their life. It's near impossible to prevent such things.

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I think a better subject would be, are violent games becoming more abundant, and if so what is driving the surge?

Oh, and the poll's options are sort of off.

The frontal cortex of children isn't fully developed, so their sense of right and wrong is learned rather than "innate"

I don't think it's Separation of Reality vs Violence. I think it's Prior Tendency vs New Tendency.

Its the blame game. Every decade/generation has something to blame. In the 50s, EC comics line of horror comics were blamed for unruly behavior. In the 60s, it was the music and the drugs. In the late 70s/early 80s, D&D was a favorite target. In the mid to late 80s, heavy metal was the cause of the world's ills. In the early to mid 90s, rap music was the downfall of western civilization. From the late 90s to now, violent videogames are the cause of violence. Columbine was blamed on Marilyn Manson and Doom. Anyone else see a pattern in all this? It is the fault of everyone but the parents.

Wait wait wait! 

Rap is the downfall of humanity! :P

jk jk!

Originally posted by Kungaloosh1

Back in the late 70's when i was playing dungeons and dragons people said the same thing about that game too. Shortly after that they were blaming lyrics in rock music.

The point is, like other people have said, society tends to look for a scapegoat to place blame for their woes instead of accepting responsibility.

 

And before that it was Comic Books and before that it was the drug/love culture and before that it was Rock & Roll music and before that it was... Starting to see the pattern yet?

Bren

As far as I'm concerned, no. And I've been playing violent games for over a decade.

You think that asking a videogame site will give you an unbiased answer on something like this?

If you really want some insight on this look at these 60 minute reports on youtube:

Part 1

Part 2

Basically the report is about how some kids killed themselves/others because of D&D and is D&D dangerous because of this. Honestly, this debate is as old as time and no original argument one way or the other has been posed since the debate started.

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Originally posted by neodavie
Basically the report is about how some kids killed themselves/others because of D&D and is D&D dangerous because of this. Honestly, this debate is as old as time and no original argument one way or the other has been posed since the debate started.

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They didn't kill anyone because of D&D but because of their disturbed mental health.

The argument is simple: This type of people were part of the human population far longer than any D&D or movie violence.

Just trigger causing the affliction was something else in those times.

i think the poll speaks for itself...

Nope. But violent people might look for some games because they allow them do unleash their fantasies in them without any consequences.

Originally posted by steelrain666

Murder and mayhem are main attractions to video games like Grand Theft Auto and Doom and have boosted popularity among young audiences. Some child psychologists say prolonged exposure to content that rewards killing and destruction fosters aggressive, anti-social behavior and they have lobbied hard to restrict access. But game makers and civil libertarians say teens are capable of separating reality and fantasy. Ratings boards and regulations, they say, are poor government substitutes for effective parenting and they point to recent studies that even suggest potential benefits to the estimated 70% of American teens who own at least one of these games.
 

I've noticed that people who are predisposed to violence tend to act differently when playing violent games then people who are not.

I don't think violent games turn anyone into a violent person. Heck, I've played alot of violent games and I would say (short of having my inner temper rage at inconsiderate people in the supermarket checkout line) that I am not a violent person. I've seen violent people play violent video games and they respond to the game in a much different way.

So in the end it's just that there are some people who are naturally violent. Heck, if one were to propose that playing violent games makes a person violent it might seem logical to then propose that playing a non-violent game would make a player more passive.

However, I highly doubt that having any violent player play hello kitty online would make them more passive.

Heck, probably would make them more violent!

It's not a black and white answer.

Is a stable and well adjusted person going to become violent because of a vidio game? 
No.

Is a person already predisposed to mental health issues going to adversly affected by a violent game?
Possibly, but they could just as easily be affected by other sources.

Are people who are already predisposed to violence drawn to violent games?
Yes. The more violent the game the more likely these people are to be drawn to it.

I have a 17 year old son who, as a child, was not capable of distinguishing between fantasy and reality. We could not allow him to watch cartoons or Power Rangers because he would constantly try to re-enact everything he saw.

On the other hand, neither of my daughters would even dream of trying the same things he did. My 7 year old daughter loves cartoons and MMO's but would never dream of hurting anyone and will tell you it's not real.