Your thoughts on gun violence in video games?

[Avatar Korra]

Top celebrities are demanding a stop to gun violence in video

BEYONCE, Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow join a galaxy of top Hollywood celebrities making a moving video plea to change US gun law.

I'll be honest I hate the concept of celebrities and how much attention and money they get, they are just normal people like the rest of us.

However things like this make me realise these people can really make a difference in many aspects of life. America loves its celebrities so this message should change something but sadly not the most important thing.

What are you guys' thoughts on violence in video games? Do they have an impact on people negatively? Does it need to be toned down?

 

[PK Gaming]

What are you guys' thoughts on violence in video games? Do they have an impact on people negatively? Does it need to be toned down?

I'd love to anyone substantiate this claim. I haven't seen any studies confirm a direct link between the 2. My guess is that 'aggressive behavior' is poorly defined and that the young male demographic, which tends to commit more violent crime, also happens to be the same demographic that most often plays violent video games.

Also for fun, if you take a look at this graph

yep.

Every once in a while, a gun-related tragedy happens and Video Games are (usually) turned into a scapegoat... I've gotten to used to it at this point. It's a shame that people can't grasp the concept that guns (not just people) can kill, and they should heavily regulated in the US. It's easier to get a gun in the US than a fishing license, that's all kinds of wack.

 

[faint]

There's a much bigger problem here than "the stopping of gun violence in video games." I'm much more concerned about the possibility that I won't be able to own a firearm in the near future.

But since this is obviously related to the CT shooting i'll get back on topic. For those of you that didn't hear, out of all games that could have been blamed for the CT shooting, some retarded news source out of the UK chose Mass Effect and DYNASTY WARRIORS. YES, DYNASTY WARRIORS. It's absurd.

Also I would recommend you guys watch this video by Adam Sessler. He put it together very well, and the general idea is that society hasn't adopted video games as anything more than "violence." They don't realize there are plenty of games in the world that lack it, and it's actually kind of sad in a way.

 

[mattj]

modern warfare influenced me to shoot people

gta influenced me to rob hookers

pokemon influenced me to start a dogfighting ring

mario influenced me to try psychadelic mushrooms

and assassin's creed influenced me to
[youtube]KOVpWR1nRkE[/youtube]

 

[Lemonade]

Not to mention, if someone has motive, video games aren't what cause them to act violenly or kill people. If they don't have motive, that's where the insane comes in.

 

[Lee]

i think there may be something to it tbh because everytime i play Mario I have this overwhelming urge to go outside and jump on people's heads.

i think there may be a degree of 'desensitizing of violence' as a result of entertainment (and not just video games!) trends but entertainment and violence have gone hand-in-hand throughout history and I see no justification to effectively handcuff and stifle the creativity of artists because it's obvious to all that the NRA only brought it up as a scapegoat to deflect the blame away from the USA's archaic gun laws. i nearly pissed my pants when he said, without a hint of irony, that 'the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.' :evan:

 

[PK Gaming]

can we not even bullshit, 100% serious here, when I get haxed in Pokemon I go into a murderous rage.

Maybe they should look into banning Pokemon?

 

[M. Rock]

I did a paper on this in high school. The whole argument is bullshit. Basically all of the studies are skewed to prove a point. Ever notice that a most of the studies published have data based off of a controlled environment were violent M-Rated videogames are given to underage kids? Then they say "while playing the subject showed to be quick to anger and exhibit violent tendencies and aggressive behavior" or something like that. The key phrase here is while playing. Who hasn't gotten aggressive while trying to gun their way through hordes of enemies?
I can't remember his name for the life of me, but this guy did his own independent study. He had subjects that played a violent PC game over the course of the month. They were given inkblots and psychological tests at the end of the period (in addition to having their behavior secretly monitored while they played) to see the effects of violent videogames. They all came out normal, and according to the study, correlation did not imply causation. Do you think this ever got widespread publishing? Oh hell no. It's too "counter-culture" to the popularly established belief.

/rant



EDIT: Also wanted to throw in that people who think video games teach our kids how to kill are retarded. It's one thing to run into a magic box of bullets that disappears when you touch it (and adds itself to your inventory) and press a single button to reload. It's another thing to actually load and reload a gun yourself, knowing about the safety and the magazine and other parts of gun anatomy.

 

[Firestorm]

I'd be more worried about shitty parents buying these games for their kids considering most retailers already won't sell M rated games to minors.

 

[moonbound]

Well, I grew up with Goldeneye 007 and am a pretty stable individual, so the problem clearly doesn't lie in the fact that children are playing violent videogames, it's the fact that they're playing high definition violent videogames. That, or the fact that people who are already violent and twisted by nature tend to enjoy doing violent things in games just as much as they do in real life.

Edit: I would also like to add that whenever I play Katamari, I have an uncontrollable urge to roll everything in existence into a giant ball.

 

[Danmire]

What about Monster Hunter? I feel like getting a hammer and destroying everything when I lose to a Barroth.

Also, the United States being so high up there in that chart, PK, really isn't all that surprising.

 

[penguin344]

If millions of people play these video games, and only those with mental health problems start shooting groups of people, can you really say that it's the video games, and not the crazy person with the gun?

So yeah, I don't think it's the video games.

 

[capefeather]

People like to blame a tragedy on one thing. Video games... probably are a factor for some people, but that really says nothing about the norm. Any number of things (and, more likely, combinations of things) can trigger a murderous rampage in just about anyone. Even blaming guns themselves is kind of a scapegoat. So let's put all that aside and look at gun regulation (and anything else) from the lens of effectiveness. No one thing will solve all problems. Gun regulation should be combined with other measures, like mental health research.

 

[Trax]

I swear people blame video games because they don't want to face up to the real problem: readily available firearms of well beyond what is needed for hunting.

As much as anyone may say criminals will still get them illegally, your typical lunatic who walks into a building and shoots 20+ people he's never met is less than likely to manage to organise a deal with the Mafia or something. Many gun homicides are heat of the moment too, it's not like "get annoyed, think of a plan, go do a deal with some criminals to buy a gun, shoot someone" -- it's more "get annoyed, grab gun from house, shoot someone".

 

[PDC]

What a fucking joke. This is literally the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. It is not the video games, it is the person. Millions of people have Call Of Duty and Battlefield, but do millions of people go around and shoot other people? No, they don't. It is a mental illness problem, not a video game problem.

 

[Kevin Garrett]

Studies have shown that playing violent video games does have an effect on people. Individuals who regularly play violent video games compared to those who don't are desensitized to violent acts. There is plenty of scientific literature out there. However, the effects are not absolute. Games do not make people conduct acts of violence. Instead, violent video games increase the likelihood of violence in people with a certain disposition.

 

[Fishy]

so who wants to talk about how it's a socialized male problem and not just a mental illness problem? :cloud:

staying on topic, every single video game is an alternate reality. if a player is not mature enough to play a certain game, then they should not. even if they do, unless that person is already somewhat unbalanced and does not have the intellect to receive the game the way it should be received (ie purely entertainment/not a visual aid on how to act in the real world) then there is no harm to video games. as lee said, the desensitizing to violence in general is not necessary a "benefit," but it's equally as much not a detriment. in my driver's ed class i saw photos of a car accident victim, plainly showing his skull split and brain matter spread around the scene. death happens, and it is not glamorous, nor is it ever pretty. seeing the dead man did not terrify me to drive, but it calmly reminded me of consequences, which exist for all actions, good or bad.

the problem is guns in general somehow entwined with masculinity. a symbol of power, control, aggression, assertion of one's will all encapsulated into a metal tool that the constitution has deemed IMPORTANT, so god forbid anyone have their right to bear objects purely designed for killing taken away.

obviously, saying the desire to possess and freely fire a gun as masculine does not mean that all males, and even females, are repressing an either poignant or subtle desire to open fire at the next mall they visit.

i feel like i've already lost track of where i wanted to go with this post, but VIDEO GAMES are not evil, gender socialization though, kind of??

 

[VKCA]

When I first played battle field three I was kind of struck by the graphics, which were very graphic. Incredibly realistic, and not the kind of thing I think an eight year old should play.
Which is why we should come down harder on game stores for selling m rated games to kids.

 

[Outlaw]

Oh one of these topics, I sure hope Avatar Ko-Oh fucking hell..

It's not the stores fault as the parents are the ones buying the games.

It's not guns fault either just as much as it wasn't the knifes fault when the chinese man stabbed those children nor was it the bombs fault when that man set off three bombs to blow up the school and his own life.

Insane people do insane things, the only way to predict these things would be to give yourself up to some sort of minority report bullshit. These things will happen regardless, there is nothing you can do to stomp them out completely.

Fucking people and their fucking knee-jerk reactions I swear.

 

[Steamroll]

Used to play GTA, CoD, Battlefield, and all that other glorius mass murdering garbage. Worst thought I ever had about anything relating to violence was how easy it is for some people to enter my high school (I was a Junior at the time). Three days later a past teacher who got fired snuck in and invaded one of his past classes, unarmed thankfully. Next highest on the list was wondering the real life effects of stealing someone's car, while walking 4 miles to school.

As far as I'm concerned schoolyard bullying causes more ACTUAL violence than video games, cartoons, and other various media combined.

 

[Mastadi]

I think TB's video on the subject sums up my thoughts almost exactly

 

[PK Gaming]

Oh one of these topics, I sure hope Avatar Ko-Oh fucking hell..

It's not the stores fault as the parents are the ones buying the games.

It's not guns fault either just as much as it wasn't the knifes fault when the chinese man stabbed those children nor was it the bombs fault when that man set off three bombs to blow up the school and his own life.

Insane people do insane things, the only way to predict these things would be to give yourself up to some sort of minority report bullshit. These things will happen regardless, there is nothing you can do to stomp them out completely.

Fucking people and their fucking knee-jerk reactions I swear.

I actually completely disagree.

You're right, its usually that one criminal thats responsible, but guns are ultimately why so many people die.

In your very own example, the chinese man who stabbed those 22 children didn't kill a single one. The sandy hook killer killed over 20 people. Both crimes were committed by mentally unstable people, the difference is that one criminal had easy access to guns (remember its easier to get a drivers license?!?-) while one didn't.

This is why I support the heavy regulation of weapons in the US. A ban is a unrealistic, but forcing a long registration period (and mental tests) will do a lot in preventing these tragedies.

 

[Stratos]

pk every time you say that i die inside; gun laws, like fishing laws, largely vary by state and while if you just look at federal legislation or something that may be true i highly doubt that in any individual state it's harder to fish than to shoot

 

[PK Gaming]

sorry...

just imagine i'm talking about drivers licenses...

 

[Lavos]

Studies have shown that playing violent video games does have an effect on people. Individuals who regularly play violent video games compared to those who don't are desensitized to violent acts. There is plenty of scientific literature out there. However, the effects are not absolute. Games do not make people conduct acts of violence. Instead, violent video games increase the likelihood of violence in people with a certain disposition.

people should have stopped posting after this