Should of seen this one coming. Violent video games back in the spot light.

So after the recent shooting, along with gun control, there is a lot of talk about violent video games and their impact on kids. I heard it on NPR's Talk of the Nation and again on the Today Show.

On TotN a republican from Connecticut was making unfounded claim that video games are largely to blame for the shooting.

While on the Today Show they had an "expert" (no credentials were mentioned) who said there is absolutely a connection between violence and video games.

Opinions?

 

oh no another "video games cause violence give your opinions!!!!" thread

 

Bollocks!
Everyone knows people is violent because of rock music, which is the devil's music.

 

All I have to say is hang on to your rights.

 

There is a definite correlation between violent video game and real-life violence. What the general public (and, evidently, Republicans) fails to understand is that proving correlation is very different from proving causation. All that they've really shown is a numeric connection between statistics: people who play violent video games show a higher rate of violence.

You can interpret this many different ways, beyond the obvious "video games make you violent" approach. Maybe people who are violent by nature are more likely to play violent video games. Maybe parents who do not effectively teach their children that violence is bad are also very lenient on what games they play. Maybe it's all three that combine into an overwhelming statistic.

Anecdotally, I know that video games do not absolutely cause somebody to become a violent person, because I play video games and am not a violent person, and the same goes for many of my friends. What it has done has desensitized me to violence - the more violent games I play, the less I am disturbed by violence.

Why don't we look at a much stronger connection, though: that every single person behind these mass shootings has been mentally disturbed? Is it simply too much of a stretch to claim that mental illness might possibly be a large factor in why a person might want to walk into a school, movie theater, mall, or city council, and start shooting everyone in sight?

 

Psychological studies have shown that people tend to be more violent after being exposed to violent scenarios and situations. The only test I can think of off the top of my head was a survey taken of people going into multiple kinds of movies and a survey of the same people afterwards. It showed that those who watched violent movies had an overall more violent personality after watching the movie than those who watched other kinds of movies. This would probably be the same with video games, as continuos gameplay could condition them to be violent. I don't think video games are causing the shootings, however. I don't think it's the legality of firearms. It's a mix of a very violent society and lack of sufficient mental healthcare. A humongous amount of media is violent nowadays, and each year the US is putting less and less money into mental healthcare. Yes, many countries that have fewer guns have a lower firearm homocide rate, but there are those that don't. Switzerland, for example, has something like 8,000,000 guns for 6,000,000 citizens and has only 40 firearm homocide a year.

 

No, Iwata didn't actually say that.

 

Wait until all the kids with busted legs in hospital start admitting they were playing free running / parkour games. OOOH!

The entitled generation will blame everything except themselves.

 

really we having this conversation again? was not is a video game a took those children life was a mad
person arm with a assault weapon.
the real problems is a strict gun control and care about the background of the person ho buy the weapons and ammunitions
really ho need a rifle with 30 rounds to kill a deer?

Japan dont allow any weapons you can even buy a bebe gun with a permit and with that they rate of murder with a violent crimes are lower last year and Japan only 22 person die of violent crimes related to a gun in the USA over 10.0000

 

I don't want to drag this into a political conversation, and honestly, I have no opinion on gun control or gun rights. However, the Second Amendment (Right to Bear Arms), wasn't talking about hunting for food. Its about having an armed population, in case the government becomes tyrannical.

 

IMO, it's ridiculous.

The NRA are quick to argue that it's not the gun, it's the gunman, but they're perfectly fine telling us that it's the game and not the gamer.

 

TB made a video about it a few days ago.

 

Well said.

 

Which just proves that starting a World War and getting nuked reduces crime.

Seriously, if we're going to pick random reasons out of the hat that's a pretty big one to miss.

 

Agreed. Japan also has a culture that is male dominant and heavily saturated with family values and honor. They also have an incredibly effective police force.

NOTE: I am not saying "male-dominant" is a good thing, or coincides with family values. It was just another fact about their culture. So feminists, please don't revolt against me.

 

There is shown that people playing violent video games express a more than average violent behavior. However I'd say that is a direct result of people being put in a competetive situation. I'm sure the same result would be shown on tennis players. That this should have a long lasting effect I've never seen any studies of.

 

As I mentioned in the last thread about this topic, this isn't the place. Closing this thread.