Do you guys think that playing violent video games can make children more violent?

We had this discussion like 2 weeks ago Jim. Nice of you to randomly chime into the ND section like this


And for your information, YES, I do.

Not really. I guess it depends on the kid. You'd have to be pretty fucking stupid to play Grand Theft Auto and then go out with a flamethrower and just hammer some guys.

Well of course people don't do that, but does playing violent videogames add to a violent nature? I'll bet it does.

Maybe. I'm not convinced that it's going to be the difference between acting violently and acting 'normally', but I do think it's all dependant on the individual. It does sound a little bit like a scapegoat to me.

sorry.

why?

Kids and teenagers are no more violent today than they were fifty years ago, when there were no violent video games to turn them into evil monsters.

now now davo, just look at columbine, that is a direct result of kids playing games like doom and duke nukem, it has nothing to do with them being mental cases

Let's not downplay Marilyn Manson's role in all this.

or eminems...


if kids really lived their lives by the influence of video games, my ass would be in the yuccatan searching for treasure like pitfall harry.

Ofcourse violent games can have an effect. But it is the obligation of the parents to pass onto their child the knowledge of the difference between fiction and real life and certain values concerning what they can and cannot do. Children that have no such values will be easily influenced by media.

I for one have played violent videogames and watched violent movies for as long as I can remember, yet I am one of the least violent persons I know. This is simply because I have been given a sense of what is real or not and what is right or wrong.

The responsibility lies fully with the parents, not with game- or movie producers.

Two people in this thread have acted like it is a given that kids are affected by violent games and that it is a large enough effect to matter. Neither of you have offered a shred of evidence or logic to support this position. Why is it obvious? Why is it "of course?"

they could be a correlation but not necessary a cause and effect relationship

do kids who play violent video games become violent, or are kids who are already violent more drawn to violent video games?

Violent video games make people violent just as much as watching Fox makes people republican.

Things like TV, music, art, video games, fall into the same bucket for me. They are representations and expressions of our culture. Not the cause of problems, but the symptom. Throughout history there have been things synonymous with jim's question about video games. Too often people blame the manifestation instead of the root cause. If overnight, there was a new law that banned violent video games, there would not be any change in violence in our culture. It would just manifest itself in other ways because video games are an expression, not the cause.

It is a FACT that children, especially younger ones, imitate what they see. It is an essential part of the learning process.

And if you read my post carefully, you'll see that I state that yes, they do potentially affect a childs behaviour, but that this is only when they were not taught how to react to certain stimuli.

There is an erroneous assumption in your logic. It's certainly true that young children do try to imitate what they see. Someone playing a video game and someone taking a gun and shooting someone are two very different things. It's more likely that a child will immitate the act of playing video games, rather than what is happening IN the video games. That usually requires a much larger leap than most children make, and usually only occurs under pretty unique situations.

my mother let me watch violent movies & play any video games I wanted & listen to any music I wanted from the age of 13.
Its all about knowing real from fake. I have never had a violent incident in my life & I've been watching Freddy, Jason and every other fucked up movie since 13.

I disagree. After watching a movie, say Power Rangers XXVII, do children pretend to be watching a movie, or do they pretend to be Power Rangers?

why do you think on ads (and on Jackass) it tells people 'don't try this at home'? Its because people have been known to try out stuff they've seen others doing.... I guess it shouldn't be necessary to have those messages, if people aren't influenced by video or games....

I don't know if kids are more violent now than they were 50 years ago. I think to answer that question, someone would have to do a lot of historical research - I don't think one can simply make a statement that they were or weren't.