Do you think violent video games are bad for kids/teens? With poll!

[FeuerFrei]

Yeah. They condition you mentally to beat up on people around you. Cruelty sure is fun, huh?!
Then we end up with Philly fans' execrable conduct.

Sure some might compartmentalize and leave video game activities on the small screen, but not everybody approaches gameplay with the same mentality. Some treat is as a real life sim. Ruh roh. Especially as video games grow more and more realistic in replicating human behavior.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Yes. Besides moral corruption it also kills lots and lots of time. Time that could have been better spent on physical activity like riding a bike or other more constructive pursuits besides sitting on ass and wasting time.

Agreed.

Let's see:
From a benefit standpoint - it occupies the idle hands of miscreants, de-stresses, and provides enjoyment
From a detriment standpoint - think of all the time you otherwise could have spent maintaining your property or building your skills / knowledge / relationships

 

[Humpy]

It seems to me that normal kids play soccer and baseball and maybe some Donkey Kong.

 

[snoopy7548]

Yeah. They condition you mentally to beat up on people around you. Cruelty sure is fun, huh?!
Then we end up with Philly fans' execrable conduct.

Sure some might compartmentalize and leave video game activities on the small screen, but not everybody approaches gameplay with the same mentality. Some treat is as a real life sim. Ruh roh. Especially as video games grow more and more realistic in replicating human behavior.

You know, it's weird, but every time I play Super Mario I have the strong urge to jump on some turtles and hit blocks with my head.

You ever think that those who are predisposed to violent tendencies are drawn to violent things? Just because someone is a bully and incites violence on others, but also plays videogames, it doesn't mean videogames trained him to do so. You may be neglecting the fact that he is abused at home or has a family history of mental disorders. Violent media isn't the cause, but a symptom.

 

[FeuerFrei]

You know, it's weird, but every time I play Super Mario I have the strong urge to jump on some turtles and hit blocks with my head.

You ever think that those who are predisposed to violent tendencies are drawn to violent things? Just because someone is a bully and incites violence on others, but also plays videogames, it doesn't mean videogames trained him to do so. You may be neglecting the fact that he is abused at home or has a family history of mental disorders. Violent media isn't the cause, but a symptom.

I don't think Super Mario qualifies. It's too arcade.

Everyone, across the board, is capable of violence. Video games give you the ability to engage in some with zero consequences. Sure initially you may be "indisposed," you may find it distasteful cutting throats of innocent bystanders ... but if you do it enough, it's just good times. If you want your evil nature to triumph, feed it, indulge it. Sure you're a good decent human the rest of the time.

There's a place for violence - like war. But it shouldn't be to gratify our darker desires. And it shouldn't be glamorized. We have the entertainment industry to thank for making bad look badass.

 

[Drako]

I voted maybe, because it depends on the kids age.

 

[IronWing]

I remember back in the days before video games, my brothers and I would hit each other over the head with anvils because of Roadrunner cartoons.

 

[IronWing]

My thought is that children are mean, violent, little thugs that parents attempt to civilize. Kids don't need to be taught to be violent, they just are.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Perps admit being influenced by video games/movies. I'm not making it up. It even makes sense logically. And no, people don't require teaching in violent responses, but an example is an example. Witnessing violence could easily plant ideas in one's head. It's way more impactful than idle dreaming.

Personally, I'm not against media violence in general. Sure blow up some tanks or ships, blast some aliens or demons. But tread carefully when fellow humans are onscreen.

 

[VashHT]

Perps admit being influenced by video games/movies. I'm not making it up. It even makes sense logically. And no, people don't require teaching in violent responses, but an example is an example. Witnessing violence could easily plant ideas in one's head. It's way more impactful than idle dreaming.

Personally, I'm not against media violence in general. Sure blow up some tanks or ships, blast some aliens or demons. But tread carefully when fellow humans are onscreen.

Where's your proof for any of this? Just because you feel like it's true doesn't mean anything.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I voted no. For the general population it is just a means of entertainment and even to lower stress levels.
People who know the difference between real life situations and a virtually created situation.
However for some people with a serious mental illness, who already have an underlying problem to exhibit violence the game may help keeping the violence fantasy of the person in question alive.
But it is still the person who makes the choice to commit an act of violence. If it was not the game, it might be a movie, if it was not the movie, it might be a random person having a bad day. If it was not the person, it might be some music. If it was not the music, it might be someones dog barking. Ergo, the game is not the problem.

Now, guns in highly populated areas with lots of stressed out people however...


edit:
Of course some games are over the top and instead of a good story or re-enacting an historical battle, just promote extreme violence and that i think should not be allowed. Stuff like rape, extreme home violence...

 

[zinfamous]

I do think some games are worse than others. Unreal Tournament, for instance, is basically the same as laser tag. Except real laser tag may give you more exercise.

Grand Theft Auto, on the other hand, has you running over pedestrians for points. I never liked that game.

The first time I loaded and played GTA3 for PS2, the first truly modern GTA...ran over some peoples, bashed a cop, picked up a whore then beat her to death...I did feel a bit sick. I really did feel dirty. It was disturbing.

Then I got used to it. :\

I was ~22 or 23 at the time. I thought to myself...holy shit, what if I was 8 years old or so playing this game?

 

[Captante]

Would have liked to vote no but had to go with maybe.

IMO the jury is still out on this topic.

 

[DaveSimmons]

No, for kids without mental health issues and if parents pay attention to the content rating.

For kids with mental health issues, almost any media could be dangerous.

In other words, parents need to do their job, not hand it off to a nanny state government and demand that we bubble-wrap the world to protect their snowflakes.

 

[Captante]

By themselves video games never made anyone kill.

However it seems the majority of parents ignore ratings when selecting a game for kids and there's no question playing extremely violent games reduces sensitivity to said violence in people of any age.

Combine that with the lack of common sense in many young kids (never mind actual mental illness) and its not a huge leap to see the potential for problems later.

parents need to do their job, not hand it off to a nanny state

That's just crazy-talk!

 

[JujuFish]

I would say movies and video games definitely desensitize youth. I doubt there's a connection with making anyone more violent, specifically. That said, I'm willing to be persuaded with evidence.

 

[Aikouka]

No. I think a lot of the talk about video game and movie violence tends to be what we normally see in these situations: people looking for their "devil". What I mean by this is that when people don't understand something, they strive to find a reason, and they tend to be huge proponents of Occam's Razor in that they seem to settle on surface-level answers. In this situation, they see that a kid plays violent games and acts violent in return, so there must be some sort of correlation.

My take is that there is something inherently wrong with the people in question. As to what EXACTLY it is... honestly, I don't know. However, it manifests itself as a lack of empathy and critical thinking that makes them think that taking out whatever frustrations they have out on others in extreme ways as an acceptable thing. In turn, I think their game playing or what could be seen as excessive game playing is likely another symptom of whatever is wrong with them. These kids tend to be disturbed in some way, and usually, a video game serves as a mental escape to get away from problems.

I see people talking about being desensitized to violence, and I'm not sure about that either. From my own personal standpoint, I've been playing violent games for a long time, and I still feel queasy at the sight of gore. Last night, I was watching Red Letter Media's review of Annihilation, which they showed a scene of opening a guy's abdomen. Let me tell you one thing... that scene didn't sit well with me! Heck, I used to watch the TV show Bones, and it would cause me to be queasy at times. Now, I think the problem of tackling whether video games cause desensitization is a little bit harder than that, but it comes down to whether people still react to instances of real world violence. Although, I do want to note that it is important to keep in mind that people don't always react to shocking situations in the same way.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

If videogames are to blame (which they aren't) then almost certainly hollywood's bullshit antics of RUN RUN BLAM INTO A WAREHOUSE OF DRUGLORDS and BAM BAM BAM shoot 20 people dead isn't any different. But for some reason they just want to target videogames because they enjoy violent movies - just not violent videogames because they suck at them.

 

[Thebobo]

Normal people - no

 

[William Gaatjes]

No. I think a lot of the talk about video game and movie violence tends to be what we normally see in these situations: people looking for their "devil". What I mean by this is that when people don't understand something, they strive to find a reason, and they tend to be huge proponents of Occam's Razor in that they seem to settle on surface-level answers. In this situation, they see that a kid plays violent games and acts violent in return, so there must be some sort of correlation.

My take is that there is something inherently wrong with the people in question. As to what EXACTLY it is... honestly, I don't know. However, it manifests itself as a lack of empathy and critical thinking that makes them think that taking out whatever frustrations they have out on others in extreme ways as an acceptable thing. In turn, I think their game playing or what could be seen as excessive game playing is likely another symptom of whatever is wrong with them. These kids tend to be disturbed in some way, and usually, a video game serves as a mental escape to get away from problems.

I see people talking about being desensitized to violence, and I'm not sure about that either. From my own personal standpoint, I've been playing violent games for a long time, and I still feel queasy at the sight of gore. Last night, I was watching Red Letter Media's review of Annihilation, which they showed a scene of opening a guy's abdomen. Let me tell you one thing... that scene didn't sit well with me! Heck, I used to watch the TV show Bones, and it would cause me to be queasy at times. Now, I think the problem of tackling whether video games cause desensitization is a little bit harder than that, but it comes down to whether people still react to instances of real world violence. Although, I do want to note that it is important to keep in mind that people don't always react to shocking situations in the same way.

I agree. If violence desensitizes so much by definition, how come people coming from war zones still can feel and still have trauma or why do we have soldiers that come back with PTSD after experiencing war situations . That is because violence only desensitizes when a person consciously or unconsciously trains themselves to accept it. I can imagine that some seasoned army soldiers do have less problems with gore and violence in a war setting but that is because it is a defense mechanism to keep them alive and sane, something they created themselves. However, set those same soldiers back in a family setting and they are still loving people. For most people violence will trigger stress and adrenalin and the fight, flight or freeze response and the need to adapt to survive.
A good test is when someone is screaming in agony and fear and most people will have the hairs standing up in their necks. But some people don't, they like it and that are the people that should be closer examined as to why. (No empathy for some reason, either by choice or some other cause).

However, even people with less or no empathy can still be loving people because they choose to be so by emulating empathy.

Back to games.
When i myself for example play Clive Barker's Jericho, i still get that on edge feeling i had when i as a teenager watched Hellraiser or when i played The Suffering years ago or Clive Barker's Undying.
And those are extreme examples of gore.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I do not think one can blame video games, but rather parenting and certain decisions, or lack thereof, when the voilet fucker in your life could have been avoided by the use of putting on a Trojan.

 

[bbhaag]

Yeah lets blame video games...they are any easy target. It's a lot harder to place the blame on the break down of the traditional family structure. I still remember Newt telling me games like Doom, GTA, and Mortal Combat were going to turn a whole generation of young men like me into killers.

 

[pete6032]

What do you mean by bad? Do they cause kids to be more violent? Probably not, except in some very select cases where the child was already prone to violence before playing video games. Do the games get kids addicted, and the cut into time that could be spent learning or doing physical activity? Yes. I played way too many video games when I was younger. Is that bad? Probably. I turned out alright but when I look back on it I certainly wish I had done something more productive with my time.

 

[Aikouka]

I was thinking about this some more, and I think what assumption people are making is that because a kid plays Call of Duty and kills a digital representation of a human with wanton regard that it must have a negative effect. However, I purposefully used the expression "digital representation of a human" to outline where this line of thinking begins to run into problems. The reason why kids can go around shooting people in video game without worrying about things such as consequences of death and such is that... it's just a game. People that don't play games seem to have this belief that people can't create a distinction between the two, and I'm wondering how much of that is due to being an outsider looking in?

 

[brianmanahan]

Yes. Besides moral corruption it also kills lots and lots of time. Time that could have been better spent on physical activity like riding a bike or other more constructive pursuits besides sitting on ass and wasting time.

or posting on ATOT like you've done 25000 times