Now.... where did I put that can of worms... oh yeah, here it is...
So, I'm sat here and I'm channel hopping. On my journey through freeview, I spot a thing on that Loose Women show about the link between Violence and Video Games.
I have been an avid gamer for over 22 years and I've heard this argument so so so many times and it's been disproven so so so many times, but once again, here we are debating that same old thing: Violent Video Games making people Violent.
But why now? Oh yes, Grand Theft Auto 5 was released on the 17th of September!
Three teenagers have been arrested after a Grand Theft Auto V fan was stabbed and robbed of the game in north London.
Police said two boys aged 15 and 16 and an 18-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of robbery in Colindale area.
The 23-year-old victim was returning home from buying the game when he was attacked in Princes Avenue, Colindale, in the early hours of Tuesday.
The injured man is still in hospital recovering from his injuries.
He was hit with a brick before being stabbed and robbed, police said.
A mobile phone and a watch were also stolen from him in addition to the game, which was officially launched in the UK after midnight on Tuesday.
I'm sorry, but if someone is gonna attack or kill a person, They were gonna do it anyway. Playing videos games isn't gonna provoke someone to kill a person. Just isn't gonna happen. If playing a video game makes you violent, does that mean that watching Doctor Who makes you a Time Traveler or give you floppy hair? Does that mean that playing Angry Birds causes you to have a vendetta against pigs? No...
I have torn this argument apart before and will do again in the future. But I wanna know what you think. Do you think Violent video games cause real world violence or is it just the media being pricks?
"Damaged people are dangerous because we know we can survive"
I frequently play a game in which my person fires arrows at people she doen't like and kills people because, you know, money and ****.
Can't say I've not wanted to fire an arrow into a few people's heads in my time, but I wouldn't do it, and if I did that wouldn't be the games fault, it'd be their fault for being morons.
I have only two words to contribute when talking about the supposed link between violence and video games: Utter Nonsense.
On second thought, here's some more: That guy who stabbed that other guy for his copy of GTA didn't do it because of video games. He did it to get his hands on something desirable, which in this case just happened to be a video game. He's no different than anyone else who has ever taken something by force. He's not some sweet, innocent kid who was corrupted by playing too much Pac Man, he's a violent, entitled thug who would be no less violent if he'd never heard of GTA.
I didn't have video games as a kid. We used to play "army' and pretend to be soldiers. That's what they blamed for violence then. A lot of the people who go off (like the shooting at naval facility the other day) tend to have had some serous issues that many people knew about. They are also on a lot of medication that tend to lower their acute perceptions and lower their inhibitions. Many are suicidal and want to go out while taking others with them to punish the world, parents schools etc. The meds and parenting issues are often ignored while people and media focus of things like Call of Duty. Seems like a feint to me.
I'll believe it when there are have been proper studies conducted, ones that don't confuse correlation and causation. Although the ethical ramifications of such studies are enormous.
I still find it sad that the latest thing to come up on my news feed was someone saying about how they're looking forward to 'killing some hookers' on GTA 5. They may not do it in real life but i don't exactly think it fosters an air of respect for women.
My dissertation was heavily related to this. My results were inconclusive due to data gathering errors but during my research it lead me to believe that violent video games don't make people violent. One of the researchers I cited proposed that violent video games actually decrease aggression because you're channeling it in a healthy yet mentally stimulating way!
I still find it sad that the latest thing to come up on my news feed was someone saying about how they're looking forward to 'killing some hookers' on GTA 5. They may not do it in real life but i don't exactly think it fosters an air of respect for women.
To be fair, the whole point of the GTA series is to be a criminal. If the games made an effort to foster an air of respect for anyone or anything, they would have nothing left. A tongue-in-cheek remark about one comparatively tiny, trivial aspect of the game is hardly reason to panic about an epidemic of misogyny or whatever.
It was the only part of the game the poster on my Facebook commented on so presumably it was fairly significant to him, even if only to be inflammatory. However i have never played the game; perhaps, unlike in real.life, the women who are targeted have equal strength to the perpetrators in GTA 5.
There weren't video games as such when I was a child and teen - maybe pac man, lol, but that's it I think! When I was a girl I don't even think there were videos, not until my teens. Anyway, I digress!
There was still violence - a lot of it.
I've played computer games most of my life, I can even remember the original GTA games (the top down view ones, they were great!). I even remember last time this debate was had over the game called Manhunt I believe it was called, that was a ****ed up game!
But my point, I think of myself as somewhat crazy in the sense I can be crazy at times but I have never gone out and killed anyone with a hammer or ran down people in a car.
I personally do not think video games cause violence.
Regardless, I still don't think under 18's should play 18+ games.
I know they probably don't cause violence, but a lot of them certainly foster an unhealthy attitude towards society.
It was the only part of the game the poster on my Facebook commented on so presumably it was fairly significant to him, even if only to be inflammatory. However i have never played the game; perhaps, unlike in real.life, the women who are targeted have equal strength to the perpetrators in GTA 5.
It's. A. Game.
Part of the fun of games like GTA is the getting-to-do-whatever-you-want. I can drive along a pavement, or cause multiple pile-ups and then blast a rocket launcher into the middle, or even kill a prostitute or a gangster or an innocent bystander who looked at me funnily. It has nothing to do with respecting or disrespecting women/society.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePrincessOfDenial
Regardless, I still don't think under 18's should play 18+ games.
I know they probably don't cause violence, but a lot of them certainly foster an unhealthy attitude towards society.
What is so different about a seventeen-year old and an eighteen-year old, other than an arbitrary number? There are plenty of fourteen-year olds who are more mature than some nineteen-year olds, and as long as the game is suitable to the maturity level of the person I see no reason why they shouldn't play them.
I think I remember when studying this in my A-level Psychology reading somewhere that violent video games do not make a person do violent things, but they do make them feel the initial aggression which then makes them want to vent this in a violent manner, because of the stimulus in the game that happens to be quite violent.
Not sure where I stand on the debate, but personally I agree that it does exhibit an unhealthy attitude towards society. I certainly wouldn't be happy with my children playing such games. But that is irrelevant to this debate in particular. My brother used to play Resident Evil. It gave me nightmares so my mum made him sell it, and that was that. Been a bit of a Sims gamer ever since, not wanted to however lock people in rooms with fireplaces and lots of furniture, then delete the door. If ever such a thing were possible!
Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world awaits in darkness for the light that is you.
Regardless, I still don't think under 18's should play 18+ games.
I know they probably don't cause violence, but a lot of them certainly foster an unhealthy attitude towards society.
This.
I don't think kids have the emotional maturity and understanding of what's real and what isn't to be playing these games.
Claire, i can understand sentences that are longer than one word long. You don't need to put a full stop between each word just because my opinion is different to yours.
I don't think kids have the emotional maturity and understanding of what's real and what isn't to be playing these games.
Well, what do you mean by kids? Should 14 year olds and 6 year olds both be lumped into this category? At the very least, you're giving teenagers far too little credit. Regardless of emotional maturity, I'd like to think the majority of teens have a basic understanding of the difference between fiction and reality, and those that don't need more help than being kept away from video games.
