Videogames Really Are Linked to Violence

[wraggster]

via slashdot (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/30/2053201)

Amanda Schaffer has written a refreshingly balanced piece about the connection between video games and violence. Instead of regurgitating the typical reactionary voices in this debate, she looks at what scientific studies suggest about the issue. From the article:


'Pathological acts of course have multiple, complex causes and are terribly hard to predict. And clearly, millions of people play Counter-Strike, Halo, and Doom and never commit crimes. But the subtler question is whether exposure to video-game violence is one risk factor for increased aggression: Is it associated with shifts in attitudes or responses that may predispose kids to act out? A large body of evidence suggests that this may be so ... Given this, it makes sense to be specific about which games may be linked to harmful effects and which to neutral or good ones. Better research is also needed to understand whether some kids are more vulnerable to video-game violence, and how exposure interacts with other risk factors for aggression like poverty, psychological disorders, and a history of abuse.

[tvrstl]

actualy, it has been brought up all this times, I just have to believe it's true.

[Basil Zero]

Ughh, all these studies, why waste money, why cant they do something useful like help the poor instead of wasting money on studies.

[gronne]

Because they don't want you to end up acting violent. I've been discussing this heaps of times, so I'm quite fed up with it now, but being exposed to violent video games and having some mental problems(probably not even too severe) can most likely have a negative to a very negative impact on some people.
I love videogames(even violent) but I'd be a fool not to think it can have very negative impacts on "weaker" people. The only problem is that none of you would consider yourselves to that category.

[crypysmoker]

lol..

You know what raises my aggresizeness and violence level.....
Real life. Driving through town and almost getting smashed into 10 times within a 3 mile radius because idoiots are talking on thier phone and or reading while driving.
Inconsiderate old farts that think that since they are older and driving a mercedes that they are aloud to drive into your lane with thier winshield wipers on and blinker while they talk on the phone and yell at thier imaginary friend bob...

I get home and play violent video games to get that aggresion and violent behavior out so that I dont do it in the realworld.
Quit blaming video games, tv, movie etc... and blame society for a damn change

[domthegod]

WTF i Will kill them all and steel a car to get away for who ever has come up with this!!! yes it wil just be like gta!!!!!!! LOL

[kcajblue]

this is a bunch of bullshit.

the media is more linked than videogames.

i remember that some kids killed their dad with a baseball bat and they said they got the idea from the sopranos.

[Shadowblind]

Yes, video games are linked to violence. But very little, and only in those with mental illnesses.

[Daki]

I love how it says that it possibly is linked in so many different ways, I need to ask this girl to do my english homework sometime. Personally, I believe in the good 'ole idea that if a person kills someone, the fault rests on the killer and not what the killer did with his time. If someone honestly kills someone over a game of Mortal Kombat, the issues that person must have go far beyond video games and more than likely could also be motivated by normal daytime american television, and the few lightning bolt-hitting-a-man-taking-a-dump-in-his-bathroom frequent incidents that it might be related to just gets to be amplified fuel for politicians to shift some of the blame off genuinely guilty people who don't actually attribute their acts of violence to games outside of the courtroom. Personally, if I ever get killed, and someone claims that video games were the reason I died and some politician makes a big stink over it and tries to reduce his sentence, I hope the politician is the next victim. I find it offensive that the people who died in the few cases this might apply to become martyrs for causes they probably didn't even want to touch in life.

[Broadus]

That's all fine and good, but it doesn't mean that limitations on people playing violent video games should be strengthened. If only tiny numbers of people supposedly act out their violent tendencies because of violent video games, why should everyone else be punished?

[ficksucker]

I love how it says that it possibly is linked in so many different ways, I need to ask this girl to do my english homework sometime. Personally, I believe in the good 'ole idea that if a person kills someone, the fault rests on the killer and not what the killer did with his time. If someone honestly kills someone over a game of Mortal Kombat, the issues that person must have go far beyond video games and more than likely could also be motivated by normal daytime american television, and the few lightning bolt-hitting-a-man-taking-a-dump-in-his-bathroom frequent incidents that it might be related to just gets to be amplified fuel for politicians to shift some of the blame off genuinely guilty people who don't actually attribute their acts of violence to games outside of the courtroom. Personally, if I ever get killed, and someone claims that video games were the reason I died and some politician makes a big stink over it and tries to reduce his sentence, I hope the politician is the next victim. I find it offensive that the people who died in the few cases this might apply to become martyrs for causes they probably didn't even want to touch in life.

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing needed for you to be morally responsible for a crime is for you to have intended it. I don't give a crap if video games or count dracula influenced you, If you tried to murder somone and succeeded, you are responsible, end of story.

Now let's ignore what the idiot media and bonehead opportunistic politicians are saying. We can kick this government out on thier ass when we reach voting age. What scientists are saying is that games are one of many factors that contribute to aggression, and aggression is one of the major factors in violence. No scientist is saying that video games cause you to kill directly. In fact we already know that even aggression alone isn't enough for violence because it has to be combined with decreased inhibition... another factor.

But that doesn't mean that videogames can't influence your personality. A lot of things influence who we are... our culture, our friends, our experiences, school, tv, games. That doesn't make you any less responsible for a crime because you still intended it. In my opinion, even if it was pre-destined that you should kill somone since millions of years ago, you are still responsible for the crime because you intended it. At every step during the commission of the crime you could have stopped, but you didn't. You just arn't the kinda person who woulda stopped.

[Aryn]

One argument that is often overlooked in these studies is violent video games can actually help some people to curb their violent desires. I normally am not a violent person but one job I had about a year orr so ago with an abusive guy who was supposed to be a supervisor and a bunch of jerks almost made me go postal, until I purchased GTA for the PSP (back when I had a PSP, before I decided to trade it in for a DS) and relieved my tensions by going postal in the game's virtual city instead. If not for the violent games out there, I would have lost it and actually hurt people.

[robman84]

Probably does affect some people. But for me, music has a much bigger impact. I can play any number of driving games, simulators or arcade smash-em-ups, but it has zero effect when I get behind the wheel. However, if I stick on some blaring, fast, aggressive rock music I definitely drive faster and more aggressively (albeit still within the law - I'm an old married fart and a parent).

So ban music.

And ban annoying people. Annoying people annoy me and make me want to lash out.