Are you sick in the head?

[Sheinen]

In the funfilled sandbox adventures of the GTA series all of the fun is derived from the 'because I can' mentality. Next time you drive full pelt into an old lady, hop out the car and shoot down the police chopper thats been tailing you, ask yourself if theres any other reason?

My point here is that this mentality is sadly not restricted to Video Games. In the news recently a 15 year old savagely attacked a pensioner because he 'wondered what it would be like to kill someone.'

A 10 year old and an 11 year old beat the crap out of another 2 kids in Yorkshire earlier this month with no provocation. And I mean these 2 kids are in intensive care!

These incidents are both, blatantly going to be linked back to the gaming industry and I don't think that's right. The games don't encourage this behaviour, in the same way that society doesn't, it just allows for the possibility of it.

Are people just sick in the head that way, or are we actually influenced by external sources?

Are you?

 

[Skeleon]

Think of war, given the possibility to rape, murder and torture, people just do it. We are animals.
Think Abu Ghraib as a rather recent example.

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

I am not. Yet plenty of people are largely influenced I guess. Video games might be part of the problem, but certainly not the full explanation. Media on television and internet shows all kinds of acts of random violence, from any age towards any age. Kids pick that up and might even think it's normal, or at least not so strange to try it out themselves. Putting that stuff on youtube or anything similar might even make them think they're cool.

Also with all the examples they have (from the aforementioned television and media, and of course games), they come up with more creative ways of beating the crap out of others. Some people say that this has been going on for years, centuries, millennia even (I read somebody on this here forum quoting about kids being annoying in ancient Greece). Yet now in the age of communication, I'm fairly certain it is worse now then it was before.

Kids get inspired by others by watching what misdeeds they have done. They start to think it's cool to do those things. Eventually, even the kids who might not normally act that way, start wanting to be cool, and do random acts of violence to become cool too. It's somewhat of a vicious circle nowadays, with the things done becoming worse and worse. While in the past, old acts would be forgotten, and therefore things didn't escalate often when older generations mature, and new ones take over. Now, the deeds done in the past are remembered, and aren't interesting any more. New and more creative ways of hurting others have to be invented.

Video games are just part of the equation. Certainly games like GTA might bring the idea of violence in people's minds. Yet television programs like Jackass and similar forms of Schadenfreude are just as responsible for corrupting our youth.

 

[Mardy]

All humans can kill other people, there's just something needed to drive them to it.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Think of war, given the possibility to rape, murder and torture, people just do it. We are animals.
Think Abu Ghraib as a rather recent example.

Nailed it on the first post.

 

[Sheinen]

So you feel that the Human mind is hardwired to commit any act, regardless of how sinister, if given the opportunity?

I like to think that I have limits and I certainly can't imagine myself raping, torturing or murdering another person, regardless of the opportunity I'm presented with.

If a drunk, hot, naked girl stumbles into my back garden I'd be inclined to help her, not stick my cock in her...

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

Think of war, given the possibility to rape, murder and torture, people just do it. We are animals.
Think Abu Ghraib as a rather recent example.

Vietnam is an even better example, although not as recent.
Many soldiers who were considered normal people at home, in Vietnam commited rape, the killing of innocent civilians and many more horrible actions.
Why did they do all of this you ask? Because they had a gun and they could.

 

[Pyre00]

If a drunk, hot, naked girl stumbles into my back garden I'd be inclined to help her, not stick my cock in her...

I'd help her too, you know, give her something to drink..

 

[tk1989]

I guess to some people are inclined to follow their animal instincts? i dunno. It happens all the time with animals, which is what we are in the end. If people can do something and feel they can get away with it, they probably will.

 

[Sheinen]

So lets wing it back to you then - if someone gave you a gun and said 'you can do whatever you want for the next 2 hours and there will be no consequences' what would you do?

 

[02cfranklin]

Kids are dumb, in short.
People who let games affect them that much are weak minded, yet why the hell are kids playing GTA.
I mean I did at the age of 12 but I R not a chav, I know the difference between right and wrong. Reality and... non-reality.

 

[Skeleon]

Personally, I wouldn't do anything with it, but I've never been in a war or put under serious mental stress. I'm not excusing the horrible deeds some soldiers are able to perform, but when you're put in a war, given a gun and a feeling of superiority, anything can happen. Your mind (or rather the society- and self-imposed limits thereof) just snaps.
What I'm trying to say is that humans are able to do pretty much any atrocity you can imagine because of our animalistic and tribal heritage, that doesn't mean many would ever do them.
Also, I doubt that people who rape, torture or murder other people consider them as equals. Seeing your victim as something lower, something subhuman or belonging to a different "tribe" (as it might occur in a war) makes it easier to do things to them than you'd ever do to somebody of your own society (like that drunken girl, stumbling into your backyard).

 

[demonsaber]

I would LIKE to go up and take out some of our more corrupt politicians but more then likely, I would take it hunting or to a gun range, to shoot at some targets.

It is not fair to blame the video game industry on this. They have tried to sell the message that kids should not be playing these games. But like Yahtze said in his manhunt review, kids that like this shit are going to go for it and play the game either way. The smart thing as a parent would be to straight up buy the kid the game and play it with him to teach him that it is not reality and while there are no consequences in the game, there are in real life. OR have parents actually pay attention to what the fuck their children are doing.

 

[Sayvara]

The overwhelming majority of people can differ beteen fantasy and reality, and so can kids. My four year old watches me play WoW and I feel quite silly when I tell her "The Shadowcat is just sleeping honey"... and she goes. "No, it's dead. Oh! There's another one! Kill it!". Somehow I feel like a successful failure as a parent because the kid can handle it just fine and she got there without/despite my feeble attempts to soothe the ride.

I just fear/hope that the day it's time for the Birds And The Bees she'll already be more educated on the matter than me, which is a comforting/scary thought.

/S

 

[demonsaber]

Educate your self more now! Just kidding.

 

[hypothetical fact]

You are listing reports of people with mental problems. Try stating .0001% of the amount of stories where people spend their entire lives without randomly beating, raping, murdering someone. Those stories happen every day and are boring which is why you don't hear them. When something bad happens you forget these stories and jump on the humanity is screwed bandwagon.
TLDR: Don't list extreme cases as if they are the norm.

 

[Nmil-ek]

You are listing reports of people with mental problems. Try stating .0001% of the amount of stories where people spend their entire lives without randomly beating, raping, murdering someone. Those stories happen every day and are boring which is why you don't hear them. When something bad happens you forget these stories and jump on the humanity is screwed bandwagon.
TLDR: Don't list extreme cases as if they are the norm.

People are alot more passive now than they used to be but its nothing to do with being a better more moral world, we have teelvisions/forms of media to outlet these things now, we have police and laws that scare us into line and always the ever hanging sword of damoclese with nukes to keep war in line. Loose these things and we just have to look at the past, hell take the middle ages for exaple people were murdering/raping/looting and opressing each other left and right. If laws collapsed you'd have people like Fred Phelps out stoning gays in an instant etc.

 

[hypothetical fact]

You are listing reports of people with mental problems. Try stating .0001% of the amount of stories where people spend their entire lives without randomly beating, raping, murdering someone. Those stories happen every day and are boring which is why you don't hear them. When something bad happens you forget these stories and jump on the humanity is screwed bandwagon.
TLDR: Don't list extreme cases as if they are the norm.

People are alot more passive now than they used to be but its nothing to do with being a better more moral world, we have teelvisions/forms of media to outlet these things now, we have police and laws that scare us into line and always the ever hanging sword of damoclese with nukes to keep war in line. Loose these things and we just have to look at the past, hell take the middle ages for exaple people were murdering/raping/looting and opressing each other left and right. If laws collapsed you'd have people like Fred Phelps out stoning gays in an instant etc.

You can strip the world of as many laws as you want but that won't kill off instinctual empathy. People are tribal animals and will always form tribes for a sense of belonging, it is in these tribes that empathy holds us together. Even if one person commits murder to get ahead in the tribe, it doesn't mean the whole tribe will collapse into anarchy.
The middle ages were full of crimes but people still identified with tribes and empathy kept society together.

The problems only occur when people of different tribes interact. E.G Bloods and Crips or 4chan and furrys.

 

[demonsaber]

AHAHAHA. I just had a decent laugh at you. See any functioning anarchy's lately?

 

[Sea Age]

Are you?

Yes. Yes, I am.