Australian Study "Confirms Dangers of Violent Videogames"

[Jamous]

This is actually pretty shocking. Mainly because I've never observed that effect. Ever. I know no-one who actually starts acting as if they or anyone else are worth less or are less human because they're opponents. We've gotten pissed off at each other quite a bit, sure, but that's faded pretty damn fast.

 

[themerrygambit]

I wrote a thesis on this back in college when the columbine killings were fresh in everyone's mind. The bottom line is that while video games won't turn you into a mass murdering sociopath, it will however desensitize you to violence and the idea of killing another human being if either A) You are put into a situation where you feel killing is justifiable or B) You're already on a vindictive sociopathic road and just needed a little push over the edge.


The plain fact of the matter is that the military has been using ALL forms of media to help desensitize and train their troops so that they will kill on command.

Humans and nearly all animals have a natural aversion to killing their own kind. Back during WWI and WWII the military discovered that only 20% of troops were aiming to kill because of this natural aversion. They found out it was because during training they only aimed at circular paper targets so on the battlefield they hesitated when putting their sights on a human.

To remedy this problem the military started their "break you down, build you back up" training regiment prominently featured in "Full Metal Jacket" and they had soldiers training on humanoid shaped targets and rewarded students for violent behavior and showing a "Killing Instinct" It's also glorified in movies when violence is "justified".

Because of this the percentage of troops "Aiming to kill" rose to something like 60%-80% of soldiers shooting to kill by Vietnam. And I believe now a days its up in the 90s. You need look no further than the wikileaks video of an apache helicopter gunner so trigger happy that they end up gunning down civilians. The whole time the gunner is shooting he is yelling "Get Some!!! Get Some!!!!"

Again as a soldier you're not being truly sociopathic because you are being placed in a situation where you were convinced that killing is justifiable under the right circumstances. However it IS because of video games, training and other media that most soldiers are conditioned/prone to having an itchy trigger finger. It's because violence for them has been rewarded and glorified under the right circumstances. To be a good soldier is to be an efficient killer. Still not convinced? look at the mini-series "generation kill" which is a TRUE story reproduced by a few Marines who were actually a part of the real events. While most troops are fairly well balanced they are all looking for action and there is one guy in the group who is itching so badly to kill that he shoots up a bunch of camels and children while on the road.

Point blank ALL MEDIA influences us on a daily basis. Some intentionally and some not. It's Naive to think otherwise. We're wising up to it now a days but even so you still find yourself wanting a certain car after you've seen a commercial for it on TV or craving a burger after seeing one on an add before your favorite youtube channel video. The world of media is deceptive and manipulative my friends. So too do videogames have that capability. The main difference is that most video games aren't trying to do it intentionally. It's all in good fun.

No go out and pick up Serious Sam 3 and let a few rockets off the chain!!!

 

[Mrmac23]

It's only individual, mentally ill nutcases that are made violent by violent videogames, we've been over this before. Honestly, by this point, whenever i hear a report about how violent games cause violent people, my only thought no matter what the context is "Oh, shut up."

 

[Wolfram23]

So... the good doctor obviously has never played a physical sport like hockey, soccer (football), football, rugby, etc... Once the whistle blows, the other team is just a bunch of faceless enemies to be destroyed!

Also, did he acquire the lost humanity? I could definitely use some more in Anor Londo...

 

[lRookiel]

Oh look its this again.... Another arse trying to bash violent video games, and its in Australia aswell? *ACTIVATE SARCASM* IM SHOCKED! *DEACTIVATE SARCASM*.

So yeah, I ALWAYS die a little inside after some good old fight to the death action on Mortal Kombat.. (More Sarcasm)

 

[Frankster]

In other words it hasn't been subject to peer review and has bypassed due academic process. Nothing to see here. Just another alarmist with no credibility

Actually it has been published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, so peer review is underway.

Would be nice to have a link to said article so we can see for ourselves, though looks like it's one of those papers that ain't available online

Doesn't matter. If it doesn't include a full account of the methodology involved, it's damn near worthless.

I fully expect an article in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology to NOT ONLY have full methodology, but a welll written abstract and methods section too, this is a published article in an official psychology magazine read by professionals and furthering overall psychological research.
It is very much worth something, so don't dismiss it just because you don't like the research topic.

Seriously guys, you're all reacting the worst possible way to this, screaming like howler monkeys over how its false or unscientific when fact of the matter is this has gone through all the right channels and has followed normal procedure, this is as scientific as research on videogames will ever be so keeping on trying to deny it does you all a great disservice and validates the negative stereotypes gamers have by saying untrue things about the validity of this research (that's slander btw, something you can't do in academic circles, you have to actually criticize the research).

This is why I asked for an online link if possible to the actual article. I can't disprove or disagree or say how wrong this research is until I actually see it and can point out flaws in methodology or w/e. That is the scientific way to deal with scientific research you view as flawed: reading the article and picking apart its faults!

Seriously question for ya all saying this report is BS or w/e... How many of you have ever opened a scientific journal, let alone a scientific journal in psychology?
Just to save any smartass the trouble: i plan on reading it next week or w/e my library gets it. It'll be far too late to share my musings on it with you all though, topic will be dead by then.

 

[PixelKing]

My humanity has gone.
I am a mere shell of a mortal being.
I have found men such as myself.
We have become legion.
For we are many.
We quest to find humanity.
We, are gamers.

^Sums up my thoughts on that

 

[OManoghue]

Oh please, Aussies will ban something if one of the characters says 'crap' once. Let's not take this too seriously.

 

[RuralGamer]

But Dr. Brock Bastian of the University of Queensland's School of Psychology says fears about the influence of violent games are well-founded, as his new study has found that people who play these games tend to see their opponents, and even themselves, as "lacking in core human qualities such as warmth, open-mindedness and intelligence."

Apparently he's never used the internet!

And apparently he's never lived in the real world either; last time I checked, most people in the world aren't warm, open-minded or that bright, else we would have considerably fewer problems.

Over all, it sounds like someone has an anti-gaming agenda... why do I feel like I've been here before?

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

"Dr. Brock Bastian of the University of Queensland's School of Psychology says fears about the influence of violent games are well-founded, as his new study has found that people who play these games tend to see their opponents, and even themselves, as "lacking in core human qualities such as warmth, open-mindedness and intelligence.""

Really? REALLY?

I've had it up to here with these morons. They have zero empathy, can't understand anyone else's point of view, and are intolerant to the point of being intolerable. The idea that, as a gamer, I assume ANYBODY has the qualities he lists, is...

Wait a sec...

*Reads last paragraph back...*

...crap.

 

[Frankster]

Oh please, Aussies will ban something if one of the characters says 'crap' once. Let's not take this too seriously.

Whilst I have no doubt Australian researchers are biased against videogames and might even be influenced by the govermental views for all I know, this is research published in the most definitive journal of its kind and read by practitioners and professionals worldwide.

You might not take it seriously but the psychologists reading certainly will, and indeed this kinda news topic is fairly frequent on the escapist for sensationalist reasons but now its the story of the boy who cried wolf and when it actually happens no1 believes him... This is genuine research, being read and analyzed by the scientific community. This is the one time we SHOULD be taking this seriously.

 

[Kuroneko97]

Played Grand theft Auto when I was five.

I'd be mortified if I actually hit somebody in the head with a bat.

So Violent Video games=Violent People
Yet Me+Violent Videogame=Physically Empathetic Person
.....

 

[Broknhead]

Science, what have you done?

psychology isnt a real science, its sciences retarded cousin. physics and biology make fun of him all the time, and chemistry changes the results of his work.

 

[algalon]

as soon as i saw Australia i knew it would be a bash agaisnt games, they hate violence down there, though funny enough are ok with sex (or so I been told.)

Nothing to see here, its just as mindless as the violence they (proclaim) is mindless.

This, a thousand times this. "Australian psychologist deems videogames harmful". And we expected what exactly? It's a safe bet that after further investigation, this study will be found to have been funded by lead Australian conservatives in their government. Who is the Aussie equivalent of Smackywhack Thompson anyway?

 

[Frankster]

You can't make any of those claims until we see the methodology. Until then it's about as scientifically valid as an angry screaming man.

I love repeating myself. It's a research paper published in the JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, this means the paper got checked and approved by the editors of the magazine and has actual scientific value, otherwise it wouldn't be published in the journal in the first place.
Not a fool proof system and there has been cases of misleading research that exagerated results, but these cases of fraud are soon discovered and this particular report doesn't seem to be fraudalous even if motivations for it are suspect (something which is hardly unique to this piece of research).

In regards to the methodology, if it's being published then that means the methodology looks fine superifically at least (these articles spend a month+ being looked over before being given the go ahead for publication), but it'll be up to the rest of the scientific community to poke holes at it (and us too should we care to read it ourselves)

So I got more weight to make that claim then you have saying "Until then it's about as scientifically valid as an angry screaming man" which is the equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears, closing your eyes and singing to avoid seeing something you don't wanna see or putting your head in the sand.

Also out of curiosity what is your definition of scientific validity? AFAIK this article is following the same process any other scientific paper would go through, the only difference is you all don't want to admit it and keep claiming it's unscientific or w/e BS statement.
I can safely say you can't know the scientific validity of this paper until you've read it (and yup neither can I, which is why I'll have to read it too), only after reading it can we claim the research is BS and scream at it as much as we want.

This, a thousand times this. "Australian psychologist deems videogames harmful". And we expected what exactly? It's a safe bet that after further investigation, this study will be found to have been funded by lead Australian conservatives in their government. Who is the Aussie equivalent of Smackywhack Thompson anyway?

This isn't a random psychologist saying things though. This is genuine research published in a research magazine to be analyzed and dissected by actual scientists with big floppy beards.

Further investigation shouldn't be needed, they have no reason to hide who funds their research and goverments/corporations funding research for their own less then noble purposes is nothing new (ex: almost the entire field of psychopharmacology is based around it for better or worst :\ Big drug and pharmaceutical companies control the direction of research since they are the ones paying), motivations as to why you're conducting your research isn't important (again for ill or worst, il spare you a tl dr on a touchy topic tho), what matters is your findings and if you produce any interesting theories/ideas for future research to build upon.

 

[Kurokasumi]

I was playing DOOM at age 6.
I was playing Quake/Quake II at 8.
I got my first N64 w/ Goldeneye and Duke Nukem at 11.
I was playing GTA 3 at 13.
The list really goes on. Yet here I am 21, I haven't murdered anyone, I don't have murderous or sadistic thoughts, I don't think stealing a car and running down innocent civilians is a good idea, I enjoy My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.
I have proved your, and all of these damn "Violent Video games at a young age makes you violent/murderer/angry/retarded" arguments wrong.
In my opinion, the video game has nothing to do with it. It's about parental supervision. As long as you have intelligent, capable parents to tell you that everything you do in that violent video game is wrong, and you are brought up correctly by intelligent parents, then there's no problem.
For all you retarded scientists, go study cures for cancer and ways to solve global warming and a solution for gasoline, oil and other crucial fossil fuels. Stop wasting yours, and everyone else's time with these meaningless and false arguments.