Do you think that violent games lead to aggression?

[Vern5]

So I'm writing this article and I really want to know what you, the Escapists, think about this theory. Apparently, if you play violent games you are more likely to respond to others in an aggressive fashion.

Do you think there is a scientific correlation between violent games and violent behavior, especially the behavior of children?

Where do you think this theory comes from?

What do you think would be the best solution to this idea, assuming it is a misconception?

 

[Cherry Cola]

All violent video games lead to his cuntness.

It's a fucking epidemic I tell you

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Who said that?

What the fuck were they thinking!? Violent games don't make people agressive!

What kind of fucking moron would say something like that?

Was it you!? It was you wasn't it!

I'LL KILL YOU!

 

[gritch]

I don't believe that violent video games themselves cause an increase in aggression. Some people seem to be predisposed towards violence and if these people partake in violent media (not just video games) they tend to enact they're already violent tendencies.

 

[Vern5]

Recent studies have shown correlations between violent games and increased aggression in children and young adults.

Does that sound possible?

 

[Laser Priest]

Simply put, hell the fuck no.

I wrote a goddamn essay on this. There is no reason anyone capable of rational thought would become more aggressive because of games and they are certainly not enough to push an irrational person over the edge.

 

[badreaper74]

Well there are really two questions here.

1. Do violent games make kids more aggressive?

or

2. Are children with pre-existing aggressive behavior drawn to these games because they see it as a away to act out on there feelings?

The failure to address this second possibility is the major flaw i have personally seen in the studies i have read that try to address this issue.

 

[Laser Priest]

Recent studies have shown correlations between violent games and increased aggression in children and young adults.

Does that sound possible?

Studies can easily be bent to their observer's will. Hell, a so-called scientist did an experiment "proving" the different brain sizes of different races. Turns out, he was bullshitting.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Ah OP did you really need to ask this question?

 

[moretimethansense]

So I'm writing this article and I really want to know what you, the Escapists, think about this theory. Apparently, if you play violent games you are more likely to respond to others in an aggressive fashion.

Do you think there is a scientific correlation between violent games and violent behavior, especially the behavior of children?

Where do you think this theory comes from?

What do you think would be the best solution to this idea, assuming it is a misconception?

Do you really expect to get many yes's on a site like this?

But no, I don't believe that violent games lead to agressive behavior, though I'll admit that a violent person may be "egged on£ for lack of a better term by violent games, and they do somewhat desensetise you to violence, but no more than violent films or books.

 

[Kenny Kondom]

Well the opinion on this thread is either 'FUCK NO', or a sarcastic comment that suggests 'FUCK NO'
And i agree. No it doesn't. I play violent games all the time. I even attempt to make none violent games violent and/or disturbing, doesn't mean i go out murdering or assaulting others. Only time i get aggressive is when i get serious Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag on multiplayer games or im not playiing well (to my standards... MY PERSONAL STANDARDS DAMNIT!!!!). And even then i take my aggression out on either inanimate objects or by yelling loudly.
I haven't ever met a guy *EDIT: or girl* who was aggressive because of games.
...
Ego, yes...
...Games, no.

 

[dslatch]

Parents always wonder why thei kid turns into a ball of hatred yelling and swearing there is a simple answer: School is where you force a fuck load off people that have nothing in common with the next guy and the next guy turns out is offended that you find that out and will torment the smaller ones. And video games get blamed for this aggression because at about the same time a kid starts to play these "evil" games is about the point when School starts.

just a lil proof three 3 most violent people i know (one started a full on brawl with some guy because the dude cut in line) have only ever played video games while they were with me or at a party, shitfaced.

 

[TehCookie]

Games do make people aggressive, for about the hour or two they play them. The same can be said for sports.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

No and yes.

Violent videogames lead to an immediate aggression in the same way that playiung a violent sport, watching a violent movie or even reading a particularly graphic book might. However this violence does not, in the same way as with any meda, lead to a marked increase in overall aggressiveness unless the player is already mentally disturbed.

And as for studies saying you can make children violent by making them play violent videogames, they made children violent by showing them a video of an adult beating up a Bobo doll and then putting them in a room with said Bobo doll back in the sixties. That's how old this debate is, and since we now seem to think that film and television are okay, in a few years, videogames will be thought of as no worse. Anyone who can bold facedly claim that videogames truly are something different is the sort of backwards dinosaur who protested televisions, and films, and the zoetrope, and would probably have been trying to make sure the Bible was never read in anything but Latin.

In other words, only morons think that videogames lead to a significant (key word) increase in general (second key word) violent behaviour.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Video games will NEVER cause people to be violent.

Arrogant, unenlightened, uninformed, holier-than-thou, closed-minded, selfish, yuppie, anal, heartless, soulless, spiritless, mindless, asshole cocksuckers who lack the basics of logic, reason and compassion cause people to be violent.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

Recent studies have shown correlations between violent games and increased aggression in children and young adults.

Does that sound possible?

Actually, the studies showed an increased level of aggression for no more than 15 minutes immediately following playing a violent game. A different study showed no long term effects in any of the test candidates.

OT: I doubt it. I've been gaming since I was 3, and violent gaming since about 6, and I've never been in so much as a fist fight. I'm not a nonviolent person by any means (I'd roll as Chaotic Good IRL, probably), but I find better ways to get out of confrontation.

I think I actually did better in school because I played games. Most of what I grew up loving were story and dialogue heavy RPG's (Final Fantasys, the Chrono games, etc.) and by the end of middle school I was at a college reading level.

 

[Vern5]

Who would you say propagates this misconception of violent games creating violent tendencies?

 

[DarthFennec]

Do you think there is a scientific correlation between violent games and violent behavior, especially the behavior of children?

Fuck no. Well ... to the extent that they may be more likely to join the military later in life, possibly. But beyond that, of course not.

Where do you think this theory comes from?

Fear, and the need to point fingers. Parents see video games, things that they generally don't understand, affecting the lives of all their children. Then they see the violent and destructive behaviour of some children, such as school shooters. In a blind effort to keep their children safe, they blame video games. It's the same reasoning for the argument that people who listen to Marilyn Manson are Satan worshipers who blow up buildings because the lyrics are telling them to. Does this line of reasoning make any sense? Hell no. But it satisfies concerned parents, and it's an easy conclusion to come to and doesn't require a lot of thought, so it's a popular idea.

What do you think would be the best solution to this idea, assuming it is a misconception?

Wait until everyone with the misconception is dead, it won't be long. That's how it happened with comic books, rock music, etc. If that's not quick enough, we could also make efforts to raise awareness, but that would take a lot of time and energy, and I highly doubt it would be effective in the least.

 

[Merkavar]

What do you think would be the best solution to this idea, assuming it is a misconception?

We should kill anyone who believes this. We should grind their bones to make our bread. That will show them.