Does gaming cause real life violence?...Shut up

[Vanguard_Ex]

People just need a scape-goat, it's always been that way and probably always will be. If sugar causes hyperactivity and aggression in a child, is it bad and in need of banning?
Of course not, but it'd shift the blame from parents and let the media keep asking bullshit questions.

 

[Hazy]

No.
Real Violence is caused by Bad Parenting and Mental Sickness.
Games don't kill people, people kill people.

It would be ignorant to say all violence was entirely bad parenting or mental sickness. its in human nature, and all things nature to be violent.

If we're talking environmental, and not inherited causes of violent behavior then your spot on.

But yeah if your superstitious, or just genrally a moron blame god, the devil, computergames, women, gays, etc.

I agree, because there are tons of variables in a situation that involves violence.
But I think we can all agree that a child who was taught right from wrong from at a young age, compared to somebody who was neglected by their parents, would be less likely to commit a violent act.

 

[Hazy]

No.
Real Violence is caused by Bad Parenting and Mental Sickness.
Games don't kill people, people kill people.

Yep, you got it.

Ahh.. sporting the Agent 47 Avatar I see.
Very nice.

Yeah, decided it was time for a change. Plus 47 is just badass.

Agreed.
Tons of people would cry fowl and say "Well, Altair is much more badass"
But 47 goes through multiple disguises, all over the world, always makes the hit.. and does it all bald.

 

[Old Man Neck]

No. I can say that video games make me angry, and they can screw with young kids minds, but, the ESRB ratings are there for a reason, and if a parent doesn't want their child being influenced in any way, the parents have the ability to actually see what the game contains and choose if they want their child to play it.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Another thread? Seriously?

I've said this so many times I've lost count:

The media will always blame the entertainment industry for violence, that is how it has always been. They've blamed:

Music
TV
Film
Family Breakups
Videogames

the Columbine shooters were huge Doom fans

Everything in the entertainment industry have been blamed for the Columbine High School massacre by now. Artist Marilyn Manson was taken to court for influencing them, and even after turning out to be innocent, he wasn't allowed to perform at Columbine two years after, yet the council saw it fit to have the head of the National Rifle Association visit Columbine anyway. The makers of TV show South Park were blamed for influence, despite both of them coming from that very school.

Also, what the media ignored was that both students in the massacre were very antisocial anyway, the fact that America's largest nuclear weapons manufacturer is situated in the town of Columbine and that the Columbine massacre occured two hours after the world's largest one day bombing.

The president is sending missiles to far off countries and killing millions, and I'm blamed because I sing some rock and roll.

This sums up my opinion on violence in entertainment influencing violence in real life. Almost all violence is down to another cause, but not the entertainment industry. Sure there's the odd one or two which could be caused by the entertainment industry, but almost all of them aren't. Yet the media still think of it as fit to blame the entertainment industry for all violence, because it's probably the place that youths experience violence the most.

What would you say to all the Columbine survivors, if they were all here?

Marilyn Manson:
I wouldn't say a word. I would listen to what they have to say, and that is what nobody have done.

 

[Xyphon]

Cause and Effect.

Violent people like violent media.
Violent media does not cause violent people.

Exactly this. It is already a known fact that serial killers, rapists, etc. seek out a medium to allow them to fulfill their fantasies. Once that no longer thrills them they move on to actually committing the deed. Thus it isn't that violence media causes it but in fact keeps it from happening sooner.

Damn straight. If it wasn't for violent video games, I would have killed my entire neighborhood by now. -_-

 

[Vrex360]

Cause and Effect.

Violent people like violent media.
Violent media does not cause violent people.

Exactly, makes as much sense as saying that swine flu and the economic crisis both happened at the same time. Therefore the economic crisis caused swine flu.

A violent person playing violent games only shows that he has a violent nature and is attracted to the violence.

 

[Meado]

When a violent person likes violent games, it's a symptom. Chances are they were not a happy bundle of innocence before they started playing.

 

[Hazy]

No.
Real Violence is caused by Bad Parenting and Mental Sickness.
Games don't kill people, people kill people.

Yep, you got it.

Ahh.. sporting the Agent 47 Avatar I see.
Very nice.

Yeah, decided it was time for a change. Plus 47 is just badass.

Agreed.
Tons of people would cry fowl and say "Well, Altair is much more badass"
But 47 goes through multiple disguises, all over the world, always makes the hit.. and does it all bald.

Yep.
Shadow was cool, but it was time to get some new blood.
Yet I wonder why they never suspect the bald guy who's appearance coincides with a death of an important person and who has a barcode on the back of his head.
Also you gave me a new avatar idea for the future...

Not to mention he sports his emblem on just about everything he carries.
Yeah, like that won't be difficult to trace.

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

http://www.screwattack.com/myvidsdontsuck/Final/TheGameOverThinker

This

 

[Mackinator]

Wasn't their much, much, much, much, much more violence in ages passed? I say that gaming in fact lets out all the anger in some people, though there is always one who will never stop being angry, and psychotic in general.

 

[Ginnipe]

Jesuz Christ, I can't beleive people still think that it's video games that kill or influence people to kill. These killers are sick in the head and have had parents that didn't parent them right. I'm not saying that these parents deserved to die, but they had it comming, their letting their kid play for 18 hours a day, this can only be caused by a long time of this happening. It's the bad parents causing this, the best way to punish someone isn't to just say no videogames, it's to take the entire console away and hide it. They can't do anything without it. What I don't understand is how can someone play for 18 hours, that only leaves 6 hours of sleep, the rest just videogames, that has to take some endurance.

 

[Xyphon]

http://www.screwattack.com/myvidsdontsuck/Final/TheGameOverThinker

This

I think he's my new God. o_o

 

[SsilverR]

anyone who has the potential for violence would have had it long before gaming ... most a game might do is get them curious about other methods of violence ... but if they choose to explore that it was their call ... artistic violence can be found in alot of places not just games

anime and some other media for example makes women think it's ok hit men regularly for small reasons .. or that all men will intantly bend to their every will because they have a vagina .... where i'm from if a girl hit you hard with intentions to hurt you or assumed you were her little boytoy just because she's kinda hot .... for A she'd get treated as any other person who would ever try to hit you and end up with a stomach full of her own teeth .. for B she'd get some loud "who the fuck do you think you are" lecture and told to piss off

i just hardcore went off topic didn't i LOL

 

[SquirrelPants]

I once played Oblivion for a few days straight(like, literally. No sleep.) and confused parts of the real world with the game world. Didn't kill anyone, though. The people who argue this need to shut up.

 

[GeeseH]

We have this every week, and we always say for the majority of people, like 99% of gamers do not get violent.

oh i'm sure we (99%) do, however the reasons can easily be misconstrued by somebody looking for any reason available to blame the infraction on.

when as a kid my parents took my games away for a bit (bad idea) i took it hard at first and came to terms with it after two days of bitchiness & hardcore tantrums (amazing how versatile superglue is, 1 tub goes a long way too ...

a few days later when they 'confiscated' my porn stash (very bad idea), on reflection it taught me what not to do when i have kids... yes i behaved REALLY badly, and after a few weeks of this they came to the realisation that for an easy life they'd better make allowances.

so, as a kid i threatened to leave yes (and packed really badly)
and as an adult (prior to moving out and while very drunk) i did throttle my dad for being a dick but moving swiftly on, any action which results in mortal consequences for anybody smacks of a broken childhood & slack parenting.

back on the subject of the OP... know that scene in wanted where freeman says 'imagine if nobody had told you how to shoot, how would you hit the target' or something?
same thing, start banning content because of incidents like this & eventually you'll either have to ban everything (equilibrium) or control whether the 'basic human right' of parenthood should be more tightly controlled or not.

and no i don't have children & don't plan to until i either have something to teach them which will result in a fulfilling existence or i start using caps in my posts
(could be a long time)

interacting with violent media doesn't make a person violent, unless they're unstable... media cannot be blamed for that. well maybe ridge racer revolution.

i do wonder whether if the fragility of the human race was part of schooling like field trips to abattoirs, cancer wards with daily browsing of rotten.com made obligatory whether 'death to all who oppose us' would be such a viable option for confused teens.