Poll: Do video games cause violence?

[Jim Grim]

Can you put some "Rarely, Sometimes, Often" options on the poll? Cos I'm a little stumped here.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

lol ecery one said no. games do not cause violence its the persons thoughts. if he says: hey im gonna rob a bank for some reason! he does it out of spite not cos the game told him/her too.personally i think 5-6 year olds should not play 18- or over games but, when i was a kid i played half life when i was 8 and im doing very well in secondary school

Really?




On Topic: Video games do not cause violence. They may be a contributing factor towards aggression, but they don't cause violence; no link has ever been found.

thats what i mean its like when you get agressive when your favorite team loses too a game of footy

 

[DarkDain]

Well, words pictures and sounds can change feelings and causing emotions, so putting all three together in a game can do some things to your mood. I know i, and probably many many others (when i was younger) would get angry frustrated at alot of games, and after playing alot of virtual fighters, would try to wrestle with my siblings, but im not a violent person. FPS's have never made me wanna shoot anything though.

 

[Wardnath]

No. Otherwise, the Western population would be reduced by half overnight.

Only if you're an easily manipulated person, I say. I have the same opinion about metal.

Shit. I love video games and metal. I must be waaaay behind on my murder quota.

See you all on the news.

I'll meet you there.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

no stupidity causes violence, just like everything else

 

[ProfMike789]

Make sure you get some ACADEMIC SOURCES!!! A straw poll means nothing next to a study published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, and ultimately, we're all biased (against games causing violence, of course).

 

[crimsonshrouds]

short answer NO!

Long answer NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[sephiroth1991]

I don't think Video games give birth to violence, humans are just violent, since birth we have had the primal instict of violence.

Any form of media/entertainment can be considered a couse of violence but we already have violent insticts.

 

[Babitz]

If someone's a nut, he won't need a video game to kill someone. He'll just do it anyway.

 

[Shrix157]

First off i would like to say that u r polling a very biased audience--of course we aren't gonna say games cause violence; we're all gamers!

Secondly, i dont think they encourage violence more than any other competitive sport (not saying video games are sports haha). You see so much more violence resulting from football and other teams, yet nobody is going out trying to ban them!

 

[gunningyoudown]

Fuck no! now shut up before i beat you! XD

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Fellow Escapists, I call on you for help. My professor assigned my 200 level english class a 3-5 pg. paper on video games. My topic will be about how video games do not directly cause violent behavior. I'm probably going to use the stats from this poll in my paper somehow. Also, I could paraphrase your thoughts on the topic.

EDIT: Link "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment"

I would definately reference this. I cant remember its name but basically a test was done on small children to test how they reacted when they watched an adult play with a toy called "bobo". bo bo was an average sized inflatable man that, when punched, would come back up to a standing position. There were a few groups of children that were told to sit and watch the adults play.
The first adult ignored bobo and played with a ball for instance.
The second adult played with bobo in a non violent way.
The third adult punched bobo and shouted verbal abuse while doing so.
The fourth control group had no adult, but the children were taught what each toy did.

The children then were allowed to play in the room with bobo.

Again not sure if its accurate, this is a summary, google it definately.

Group 1 results: Children offered bo bo a small amount of attention, normal play, some recognized bobo as a toy intended for hitting and so did so.
Group 2 results: Bobo was played with more but again, not much violent play.
Group 3 results: Many children emmulated the adults and behaved violently towards the toy, verbal abuse also present.
Group 4 results: A mix of all the above with 4 being a very tiny minority.

This is often quoted as a weapon against gaming. However there are many issues with the test.

1. The children were very young, as a species we are naturally impressionable at that age far more than any other, older children at which these violent games are aimed would not be so affected.
2. The adult may have played a great part in emphasizing that such behaviour was not only ok but encouraged.
3. The bobo doll was meant for hitting so there for the children understood that was the purpose of the toy.
4. The bobo doll is a toy, the children may have hit the doll and abused it as part of the game they ahd observed, they may have had an understanding between the doll and real life.

Debate it, i think its a very bias test, however as the main weapon of the enemy you must prove it wrong.

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Yes, yes they do, but much less than tv, films and books.

 

[RadioActiveChimp]

Fellow Escapists, I call on you for help. My professor assigned my 200 level english class a 3-5 pg. paper on video games. My topic will be about how video games do not directly cause violent behavior. I'm probably going to use the stats from this poll in my paper somehow. Also, I could paraphrase your thoughts on the topic.

EDIT: Link "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment"

I would definately reference this. I cant remember its name but basically a test was done on small children to test how they reacted when they watched an adult play with a toy called "bobo". bo bo was an average sized inflatable man that, when punched, would come back up to a standing position. There were a few groups of children that were told to sit and watch the adults play.
The first adult ignored bobo and played with a ball for instance.
The second adult played with bobo in a non violent way.
The third adult punched bobo and shouted verbal abuse while doing so.
The fourth control group had no adult, but the children were taught what each toy did.

The children then were allowed to play in the room with bobo.

Again not sure if its accurate, this is a summary, google it definately.

Group 1 results: Children offered bo bo a small amount of attention, normal play, some recognized bobo as a toy intended for hitting and so did so.
Group 2 results: Bobo was played with more but again, not much violent play.
Group 3 results: Many children emmulated the adults and behaved violently towards the toy, verbal abuse also present.
Group 4 results: A mix of all the above with 4 being a very tiny minority.

This is often quoted as a weapon against gaming. However there are many issues with the test.

1. The children were very young, as a species we are naturally impressionable at that age far more than any other, older children at which these violent games are aimed would not be so affected.
2. The adult may have played a great part in emphasizing that such behaviour was not only ok but encouraged.
3. The bobo doll was meant for hitting so there for the children understood that was the purpose of the toy.
4. The bobo doll is a toy, the children may have hit the doll and abused it as part of the game they ahd observed, they may have had an understanding between the doll and real life.

Debate it, i think its a very bias test, however as the main weapon of the enemy you must prove it wrong.

fantastic! i wish i'd of thought of this one myself! that'll give me a great opposing view.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Do video games directly cause violence? No, I don't believe they do. No video game tells you to go around killing people in real life (at least that I know of). It is not the intent of any video game to promote real life violence.

Do video games indirectly cause violence? Well, yes. A video game can influence someone to be more violent. However, anything can influence someone. Anything you say, hear, or do has the potential to change your behaviors and opinions. It's just that most people aren't easily influenced, at least when it comes to video games. I don't think a video game has the power to make an otherwise sane and rational person into a violent individual. Only a very weak-willed person could be so easily swayed by a video game. So a video game can influence someone to be more violent, but I don't consider this to be an issue since many other things in life can do the same.

So many people play games and appear to be unaffected by them. If video games really did easily influence people to be violent, then I think there would be a lot of psychopaths on the loose right now. Speaking of which, that's probably something you should research. Opinions are nice, but they aren't as good as factual evidence. Though, from personal experience I don't think there actually is many hard statistics related to video games and violence to be found. Still, it's something to consider. At least gather some more opinions from sources that aren't as biased towards video games as the Escapist.

Good luck on your paper.

 

[Mr_Paisley]

The only videogame that causes violence is Barbie's Wild Horse Adventure's.

 

[RadioActiveChimp]

Cause, no. Contribute? Yes.

At the bare minimum, the frequent, repeated acts of violence in videogames have a desensitization effect, which leads to a reduction in our ability to feel empathy and which makes us more tolerant of images of extreme violence.
-m

I agree with this to an extent. However, in my experiences, it only fully desensitized me to other games and movies. It also partially desensitized me to real footage of things like the Holocaust and other war images. I can't say whether or not it's changed how I would react to a real life situation because I've never actually witnessed any seriously violent situation.