President Obama Asks for Research Into Game Violence

[KiKiweaky]

True ignorance doesn't benefit anyone (great comment btw) the amount of people who play violent video games these days is so big that next they might want to look at if drinking soft drinks or eating certain types of foods effects your mental state, the sheer volume of people who play these games and don't have anything wrong with them speaks for itself.

If they do conduct studies I just hope they are professional and unbiased in their approach.

 

[DiamanteGeeza]

You know what? I'm kinda glad this is happening, because we all know that games do not cause violence, and this can be an official report to tell the ignorant why they are wrong.

I agree. There have been plenty of studies that show no link between playing violent video games and the player then going out and being violent due to playing the game, but I'm getting the sense that the direction the study is going to take is more of a "does taking part in the simulated act of shooting and killing sort of real-ish people from a first person perspective over long periods of time decrease your sensitivity to thinking about it happening in the real world", and I would genuinely like to know if this is the case or not.

I don't think this is going to be one of those studies focused on video games being the cause of the massacre (and to Biden's credit, this has never even been suggested), so we might get some useful data out of this (for once). Any rational person knows that the sole cause for these shootings is not video games, but perhaps in certain types of brains it could be a contributing factor, however small - if this is the case, then it's important that we know about it.

Oh, and just for the record, I am massively biased towards video games, what with making them for a living and all, so I'm trying to be as down the middle as I can on this issue!

 

[kortin]

Science has repeatedly shown that video games do not contribute in any non-trivial way to real violence. This shouldn't worry any gamer.

Except for the fact that the government is now officially supporting research into it, which means it goes from being legitimate research into "how can we best take the results and skewer them into getting us the most money".

I do not trust the government.

 

[Sunrider]

I really don't mind, as long as they keep it fair and objective. They'll turn up perhaps not empty-handed, but at least knowing that it's not a big deal, no more than movies or anything similar.
.......IF they keep it objective. I somehow picture massive plebs like Alex Jones spearheading something like this.

EDIT:

I say go for it (though admittedly I'm not an American taxpayer so it's not my money that's being spent on this).

I second this though. My opinion is probably less valid because of this.

 

[Iron Criterion]

President Obama said "I will direct the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to go ahead and study the best ways to reduce [gun violence]."

Lol whut?

I may be missing context as to what the CDC does (being a dirty Brit and all), but are they actually treating mental illness as a disease?

 

[health-bar]

I think that a better way to discover if videogames cause violence is to hand out free guns to anyone who has over 10,000 logged hours playing games and see if they use it for good or evil.

my guess is that they'll just sell the guns to actual crazy people for mann co keys.

 

[Prosis]

It disappoints me that anyone on this site would be opposed to a fair and in-depth study of our hobby and passion. Why? The only reason you have to be against this is if you believe, deep down, that the naysayers have a point. I don't. I know that the games I play don't make me violent, because I'm not a violent person at all, I abhor violence and the only times I've ever employed it was in self-defense.

I welcome with open arms a study into violent games, as I would welcome further studies on pretty much any subject. Knowing more about anything is never a bad thing. Ignorance on the other hand, especially willful ignorance, is inexcusable.

I think its more a concern as to how people will react to it. "Congress is studying the effects of violent videogames. Therefore, our government believes video games are a cause of violence."

Or, if a faulty study comes out by the government that states video games cause violence. Regardless of whether or not it is true, such a study would be damaging to the industry.

 

[chadachada123]

Funny how you can't criticize gun companies, auto makers, oil companies, etc. in American politics because ermagerd jerbs, but video game studios are fair game (unintentional pun).

OT: One needs only look at crime statistics to see an upsurge in violent video game sales hasn't materialized into a massive crimewave in America or any other country. Studies are fine but to review the same thing over and over until you get the result you expect is bad science and a waste of money.

To be fair, you can say the same thing about guns, as gun ownership has gone up just like video games over the past few decades despite decreasing crime, as well.

I'm with you, though, it's a waste of money and very clearly done for political reasons to win over parents/the uneducated.

 

[chadachada123]

It disappoints me that anyone on this site would be opposed to a fair and in-depth study of our hobby and passion. Why? The only reason you have to be against this is if you believe, deep down, that the naysayers have a point. I don't. I know that the games I play don't make me violent, because I'm not a violent person at all, I abhor violence and the only times I've ever employed it was in self-defense.

I welcome with open arms a study into violent games, as I would welcome further studies on pretty much any subject. Knowing more about anything is never a bad thing. Ignorance on the other hand, especially willful ignorance, is inexcusable.

Well said. I hope people listen to you.

Isn't it funny that in another thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.398088-Science-is-based-on-faith] so many people proudly proclaimed that what made science great (for many people, the implication was "what makes science better than a religion") was that science doesn't take things on faith. It encourages the repetition of experiments to confirm findings. In science you're allowed to investigate anything- nothing is beyond curiosity, especially not matters of dogma.

Now, once again, so many Escapists are lashing out about science being used to investigate something they like. "Wait, no, we already had some experiments that told us what we want to believe is true. Now you're never allowed to look at it again!"

I can only conclude that either: A) Many Escapists don't actually like science as much as they say, they just like bashing religions, or B) for many Escapists, video games are their religion.

Kudos to AldUK and the other Escapists who understand what science is, and are unafraid of learning more about the world we've created for ourselves. Maybe if enough of us start talking, we can convince the board that science is about more than winning Internet arguments for your tribe. It's about learning.

"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." - Isaac Asimov

Nice strawman there. The reason people are opposed to this is because it is very clearly political in nature, unlike, well, actual science. Like the "studies" from the first half of the 1900s that were used to change public opinion against marijuana in order to make it illegal, based on obviously bullshit psuedo-science, there's a very real chance of a similar thing happening here. A very real chance of, regardless of what psychologists actually discover or not discover, Congress and/or the President warping (or outright lying about) those statistics to skew public opinion, or to otherwise mislead the public, in order to push an agenda. As they have numerous times before. Edit: Don't forget evolution, global warming, etc, as well.

You...don't actually know very much about the United States federal government, and how corrupt/self-serving/power hungry they are, do you?