Questions about violence in games

[Fulax]

1. Do you believe violent games make kids violent?
No. I like to think people can separate entertainment from reality.
2. Does violence enhance games or detract from them?
Depends on the game. If I shoot someone I want to see some blood, but I don't need to see limbs flying off in FIFA.
3. What games have taken violence too far?
None. If you think it's too violent, don't play it.
4. Is it the parents fault?
It's the parent's responsibility.
5. Why do you (or do you not) play violent games?
I don't play games for the violence. It just helps with immersion.
6. Is the ESRB doing it's job?
As a guide it's fine. If parents want to buy their children violent games, that should be fine too.

 

[beastwood225]

1. to be honest, it depends on the child and the game and also the time spent playing. there was a boy, a about 5 years ago played manhunt and afterwards, bludgeoned his friend to death with a hammer and cut his head of with cheese wire because he believed that he wouldnt be hurt. also a girl in america walked into her school, shot half her class and a teacher and when she was arrested, she asked a policeman "why wont they respawn?" but most kids can see that what they are playing isnt real.
2. generally it enhances the game, but thats because most games today are centered around violence. obviously a barbie's pony adventure in which you can decapitate every living thing is not going to go down well.
3. manhunt 1 and 2 are the only games i can think of whivh have taken it too far but i haven't played number 2.
4. if parents are buying 10 year olds 18 rated games, then yes it is their fault entirely. to do so so is bad parenting. and just lazy if they cant be bothered to check a game before buying it.
5. personally, i dont play 18's because my parents dont buy them. this is mainly due to my brother having an extreme form of dyspraxia in which he cant decipher between the real world and a false reality, so he may end up like one of the kids in question one.
6. yes, i think they are doing all they are required to do. they dont have the power to oversee every sale of every game to ensure it is safe to do so. it is the same as an adult buying alcohol or cigarettes for people under-age. it simply isnt possible to monitor it all.

 

[Good morning blues]

1. Violent games don't "make kids violent," but they do desensitize them to graphic violence and carry a great deal of cultural and ideological messages regarding violence that can be extremely damaging.

2. Is anybody really not going to say that it depends on the game? There's no place for bone-crunching, blood-splattering violence in Q*bert, but there is in Call of Duty.

3. It's not the intensity of violence that's taken too far, but the depiction. The Soldier of Fortune games are built around causing as much graphic, painful injury to people who aren't White Americans as possible, and is a self-conscious celebration of horrific American-hegemonic acts of violence; that is taking it too far.

4. It is partially the fault of parents for allowing their children to consume age-inappropriate media. No reasonable person, however, has any doubt that there are negligent parents out there, or that there are children whose gaurdians cannot reasonably be expected to effectively regulate their media use (group foster homes and such). For that reason, discounting any act of violence by a child as "the parents' fault" is just as much a wad of useless, misleading bullshit as claiming that games turn kids into killers.

5. I play them because I enjoy them. Levels of violence may increase or decrease my level of enjoyment, depending on the game.

6. Generally yes. Like all American ratings systems that I've come across, the ESRB is based upon a conservative Christian set of values that poorly reflects the reality of either actual families or the developmental needs of children. The ESRB needs to stop being afraid of sex and develop an increased capacity to differentiate between types of violence - Saving Private Ryan type violence is socially beneficial, for instance, while the violence in a movie like Red Dawn, while not nearly as bloody, is infinitely more developmentally harmful. Furthermore, ESRB ratings need to be given teeth. Children under 17 should not be allowed to purchase M-rated games, people over 17 should be informed that the game is not appropriate for children every single time regardless of who they are buying the game for, and these rules should be backed up by law.