Violent Video Games!

[Geiranger]

For my Essential Skills ICT, I chose the controversial issue of 'Violent Video Games In Children and Should the be banned?!

What do you think about them being banned?!

[Mentor]

I'm against it, its just censorship through and though. If your going to start banning games, you may as well save yourself the time and start burning books too.

[dirrty]

nothing should be banned because parents don't monitor what their children do enough.

[Mentor]

nothing should be banned because parents don't monitor what their children do enough.

Its not even as if they have to "monitor" their kids, simply not buying them the stuff with the big "rated 18" logo on the side would do the same job.

That all said, I think the whole violent video games thing is rubbish to begin it. To quote Marcus Brigstocke:

If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.

[Judas]

That all said, I think the whole violent video games thing is rubbish to begin it. To quote Marcus Brigstocke:

That is a ridiculous example though. Kids won't be influenced by things like Pac-Man and Mario etc because it is basically cartoon characters and isn't set in a real environment. Impressionable people DO get inspired to do stupid violent things because of what they've seen in movies and video games, there's no point trying to deny it because it has happened before.

But like you said, the age certificates are there for a reason and if the parents decide to buy a game for their kids with an 18 logo and warnings of explicit violence then what more can be done on the side of the manufacturers? It's exactly the same arguments with movies too.

They should NOT be banned, but saying "people don't get ideas like that from video games" is not a legitimate argument.

[Mentor]

That is a ridiculous example though. Kids won't be influenced by things like Pac-Man and Mario etc because it is basically cartoon characters and isn't set in a real environment. Impressionable people DO get inspired to do stupid violent things because of what they've seen in movies and video games, there's no point trying to deny it because it has happened before.

Were that the case i find it hard to believe that the, quite honestly, staggering amount of research in to the subject would at least have turned up a shred of conclusive evidence by now? But the fact remains that it has not & that the raw data simply does not show that this is the case.

but saying "people don't get ideas like that from video games" is not a legitimate argument.

I disagree, its a perfectly legitimate argument. That jury is still out on which side is correct, so for now its down to opinion and that simply happens to be mine, since that is what my personal experience's strongly indicate it to be the case.

[Judas]

Were that the case i find it hard to believe that the, quite honestly, staggering amount of research in to the subject would at least have turned up a shred of conclusive evidence by now? But the fact remains that it has not & that the raw data simply does not show that this is the case.

And where's the conclusive evidence that shows people aren't influenced by video games? I don't understand how someone saying "I killed X because of X video game" isn't proof enough. For example:

- 16-year-old Spanish teenager José Rabadán Pardo murdered his father, mother and his sister with a katana, proclaiming that he was on an "avenging mission" by Squall Leonhart, the main character of the video game Final Fantasy VIII.
- 16-year-old American Dustin Lynch was charged with aggravated murder and made an insanity defense that he was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III.
- On June 25, 2003, two American step brothers, Joshua and William Buckner, aged 14 and 16, respectively, used a rifle to fire at vehicles on Interstate 40 in Tennessee, killing a 45-year-old man and wounding a 19-year-old woman. The two shooters told investigators they had been inspired by Grand Theft Auto III.
- In June 2008, four teens allegedly obsessed with Grand Theft Auto IV went on a crime spree after being in New Hyde Park, New York. They first robbed a man, knocking his teeth out and then they stopped a woman driving a black BMW and stole her car and her cigarettes.

I disagree, its a perfectly legitimate argument. That jury is still out on which side is correct, so for now its down to opinion and that simply happens to be mine, since that is what my personal experience's strongly indicate it to be the case.

I think the jury is out but that isn't a legitimate argument. I personally think the people that do these things because of what they play in games must be mentally disturbed already, but they are still, regardless of that, influenced by video games. Your personal experience of playing games and not murdering anyone doesn't really count for anything here.

[Chippiewill]

I still go by the case that whilst murders may have been "inspired" by video games the root cause is generally an underlying medical condition and in the cases where they say they got the idea from a game really doesn't exclude the possibility that they wouldn't have murdered if the game hadn't be legal.

Sure there are outlying cases, there are outlying cases for everything, but then should we stop exploring space because of a few accidents? Should we ban cars because of traffic collisions? No, for society to progress and for life to have meaning we can't sit around in bubbles doing nothing in fear of death.

[Mentor]

And where's the conclusive evidence that shows people aren't influenced by video games? I don't understand how someone saying "I killed X because of X video game" isn't proof enough. For example:

- 16-year-old Spanish teenager José Rabadán Pardo murdered his father, mother and his sister with a katana, proclaiming that he was on an "avenging mission" by Squall Leonhart, the main character of the video game Final Fantasy VIII.
- 16-year-old American Dustin Lynch was charged with aggravated murder and made an insanity defense that he was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III.
- On June 25, 2003, two American step brothers, Joshua and William Buckner, aged 14 and 16, respectively, used a rifle to fire at vehicles on Interstate 40 in Tennessee, killing a 45-year-old man and wounding a 19-year-old woman. The two shooters told investigators they had been inspired by Grand Theft Auto III.
- In June 2008, four teens allegedly obsessed with Grand Theft Auto IV went on a crime spree after being in New Hyde Park, New York. They first robbed a man, knocking his teeth out and then they stopped a woman driving a black BMW and stole her car and her cigarettes.

A sample of 4 people is not representative of the population. I bet all 4 of those people ate bread also, that doesn't make it true that eating bred predisposes you to being a killer. Media headlines do not constitutive valid research, I could easily conjecture that all 4 of those people would have eventually committed crimes regardless of whether video games exist. I can also point to the evidence that crime rates have fallen significantly since the advent of violent games. I can easily draw blind conusions and use these to backup any viewpoint i decided on. This is why such conjecture is meaningless in the fact of "valid" studies using representative samples & control groups.

I think the jury is out but that isn't a legitimate argument. I personally think the people that do these things because of what they play in games must be mentally disturbed already, but they are still, regardless of that, influenced by video games. Your personal experience of playing games and not murdering anyone doesn't really count for anything here.

Nore do the 4 random examples you provided. Evidence does not show any correlation between incidents of violent behaviour and exposure to violent content. Studies, as always are still being done and eventually the body of evidence may come to favour one particular side.

[Judas]

A sample of 4 people is not representative of the population. I bet all 4 of those people ate bread also, that doesn't make it true that eating bred predisposes you to being a killer. Media headlines do not constitutive valid research, I could easily conjecture that all 4 of those people would have eventually committed crimes regardless of whether video games exist. I can also point to the evidence that crime rates have fallen significantly since the advent of violent games. I can easily draw blind conusions and use these to backup any viewpoint i decided on. This is why such conjecture is meaningless in the fact of "valid" studies using representative samples & control groups.

Oh the examples don't stop there, but I see what you're getting at. The fact remains these people still committed acts of violence inspired by video games. The other details are irrelevant. Those examples dispel the statement "no one is inspired to hurt someone because of a video game" because they HAVE. That's all I'm saying. I'm on the same side as you in the overall debate.

You must be one of those people who selectively reply to posts. You try to counteract it with "all 4 of those people would have eventually committed crimes regardless of whether video games exist" and I think the same, if you go back and read my last post "I personally think the people that do these things because of what they play in games must be mentally disturbed already", but the fact remains that video games did have an affect on how these people killed.

Nore do the 4 random examples you provided. Evidence does not show any correlation between incidents of violent behaviour and exposure to violent content. Studies, as always are still being done and eventually the body of evidence may come to favour one particular side.

But either way it doesn't matter.