I live in Wisconsin and so a story took place in Milwaukee that is making the national news.

The man who honked at the kids(gang?) to move so that he could continue driving just took place. The kids pulled him from his car and beat him up. My son is playing a video game and it just occurred to me that they are acting out what is being fed to them. From what my son said in the grand theft auto game(which he doesn't have) you can pull a driver out of a car and kill them.

Now when that happens in real life we are outraged and rightly so. But to make games like that is OK.

This nation better wake up and start to ban evil or it is going to overrun this country/world.

i really don't think it's the games doing it. violent teens have been around long before the video games. maybe it has something to do with parenting or the lack of......

These things are unfortunate, but the games are not to blame.


If someone denies all that society teaches about right/wrong because a game allows you to reinact violence - then the problem lies with the child\teen, not the video game.
This is, IF the game is the reason for him denying morals.

But on top of that, I don't think that this is the cause. GTA is a game, and most people don't determine their creeds on video game outcome.

But like I said - even if it were the "trigger", the problem still lies within the person.

Do you have anymore information on the story? As far as the location,races involved, poverty level, etc.? I don't believe these games have an effect at this age...possible at a very young age but being a teen already knows right from wrong.

Ever heard of free will? I am a seventeen year old, and have been playing a vairety of different games since I was six. I have played Grand Theft Auto, Quake, Halo, Doom, and countless other first person shooter games. Im a pretty quiet kid, have only been in one fight, and the thought too take up arms and randomly shoot people has never crossed my mind. So to say that GTA has influenced these kids and brainwash them into ripping a man from his car and beating him is ludicrus. Perhaps they were high or drunk or possibley just bored and trying to impress eachother. But dont blame it on a game.

Ever consider that you may be looking at these events in the wrong "cause and effect" order. Is it a case of Life imitating Art, as you see it, or is it Art imitating Life???

Before you answer, think about a couple things like "where do you think these game designers got thier ideas from??"
A.) That they were 100% inspired with creativity and came up with the never before thought of idea of Violent Attacks against a motorist during this new thing called a car jacking.
or
B.) That they are just recreating these events for the game from what they hear and or see happening around them and around the world every day.

In a similar example, would you also try to argue that the game "Call of Duty" or "Brothers in Arms" is causing war or is it more likely that the real war which they mimic (with amazing accuracy BTW) came first.

Personally, I see it much more likely that these games are just imitating the reality which we are causing ourselves, not the other way around.

Banning violet video games won't do a darn thing except angering a huge number of gamers.

It isn't the games fault these kids acted in such a fashion. Place the blame where it blames. On the parents for not being more mindful of their kids activities, and on the kids themselves for choosing the wrong way to act.

My point wasn't necessarily that video games incite violence(although I believe that is true)

My point was the double standard most accept as OK.

Something like this event happens in real life and people are outraged/mad etc.
Put that same thing in a video game to "win" the game or in a movie to get laughs, and that's OK. My point is you can't have it both ways. If it's wrong it's wrong no matter where it's found.

First of all, how can you "ban EVIL"??? What is evil? The evils that are already the most common place (such as paedophilia, gratuitous murder, etc) are already banned.

And aside from being trained to do killing such as in games like Splinter Cell and Halo, I don't think that it can desentitize and alter the conscience of teenagers to the extent that they ain't gonna make the difference between attacking or killing people in real life and doing it in virtual realities. Small kids could, but teenagers ARE conscious.

The only persons that these games make harm to is themselves. Psychological harm.. of becoming antisocial or brainwashed.

Kids today think they can do whatever they want [no respect] the parents need to be held responsible for there actions?

Being from the streets myself, I believe I have a unique perspective to offer on this topic. I originally came from very bad neighborhoods in Columbus OH, and Tampa FL. Trust me, a good percentage of young people there (most of whom are too poor to have access to video games) don't have any trouble finding reasons to commit violent acts. Unfortunately video games seem to make a convenient scape goat for violent children, as opposed to getting to the real root of the problem (i.e. psychological problems, poor parenting, negative role models).

Keep in mind kids have always been like this, only now there seems to be easier access to weapons. Violent entertainment has always existed in one form or another and before video games and movies came along it existed in the form of books. However I have yet to see many people blame books for the violence problems of yesteryear.

Originally posted by dbrandt
I live in Wisconsin and so a story took place in Milwaukee that is making the national news.

The man who honked at the kids(gang?) to move so that he could continue driving just took place. The kids pulled him from his car and beat him up. My son is playing a video game and it just occurred to me that they are acting out what is being fed to them. From what my son said in the grand theft auto game(which he doesn't have) you can pull a driver out of a car and kill them.

Now when that happens in real life we are outraged and rightly so. But to make games like that is OK.

This nation better wake up and start to ban evil or it is going to overrun this country/world.

ROFLMAO

GTA is responsible because idiots don't care about right and wrong?

I think it's come down to many lazy parents and parents that just dont care what their kids do.

not saying you are that type of parent of course


i've played many violent video games and not yet have i "acted" out people always look for a place to put the blame but maybe these kids are just scum balls?


SPARE NOT THE ROD!


oh yeah dont want kids playing violent games dont give the money or buy the violent games

gamestop wont sell a 17+ title to anyone that isnt of age they'll ID you lol I know they've id'd me


lets face it it's society not a damn video game if a person can't distinguish fantasy from reality they shouldn't be playing a game let alone be allowed to function without supervision in society.

[edit on 31-12-2005 by Lysergic]

Originally posted by dbrandt
Something like this event happens in real life and people are outraged/mad etc.
Put that same thing in a video game to "win" the game or in a movie to get laughs, and that's OK. My point is you can't have it both ways. If it's wrong it's wrong no matter where it's found.

But that's just it. One is "Real Life" while the other is "Fictional" and for the purpose of "Entertainment". Someone who simply cannot tell the difference between the two is by definition suffering from Schizophrenia.

It's like watching The Three Stooges or Road Runner with the mental capacity to understand that poking in the eyes or dropping piano's on people are not actions that are acceptable in real life. But in toons or movies they are entertainment because of the fact that they portray life in extreme or outrageous ways.

In fact, it's the clear conceptual line dividing Fantasy and Reality which enables people to enjoy it for it's intended purpose. If it's not clearly defined I imagine it's similar to the movie Splash when the Mermaid is crying watching TV, not realizing that the actor getting shot in the western isn't really getting shot.

The ability to enjoy playing Doom or watching Dirty Harry comes from knowing that such vivid and fantastic experiences aren't happening in everyday life. If they were I imagine we'd be playing video games titled "Diner at Grandmas' House" and "Slow day at the Office" as a means for us to mentally escape our sensory overloaded real lives.

I'm not saying you're totally off base though dbrandt. There is a problem that links these different elements together. However, I think you're confusing the symtoms of the illness for the illness itself. When I shoot puppies and run over old ladies on my PS2 it's being done purposefully as an entertaining way to skew aspects of my real reality.

Perhaps the real root of this issue and what we might want to look into fixing is the extremely unchecked amount of our populous who are in fact Schizophrenic and in need of help. For the sake of thier lives and ours as the wacked out events in today's world might be suggesting. I mean just watching CNN for a day should make it very clear to anyone that there IS a seriously disfunctional element which is occuring quite obviously within the human race at various levels and degrees.

Yes. We should ban these evil video games...

Just last week a child was on a roof top screaming TETRIS TETRIS!! dropping cinder blocks off of it.

People blaming video games for anything other then fun is just retarded.

Here's an angle for you:

Violence is already "banned".

More people are shot every day in the US than I will see walking outside in a week.

Banning video games, banning music, banning books... we've seen this before.

Nobody is going to prevent young people from becoming violent by removing passive engagement influences such as video games or media mediums. The negative action of forbidding people to view or play these things will not have any effect. Maybe if you (figurative) were wise enough to give your children something better to do than sit around and push buttons on a playstation they wouldn't become so undesirable to you (again, figurative). Proactive vs. Reactive attention, think about it.

I find it amusing how unmotherly the "mommy" advocacy types are. For that mentality, it's not about tending to anyone's needs, it's about telling them what those needs are and then cracking the whip.

I don't feel video games are to blame.
When a child is brought up, around the wrong people, without lack of supervision, and concern from the parent(s), these children do as they please.
Every man is responsible for his own actions, let's not blame it on something such as past time entertainment.

video games have been worse than car jackings.

remember mario? he eats magic mushrooms to make him bigger, breaks bricks with his head, shoots fire from his nose after eating a flower, jumps on defeneless turtles, etc.

games have been wacked out bad examples since they began. the only reason its noticeable now is that we have the tech to use things that seem more realistic.

remember, guns don't kill people, gamers do.

Anyone not smart enough to distinguish games from reality should not be playing them. Nearly all games in the U.S. come with an age rating. If we ban violent video games what's next? Violent music? Or violent books?

Remember there have been governments that have banned books and other forms of entertainment. Their names need not be mentioned, we all know who they are.

Excellent point about actual violence already being banned. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to stop anyone intent on commiting it, even if they've never even played video games!

Not only are the kids who did this are guilty it should also be noted that the parents are of an equal blame themselves. In this day and time, most adults are leaving the children to fend for themselves while being unsupervised for long periods of time. The reasoning is that it takes most households to have two sources of income coming in to get by. It's a sad thing but it plays a large part in stories such as this. I'd put equal blame on the parents.