Violent video games and movies are conditioning people "Pavlov style" to massacre and murder as

It's always someone else's fault right? What happened to the days of personal accountability.

Long before the days of even the notion of video games, people killed each other in all sorts of sick and twisted ways, OP your logic is flawed.

Originally posted by Komonazmuk
It's always someone else's fault right? What happened to the days of personal accountability.

In some ways it's good we've taken a step away from that.

We used to have soldiers with PTSD shot, punish people with learning problems, and have a pretty bad rehab rate for criminals I suppose. I'm not saying you're implying that any of those things are correct or right to do ... but I do think understanding why we do some things is just as important as doing something about it.

Personal responsibility shouldn't be optional though; it might not be a person's fault they are a certain way, but they should always work on it.

reply to post by grandmakdw


While I understand your concerns, I must respectfully disagree with you on this matter.

I have always been a gamer, since I was around three years old (Born in 1984). Games ranging from shooters to RPG style to platform and now mainly MMO's. I am far from violent and a very patient person as well (used to be a pretty hardcore mmo player for a little while).

I do not think games have done anything negative to me. I will admit that there have been a few times where I would be obsessed on a particular game for a while, hardly prying myself away from it, but that was my problem and choice. I don't get that bad anymore, I learned from my mistakes, but I still enjoy games and always will. I can say the same about my husband, and all my other friends that I have known that were big gamers. Not one violent person out of the lot.

My daughter has been playing a lot of games as well, although she has time limits and curfews. She may not be as patient as I but she is certainly far from violent. She is a very sweet 12 year old girl.

Just my two cents on the subject.

Originally posted by johngalt722
I've been playing video games for over 20 years and I have never had the slightest inclination to go out and slaughter people or commit violent crimes.

I can't wait for GTA V to come out, but I'm not filling the void by thinking it is okay to go outside and run hookers down with my stolen hummer.

Maybe I am just different and can tell the difference between how one should act in a video game and in real life. It is possible some people can't separate the two though.

Thats not the point.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
There is no scientific evidence linking video games to real world violence.

And yet there's a wealth of it to suggest that conditioning and desensitization work REAL WELL, especially when introduced at an early stage in social development. Ever watch an eight year old boy come out of a kung fu movie, you'd be a damned fool to think that doesn't affect you on some level. The US Army voiced the same concerns over FPS games way back in the late eighties and we all collectively rolled our eyes at the time, myself included. But then I wasn't raised in a period where discipline in the home was frowned upon and behavioral problems were dealt with by a switch over granny's knee rather than pychotropic pharmaceuticals and student advocates.

in my youth i would have rejected this theory but i am kinda leaning towards this.. it conditions a young persons mind to be tolerant to horrific situations and the constant repetition of "virtually" being immoral to another "person" seems to me that it would break down the inhibition to hurt another eventually.

however i do feel like it depends on the individual.. a weak mind, absentee parents, a child who feels like he/she doesn't "fit-in".. etc.. etc..

i do not blame the media formats that glorify these horrific things i blame the parents who let the tv, movie theater or video game to babysit the child. times are definitely tough and that's no lie but there are better ways.

please, everyone, parents.. take the time to talk to your kids, watch for "signs". a majority of the youth of today are a violent breed with no emotion and no empathy.

Originally posted by grandmakdw
Through classical and operant conditioning violent video games and are training the population to reduce itself through pre-conditioned massacre.

Through "precognitive loading" we have trained youngsters and people to react with massacre on unconscious levels.

Hollywood is making propaganda movies teaching our population that massacre can be justified.

I saw on TV a NCIS LA where the main characters stood over a pile of dead bodies and joked with each other. How sick!

You may say, I play them and nothing has happened, I'm a good guy. Well when I was a kid I was never in a car seat and never wore a seat belt and nothing happened.
Can't we learn from experience?

Are TPTB encouraging violent movies, tv and video games to reduce the surplus population?

people like you claim that the gamers cant tell the difference from reality and fantasy.

but your entire post there says to me that YOU cant tell the difference.

Originally posted by Bisman

people like you claim that the gamers cant tell the difference from reality and fantasy.

but your entire post there says to me that YOU cant tell the difference.

Which gamers? You, or that weird kid down the road everybody picks on that licks his lips till they are clown red, has no decent male role model, and takes the latest greatest psychocrappola drug because his two job working mother doesn't have the time or is outright afraid to try to discipline her kid?

Originally posted by syrinx high priest
if its operant conditioning, what is the reward given for the desired behavior ?

We have a winner!

Originally posted by johngalt722
I've been playing video games for over 20 years and I have never had the slightest inclination to go out and slaughter people or commit violent crimes.

I can't wait for GTA V to come out, but I'm not filling the void by thinking it is okay to go outside and run hookers down with my stolen hummer.

Maybe I am just different and can tell the difference between how one should act in a video game and in real life. It is possible some people can't separate the two though.

Maybe it is because you can draw a line between reality and imagination.

Hollywood is trying to keep people in imagination rather then reality by music , game , movie and porno industry

Hollywood offers a dreamworld and many people like to accept the offer because :

1. They maybe tired of the bitter reality and they want to stop caring and the like to travel to their dreamland.

2. There is no pleasure for them in reality. The reality is not a gift to them. The pleasure and carelessness is a gift.

3. Many teenagers , specially boys are so obsessed with video games. They don't know about the concept of reality and imagination. They just like some violence.

4. There are generations of imagination and unreachable dreams which makes people go into a rage by finding this out. Like how it is claimed in fight club , the movie. By generations , I mean that there are many dads and moms who have many roots in imagination world and they don't like to give it up. So , these parents will bring up some one like themselves.



It is only god that can help next generations. There is much hope that individuals can find truth and value it.

reply to post by grandmakdw


I guess you don't remember that study then:

kotaku.com...

Originally posted by grandmakdw
Through classical and operant conditioning violent video games and are training the population to reduce itself through pre-conditioned massacre.

Through "precognitive loading" we have trained youngsters and people to react with massacre on unconscious levels.

Hollywood is making propaganda movies teaching our population that massacre can be justified.

I saw on TV a NCIS LA where the main characters stood over a pile of dead bodies and joked with each other. How sick!

You may say, I play them and nothing has happened, I'm a good guy. Well when I was a kid I was never in a car seat and never wore a seat belt and nothing happened.
Can't we learn from experience?

Are TPTB encouraging violent movies, tv and video games to reduce the surplus population?

let me get this straight...are you suggesting we "ban violence" because that will "stop violence"??

Christ on a crutch people...the answer to all the worlds problems is right here in front of our face this whole time were just too stupid to see it!!!

BAN IT! Because once you ban it...it ceases to exist...duh

Originally posted by grandmakdw


I saw on TV a NCIS LA where the main characters stood over a pile of dead bodies and joked with each other. How sick!

This happens in real life. Always has and always will. The world of forensic science is a place where only a few people on this planet can actually deal with death on a daily basis.

I was in that profession for about 10 years.

We laughed every day.

It's the only way.

You just can't take that kind of job personally.

If you did.

It would destroy you.

This sums the argument up quite well i reckon:



Video game designers do utilise psychological models to influence the player and their behaviour. But i can guarantee you that they do not program a player to go outside and shoot civilians. Reward and punishment plays a large role in video games. For example:

In Call of Duty, a player is rewarded by points for every kill they get.

These rewards do not carry over into the physical world. I won't get points if i walk outside and kill people. There is no incentive for a person to walk outside and kill people...

These rewards are just used to encourage a specific play style. It is very doubtful that the respective games would influence one to become extremely violent, unless of course they have a short temper (where it would be a result of difficulty, not the game itself).

Originally posted by daaskapital
These rewards do not carry over into the physical world.

Ah but they do, at least in terms of neurochemistry, because it's hitting the same reward centers of the brain. "Headshot!" "50% Off Sale!" "Cheesecake!!!!" It's all dope.. er dopamine.

So what happens when these "conditioned" people are given guns?

Originally posted by twitchy

Originally posted by daaskapital
These rewards do not carry over into the physical world.

Ah but they do, at least in terms of neurochemistry, because it's hitting the same reward centers of the brain. "Headshot!" "50% Off Sale!" "Cheesecake!!!!" It's all dope.. er dopamine.

Ah yes, you are correct there.

I still don't think a game could condition someone to walk outside and kill people though.

A game, utilising psychological models can make someone angry, sad, happy and anything in between. While games do encourage violence (through the use of rewards), the games can also provide a subtle punishment system. For example:

Call of Duty: You are deducted points and/or kicked out of a game if you kill your team-mates:

GTA: You kill people and you end up getting punished by dieing or getting arrested, whereby you lose your weapons and money...placing you back to where you started off.

Dishonored: The more people you kill, the worse the location of the game gets...

it is not like the game is telling people "hey killing people is good and you get rewarded with everything you can possibly desire." Using psychology, games can influence the player temporarily, in order to convince them to continue playing...

Originally posted by DoorKnobEddie
So what happens when these "conditioned" people are given guns?

Nothing.

People are conditioned by society. People are also conditioned by games.

The conditioning in games is different to the conditioning of society. People aren't going to abide by the systems of a game when going about the physical world.

Yes, it's an absolute fact that violent video games and movies turn people into psychotic mass murderers. We've known this for years.

I mean we can trace it back to the very first school shooting in America - the Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre on July 26, 1764 which coincided with the release of "Cowboys and Indians 4" popular on the Xbox. Followed by the 13 school shootings in the 1800s when the "Jesse James" game series for Nintendo was quite popular. Not to be outdone by the 30 school shootings between 1900 and 1940 after kids became hooked on the "World War" game series on the PSP.

And so on.
Yes throughout history man's tendency for violence and crazy behavior coincided with violent video games and movies. I often wonder if Cain turned on his brother because of his obsession with "Grand Theft Camel 2 - Babylon stories"?

Not this tired old chestnut again. Video games are such an easy scapegoat for societal issues...been playing games since I was a teenage, love first person shooters and racing games. Despite that, I have a completely clean driving record, and have had absolutely zero urge to cause harm to another human being.

Yet More Evidence Shows No Link Between Video Games And Actual Violence

Study Shows No Link Between Violent Games and Crimes (University of Essex study)

Games & Violence

Texas University Study Finds No Link Between Video Games and Violence

No Link Between Video Games and Violence

Study: No Real Link Between Violent Video Games and Aggressive Behavior

Still No Strong Links Between Video Games and Violence

Study of Studies Shows No Link Between Video Games and Violence

Studies show that video game violence may curb aggression

Data helps rebut the “violent video games cause shootings” argument

Do I really need to keep going? The people that believe video games cause mass shootings are in the same category of fools that believe they need to "activate" their almonds, that eating burnt toast will cause you to die of cancer, that speed limits should be reduced to 40km/h and that jesus's face really did appear in the butt-hole of a small poodle. It's ridiculous, it's been studied to death by universities, scientists, psychologists and everything in between and no-one has found any conclusive, definite proof showing a link between violent video games and real life violence. In fact, quite a few studies have shown a positive impact, ie: reduced levels of real life aggression through playing violent video games.