Video games do NOT lead to violence. Period.

originally posted by: rickymouse
So, from first hand knowing lots of kids who have played a lot of violent video games, I definitely see that these people are not safe with a gun, mostly in that they are wreckless. They cannot properly comprehend that they can easily hurt someone by accident. My youngest daughter will probably get all my guns and she can take care of distributing them. Most of my guns have been in my family for at least three generations.

Is it the games causing it or the upbringing. You are picking and choosing what you think is the problem. Kids that join gangs at like age of 7 and kill their first person by age of 12, do you say it games that causes this? Most of the kids around my kids all play games, and the reckless ones I can contribute to the family structure more than anything else. Kids raising kids as the parent(s) work, or cases where the parents allow the kids to take over as the alpha slot in the house. There are a lot of dysfunctional families out there that create these little monsters...

a reply to: Iconic

Not sane people, didn't that toddler kill his teenaged sister the other day over a controller? People are idiots if they think little kids aren't affected by it.

a reply to: Iconic

Deffo not games.. more like movies and murder porn tv series that get people thinking. Same as the argument that weed is gateway to other drugs.. alchohol is the gateway.

I honestly do not understand this stupid argument that violent video games are desensitising people to violence and can encourage violence.

I play Fifa all the time, doesn't make me a world class footballer! Just like playing Call of Duty does not make me a spec-ops guy or playing Grand Theft Auto does not make me a violent enraged criminal.

We had violent movies long before we had violent video games, nobody seems to point to them, Grand Theft Auto V sold 65 million copies, if violent video games were causing violence then we would know about it for sure after that I think.

Personally I believe that the violent video game leads to violence claim is comes from two groups. Firstly gun advocates like to use it to distract from everything else other than gun culture. There is also a second group who quite frankly have probably never picked up a video game in their life who don't understand or appreciate the artistic media that it is.

a reply to: Iconic
If video games spur gun violence, it’s only in the United States

That MAY be true. However, something has changed over time. Guns have been ubiquitous for generations. So has bullying. I'm almost 66yrs. I grew up surrounded by guns. And bullying went on every day in school. Yet there were no mass shootings. What has changed since? I would suggest that two of the most dramatic societal changes over the years are the advent and widespread 'consumption' of video games and movies depicting violence and the inception of the internet --- most particularly social media, a favorite weapon of bullies. Yes, there can be any number of other factors but I suspect the foregoing. We have become a far less genteel society.

It is ridiculous, that people think violence comes from Video Games and to a small degree, it does. But not in any real dramatic sense.

However, its by design. Education is essential. It is the key aspect with which you can provide clarity to your children on the merits of such media and the actual expectations of reality.

If your children end up being "messed up", perhaps the education wasn't up to par, thus resulting in darwanism, can't use your brain? That bloodline ceases to exist.

My FOUR year old tot knows well enough the difference. Thats watching Gantz-O and playing Gears4.

Education is key. The biggest mistake is parents assuming rather then questioning. It happens in all social and economical stratifications.

For some it may make it easier to pull the trigger
because you have done it thousands of times in
games. Conditioned response.

So you are completely unwilling to admit there is even a possibility that 8 to 13 year olds playing Grand Theft Auto will become desensitized to stealing and violence? Or that the same age range shooting and blowing up others in first person shooters couldn't even have the remote possibility of leading to violence? Because if you watch youtube there are plenty of examples of kids going into a complete psycho rage over just minor things that happen to them in the game.

How about the nine year old who just recently shot his sister for not giving him a controller. There's zero chance the video game had even the slightest impact on this behavior? Another boy in Cleveland shot his parents when they wouldn't let him play Halo 3.

There's no shortage of stories like this. I think you're crazy not to think there is even a hint of influence from shooting people in video games all day and shooting someone in real life.

a reply to: notsure1

Some games you can fly it doesnt make you think you can really fly.

Speak for yourself.

I use to play frogger all the time and i never wanted to leap in and out of traffic..

Maybe because you were desensitized to such violence playing it all the time,

I only played a few times and I do get the urge to jump out into traffic

a reply to: jjkenobi

Or that the same age range shooting and blowing up others in first person shooters couldn't even have the remote possibility of leading to violence? Because if you watch youtube there are plenty of examples of kids going into a complete psycho rage over just minor things that happen to them in the game.

The issue in these instances is not the game but the child.

Yes a child playing these can lead to violence if the child is prone to violence, there are underlining issues that arise due the influences of the world around us but they are not root issue.

How about the nine year old who just recently shot his sister for not giving him a controller. There's zero chance the video game had even the slightest impact on this behavior? Another boy in Cleveland shot his parents when they wouldn't let him play Halo 3. There's no shortage of stories like this. I think you're crazy not to think there is even a hint of influence from shooting people in video games all day and shooting someone in real life.

Both example you give do the opposite of what you are trying to say.

In both cases if the child was allowed to play would they have killed in that instance?

No,


Chances are they would at another time because the issue wasn't the video game.

I've played a # tonne of violent video games. I don't even really like killing bugs....except mosquitoes and flies....they can go # themselves and they only live for like 20 days anyway.

Not me, video games have not influenced me in anyway at all.

Now excuse me, it's getting dark and I need to chop these trees down, dig up some dirt to clear a spot and build a small house that I can place my crafting table in, and be safe from the monsters till sunrise.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Grand Theft Auto V sold 65 million copies

Rockstar just recently revealed they have sold 90 million copies.

if violent video games were causing violence then we would know about it for sure after that I think.

double post

a reply to: Arnie123

No that cannot be right....

Because I think I might actually be fully in agreement with you for once so there must be something wrong...

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: rickymouse
So, from first hand knowing lots of kids who have played a lot of violent video games, I definitely see that these people are not safe with a gun, mostly in that they are wreckless. They cannot properly comprehend that they can easily hurt someone by accident. My youngest daughter will probably get all my guns and she can take care of distributing them. Most of my guns have been in my family for at least three generations.

Is it the games causing it or the upbringing. You are picking and choosing what you think is the problem. Kids that join gangs at like age of 7 and kill their first person by age of 12, do you say it games that causes this? Most of the kids around my kids all play games, and the reckless ones I can contribute to the family structure more than anything else. Kids raising kids as the parent(s) work, or cases where the parents allow the kids to take over as the alpha slot in the house. There are a lot of dysfunctional families out there that create these little monsters...

They are enthused with killing people in the games. My daughter does not think they are good for the kids but my son-in-law loves them and gets the most violent kinds which the kids play a lot. the Son-in-law even goes online through some group he belongs to and plays against other people. He does not seem to be effected too negatively, but the kids are. Maybe it is that the kids were not taught to respect a gun and that is going to be hard to change.

Other than the video game playing,their home environment is pretty normal, I would consider both households normal by today's standard. The big thing is probably considered as depersonalization disorder, they look at life as if it is a video game. I see that Facebook is causing problems too with our society, but that would be a different condition than what I am seeing with the video games.

originally posted by: Iconic
I've read in a few posts lately (I just came back to ATS lately, took a hiatus), and saw more than a few people who are STILL pushing the old, tired scapegoat of "Violent video games" being a contributing factor to a rise in violence.

This, is empirically, statistically, and demonstrably false. It has been proven, time and time again, that this is not the case.

Every bit of information, every source, that will tell you otherwise; is completely and utterly either circumstantial or based on a specific happenstance.

When violent video games came out on to the market, there has been a steady decline in violent crime since. That's a BASIC fact. That alone defeats the entire argument, but don't just take it from me. Here are some links.

No Evidence to Support Link Between Violent Video Games and Behavior - ScienceDaily

The findings suggest that there is no link between these kinds of realism in games and the kind of effects that video games are commonly thought to have on their players.

It's Time to End the Debate About Video Games and Violence - The Conversation.com

A key element of that problem is the willingness of professional guild organizations such as the APA to promote false beliefs about violent video games. (I’m a fellow of the APA.) These groups mainly exist to promote a profession among news media, the public and policymakers, influencing licensing and insurance laws. They also make it easier to get grants and newspaper headlines. Psychologists and psychology researchers like myself pay them yearly dues to increase the public profile of psychology. But there is a risk the general public may mistake promotional positions for objective science. In 2005 the APA released its first policy statement linking violent video games to aggression. However, my recent analysis of internal APA documents with criminologist Allen Copenhaver found that the APA ignored inconsistencies and methodological problems in the research data. The APA updated its statement in 2015, but that sparked controversy immediately: More than 230 scholars wrote to the group asking it to stop releasing policy statements altogether. I and others objected to perceived conflicts of interest and lack of transparency tainting the process.[/e

Agreed...to an extent. While not directly LEADING to or creating violent individuals... The issue becomes that we can kill people in a game... And they always get back up for the next game.

I think it can have some effect on an individual.. like the gun and marijuana issues.

Guns don't automatically kill people, marijuana isn't a "guaranteed " gateway drug... So in video gaming...

In all cases.. it's some psychological process(es) these stimulate.. Not the games, guns or weed.

There is more money behind funding studies pro video games. The video game industry is huge. Fact.

Concerned parents struggle to pay their bills, and are probably the most concerned and on the other side of the battle lines. Fact.

Of course there are more studies that show there is no correlation between violent children and video games. It was the same with tobacco.

Critical thinking.

a reply to: Iconic

"Violent video games" being a contributing factor to a rise in violence.

Of coarse they can be a contributing factor.

Usually not a direct cause and effect but definitely visual input can enhance desires on many levels.

Otherwise art would have no meaning at all.