Good read, and I almost totally agree. I have a slight issue with this line though. The key word here is "child." No one can say that a child knows right from wrong and chooses to play a game because he/she can experience what it's like to be bad solely because they know it's wrong otherwise. They play it because they think it's fun for whatever reason. They should be taught by their parents or whoever watches them that hurting people is a bad thing, and they shouldn't have their hands on God of War in the first place.When a child maims minotaurs as Kratos in God of War, he knows he's doing something that would be wrong to do in real life. That's what makes it fun. Violent gaming could be a way for children to explore violent behavior, safely express their aggressive urges and get it out of their systems.
Well to be fair. Before video games there was no such thing as violence. Gangs didn't exist, slavery didn't exist, world wars weren't being waged, entire cultures weren't being exterminated.Chris LaVigne said:Videogames: Are Your Children Safe?
When it comes to videogames, psychologists and social theorists have been asking the wrong questions. Instead of obsessing over the correlation between violence and videogames, researchers should ask why people - young boys, in particular - enjoy violent media so much in the first place.
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Actually, I'd attribute that more to the nature of online gaming than the games themselves. Take any normal person, add the anonymity that the Internet provides, and the instant audience forced to listen to your every comment, and the inevitable result is that sort of behaviour. (Or, as it is colloquially known, John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/ ) If I may contribute to this theory, I would also put in the subtraction of any real or lasting consequence for what one might say.MorkFromOrk said:When I was a kid growing up in a poor neighborhood I played games with other kids on the streets. Sure their were arguments, cursing and the occasional fight but it was still quite sociable and positive. Many, many years later I experienced online gaming and I found myself completely staggered by the amount of pure hatred and evil bile that is exchanged between players. Now maybe the truckloads and truckloads of violent video games that are dumped on gamers each year isn't the sole cause of today's youth becoming a bunch of roid-raging, pea soup spewing shut-ins but it aint helping either.
I miss pinball.
I'm sure it's different for everyone but I'm one of two brothers of similar age who grew up with parents who bought us lots of cuddly toys and no computer games till we were well into our teens. We learned violence all on our own and loved it from then till now.chrislavigne said:Author here. I just wanted to add that in the research I've done and continue to read about gaming, some of the common ideas about girls and violence don't hold up to scrutiny. Some studies have found that girls are attracted to violent content, it's just there are some different preferences for gameplay between genders that haven't really been studied since most researchers are consumed with the aggression/violence question. Grand Theft Auto was still the second most popular game series among the girls in Kutner and Olson's study (behind the Sims), although the girls tended to play less games in general than the boys.Beery said:The answer to the question of why gamers like violent media is kinda hinted at in your first paragraph. The fact that boys tend to like it while girls don't suggests that it's learned behaviour - boys are taught by their parents to prefer violent media.
Also, the Killing Monsters book talks a lot about parents who have purposefully kept their children away from violent media only to have the kids beg to be allowed to play with toy guns, swords, etc. The author makes a pretty strong case that wanting to play violently is natural and not learned.
Thanks to everyone for the positive comments, by the way!
Actually they did, but it was during the time back in Shakespeare's day (I could be wrong) but there were many who thought it was evil because people were enjoying theatre instead of working all day.raggymandan said:Nice article, but I'm sure these conservative people who hate video games so much will never listen reason. The argument will move on when the next big thing in entertainment pops up. I bet people even thought theatre was evil when it first developed... "A man acting like another man, this is the work of DEAMONIC POSSESION, DESTROY THEM"