89 percent of US parents believe game violence a problem

[Verkula]

Since its pretty much useless to write anything reasonable about it, Ill just simply say, this means 89 percent of US parent are idiots.

And 89% of grandparents thought that heavy metal was a problem. They are just attacking things they don't understand. It happens with every new form of entertainment. This whole issue will disappear once the gamer generation are the ones in charge

I wonder what the gamer generation will blame, and I also wonder If any generation will look back and realize the same shit is happening over and over again.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

And 89% of grandparents thought that heavy metal was a problem. They are just attacking things they don't understand. It happens with every new form of entertainment. This whole issue will disappear once the gamer generation are the ones in charge

I wonder what the gamer generation will blame, and I also wonder If any generation will look back and realize the same shit is happening over and over again.

Chances are we'll be blaming Holodecks and Virtual reality for all of our kids problems. Though too be honest I think our generation is going to be more open to new things than those before us. At least I hope that will be the case.

 

[Xanex]

This is produced by a lobbying group thats pushing a agenda. So of course they will fabricate....uh I mean produce a study supporting the agenda. To get these results all they have to do is show a few quick clips of the most grusome games have ever produced then go "Do you think that's a problem?" wallah instant poll supporting them.

 

[alandavidson]

Uhm... Sorry,excuse my question which might sound silly to you,but I don't live in USA.
Is USA a place where pistols are sold in supermarkets next to butter products, and are casually left on top of dinner tables in the households like they are ashtrays or something,and parents give rifles and shotguns to their teen kids as rewards and presents for their birthdays ?

And if the answer is 'yes' then you think that video games are the most concerning factor for the violence of minors ?
The truth is that according to psychology young kids tend to have idols that want to be like them,and that they are not mature enough to think of the importance of the consequences some actions would have in the real world,so taking that in mind,yeah,young kids should be shielded from violence.
"monkey see monkey do" as they say.

But if the kid just sits for eating its launch on the table,and there are assault rifles all over the dinner table,then perhaps there are more serious matters that need concern.

From the way the media represents us, the US (and especially the meat and potatoes midwest where I'm from) must sound like a terrifying place to the nice, plush, gun-free countries.

The fact is, it's not that scary, and neither are guns.

In most households, guns are kept in locked safes or totes. The guns are generally unloaded until it's time to shoot them, or at the very minimum, the magazine (clip) is inserted, but the chamber (where the round goes before the bullet leaves the barrel) is kept clear. Guns are not, as you put it "casually left on dinner tables". Yes, they are given as gifts, but that's not a big deal, if the kid has been taught gun safety.

America is not this psychotic haven for wanna-be military nuts like you seem to assume. Yes, there are guns, but most people quietly keep them, not killing anything more than the occasional deer.

Maybe do a little research next time before you make such broad accusations.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

And funnily enough, none of the parents surveyed were scientists who had done studies on the effects of videogame violence.

(I mean, I'm making a guess here, but you know it's true)

 

[AD-Stu]

Yeah, I'm not going to trust a study from a group called Common Sense Media. They sound like they have an agenda to push, which means their study is probably biased as fuck.

I'd never heard of them either (mabye because I'm not American), but after spending five minutes on Google looking into them they don't seem to be extremists or anything - compared to a lot of other groups, they sound like they actually have a pretty reasonable approach.

That's not to say that the survey isn't without flaws or bias. I'm just saying it's dangerous to write something off just because you don't agree with what they found out.

Here's the full results of the survey for anyone interested, BTW: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/full_cap-csm_report_results_1-7-13.pdf

Apparently they surveyed 1,050 parents across 50 states in the US. Note that they also seem to have defined "children" as anyone under the age of 18, which maybe skews the results a bit.

 

[Erttheking]

I think it's fair to say that that survey is biased.

 

[TheTurtleMan]

Bullshit. Even if this poll is accurate, which it probably isn't, there is no sense in trusting a poll like this after one of the worst US shooting incidents in the last ten years. No shit people are gonna look for things in the media to blame, they're scared and they want to find ways to avoid incidents like shootings to occur. It's like asking people's opinion on blimps right after the Hindenburg went down, passions are high.

But it's not like they actually got a fair sampling of the populace anyway. A lot of parents think video games are a waste of time but I bet not even half actually see a link between video games and violence.

Then again, the US is just full of dumb people right? We aren't as evolved as our cousins in the UK right?

 

[Vault101]

this is concerning

with this kind of nationwide hysteria I fear we would be getting "comics code" 2.0

however with most things It will hopefully die down

 

[OneOfTheMichael's]

I Honestly have to say I don't give a single damn about this news.
I live in Canada for one. People are always not going to understand everything. and lastly, we have many *****ed people who run the country so this honestly shouldn't surprise us.

 

[immortalfrieza]

And 89% of grandparents thought that heavy metal was a problem. They are just attacking things they don't understand. It happens with every new form of entertainment. This whole issue will disappear once the gamer generation are the ones in charge

I wonder what the gamer generation will blame, and I also wonder If any generation will look back and realize the same shit is happening over and over again.

Chances are we'll be blaming Holodecks and Virtual reality for all of our kids problems. Though too be honest I think our generation is going to be more open to new things than those before us. At least I hope that will be the case.

I doubt it. People always look to blame everything but the real cause for what others and themselves do. They always have, it's human nature. Our generation will find something else to blame everything on, even if it's no longer video games. Besides, our generation might still do blame video games too, the reason that the media is targeting games right now is because video games are an easy target, and it'll still unfortunately be an easy target a few decades from now.

What's the real cause? Again, human nature, that's what. The fact that a lot of people are just assholes, or in shooter's case, psychotic assholes, and there's no 1 singular cause for that. That's assuming psychotic dickery is something that even HAS an external cause, that's another thing that has never been proven.

 

[AD-Stu]

They should of done a survey for the parents showing movies, books, and television too in order to see if they'd say the same thing.

Acutally, they did ask about stuff other than video games including bullying, easy access to guns, TV and movies, real life crime, toys, sports and music. Some of the questions lumped, TV, movies, games and music together.

Alongside the Hitman TV ad, they apparently also showed an ad for the movie Gangster Squad. Looking through, very few of the questions are actually specific to video games.

FWIW 75% of respondents apparently said video games contributed to violence in the United States. That was actually the second-lowest rating though - only "violent toys" had a lower response (64%). Easy access to guns also rated 75%, violence in TV and movies was slightly higher at 77%, real crime 86%, bullying got 92% and lack of parental supervision got 93%.

Note that the question doesn't actually ask to what extent these things contribute to voilence - so even if people thought "yes, but not very much" they still counted as a yes. Make of that what you will But if someone were so inclined, they could actually cherry pick this data and come up with a bunch of largely-positive slogans and news stories for video games compared to other media...

 

[The_Healer]

I heard that 89% of US parents were also related to each other.

Either both statistics are wrong or their opinion is invalid.
You choose.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Turn off the TV, AND GO THE FUCK OUTSIDE WITH YOUR KIDS!!!!!!!!

Besides, in most cases you bought the kids the game. So, I dono, don't get them these games. This poll is flawed, but they're are still an imperial fuckton (bigger than metric, it's 'Merica) of parents who feel external sources should parent their kids, but want that external source to be nurturing. You gave it to them, take some responsibility.

Can't wait for most of the previous generation to die off and our generation comes of age in this world. (Probably won't be much better).

 

[DrunkenMonkey]

I love it when people call other people stupid when clearly this is a self defense mechanism to find a scapegoat that conveniently brushes aside responsibility. What you may call stupid OP is just another facet of human nature. They're stupid, we're stupid, we're all just a big bunch of idiots constantly looking around to escape responsibility in various degree and situations.

 

[Entitled]

They should of done a survey for the parents showing movies, books, and television too in order to see if they'd say the same thing.

Acutally, they did ask about stuff other than video games including bullying, easy access to guns, TV and movies, real life crime, toys, sports and music. Some of the questions lumped, TV, movies, games and music together.

Alongside the Hitman TV ad, they apparently also showed an ad for the movie Gangster Squad. Looking through, very few of the questions are actually specific to video games.

A thousand times this, for every future occurance of that argument as well.

The fact is, that the kind of people who think that violent media is a problem, really DON'T discriminate against games. Movies are demanded to have age ratings as well. Parents were concerned about pretty much ALL of the past decade's popular mainstream YA novels.

You hear more of these in the news, because you listen to more gaming news, and because the gaming news media still has a huge persecution complex for acting like a niche, and reporting every time someone utters the word "video games" at anything public.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

this is concerning

with this kind of nationwide hysteria I fear we would be getting "comics code" 2.0

however with most things It will hopefully die down

It SHOULD'VE died down in 1994 after the ESRB was established.

 

[Mike the Bard]

I think it's fair to say that that survey is biased.

In every imaginable way. Turns out the guys behind the survey, common sense media, played a big part in getting California's law restricting video games to minors passed.

They're so biased, they make fox news look bi-partisan.

 

[Vault101]

1,050 people is nationwide hysteria now?

no, but the fact they were calling movies and games into question AT ALL in wake of the shootings is concerning

 

[Vault101]

Saying that on The Escapist forums is like throwing a piece of meat into a pack of starving rabid hyenas.

Remind me again who brought the world into both the atomic and information ages, got a man on the moon first, got to Mars first, invented countless technologies used around the world... oh, right.

it certainly wasnt Areleen and Cletus....