Do Videogames Really Cause Violent Behavior?

[jamesworkshop]

Damm those violent teenagers attacking each other with loud blasts of noise such savagery

A good example of why social science shouldn't be considered a science at all

 

[axia777]

Also in such cases such as Columbine, video games taught them HOW to shoot. (Read "Give a Boy a Gun" and you'll know what I am talking about.)

If you really think ANY video game can teach ANYONE how to shoot a real gun you have never fired a real gun. Go shoot some real guns and then come back to tell me how much a FPS prepared you for shooting real weapons of any kind, even a .22. To put it bluntly that is a load of crap. Sorry to say it like that but it is so true.

 

[Nargleblarg]

I played halo when I was 6 and I am a borderline pacifist. Also I lack the proper skills to fight or operate a firearm.

 

[Stormeh5]

Also in such cases such as Columbine, video games taught them HOW to shoot. (Read "Give a Boy a Gun" and you'll know what I am talking about.)

If you really think ANY video game can teach ANYONE how to shoot a real gun you have never fired a real gun. Go shoot some real guns and then come back to tell me how much a FPS prepared you for shooting real weapons of any kind, even a .22. To put it bluntly that is a load of crap. Sorry to say it like that but it is so true.

That's not what I meant.
Like I said, if you have read the book I was referring to you'd know EXACTLY whatI mean rather then making assumptions.

 

[Enzeru92]

I don't think every violent video game causes violent behavior its always on the person to control it so that is why i gave a vague answer.

 

[Dirty Apple]

Violent videogames exacerbate existing problems, in the same way any other media could. The people who perform terrible things were not 'converted' by violent videogames, the problem already existed.

I have argued this exact point on several occasions. The only thing I'd add is that video games are just the latest whipping boy to be targeted. Whenever I hear games cause violence, I remember a time not so long ago when violent tv had adverse effects. Or my personal favorite, playing Dungeons and Dragons will cause you to lose touch with reality and go on a killing spree. There are pre-existing problems with anyone who commits violent acts. If games did create violent tendencies, wouldn't everyone on the escapist be viscious thugs?

 

[Pirce]

Been playing games since before I was 2, including all manor of violent games. Haven't killed anyone yet.

 

[toapat]

Columbine is an isolated incedent

generally the people who this gets pinned happen to either already be mental wrecks or Insane enough to think that Violence can solve their problems. there is a difference, learn when your problems can only be ended by killing people, such as with Overpopulation

 

[VanityGirl]

No, I've read many articles on this type of stuff.
Yes, playing a violent video game does raise your level of agression for some period of time, but it will not cause you to go out and hit someone. Why? Because hitting someone is most times an act that is not thought out and done in immediate anger. (Like a fight or just general violence.) When you play a video game, you don't immediately set out to PUNCH a person, it just means that your levels of aggression are raised, but if you walk down the stairs and beat your wife/..husband(?) then you're probably just a generally violent person.
Why do you think people tell you to count to 10 when you're mad? After 10 seconds, you'll usually realize whatever made you mad/aggressive/upset isn't worth hitting. Your aggresion will cool down some and you most likely will not be violent.

But people who says that video games cause violent behave are like the same people who say that guns kill people.
No, they don't kill people. Violent people kill people. No matter what their weapon.

 

[Worgen]

violence causes videogames

 

[Arikuza]

Think about it this way.
Violent people just happen to play violent games.
OR
Gamers play games. Period.
Just because we play violent games doesn't mean we're violent. we just want a challenge, or just like to hear the gunshots, or we like to play multiplayer with friends killing zombies or nazis, or w/e.

 

[Erana]

I wanna know what happened to the monkeys...

Still, I liked the article. It felt very articulate and rational.

 

[heyheysg]

Video games teaches kids to

- Eat dots and be afraid of Ghosts
- Take down collossi with only a sword and bow
- Swim in the ocean and breathe underwater like a dolphin
- That Xenocide is perfectly acceptable
- Jump on turtles and eat mushrooms

 

[Booze Zombie]

That's not what I meant.
Like I said, if you have read the book I was referring to you'd know EXACTLY whatI mean rather then making assumptions.

When making an argument, the responsibility for explaining your points is placed on you.
You can't just wave your hand and go "read a book".

 

[swenson]

I'm relatively new to videogames, having only seriously played them (at least the violent ones) for a couple of years now. And I really don't think I've gained any more violence in that time- I grew up in a family that did a lot of hunting, so I've always been familiar with guns and I'm not particularly phobic about them, but I'm just not a very violent person in real life, although I'm extremely violent in games.

If there's anything I can say about myself since I started playing violent videogames, I think my tolerance for violence has risen. I used to dislike blood and any talk about dismemberment, etc., because it grossed me out, but now I'm more OK with it. (at least in a fictional setting. After seeing real-life footage of blood literally pooling the ground from some conflict in... Serbia, I believe, I was just as horrified as everyone else, although perhaps not quite as grossed out.) However, this doesn't make me more accepting of violence, just gave me a stronger stomach.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

playing video games does not make you violent in the least and i will punch anyone in the face repeatedly that says anything to the contrary

 

[skullpile]

they should really do a study of how dumb parents are "m oh that must stand for mild little timmy would love this" next thing you little timmy is twitching everytime he sees red and when he wins he says boom headshot i pwned you fu__ing n00b

 

[NickCaligo42]

I sat in on a presentation at MSU by a German professor named Renee Weber. He had people play Counterstrike inside an MRI machine and took readings of their brain while they did it. What he discovered was that at the exact moment of the kill, there's a HUGE spike in brain activity. He took the data to a neurologist, who scratched his head on looking at the data and asked, "what on earth did you do to get such a huge reaction?" He'd literally never seen that pattern before.

Professor Weber admitted openly that he didn't really know what the reaction was, only that there was a big reaction. My personal theory: it's probably the same reaction as occurs when you score a touchdown in Madden and he should try that study with a sports game.

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

No, violent behavior causes videogames.

Yeah.
We've always been killing people, why blame video games?

 

[Igen]

I have played every violent game that any group has ever tried to ban (well, atleast 80% of them). I'm know among my friends as being the peace keeper. I can get violent, but its a choice. I hate to hurt people, but I wont hesitate to splatter your insides across a wall (in a video game of course).

Plus I have only ever killed one large animal, and that was a rat, and it was a mercy kill. It was my aunts pet, the rat had a huge tumor, she asked me to end its suffering. I still felt bad for killing the thing.

On another note, not to many people die solely because of video games. Though how many people die from PLAYING sports(3 died in NC last year from foot ball injuries)? Or in the riots BECAUSE of sports events?

I think 39 deaths was the largest soccer riot body count. 13 in one where they claimed the other team used witch craft. http://www.newser.com/story/37559/congo-probes-witchcraft-stampede-deaths.html

most gamers i know would sooner turn to throwing a controller and a few hours of porn to vent anger and frustration, then to violent acts against another person.