Games get the blame?

[SnootyEnglishman]

Is it just me or does it seem that every time one sees or hears about someone getting their parent's gun that are left out in the open and shooting someone and that a video is mentioned cops, and parents and every media outlet in the country completely ignores that fact and puts the blame on video game even thought its been proven time and time again that video games have NEVER caused violence ever. i have also noticed that most of the parents that complain about the violent video game and their badness are the one that buy the games for their underage kids?

they're rated M for reason and are clearly labeled to be played by people of 17 years of age or older.

anyone have any comments, concerns thoughts post it here and let the flame war begin in 3...2...1 now

 

[Hazy]

Politicians:
"Don't ever blame anything on bad parenting or mental illness.. it's always the game's fault.
Sure, Johnny here grew up in poverty, was Bipolar and was a convicted felon, but it wasn't the parent's fault.. IT WAS GAMES!
Y'know.. Hitler owned a copy of GTA!"

I think it's bloody ridiculous.

 

[teisjm]

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

 

[New Troll]

Occasionally I hear about someone blaming games for a child's actions and I just laugh at them just like the majority of the rest of the world. Everyone knows the truth as it's been discussed many, many times before. Only real culprits are bad parenting or serious mental issues.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

Jack Thompson and Hilary Clinton...maybe

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

This is a gaming site.

That's all I need to say, I think.

Well your thinking is our knowing. (I'll be damned if that makes any sense.)

 

[captainwalrus]

You're preaching to the choir! I think every gamer has their share of statistics saying that video games =/= violence.

 

[Hazy]

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

Ol' Jack won't be a problem anymore. And besides, not like he could win a case to begin with.

 

[dontworryaboutit]

I seriously doubt anyone who uses that believes such bullshit. It's just another legal defense strategy because some people in this world are ignorant enough to be suckered in by this.

It's like the Twinkie Defense. Do you seriously think anyone actually thought that was true?

But it worked.

 

[Soulgaunt]

This is a gaming site.

That's all I need to say, I think.

This.
Why would anyone here, on a gaming site, blame video games?
..........Or it could be because it's obvious that the actual reason is terrible parenting.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

Ol' Jack won't be a problem anymore. And besides, not like he could win a case to begin with.

but he's still trying even though he was Disbarred so he has no credibility ever anymore

 

[Hazy]

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

Ol' Jack won't be a problem anymore. And besides, not like he could win a case to begin with.

but he's still trying even though he was Disbarred so he has no credibility ever anymore

*Sigh*
When will Thompson learn?

 

[ssgt splatter]

Politicians:
"Don't ever blame anything on bad parenting or mental illness.. it's always the game's fault.
Sure, Johnny here grew up in poverty, was Bipolar and was a convicted felon, but it wasn't the parent's fault.. IT WAS GAMES!
Y'know.. Hitler owned a copy of GTA!"

I think it's bloody ridiculous.

This

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

And this

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Are you serious? of course games make people violent.

C'mon how many of you fellow gaming people hasn't shot a few people over the years after a repeatingly faliing a mission in some game?

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

Ol' Jack won't be a problem anymore. And besides, not like he could win a case to begin with.

but he's still trying even though he was Disbarred so he has no credibility ever anymore

*Sigh*
When will Thompson learn?

Never until someone puts him in a nut house....heck even then he'll still try

 

[gabdewulf]

The fatal flaw, in the thoery of does video games make people violent, is were they violent before the video game?

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

and it has been proven video games dont cause violence...violent people cause violence

 

[eelel]

srsly: Violent games doens't make gamers violent, Jack thompson does.

Ahhhh Mr Thompson the man who can make every gamer want to kill some one.

 

[Birras]

Well, I don't know. I have gone into a blind rage after some Saints Row 2, specifically the Corporate Warfare DLC and the later levels of Crowd Control.

 

[Mad Maniac with axe-firing chainsaw]

A psychopath could fail to control his violent impulses if subjected to too many violent images. But I think it is a reasonable suggestion that that person may have been bound to crack at some point. Anyway, such people wouldn't just go from killing virtual people to killing real people. They tend to be the type that tortures animals and is sadistic at school. An odd liking for death and destruction in computer games doesn't indicate a potential psychopath. A disturbing liking for real pain and injury however is a classic red flag that someone is a psycho. That said, I suppose murdering digital people in GTA could somehow get tagged with killing real people if the person is fucked up enough... I don't know, I freely confess that I don't know enough on this subject. If I find something I'll post it.

Added later: I've had a fair look around. I can't find any hard scientific examples either way... damn.

You'd think there'd be some research on this! I can't find anything that isn't either irrelevant to the question or that you have to pay for, darn it!

There is this article. I wasn't very impressed by them including Crash Twinsanity as a violent game, but at least this reaches some conclusions... still nothing on psychopaths though... this isn't very helpful but for now its the best I've got.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2678173&tool=pmcentrez

Added later: I did find this article. It alludes to a possible link between video games and violence. Its just an opinion like mine though, albeit a more informed one. Here's the link.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1281391&tool=pmcentrez

Hey! on a more postitive note... this article hints at Tetris possibly being a way of combating violent flashbacks. Its important to measure the positive and not just look at the negative.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2607539&tool=pmcentrez

Well, thats all I have. My opinion, some sites, and a few positives... but no hard data. I think the juries out on this one. Sorry for the rambling, disjointed post, I put things down as I found them... not that the research found much...

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

Thompson didn't learn and as a result was permanently disbarred. People are responsible for their own actions and the influencing factors in their lives as a whole are what end up motivating them to do terrible things.

Violent behavior isn't like some disease that you can acquire from a single source. It isn't predictable. The factors that contribute to it are innumerable. Scapegoating something is a convenient and, unfortunately, effective way to deal with a perceived problem. It just has the unfortunate effect of not actually solving anything but making everyone who buys into it feeling like it has.