New Study Finds Violent Games Do Not Desensitize Players

[YodaUnleashed]

I'm really trying to be an advocate of ahimsa, that is non-violence and yet I watch violent movies and play violent video games all the time. In fact I'd say watching and playing violent encounters whilst I can enjoy them as an exciting adrenaline pumping thrill or dazzling spectacle makes me even more repulsed by the notion of violence and the ultimate evil it will only cause. Rather than desensitising me to violence it only helps emphasise why violence can rarely if ever be justified in the real world.

If anything I would say violence in video games and movies can desensitise a person to the results of violence: the blood, the gore, the pain and the suffering but not the actions themselves and how horrific they truly are when they cause such things. Even then if you are quite capable of separating fantasy with reality, fact from fiction (as most people are) even then such outcomes are no less desensitised than the act of violence itself. W

hen you watch something on a screen, for instant mutilations in games or films, then yes even real news stories reporting on some horrifying mutilation can have less impact because it's just on a screen (again though it greatly depends on the person). However, if you witnessed a mutilation first-hand then your feelings of sympathy and disgust would be no less potent whether you've played or watched violent video games or movies.

 

[kasperbbs]

Only media that affected me was some silly horror movies that i used to watch with my parents (not that they would let me ,but i was sneaky) ,i was afraid to look under the bed when i was alone at home for a while. In my opinion all these studies are bullshit ,few weeks from now another study will come out and say that violent video games make you stupid or something like that. People always search for something to blame but themselves.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

This proves nothing to me either way.

I mean, the sample size was piss poor, it wasn't even a double blind, they got real sketchy on WHO they accepted as a test subject (Oh some of them KINDA played games, some of them didn't) they only asked them WHAT games they played, they didnt actually PLAY any games.

I saw no evidence of a control group, nor an extreme group of players who play Mature rated, really violent games. I mean, GTA can be pretty "mature" but it's not something that contains gratuitous depictions of violence or anything. I mean, why not God of War 3? Or Doom? Resident Evil 4?

Lastly, from what I read, it sounds like they sat a bunch of students down, showed them some PICTURES of violent scenes from video games, then asked them how they "felt." They then showed them the pictures again along with some other picture meant to distract them, and then recorded their reaction. I mean, how the hell does that prove that someone growing up playing extremely violent games doesn't end up somewhat desensitized to violence?

Also, I think some people have the wrong idea. I'm not advocating any of this "video games make us psychopaths!" Knee-jerk nonsense, but "desensitized" doesn't mean that if you watch someone get beaten with a baseball bat in front of you that you'll yawn and scratch your balls. It means how likely are YOU to consider your actions before performing a violent act. And quite frankly, the way some teens are these days, with all the fighting and drama I'm surrounded with by friends and peers, I'm inclined to believe that SOMETHING has happened to our generation and society. I won't point and say "Video games did it" or even what "it" is, but there is definitely something different at work here. Video games, and indeed violent MEDIA in general might be one of the factors, but only TRUE studies are ever going to prove this. OBJECTIVE studies.

 

[lostzombies.com]

Yeah thats bullplop, video games desensitized the shit out of me.

Okay, now try watching someone get seriously injured or worse, see how you feel about it.

I play violent video games all the time, and I still can't watch someone get injured

The last time I went out to town on a Friday night two guys had fought and pushed each other thorugh a plate glass window/wall, one was on the floor screaming 'my eye!' and the other was staggering around drunkenly with his cheek hanging open and bottom lip hanging off his face attached only at the corner of his mouth, blood everywhere.

Didn't feel bothered what so ever, i would have gone closer with the rest of the people gathering about for a better look (I was about 10 feet away) but the girls I was with wanted to move away.

Last year I saw a guy fall over in the street, I was the only person to stop and get out my car to help him up, all the time while other people either looked but drove past, or slowed down to watch but not help me. This didn't bothere me either, doesn't mean I'm a bad person though, maybe if anything it means I dont freeze up and hide like those people in the cars and can go help someone.

Did you feel this before you got into video games?

Because this could mean you lack empathy.

I don't think so, I remember I saw the last action hero film (Arnold) when I was about 8 and was so haunted by the death character that I didn't watch another 'scary' film until Dawn of the Dead when i was 14. I had spend most of the time between that playing Doom 95 then duke nukem 3d then Goldeneye 64 then soldier of fortune and GTA on the dreamcast.

It's not as if I am desensitized to everything either, I can't watch films where animals get hurt lol, but wounds in real life dont effect me at all. Violence still does but that is a differnt thing; games don't recreate fight or flight. I would say that games (older ones like doom/solider of fortune, not modern ones)do however get you used to physical wounds.

Maybe these studies need to be more specific instead of saying games simply desensitize, ie they desensitive players of a certain type of game so a certain cirumstance. Ie bloody shooters to wounds, and probably racing games to high speed driving.

 

[brazuca]

Next study will be pr0n makes you objectify women, or not? Any player, any age knows that the game is not real. (unless u r 12/13 years old obsessed with COD who dreams of Spec Ops playing VG's)

Actually, they have done that study and they found that porn (Especially violent or degrading) does have a negative impact.

At least video games are safe!

LOL! Did not know about that study. Gonna check it out the results.

 

[littlealicewhite]

See, thing is that most people understand subconsciously that video games aren't real, so the violence isn't real. It doesn't impact them emotionally because it's just pixels. They can have fun doing things they'd never imagine doing in real life because they know that their actions have no real effect. So when real violence happens, the virtual violence they previously took part in has no bearing on how they feel about it.

 

[Mastercylinder]

Well, it's nice to see Canada take this seriously . . . but I can't wait for someone else to immediately claim the opposite. -_-