Poll: 61 Percent of Britons Believe Games Cause Violence

[shiajun]

Also, that graph in the original article seems either deliberately badly done or naively created. The y-axis is cropped as to make the bars for "agree" seem considerably bigger than "disgree". If the entire axis was show one would see a 57/43 difference in one of the cases, which is somewhat close, rather than a bar that appears twice as tall as the other.

 

[mad825]

61% of Britons Believe Games Cause Violence - says sample size of 7.

I know that there were more people but 2000 people don't speak for the millions. My home county, nay, my small town that I live in has more than 2000 people .

 

[Maze1125]

So at least 61% of Britons are irrational and illogical and have no idea what the words correlation and causation mean. It's sad.

In other news, 61% of Britons are naive, gullible sops who will believe everything they're told.

And at least two people in this thread a incapable of interpreting information beyond a headline.

61 percent of U.K. respondents "with an opinion on the matter" - which is to say, those who did not respond to the question with "neither" or "I don't know"

If 75% of people responded with "I don't know", then that means that the data represents 25% of people. Meaning the actual number of people who think games can cause violence is 61% of 25%, which would be around 15%, not 61%.

 

[llubtoille]

Being rather a broad statement - 'can be a cause of real world violent and aggression' - it's rather difficult to definitively say 'no'.
I mean, if there is anyone in the world who has hit their keyboard or banged their mouse after a bad game, or thrown a controller at a friend after a match... then the statement is true - it CAN be a cause,
Even ignoring such casual violence and aggression, there's been numerous reports of gaming related assaults and murders in retaliation to online arguments whilst playing games, or robberies to obtain games.

I personally imagine the odds of becoming violent due to gaming vs say... driving a car is far less, but the statement only asks if it 'can' be a cause, in which case -yes- it can be.

 

[ward0630]

As with all internet polls, this is a misleading survey, an abuse of statistics. Only people who felt strongly about this issue will actually respond to this poll, and while an ambivalent person who doesnt really think video games cause violence will shy away from this survey, those who think videogames are behind murders and mass shootings will definitely voice their digital 2 cents in the form of an anonymous internet poll.

 

[Riotguards]

they've said this about every outlet for entertainment, computers, TV's, radio, newspapers, etc, etc

the older generation will never understand the new generation of entertainment thus sticking to ignoring facts

there was a comic that pretty much illustrated this very point but i can't find it : /

 

[Dahaka27]

I have to say, as a "Briton" its not a terribly uncommon view that video games make you a murderer, especially among people like my parents (aged 50+) and my boss (female non gamer aged 26).

I'm probably one of the most laid back people you will meet and gaming has been my primary hobby since the original release of the PS1.

Since last Tuesday I've been playing alot of GTA V and the most aggressive thing I did all week was write a slightly snarky email to the office staff because they were being useless.

Tonight my regime will consist of watching youtube subscriptions instead of TV then playing a bit of GTA V and Kingdom Hearts then I will NOT go out and go on a rampage and murder a bunch of people for making fun of my accent like Trevor in GTA V and then likely go to bed. Go figure.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Being rather a broad statement - 'can be a cause of real world violent and aggression' - it's rather difficult to definitively say 'no'.
I mean, if there is anyone in the world who has hit their keyboard or banged their mouse after a bad game, or thrown a controller at a friend after a match... then the statement is true - it CAN be a cause,
Even ignoring such casual violence and aggression, there's been numerous reports of gaming related assaults and murders in retaliation to online arguments whilst playing games, or robberies to obtain games.

I personally imagine the odds of becoming violent due to gaming vs say... driving a car is far less, but the statement only asks if it 'can' be a cause, in which case -yes- it can be.

There are short-term causations, has been tested multiple times. The same "short-term effects" every sport or movie has that is "arousing".
But those effects usually wear off in 15-30mins after the test subjects stopped play a game / watching the movie / playing a sport.

So basically if you're "in the zone" while doing something you can get worked up. News at 11.

Also they noticed that frustration is a bigger factor than arousal. So Mirrors Edge is more likley to cause short-term violent behavior than Serious Sam. Go figure.

 

[Loop Stricken]

The YouGov poll

... and thus all credibility is lost. That's one of those sites that only cantankerous old NIMBYs actually bother with.

 

[Adultism]

Probably the same assholes who don't abide by the rating system of games..

I had a customer today in work purchase GTA for a 5 year old. FIVE. I am sorry, no matter what side of the fence you sit, that is messed up.

How the hell do you buy GTA for your damn kid. Someone needs to get their ass kicked seriously and take the damn kid away. I believe violent games can cause violence in YOUNG and NAIVE children who see that and may think its cool do try to find daddy's gun and play with it. + You can't say that it doesn't when you have all the 7-16 year olds on games screaming and cussing at everyone.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Title is misleading. "Can cause" is very different from "cause".

Also, surely it's not whether or not games "can cause" violence, but it's if they can do so more than, say, books or TV?

 

[Headsprouter]

In related news, 61% of bretons answered 'yes' when asked if magic users caused the oblivion crisis.

Hahaha. And that's how our boring old world was born!

OT: What can I say other than what all gamers say when presented with a thread like this? "No! This is most certainly incorrect! Vidya gaems cause no more violence than any other media!"

Blah blah blah. Same-old same-old.

 

[Icehearted]

Playing Pac-Man made me diabetic.
Playing a hentai game made me into a tentacled monster.
Playing Plant's Vs Zombies made me into a gardener.
Playing Cooking Mama made me a mama.
Playing Ace Attorney made me a lawyer.
Playing Need For Speed made me a race car driver.
Playing Mr. Mosquito made me a malaria spreading insect.
Playing Dance Dance Revolution made me a dancer.
Playing Metroid made me think I could roll up into a ball.


Literally, each one no dumber than "Playing violent video games made me violent."

 

[Klonoa Prower]

I still don't understand why they make these questions poll questions. It doesn't seem like there's an opinion based answer on this. It's not voting for a new president or a governor, the answers are fairly binary. Either video games do cause violence, or they don't. Preliminary research leans it more toward the latter answer, but the point I'm trying to make isn't which answer is correct. The asking of the question itself seems flawed. It's akin to asking a poll on people if they think the world is flat.

 

[SadisticFire]

Playing Metroid made me think I could roll up into a ball.
Literally, each one no dumber than "Playing violent video games made me violent."

Whoa whoa whoa there. Seven year old me would disagree with you there! I was rolling up into a ball and going down all the hills*
But yeah, blah blah technophobic old people games kill lives blah blah. Can we just all agree NOT to do this when the next thing comes around? And I mean really? If you want this to stop, prevent the cycle from forming.
*soft grassy hils that had no thorns plz. blood from my head hurts.

 

[BanicRhys]

So much ignorance... and I'm not taking about the poll.

Personally, I don't believe video games cause violent tendencies either, but dismissing these people as "irrational" or "gullible" without even considering the possibility is equally naive.

I should really start charging the devil.

 

[Glaice]

Does it say how BIG of a number of tally with votes? Something says this has a very small tally, under 4,000 people.

 

[michael87cn]

Polls are useless. They show nothing, NOTHING accurately.

You could do the same poll every month and you would see random results, BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WILL BE DIFFERENT EVERY TIME.

61%, 55%, 22%, 33%, 76%, it will show you nothing.

Also, to correct the subject: 61% of POLLED Britons Believe Games Cause Violence.

*rolls eyes*

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

61% of Britons Believe Games Cause Violence - says sample size of 7.

I know that there were more people but 2000 people don't speak for the millions. My home county, nay, my small town that I live in has more than 2000 people .

A survey done with 2,000 respondents, if proper randomization techniques are used, will generate generally applicable results. Gallup is one of the most respected surveying organizations in the world and many of its surveys use 1,500 person sample sizes.

 

[Charli]

...Who did they poll...? Parliament?

I sure as hell wasn't asked!