Survey Finds Most Americans Believe Games Cause Violence

[ecoho]

Survey says: Escapist writer uses anecdotal evidence to make himself look smart in latest aggressive, ill-informed article.

I'm kinda getting that vibe from the escapist in general.(Anecdotal) Almost every article about video games being violent are banned comes with some smug comment on how they're not and everyone who thinks otherwise is a drooling moron.

That is the only reason that I even bring it up. I personally don't believe that video games cause violence, but I also don't think that saying "Nuh-uh, look at this thing that has nothing to do what we're talking about, it proves you wrong" is the way to win an argument. Nor is it an acceptable way to present news. Unless, of course, you work for Fox News.

ok guys please lay off fox news CNN does the same thing. i mean in all fairness fox news does apoligize when they screw up CNN doesnt even do that........

OT: ok this is compleate BS and anyone who would lision to this and beleave it is an idiot.

 

[OANST]

Survey says: Escapist writer uses anecdotal evidence to make himself look smart in latest aggressive, ill-informed article.

Survey says: Fact-averse faceless internet person attacks article blindly without reading it because he has no argument.

Survey says: Using anecdotal evidence to prove your point is a sign of not having point. Just because a fact is a fact doesn't mean that it means whatever it is that you want it to mean just because you want it to.

It works if you try. A) Statistics are not anecdotal evidence. Ill-created surveys certainly are. B) If you're not going to make your point, then don't continue typing.

Statistics absolutely can be anecdotal. If I tell you that the Big Mac causes people to get fat you can say "No, it doesn't. Look at these statistics! Since the Big Mac was introduced there is not a larger percentage of fat people", and you would be wrong. Because the one does not equal the other. Perhaps whatever people used to eat that made them fat is no longer being eaten since the Big Mac came out. Just because there aren't more dead people doesn't mean that a product isn't deadly. It just doesn't work like that.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

"The American Public" is a massive hivemind doesn't pay attention to "evidence" that's for those wacky intellectuals who are out of touch with the common man. You need to go with your GUT, and when you see an inflammatory news report blaming something you don't understand that threatens your children and takes responsibility away from you as a parent, well gosh darn it you think it's to blame for all your troubles.

It's the American Way afterall.

 

[feather240]

That is the only reason that I even bring it up. I personally don't believe that video games cause violence, but I also don't think that saying "Nuh-uh, look at this thing that has nothing to do what we're talking about, it proves you wrong" is the way to win an argument. Nor is it an acceptable way to present news. Unless, of course, you work for Fox News.

Everything you post sounds angry because of your avatar, it's like listening to a "RAWR'ing bear, yeah I just wanted you to know that.

...anyway...

It's funny, because when someone Googles 'Americans on Violent Video Games' this site will pop up, and they'll probably only read the title as they scroll through search results. I've heard that seeing headlines or titles will slowly cause you to believe what they say if exposed to them enough, even if the article states the opposite, apparently this happens a lot.

 

[ThongBonerstorm]

most Americans also believe the sun revolves around the earth too, doesn't make it true.

i wonder if it'd be the same result in other countries...

 

[lacktheknack]

Survey says: Escapist writer uses anecdotal evidence to make himself look smart in latest aggressive, ill-informed article.

Well, care to fix that, or are you just going to be a passive-aggressive jerk who calls out paid journalists without any supporting evidence?

Oh right, it's the internet.

 

[Delusibeta]

Actually, the questions are reasonably fair in my opinion, especially in comparison to the last survey on video game violence the Escapist posted about.

 

[OANST]

Survey says: Escapist writer uses anecdotal evidence to make himself look smart in latest aggressive, ill-informed article.

Survey says: Fact-averse faceless internet person attacks article blindly without reading it because he has no argument.

Survey says: Using anecdotal evidence to prove your point is a sign of not having point. Just because a fact is a fact doesn't mean that it means whatever it is that you want it to mean just because you want it to.

It works if you try. A) Statistics are not anecdotal evidence. Ill-created surveys certainly are. B) If you're not going to make your point, then don't continue typing.

Statistics absolutely can be anecdotal. If I tell you that the Big Mac causes people to get fat you can "No, it doesn't. Look at these statistics! Since the Big Mac was introduced there is not a larger percentage of fat people", and you would be wrong. Because the one does not equal the other. Perhaps whatever people used to eat that made them fat is no longer being eaten since the Big Mac came out. Just because there aren't more dead people doesn't mean that a product isn't deadly. It just doesn't work like that.

Yes, let's completely ignore the countless studies that found no correlation between crime and violent video games.

I am pretty sure the article is assuming that we already knew about this stuff.

Let's not. Those are great. Those should be used as argument instead of anecdotal, worthless evidence.

 

[Delock]

Rasmussen Reports survey method: Pulse Opinion Research calls random listed phone numbers in the middle of the day with an automated touch-tone survey featuring a prerecorded voice.

Riddle me this: who the hell doesn't hang up on that crap immediately? What we're talking about here is 54% of those people.
Oh, also, they have to have a land phone line to participate. They're not allowed to call cell phones. That pretty much rules out most of Generation X or anyone younger.

Thank you, other person who understands selection bias in statistics. Hell, the fact that a mere 1000 people is supposed to represent all of America is insulting as well

In addition, while wording is claimed to be neutral, a simple look at the questions will change that.

"2* Do violent video games lead to more violence in our society? "

Notice the fact that they worded it so that "violent" was almost repeated with "violence," a subtle trick to connect the two. In addition, it wasn't using a more passive wording, such as 'video games containing violence (which is a word that needs to be changed anyways)' but rather "violent video games."

 

[lacktheknack]

1000 people out of the US? Oh... Yeah that is really going to show a accurate result of how people think about video games.

It's not ideal, but it works surprisingly well. Take a stats class.

 

[Delusibeta]

Only 1000 people? That's hardly representative of 310,000,000 people.

Take a statistics class. You'll be surprised.

Rule of thumb: the reliability of a survey can be estimated by dividing 1 by the square root of the number of people you've surveyed. In this case, that's a relibility of about 3%.

Please note that reliable surveys are not the same as unbaised surveys, as noted by the post I quoted in my next post: there's quite a few blatant non-random sampling errors in their process, in my opinion.

 

[the_bearpelt]

Oh dear. Only 1000 adults? That's a pretty small data pool when compared to the whole country. Oy.

Personally, I don't agree. I mean, I'm not always all "Yay, a violent video game AGAIN! Oh boy!" but I also realize that video games don't CAUSE violence. They can trigger it, but the person has to already be predisposed to violence themselves. So really, video games, movies, TV, comics, books, anything could cause them to be violent.

 

[Delusibeta]

Rasmussen Reports survey method: Pulse Opinion Research calls random listed phone numbers in the middle of the day with an automated touch-tone survey featuring a prerecorded voice.

Riddle me this: who the hell doesn't hang up on that crap immediately? What we're talking about here is 54% of those people.
Oh, also, they have to have a land phone line to participate. They're not allowed to call cell phones. That pretty much rules out most of Generation X or anyone younger.

I missed that. Thanks for sinking another ill-planned survey's usefulness. Although a confirming link would be nice. [Edit] Found that link. [http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/about_us/methodology]

 

[Delock]

Rasmussen Reports survey method: Pulse Opinion Research calls random listed phone numbers in the middle of the day with an automated touch-tone survey featuring a prerecorded voice.

Riddle me this: who the hell doesn't hang up on that crap immediately? What we're talking about here is 54% of those people.
Oh, also, they have to have a land phone line to participate. They're not allowed to call cell phones. That pretty much rules out most of Generation X or anyone younger.

Thank you, other person who understands selection bias in statistics. Hell, the fact that a mere 1000 people is supposed to represent all of America is insulting as well

In addition, while wording is claimed to be neutral, a simple look at the questions will change that.

"2* Do violent video games lead to more violence in our society? "

Notice the fact that they worded it so that "violent" was almost repeated with "violence," a subtle trick to connect the two. In addition, it wasn't using a more passive wording, such as 'video games containing violence (which is a word that needs to be changed anyways)' but rather "violent video games."

I actually did consider this. But no information was given on how exactly it was collected. So just assume the worst.

Methodology page points out all this (other than the wording, that was just the questions page). They even brag that they have single tone answering machines.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

-sigh-

You need to look more around you then just at the video games....

Im sure there is more violence in Hollywood then in lil Johnny's 360...PS3...w/e