The Violent Video Game Controversy

[Glassesguy904]

More often I have heard of video games warping children into evil little monsters, many games being labeled as tools of hate and mind warping. I disagree. Video games are made to let some-one live out any fantasy they choose, let it be fun or bloody. Many people claim that game developers are out to turn kids in to killing machines. That, for those who think that, is a lie. Of all the games I have ever played, the ESRB has been kind enough to make ratings on the corner of all these games to keep 6 year olds from playing them. I have also seen a 12 year old get kicked out of game stop for yelling when a worker asked for an adult when he tried to buy Halo. I want to know if anyone agrees with me that video games are for fun, not tools of hate.

 

[GreyWolf257]

Sorry, but nobody on this website thinks that. It is a gaming website, after all.

When I say "that", I mean nobody thinks video games are evil here.

 

[Bloody Crimson]

I play them to escape my problems in the real world. So I become a hero and save the world, and feel like I actually matter.

Apparently I was born in "Generation 'Kill'", because of all the violence in media.

At any rate, it could be movies and television programs that make kids the mindless beings we all blame video games for.

 

[dududf]

I am confused...

There is really only one answer that will be given and it's "Of course it doesn't effect us!" due to us all being biased on the topic at hand.

After all...

It is a gaming website, after all.

 

[Arashi500]

Sorry, but nobody on this website thinks that. It is a gaming website, after all.

When I say "that", I mean nobody thinks video games are evil here.

QFT. And Baby boomers tend to blame everything bad on the newest big thing they don't understand.

 

[Theron Julius]

Bah, the whole controversy shouldn't exist. The media (mostly the network That Shall Not Be Named) thinks that ESRB ratings don't exist and that any 7 year old can get his hands on GTA 4. They simply don't think about it. Is a violent video game any more child corrupting then a violent movie or TV show? No, but they believe they are anyway.

Take the controversy over Mass Effect's sex scenes for example. I know it isn't about violence, but it's still a good example of what the media does when a negative theme is introduced. The media (still not gonna name anyone) made a huge deal out of it. They thought that a brief scene of partial nudity and some suggestive themes meant it was full out pornography. They then said it was corrupting our children... despite the fact that it's rated 17+. I think most 17 year olds are not children and have seen much more obscene things than that brief scene.

Personally, I think it's just them having a stale view of what a child is. They don't understand modern social patterns, so they assume if it's in any way different from their view in a negative way, it's a form of corruption in our society. To put it bluntly: they're idiots who don't understand and refuse to attempt to understand.

 

[RheynbowDash]

Im actually writing my english thesis on the influence of violent media to children.

Its all up to the parents. They have to monitor what the kids are playing.

 

[Glassesguy904]

Thats why I wrote this. My younger brother, being the idiot he is, got himself into a project that involves hot topics in the media. Being his brother, he asked me for help about the violent video games. to help, i wanted...insight from other people. I was hoping to find differing comments, but no go.

 

[Jark212]

They'll send you to hell!!!

http://objectiveministries.org/zounds/gaming.html#bioshock

 

[Vishnu Namboodiripad]

true. I mean, I've been playing grotesquely violent games since I was three, thanks to my clueless parents who didnt filter out anything society deemed "inappropriate" for children. Therefore, I was playing games like mortal kombat and gta at a very young age. I think playing violent games has actually matured me. I always knew that what was on screen was not real and I never copied what I saw on TV in real life.Im not violent, and I always have been a straight A student. Silly. And I do agree with Toon link, parents should pick what games they buy for their children, but I think that they should go to gaming communities, instead of the mass media, which often skews things like this, for advice on what to buy for kids.

 

[Shanecooper]

I thought it was the army that turned people into professional killers.

 

[The Real Sandman]

Anyone who thinks violent media triggers people to be volatile and agressive are idiots.
Anyone who thinks violent media doesn't have an ill effect on already volatile and agressive people are idiots.

 

[aPod]

Will, i dont know about the rest of you but i regularily rip peoples spines out after i have dazed them in a random fighting encounter. However, only if someone in the crowd shouts "finish him" i do believe games have brainwashed me into a brutal fatality killer.

Then there was that one time i walked up to a lady and said "Shake it." She didnt, so i assumed she was a disguised Pig with a shotgun so i pulled out my steroids and popped them and kicked her into a fine meat paste.

Seriously though, video games dont harm anyone. However, certain people are not mentally stable and its that instabilty that is dangerous wether or not games may have triggered some sort of breakdown is debateable. Perhaps it was the only thing keeping them from snapping sooner.