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This week, U.S. President Barack Obama asked Congress to dedicate $10 million toward studying the effects of violent media—including games, which he singled out during a speech Wednesday morning.
In the wake of last month's tragic shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school—and the revelation that killer Adam Lanza had enjoyed shooter games like Call of Duty—violent video games have again become a significant topic in national conversation. And as part of a bigger plan to fight gun violence, Obama wants to see more studies on how games affect our behavior.
But do we really need more research? What about the studies that have already been done? Have researchers found any links between video games and violence? Will violent video games really make kids more aggressive? Or is this all just a massive waste of time and money?
User Comments: 81
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@davislane1
I agree with you, my comment was for the guest above, making a black and white statement that bad kids come from bad parents. There are so many variables, you simply can not point a finger at any one variable without knowing the facts of each isolated case.
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If video games do induce agression in some people, I would tend to think that is is in a very short-term manner (perhaps just a few minutes until the person winds down). There are so many ways these days to trigger agression (bad drivers anyone?), blaming one thing would be ridiculous. Maybe people with psychological problems would be more easily affected by video game violence, but then wouldn't they be more prone to react to outside stimulus as well?
There's even other studies which suggest, on the contrary, that violent games stimulate certain brain parts and are generally beneficial when measuring brain performance. There is a TED presentation on this and it's really worth taking a look: http://on.ted.com/eMC0
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I don't believe for a second that violent video games make their targeted audience of adult players violent, however there are a TON of impressionable underage players I believe they do affect. In my opinion, the only ones to blame for documented cases of video game violence are the bad, irresponsible parents that buy their bratty kids whatever game they want in order to electronically babysit them.
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Its not video games its these ***** parents these days not teaching their kids values and morals and disciplining them when they need to be taught a lesson. Parents these days let their kids run wild and control them. Ive played just about every violent video game and I dont plan on going on a killing spree. Yes I get extremly frustrated at any kind of game but because I am such a competitive person I cannot accept losing. My parents kept me in check and taught me values and morals. Every problem these days the media and people blame something else and make that the scapegoat while the real reason is todays society parenting is a joke. The family has become a joke and kids are not being brought up in the right atmosphere and values. That kid that shot up that school showed signs of instability yet his parent didnt do anything to get the help he needed. Media and government is using games as a scapegoat instead of facing the real reason head on because its not poltically correct to say parents discipline your goddam spoiled kids.
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"Michael Ward: Yes, I've always studied telecommunications, internet and what they call ICTs in general, and videogames seemed like some place that had not been done very well very much by economists yet. And so I also have children who play video games, they thought it was really cool that their dad was studying what they were playing.
So the first thing I did was got a proxy for demand for video games in different areas of the country, which is the number of video games stores, and related that to the amount of crime in each of these areas. And I found that when the number of stores increased in an area, the amount of...a number of different measures of crime actually fall. That [raises] the question; why does this happen?"
Source: [link]
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Its not the games, its the age of the people that play them...the little kids play them, which isnt healthy. Parents shouldn't buy little 10 year old jimmy a mature rated FPS...and then let him use a headset to which he is exposed to the crap talk of a bunch of immature 21 year olds, seeing as the intelligent gamers on consoles (which are the majority gamers, lets face it) dont use mics in game chat very often.
I got Unreal when I was 8 and I haven't killed any one yet...
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1 person liked this |I got Unreal when I was 8 and I haven't killed any one yet...
Im not saying these people go out and kill people, im saying that every kid I know that plays COD is typically more violet than others. Violent in a sense that they are willing to pick fights with people over pride and such..I played some FPSs early on and it hasent affected me horribly, but its really the other gamers people are exposed to. Tell me, when you were 8, was unreal your primary past time? thats whats happening to kids now, cant wait to get home from school and COD it up. Every day.
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1 person liked this |
The lazy "parents" are to blame, not the developers. End of story.
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What game is the one on the cover of this article on the main page of Techspot? The one with Unreal engine and a mini-gun?
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Nevermind,I found it through google images,Bulletstorm
on topic,games do not make me violent,period. -
$10m to decree that if you are mentally unbalanced its probably not a good idea to play games that depict killing.
Add that to the list that already includes smoking pot, taking acid, watching porn and most other exciting American activities.
There, I just wrote their executive summary for free.
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1 person liked this |Im not saying these people go out and kill people, im saying that every kid I know that plays COD is typically more violet than others. Violent in a sense that they are willing to pick fights with people over pride and such..I played some FPSs early on and it hasent affected me horribly, but its really the other gamers people are exposed to. Tell me, when you were 8, was unreal your primary past time? thats whats happening to kids now, cant wait to get home from school and COD it up. Every day.
Yeah I've always been very reclusive, can't wait to get back to play Unreal or later Half-Life.
I'd agree CoD players tend to be more violent, but I generally associate CoD players with douche bags, they were douche bags before they got the game though.
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I agree that video games and violent movies CAN cause a short term increase in aggresive actions. Mainly because we are violent creatures. BUT we are also creatures who THINK. That being said, I personally blame the parents if they let thier children play the violent video games. Ive been playing video games since pong. Guess what, I havent gone out and killed anyone. Never had the thought "Hey maybe I should shoot up some place". In fact, I use the video games to curb my violent nature. I know what im seeing on the screen is not real. So I feel no shame or remorse in blowing away that zombie with a shotgun. If the parents chose to not accept responsability for the fact that they plop their children in front of a TV instead of dealing with them, then thats on them. My parents raised me right. They taught me right from wrong and the differences between real and fake.
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Dawn1113 said:
Video games? Nah, not in my case.
I suspect the only thing that would provoke a violent reaction from me is if I am -- or if anyone I love is -- physically attacked. Fortunately, the chances of something like that actually happening are highly improbable, given present circumstances. I am very thankful for that.I play a lot of video games -- and most, if not all, of the games I play have rather vivid depictions of violence. But I have never physically harmed anyone in my life -- not even as a child, I think. To me, games are what they are -- games.
I pray I never have to be in a situation where actual violent action against another person is necessary. In all honesty, and all jokes aside, I don't think I'd do very well under that kind of pressure.
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1 person liked this |
Techgamer,
Please re-read what you have posted. Where did you go to school? If this is what happens when someone devotes their life to gaming we're in trouble.
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Just a bunch of garbage!
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I can save them the money right now. Let's look at the data, to see if there is a strong correlation between violent video games and violence in real life:
Using COD as an example, which sold more than 5.6 million copies, 4.2 million in the U.S. and 1.4 million in the UK within 24 hours of going on sale. And after six weeks, it made over a billion in sales (Wikipedia). This is only 1 video game. If there was a direct correlation, then there should be a huge increase in violence worldwide. But overall, violence seems to be going down (just based on news articles worldwide e.g. Stockton, CA police report a slight decrease in violence, GPD (Greenville, MS) reports decease in violent crimes in 2012, etc. ? I've read several other articles in different cities stating a decrease in violence).
Video games are the latest scapegoat of a broken system. There was a time that it was thought that ?violent' music leads to violent people. Then it was violent movies and now it's video games.
Besides, I used to play Duck Hunt for hundreds of hours, and I never felt any animosity toward ducks.
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1 person liked this |mrjgriffin said:
People should stop giving so much credit and realize that there are people out there who are more violent and angry than others. Scream 1 quote : "Movies don't create psychos. Movies make the psychos more creative." Same thing goes for video games lol.
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TS-56336 said:
I think the content of this whole editorial is pretty understandable perhaps because of this:
GTA IV influenced felony. [link]
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I think the content of this whole editorial is pretty understandable perhaps because of this:
GTA IV influenced felony. [link]
Read an interesting article on it. Feel free to check it out [link]Crimes will be committed regardless of whether games are played. Games only influence the style of how crimes are committed. If the person by nature is not violent, the game will have no influence. -
NTAPRO said:
Wasn't there a similar thing about music making people violent? How did that turn out?
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If the things you see and hear have no affect on you, why do companies spend billions on ads?
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learninmypc said:
If pac man makes me violent, I wasn't aware of it.
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1 person liked this |Raoul Duke said:
Ridiculous, look at the history of mankind. Wars as far back as we have recorded history. Especially look at the last century, Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and so on. No video games there. The world now is an armed camp. Look at Africa today, Hutu against Tutsi, warlords cutting peoples arms and legs off for intimidation, no video games there.
Violent video games are a product of a violent species, not the cause of violence. We have the cart before the horse on this one.
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learninmypc said:Ridiculous, look at the history of mankind. Wars as far back as we have recorded history. Especially look at the last century, Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and so on. No video games there. The world now is an armed camp. Look at Africa today, Hutu against Tutsi, warlords cutting peoples arms and legs off for intimidation, no video games there.
Violent video games are a product of a violent species, not the cause of violence. We have the cart before the horse on this one.
Maybe true, but todays video games sure don't help.
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