Curse

KoalaMeatPie · Dec 01, 2006, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesmer in Need

Kids (usually under 12) have young impressionable minds. they shouldent be playing m games. how many times have you seen an 8 year old running around yelling "WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA!!"

None, Marylin Manson told me to kill them.

Toutatis · Dec 01, 2006, 08:30 AM // 08:30

The argument about violence in video games and its effect on people goes back to the first generation of gaming consoles, back in the 1970s. The topic gets brought up again every decade or so when politicians and activist groups realise that they're running out of things to take some sort of stand against.

Personally, I think that parents need to become more responsible about what games they allow their children to play instead of relying on computers as a major source of entertainment and education. Parents need to get active in their own children's lives again, and take closer looks at the games that they allow their children to play.

In Europe, this is a little easier. Not only do we have age certifications similar to the way we classify movies, but we also put additional symbols on the game's packaging to allow people to see what things the game contains. For example, the packaging for Guild Wars: Factions has two symbols. The first symbol is "12+" which shows that this game has been classified as unsuitable for those under the age of 12 (and additionally, it would be illegal to sell this game to anyone under the age of 12). The second symbol is a fist, which shows that this game contains violence. The whole system is a pretty comprehensive way of working out whether a game is suitable for the player before the box even gets opened.

Sophitia Leafblade · Dec 01, 2006, 10:42 AM // 10:42

Yeah its a good system on paper but it never stops children finding away to play / watch things considered too mature for them. come on who hasnt seen atleast 18+ film when they were only 15. Mind you to make up for this the companys do generally over class films so in effect some 18 films are suitable for 15s, and 15 films for 12's (note some, not all) and the same happens with games

Poison Ivy · Dec 01, 2006, 11:27 AM // 11:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesmer in Need

Kids (usually under 12) have young impressionable minds. they shouldent be playing m games. how many times have you seen an 8 year old running around yelling "WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA!!" they tend to copy things they see on tv, in real life or the games. if an 8 year old is playing gta he willl probably copy some of the things that tony montana (or whatever the guys name is) does. im not saying that he'll steal cars and beat up hookers, but he will probably yell and cuss some, and act violently somewhat to people. but the problem isnt the kids. its the parents. what type of kid has acess to 50$ to buy a game, let alone 150$ and up to buy the system to play it on. ignorant parents are buying their kids gta and complaining that their kids are too violent. wtf?? i saw a family with a 5 year old boy buying an m (mature) rated game. FOR THE KID. now the casier was actually the only intelligent one. "this is an m rated game, you know that right?" Parents: "Ya, but he knows its not real." OMG. A five year old cant rationalize things like that. they want to go live with spongebob down in the ocean, and they belive that you can. If he sees someone kill someone in a game, he will think its ok to kill, and once thats implanted in his brain at a young age, its hard to unteach that. hey, i didnt have my first gaming system untill i was 13. i played only kirby games on my gamecube. but because i was older, i didnt want to go jumping armound dressed in pink sucking up my enemies. games only make you violent if you let them be. in all essence, video games should make you LESS violent. if you get your frustrations out playing a video game by punching pixels, you supposedly wont have any anger or frustrations left to let out on something that can get hurt by getting punched or shot.

Speak for yourself please, I've been playing FPS since I was 6, from Doom to BF2/CS:S etc. I get top grades, never cuss (Vent/TS is an exception), rarely end fights (with bullies only), watch porn (sometimes), and here I am. I guess it's beacuse I'm Asian

Toutatis · Dec 01, 2006, 11:51 AM // 11:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sophitia Leafblade

Yeah its a good system on paper but it never stops children finding away to play / watch things considered too mature for them

I agree with that, and that's why I also said in my post that parents need to get more involved. A good classification system can help parents make initial decisions about what games might be suitable or unsuitable for their children, but to make a final decision the parents would need to get more involved and see what each game is like for themselves. My father didn't let me near a copy of Tomb Raider (even going as far as keeping the game disc under lock and key) until he'd played it himself to get firsthand information about the specifics of the game's content - and was then allowed to play it after my next birthday. In my opinion, that's something that more parents should do.

Sophitia Leafblade · Dec 01, 2006, 11:59 AM // 11:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toutatis

I agree with that, and that's why I also said in my post that parents need to get more involved. A good classification system can help parents make initial decisions about what games might be suitable or unsuitable for their children, but to make a final decision the parents would need to get more involved and see what each game is like for themselves. My father didn't let me near a copy of Tomb Raider (even going as far as keeping the game disc under lock and key) until he'd played it himself to get firsthand information about the specifics of the game's content - and was then allowed to play it after my next birthday. In my opinion, that's something that more parents should do.

True thats the way to go, but unfortually most parents arnt that caring or havnt got the time or ability to test things out for themselves, not to mention some parents are totally ott with over protecting there children. But still its a good way of doing things but unfortunally it wouldnt solve very much atm

Giga Strike · Dec 01, 2006, 03:32 PM // 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoalaMeatPie

The College I attend, Dawson, rescently had a Shooting, making 2 deaths, 1 Crippled, and 1 Who was shot in the head and is now a vegtable.

The shooter came from "vampirefreaks.com" and he Clearly said He wanted to do harm.

His Reasonning? "Life is like a Video game, we will die sooner or later, might aswell make it now"

And witha picture of himself in a Black Trench holding a shotgun He says "ready For Action"

Video games induces Violence in the Mentally Diluded.

this doesn't mean that video games made him kill ppl. he is simply comparing life to video games.

as for my oppinion, video games can help releive pressure on you as long as you do reasonably well. if u suck at a game you WILL get kinda frustrated and the weak minded might become violent.

not only can video games help relieve stress, everyones favorite MMORPG has helped me understand real world economics (though runescape helped more).

Mesmer in Need · Dec 03, 2006, 05:30 AM // 05:30

but life isnt a videogame, but some people deny that. video games arent bad or make you violent per say, but if you get sucked in and treat your life like you would in a video game, nothing good will come out of it.

Sidra · Dec 03, 2006, 05:55 AM // 05:55

Video games do nothing. Maybe desensitizing people, but hell, I don't really think they effect/affect me at all. For me, it's horror movies. I'm completely phobic of them, and lose anywhere from 1-3 hours of sleep whenever I see one, or a particularly scary preview. I did an entire Feature Article on this in English last year. Studies over the past years when video games became a multi-billion dollar industry show no corrolation between violence levels and video game popularity whatsoever. They also show no corrolation (correlation?) between WHO the players are and who enacts the crime. Because I seriously doubt that some "straight-up-g, yo!" from the gutters in downtown NYC is going to be the one sitting there taking a chainsaw to some aliens in Gears of War on an xbox 360. People of the mentally deranged party may be heavily affected by video games, yes, but they could also learn all of this crap from Law and Order, or CSI, or Criminal Minds. That German article goes over the top blaming video games for this. They completely downplay his bullying, treating it as if it's an accepted, normal condition and kids are expected to know what that's like, which is in my opinion a way more horrible issue than "killer games" should be. The fact that these politicians are dumb enough to actually beleive this utter shit means that us more intelligent people should probably stop not-caring at all and take over these retarted world-wide organizations called "governments" and tell the world how it is supposed to be.

But I might just be sitting here, raving mad, at 1 AM randomly ranting on this, too. Who knows.

KoalaMeatPie · Dec 05, 2006, 01:28 AM // 01:28

Video Games Cause Violence, or Violence Cause Video games? - UNarmed Kid Shot to Death by Police in PS3 Robbery investigation.

Oh, And they also Shot the Dog.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16042423/?GT1=8816

Malice Black · Dec 05, 2006, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Blaming video games for violence is just a cheap excuse for todays failing society.

Violence is on the increase because the fear of punishment is on the decrease. People would think twice about hitting someone if they knew they could lose their hand as punishment.

Speeding is another example..doing 40 in a 30 zone..£30 fine and 3 points if your unlucky. If that punishment was £30 and 3 lashes of a whip speeding would decrease.

Yes I'm in favor of capital punishment. The law is getting soft.

Sophitia Leafblade · Dec 05, 2006, 09:54 AM // 09:54

True the law is getting soft, but the big question is how far do go before u cross the line and the law becomes inhuman and cruel. But i agree video games are blamed as a cheap fix to the problem that stems from society as a whole.

The Real Roy Keane · Dec 06, 2006, 10:45 PM // 22:45

I don't believe that videogames influence peoples actions greatly, their danger comes through addiction. There was a thread on this forum discussing peoples' playtime on Guildwars, and quite a few people had clocked up over five thousand hours. That's insane, and just plain unhealthy.

Malice Black · Dec 07, 2006, 01:20 AM // 01:20

5k hours is rediculous...think I clocked 1200 on my old account and maybe 150-200 on new account..thats spanning 15 or so months.

Riotgear · Dec 07, 2006, 03:45 PM // 15:45

People have historically gotten into a panic every time something comes along and rocks their world that didn't exist when they were 25.

People used to blame flappers for increases in prostitution. People blamed rock and roll for all sorts of things, going as far to try to get congress to pass a law banning rock and roll. They pulled similarly dubious studies about subiliminal messaging and backwards messages on Judas Priest records.

Yes, there are studies out there that video games make people more violent. There is also one more important study: Violent crime among youth has been in steady decline, even as games like the GTA series hit prime time. Yet the opposite is constantly projected because of fluke incidents involving people with serious problems who turn to things like video games as a refuge, which are then used to project video games as the cause.

Quick hint: Every time the population doubles, the probability of an incident involving one person who's really far gone inevitably doubles. And the media does not care about trends, they care about incidents.

I don't think video games make kids any more violent than, say, Power Rangers did. And trust me, that made kids real violent. It single-handedly spawned countless McDojos funded by kids who wanted to learn karate because of how awesome it was to beat someone up.