Violent Video Games

I used to play the board game 'escape from Colditz' loads as a kid... I have never actually imprisoned a downed airman or shot at anybody for trying to escape, I don't think I've even called an appell (unless you count shouting 'Raus' at the kids Das-boot-style when it's time to go out).

To my mind it's nonsense to blame nasty things that happen on pooter games.
Nasty things have always happened, and games are just another big hook for lazy media to hang a cheap story on (and of course, the self-appointed single-issue 'moralist' 'watchdogs' that like to stick their narrow noses into anything to maintain their real favourite activity - complaining).

If some school-shooting participant, or other maniac played violent games then so what? Most all kids play 'em too, and just about all don't ever feel the need to take a gun to school. There's always been nutters, and accidents inspired by play, it's just that now people often seem to want to blame an event on something, no matter how tenuous the link.
I played the most ridiculously violent games of war as a kid, there were executions, people tied up, proper punch-ups, stick-fights, and a particularly cruel Gestapo interrogation scene in an attic... as one of the resistance, I cried... and then I went home for tea, and played it again the next day .




Though all that Buckaroo has left me with a dangerous habit of stacking things on mules whenever I see one...



~A

 

I will admit GTA4 was quite fun.

One time I was pinned down by an M4 weilding man on the top of a hill with only a short wall to hide behind. Out of nowhere a guy appeared right in front of my screen and took cover next to me. I was so happy that I have help now! But for whatever reason I shot him down with my MP5.

I felt so bad afterwards

 

I like blowing stuff up when I am playing war games for some reason

 

Remember the original one Von? You could get hit in the eye when the donkey bucked. :lol:

I hear they use a less powerful spring now.

 

Interestingly enough, as Columbine High School killings were 'blamed' on violent video games, it turns out video games had nothing to do with it! Recently released information says the killers didn't (or rarely) played such games etc etc etc.

 

As people have said, it is difficult to show that kids become violent as a result of games, they may encourage natural tendancies that would have existed anyway but actually turning 'good kids bad'? Nah.

I agree with what others have said though, what kids are lacking is decent parenting. This doesn't mean kids need shorter haircuts, less tattooing or more religion (arguably the greatest motivating factor in world history), it means they need parents who will tell them what is right, what is wrong and give them boundries. Who is to blame for this? Well, an entire generation of parents who seemed to think putting their kids in front of the tele was an appropriate way of dealing with them would be a good start. Now their kids are doing the same thing with games.

Put simply it isn't kids seeing unacceptable behaviour that is the problem, it is not having parents who explain what is and isn't acceptable.

Incidentally, has anyone also considered the fact that with the mass media, social changes and so on, we may simply be looking back on the past with rose tinted glasses? We see the past as a place where kids respected their elders, never broke the law and grew into responsible adults. This is simply nonsense, as someone pointed out a while ago, the only real change is that once upon a time there were strata of society who were largely ignored, who were left to commit crimes and get on with their lives as long as they didn't affect the middle classes. Now this simply isn't the case. Interesting idea I think.

Incidentally, just to give an example:

None of these things are new or even more widespread than they were in the past, they just generally remained confined to certain 'underclasses' who polite, middle class folks simply didn't talk about. The only difference really between now and 100 years ago is that we bother collecting statistics.

One also has to ask, if indeed there was some sort of wonderful time when society was cohesive, everyone was polite and well behaved, there wasn't any violence and so on, when did things change and what caused the change? Clearly all the things didn't stop 'social decline' (which frankly I don't think is happening anyhow) then, why should they now? Surely society needs to go forward, not backwards?

 

Newsflash!

Having revised the fatal school shootings and the general bullying at schools, a comitee has found that all involved have worn trousers. It is expected that there will be a general trouser ban in the EU.

More to follow.

 

I take your not keen on the EU?

 

To quote my grandad.
So five years (we weren't invaded till 1940) of struggle against the evil empire has been wasted.

He also told me to mind what the germans and russians are doing. Can't trust them he said.

I stand stand to half an hour before dawn...

 

The latest video game, in the poorest of taste, is the new one which pits Jesus and Mohammed against each other in a "fight". What dolts.

 

I think they should ban the tv evening news. There´s so much violence that even Tarantino cannot come up with such ideas...

 

To throw my 2 cents in.

I think its fair to say violent video games became mainstream in the late
90's and early 2000's.

I was born in 1992, making me 17. I'm still a casual semi-regularly player of mature rated video games, but I was ALOT more into them from like ages 9-15. I played things such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and watched the WWF ect. I turned out alright, been in a fight of two physical fights my whole life, never tried any outrageous stunts, or tried to aquire any weapons. I was able to tell the diffrence between fiction and reality from a young age, partially due to good parenting. Also, I never had any friends who did anything like that either.

In the end I think it comes down to parenting, and the individual. I wasn't allowed to play Mature rated games until I was 14 because that's when my parents felt I could handle it. However I was allowed to play Teen rated games from ages 7 and on.

 

thats a great point hopefully that will put an end to this thread