Are Violent Video Games Preparing Kids For The Apocalypse?

Originally posted by Sfen Senterra
Video games teaching kids that a grenade is more effective against a cyborg than a machine gun?

I totally agree. Unless it's an EMP grenade, the machine gun would be far more effective. Plasma rifles are always far superior, but what are the ACTUAL chances of finding one in a post apocalyptic world?

I kinda see where you are going with this in a way, I've been playing video games for over 20 yrs now and the violence in games is on the rise, which I don't mind.... It is really a scapegoat to relieve the stress of everyday life though in these ridiculous times, back in the 80's things weren't close to as bad as they are now and games weren't near as violent as now, are these 2 things tied together? IDK but there is one thing I do know..... If the end does come and my skills are anywhere close to what they are in a video game I should be in some pretty good shape haha I'm getting ready for the zombie attack when Resident Evil 5 comes out too!

reply to post by jheated7



Were video games to blame for massacre?

Pundits rushed to judge industry, gamers in the wake of shooting


By Winda Benedetti
msnbc.com contributor
updated 9:05 p.m. ET, Fri., April. 20, 2007

The shooting on the Virginia Tech campus was only hours old, police hadn't even identified the gunman, and yet already the perpetrator had been fingered and was in the midst of being skewered in the media.
Video games. They were to blame for the dozens dead and wounded. They were behind the bloodiest massacre in U.S. history.
Or so Jack Thompson told Fox News and, in the days that followed, would continue to tell anyone who'd listen.
www.msnbc.msn.com...


Game blamed for hammer murder

Thursday, 29 July, 2004


The parents of a boy who was murdered with a claw hammer by a friend have blamed a violent video game which the teenage killer was "obsessed" with.
Warren Leblanc, 17, repeatedly stabbed 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah after luring him to a Leicester park to steal from him on 27 February.
He pleaded guilty to murder at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday.
Stefan's mother described Leblanc, who confessed to police moments after the assault, as "inherently evil".
Video game 'obsession'
Stefan's mother, Giselle, a research nurse, had to leave court when the evidence in the case became too harrowing.
Following the hearing she said her son's killer had mimicked a game called Manhunt, developed by Edinburgh-based Rockstar North, in which the players score points for violent killings.
news.bbc.co.uk...


I don't know....

reply to post by jackflap


So you are going to use 2 cases with a 3 year gap in them? I guess without video games in their lives these kids wouldn't have been murderer's? I guess you could apply these examples to watching too much T.V. as well because I'm sure there are a lot more TV related murder cases then video games... Who knows maybe these video games keep some children from being murderers for having a game console so they could vent their frustrations, but that would be ridiculous wouldn't it?

Just in case you haven't seen it yet :
What-I-Learned-from-L4D
And my religion says I root for the BFG 9K.
After all, what is mass murder, people here often advertise it, so no big deal, eh ?
Respawn is just another word for reincarnation, but it takes longer.
Games are about time, and time is money !

[edit on 27-2-2009 by Chrysalis]

Why are computer games always linked with kids and doing kids harm? these games are aimed at over 18s. Kids shouldn't be playing them at all.

Now, I'm 27 and own both Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, 2 of the games shown there.... and they're both awesome! I don't have T.V. so if i'm in need of recreational entertainment, I don't think it can't get much better than taking an auto-shotty to a few hundred zombies or letting a group of super mutants know who's boss by introducing them to my Fat Man in V.A.T.S. !!! (no that isn't a euphemism)

point is, I really disagree with this as an theory, computer games have a history of being scapegoated if they contain violence but the real culprits here are the idiot parents letting their children play violent games in the first place.

reply to post by Chrysalis


Dude, just saw your left 4 Dead comic.... awesome work! I laughed so much I think I may have woken the guy up who lives downstairs from me!

makes me wanna kill zombies....

Pills here!

reply to post by Chonx


^^^AGREED 100% I'm 25 and last time I went to walmart to buy a game 18+ I actually got carded!!! Where are these kids getting the money for these 60+ dollar games? How are they getting to the stores to buy them? Who is showing the I.D. so the game can be purchased? Who paid for the console+tv they're playing them on?

Originally posted by jheated7
reply to post by jackflap

 

So you are going to use 2 cases with a 3 year gap in them? I guess without video games in their lives these kids wouldn't have been murderer's? I guess you could apply these examples to watching too much T.V. as well because I'm sure there are a lot more TV related murder cases then video games... Who knows maybe these video games keep some children from being murderers for having a game console so they could vent their frustrations, but that would be ridiculous wouldn't it?

Video Game Raises Concern About Subliminal Messages

By Amy Harmon

Los Angeles Times

A NEW VIDEO GAME'S subliminal messages raise some old questions about media's effects on the subconscious. -----------------------------------------------------------------

CALISTOGA, Calif. - First came the command, "Eat Popcorn," flashed on a movie screen too fast for the naked eye to see. Then the pronouncement, "It's OK for you to be relaxed," its endless reprise on a self-help cassette tape masked by the lapping of waves.
Now, into the murky, quirky nether world of the subliminal, where information is conveyed below the threshold of conscious perception, enter the video game "Endorfun."
A puzzle game that aspires to be the next "Tetris," the goal of "Endorfun" is to match the colored sides of a moving cube to the corresponding squares on a series of grids.
By inserting 100 subaudible messages in the background music, "Endorfun's" programmers and its publisher, Time Warner Inc., say they hope "to uplift the heart and mind of its users."
And if - after subliminally absorbing such notions as "I am powerful" and "I am at peace" - players are uplifted to the point of telling their friends to run out and buy the game, so much the better.
community.seattletimes.nwsource.com...


In April 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher in the Columbine High School Massacre. The two were allegedly obsessed with the video game Doom, and before the shootings, Harris claimed that the massacre would be "like Doom". Harris also created WADs for the game, and created a large mod named "Tier" which he called his life's work. Contrary to certain rumours however, neither student had made a Doom level mimicking the School layout, and there is no evidence the pair practiced the massacre in Doom.

In November 2001, 21-year-old American Shawn Woolley committed suicide after what his mother claimed was an addiction to EverQuest. Woolley's mother stated, "I think the way the game is written is that when you first start playing it, it is fun, and you make great accomplishments. And then the further you get into it, the higher level you get, the longer you have to stay on it to move onward, and then it isn't fun anymore. But by then you're addicted, and you can't leave it."

On June 25, 2003, two American step brothers, Joshua and William Buckner, aged 14 and 16, respectively, used a rifle to fire at vehicles on Interstate 40 in Tennessee, killing a 45-year-old man and wounding a 19-year-old woman. The two shooters told investigators they had been inspired by Grand Theft Auto III

In September 2007 in Ohio, 16 year old Daniel Petric, snuck out of his bedroom window to purchase the game Halo 3 against the orders of his father, a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, Ohio.[40] His parents eventually banned him from the game after he spent up to 18 hours a day with it, and secured it in a lockbox in a closet where the father also kept a 9mm handgun, according to prosecutors. In October 2007, Daniel used his father's key to open the lockbox and remove the gun and the game. He then entered the living room of his house and shot both of them in the head, killing his mother and wounding his father. Petric now faces up a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. While defense attorneys argued that Petric was influenced by video game addiction, the court fully dismissed these claims.

I don't know. I may find more. I am just saying that the topic of video games possibly having subliminal messages is not that far fetched and worth considering.

Mod Edit For ex tags.

[edit on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:29:40 -0600 by MemoryShock]

Hey guys, Thanks for the posts!

Some people asked me what my point is with this thread.
Well, That video games get blamed for every thing, thats one.
And that video games tend to be based on more present matters than they used too...

No more relaxing flights with Pilot Wings or saving the Lylat System.
And meaningless fun with Blast Corps.... Not to forget Mario Cart 64.

Now a days It's all 2012, end of the world, illuminati, terrorism, aliens gangbangin and so forth. Not that i mind but i wish developers would take some more risks these days.....

And you gotta love the Onion, so subtle



[edit on 28-2-2009 by Sfen Senterra]

First they blamed comics, then they blamed tv and now they blame the video games. I'ts just a scapegoat thing.

By gaming i just serve my hunter gatherer needs.

Originally posted by jackflap

"One study reveals that young men who are habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent games,"

Ok, so we're taking people who are already habitually aggressive and saying that these people who obviously already have aggression control problems are adversely affected by violent imagery? Seriously? Did they need to do a study on this? Here, let me do another study for you. People suffering from depression get sadder when watching sad movies. GIVE ME A GRANT!

Let's be honest, people. This BS over video games these days is the same BS that occurred 20 years ago over "that devil music"! Or movies. Or comic books.

All it is, really, is people who don't want to take responsibility for raising their children properly and instead want to try and blame someone else for their own shortcomings as a parent.

Letting your kids play violent games and whatnot is your choice. Do not try and tell video game companies that they should not make violent games. The majority of gamers these days are actually between the ages of 25-35 and we have every right to play violent games in the privacy of our own homes if we want to. If you don't want your kids playing these games, then don't buy them for them. Learn to use the parental control features on the game consoles (all of the modern consoles have them. XBox, PlayStation, Wii, etc). Take responsibility in your family and don't try to interfere in our ability to enjoy our past time. It's no different than someone who wants to sit down and watch a movie in their spare time.

I get so sick of all this fear mongering and misinformation regarding video games these days.

Originally posted by Magnivea

Originally posted by Sfen Senterra
Video games teaching kids that a grenade is more effective against a cyborg than a machine gun?

Plasma rifles are always far superior, but what are the ACTUAL chances of finding one in a post apocalyptic world?

Significantly high.

Originally posted by jheated7
reply to post by Chonx

 

^^^AGREED 100% I'm 25 and last time I went to walmart to buy a game 18+ I actually got carded!!! Where are these kids getting the money for these 60+ dollar games? How are they getting to the stores to buy them? Who is showing the I.D. so the game can be purchased? Who paid for the console+tv they're playing them on?

Obviously the parents, but I suspect that was a rhetorical question

I play GTA online extensively and I am always coming across young kids (as in VERY young kids). There is usually at least one kid under the age of 10 in every room (I say at least one because most of the players don't have headsets, so if they don't have a headset its impossible to know their age). Just the other day I came across a 6 year old. Anyone that plays online video games knows that cuss words and racial slurs are thrown around like candy. There is language thrown around that someone in their mid teens can handle, but an 8 year old surely should not be exposed to it.

GTA is 18+!!!!! If you're 15 or 16 and playing the game, I couldn't care less. At that age you can seperate fiction from reality and your brain is not so easily manipulated. But if you're 8 years old and spending hours mowing over pedestrians and shooting people, that has to have some kind of negative effect. Not to mention it is annoying on many levels to hear some 8 year old repeating the "N" word that he just learned over and over again.

And to the older members comparing pacman and mario to current games, its like comparing apples and oranges. Video games today are much, much different from the Atari games in the 80's.

Please note, I don't think video games are intenionally manipulating/brainwashing people, I own Fallout 3 and it is one of my favorite games. But when you get kids that are 6-10 years old playing these violent games meant from people over 18, it influences them. And more often than not, it is a negative influence rather than a positive one. I just think parents need to buck up and stop buying their 7 year olds ultra violent games meant for people that have finished puberty.

[edit on 3/2/2009 by ben420]

Originally posted by Sfen SenterraAre Violent Video Games Preparing Kids For The Apocalypse?

Surprisingly, I do play video games to prepare myself for anything, at least mentally, for the worst.

It can be used as a tool, either for evil or for good. But remember those evil 3rd world monsters who turned kids into ruthless fighting machines, they were able to do it without the help video games.

reply to post by ben420


I'm a proud PS3 owner and trust me I know what it's like to have children yelling things over the headset.... Parents don't seem to care what they're children do anymore I guess, it's like sending your children to a sleepover at MJ's house...

Originally posted by jheated7
reply to post by ben420

 

I'm a proud PS3 owner and trust me I know what it's like to have children yelling things over the headset.... Parents don't seem to care what they're children do anymore I guess, it's like sending your children to a sleepover at MJ's house...

Most of the time I'm surprised the parents don't hear their children and come in and yank them off. I heard one little bugger go off shouting cusswords for around 5 minutes. Either his parents were partially deaf or just didn't care about their 7 year olds newly extended vocabulary

Off topic note: PS3 sucks I owned one for almost a year until a week ago when it died on me. I made a spur of the moment decision and sold all my gear and bought the 360 elite. Now I'm glad my PS3 died on me

reply to post by ben420


It's too bad you went and sold it broken, if you had contacted customer support and asked to speak with a manager they would have replaced it free of charge I guess I made it in here a little late to tell you that

Originally posted by jackflap
Subliminal Messages in Video Games

Mario is a plumber, representing the working man. He is caught in the mushroom kingdom, obviously symbolizing his home land of Italy. He ventures out and stomps on goombas. Goomba is a lesser used term for Italian Mafiosos. Games.390227

[edit on 27-2-2009 by jackflap]

I always thought Mario eating Mushrooms and growing, throwing fireballs and all that is an obvious reference of... you know.