Video games are bad: Heres why

Lewis Black probably said it best.

Here is the deal. They are just games. Pretend. Make Believe. If a person is unable to distinguish between pretend and real, then they have the problem. Not the game.

Have you ever heard of Penn & Teller? They used to have a show called BS. They would look into all kinds of claims and find out if they are true or not. One they did was about whether video games are bad for you or not.

I will let them completely prove you wrong.

You watch this. It's only about a half hour show. Video games are not bad for you. They don't turn you into crazy gun wielding psychopaths. Simply put, everything you said is completely wrong....

Now, keep in mind, there is a lot of cussing in these videos.... Maybe even occasional nudity.... I can't remember if it is in this particular episode. So, viewer description is advised. You have all been warned. Don't press play if you can't handle that.





I'm off to go play some GTA.

I use to play 1st person shooters, and I can tell you I've done worse in my imagination. Food for thought.

reply to post by gandhi


What have you done in your imagination????

lol

Originally posted by ferumbra
Hey people, what is the hell wrong with you??

You?

Anyone who says that violent games or movies arent bad are lying or simply cant speak and handle the truth.

WTF? lol, this is NICE! I am typing that videogames are not bad while reciting The Raven.. aloud. Please tell me again I can't speak!

Take for example Silent Hill, Call of Duty or some horror movie. Take only 1 hour of play or watching movie, and multiply it by all people that play/watch it. You will get tens and hundreds of millions of hours of people watching/playing horror fantasies.

Congrats on the math skills, I guess...

Now if you tell me that millions of hours of unreal horror fantasies aren't bad for society i will tell you that you lie.

I have no problem with you calling me anything, including a liar.

I can only laugh at you if you can say that this games dont harm society, or that they help society in good way: Watcraft, Call of Duty, Sillent Hill, horror movies like Hostel and more than 70% of Hollywood movies are violent.

Got a citation or link for this figure or can I make up numbers too? I like 4 much better.

I will tell you about myself. Yes, I'm gamer, I laugh at religions and nationalism, but still I am aware that lots of games and movies are bad. They are so bad that often I dont like that I watched them. Even if I am gamer and I think that is bad, even if i do not hurt any other people or nature around me, I know that games I sometimes play are violent and are bad for me and not good at all.

Then quit? Why take ALL OF US down with you?

They are bad like smoking addiction.

yeah, citation please.

Im honest and i can say that, but if you cant then you are not honest at all.

LOL, okay...

Call of Duty if perfect example, couse is most popular FPS atm. Only goal of game is to kill people. And you will learn something from COD? Yes, sure you will, you will learn plenty of tactics on how to kill people.

LOL, this is classic! Yeah, cause I have heard so many stories from our troops about how they were in a firefight with M-16's and were able to switch to a deagle in .01 seconds while also throwing back a live grenade in the middle of a russian airport. Oh, and after they were hit with 16 bullets, they hovered over the battlefield disembodied while the remaining combatants continued fighting. Thank god they fight battles in rounds!!

Be honest people. Take millions of hours, and say to yourself, yes I believe that millions of hours of horror or violent fantasies are not bad at all. If you can say that you are selfish liar.

I got better things to do with my time than spend a million hours saying the same thing over and over, nor am I that psychotic. However if you have found the time to do this, it would explain a little bit of the disconnect your post exhibits.

reply to post by drew1749

Naw, I think I read your post wrong. My apologies man!

reply to post by BiggyMcBigPants


It's alright man.

Is it just me or a lot of these introduction pieces getting on the main page?

They can't make a thread, so go ahead and write a topic in your introduction - keep introduction threads off the main page, it is just prime bait for trolling.


edit: My opinion is blaming videos, gaming and mass media for some of the terrible things that happen in the world is a crap excuse. Everyone has free will, THE INDIVIDUAL makes a decision to do what they will. Just face facts, that there are some individuals who really are evil and will do whatever they can to ruin peoples lives.

Taking OP's position, you could blame murdering someone on seeing it written while eating a bowl of Alpha-bits cereal.

reply to post by MidnightTide


I like this idea. It might fix some of the issues I was complaining about earlier. Make it so that someone can't reach the homepage until that hit at least twenty posts?

Originally posted by Mister_Bit
So by your argument, millions and millions of pacifist monks are going to become lunatic killers by default because it doesn't come down to the individual?

And I totally refuse to accept that any amount of hours would un-hinge anybody unless they were already un-hinged, the opposite to your argument would be the trillions of hours of un-violent videos would make us all saints, so no need to worry eh?

Ah, I just lost whole reply

I didnt understand first part comparison.

I understand you don't share my point of view. When you say that un-violent content would make us saints, I think there are far more bad content available than good. You must search for good content and bad is everywhere in main media, wars, weapons, dangers, crimes.

I just say that this is reflection of our reality, and that violent games have some amount of building this reality if they present violent or horror fantasies. That potential from video games are still new, but it is growing very fast, like other technology.

I'm tired of all this troll nonsense. I have my opinion, people have others. Instead of bashing one another, what the hell is wrong with opposing opinions comming together and sharing them, without having to hear im a "troll" or have my own problems because I mention pedophillia in games. Get over yourselves. I have played video games my entire life. I have a girlfriend, a job, and a dog.

Some if you simply aren't comprehending the message I'm conveying. I'm not saying every single game you pick up will turn you into a pyschopath. But do hear this, because I mention pedophinilia in second life does not mean its "my own problems". It happens, read it for yourself. Weather its addiction, false sense of being, craving a fantasy land, and acting out because it simply didnt provide the same ecstacy. Not everyone is of stable mental health. It is a fact the colombine shooters played these games, I'm sick of being redundant, I'm not saying it was the cause of the shootings. But that Dr in an article I keep quoting said himself parents simply do not understand the difference between a toy wooden gun, and being in a god damned war simulator. My overall point is video games are bad for society, especially when children get there hands on them, its that simple.

This technology, as vertual reality becomes so much more advanced, as these worlds become so much more beautiful than our own, there will be such a huge disconnect from normal reality. People are head over heels over World of Warcraft and its got crappy graphics, Imagine what this will be like in 20 years. When where virtuality take over reality? It has. And it will continue to do so even more. Check minority report, stephen spieldberg has been right about technology before. Watch when these games become surreal, with an ever increasment of sex viloence, pedophinilia and even the feeling of killing. There will be an increase in pedophinilia, rape, violence, loners, and creeps BECAUSE of video games. As a matter of fact, there probably already has been

Who cares about whats happening in the real world when I'm worried about leveling this character, or slaving away on this game. Its not just a tool to keep so many people asleep, its the best tool. Better than movies. Better than music. It creaties zombies, living in a virtual world because they'd prefer that over this one.

reply to post by Hiasyouwant

I'm tired of all this troll nonsense. I have my opinion, people have others. Instead of bashing one another, what the hell is wrong with opposing opinions comming together and sharing them, without having to hear im a "troll" or have my own problems because I mention pedophillia in games. Get over yourselves. I have played video games my entire life. I have a girlfriend, a job, and a dog.

I'll give you a star because that's almost reasonable. However it has nothing to do with opposing opinions. It has to do with how you laid out your opinion.

Look at my post that outlined everything you said. When you break it down it just doesn't make sense. Sorry bud.

Who cares about whats happening in the real world when I'm worried about leveling this character, or slaving away on this game. Its not just a tool to keep so many people asleep, its the best tool. Better than movies. Better than music. It creaties zombies, living in a virtual world because they'd prefer that over this one.

You've confused the minority with the majority. A minority of people have a horrible addiction. Most people aren't stupid enough to become a zombie. I'm sorry if you have a "weak mind" and video games can ruin life for you. I guess you just shouldn't play them.

Which you say you do. So don't do it.

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant
I'm tired of all this troll nonsense. I have my opinion, people have others. Instead of bashing one another, what the hell is wrong with opposing opinions comming together and sharing them, without having to hear im a "troll" or have my own problems because I mention pedophillia in games. Get over yourselves. I have played video games my entire life. I have a girlfriend, a job, and a dog.

Some if you simply aren't comprehending the message I'm conveying. I'm not saying every single game you pick up will turn you into a pyschopath. But do hear this, because I mention pedophinilia in second life does not mean its "my own problems". It happens, read it for yourself. Weather its addiction, false sense of being, craving a fantasy land, and acting out because it simply didnt provide the same ecstacy. Not everyone is of stable mental health. It is a fact the colombine shooters played these games, I'm sick of being redundant, I'm not saying it was the cause of the shootings. But that Dr in an article I keep quoting said himself parents simply do not understand the difference between a toy wooden gun, and being in a god damned war simulator. My overall point is video games are bad for society, especially when children get there hands on them, its that simple.

This technology, as vertual reality becomes so much more advanced, as these worlds become so much more beautiful than our own, there will be such a huge disconnect from normal reality. People are head over heels over World of Warcraft and its got crappy graphics, Imagine what this will be like in 20 years. When where virtuality take over reality? It has. And it will continue to do so even more. Check minority report, stephen spieldberg has been right about technology before. Watch when these games become surreal, with an ever increasment of sex viloence, pedophinilia and even the feeling of killing. There will be an increase in pedophinilia, rape, violence, loners, and creeps BECAUSE of video games. As a matter of fact, there probably already has been

Who cares about whats happening in the real world when I'm worried about leveling this character, or slaving away on this game. Its not just a tool to keep so many people asleep, its the best tool. Better than movies. Better than music. It creaties zombies, living in a virtual world because they'd prefer that over this one.

You have just debunked your whole argument there in that last post my friend... to quote YOU..

"Not everyone is of stable mental health." people triggered by games are already unstable, it's not the games and the best quote....

"But that Dr in an article I keep quoting said himself parents simply do not understand the difference between a toy wooden gun, and being in a god damned war simulator." ..... The parents ""simply do not understand"".. so what do they do? They blame games.

Originally posted by Hiasyouwant

Take quick glimpse of Silent Hill.



You just had a glimpse. Now imagine not just a glimpse, but a fantasy land full of bodies, disembowels, crucifixions, and pools of blood on top of the creepiest music you've ever heard of. Could you imagine some sorts of psychological affects on a child/teen? I'm not going to find every gory and violent picture, you get it.

Wow, you just sold it to me.

That game looks excellent, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

(it's funny when people try to vilify something and instead bring it free publicity that in some cases is worth thousands)

reply to post by Hiasyouwant


The message your conveying is that weak minded individuals are susceptible to suggestions via whatever format you wish to think of.

Are you trying to suggest that the government protect us?


Most individuals are able to sit down and enjoy playing a violent video game without going crazy. As to those who are weak minded, or just plain nuts - your going to have them no matter what. What needs to be done, and is now missing from society is PARENTS ACTUALLY PARENTING instead of letting the internet and other forms of media becoming the babysitter.

reply to post by sarra1833


exactly! stop blaming video games! everyone wants to blame kids behavior on video games. before video games it was movies, before that it was rock and roll music, before that it was books. this is just ridiculous, no one wants to examine their own parenting skills, because ultimately, that is where the fault lies. OP, you are also not acknowledging the fact that not all video games are violent, many actually teach us about morales.

reply to post by buster2010


Haha I completely forgot about State of Emergency. That game was so much fun... and guess what? I never shot up a shopping mall.

This sounds like the whole gateway theory like with pot and harder drugs. Just because you enjoy disemboweling some pixels on a screen doesn't mean you're gonna go out and slaughter your boss next time they upset you. With all the millions of people that play video games of course you are going to have some that do terrible things in real life. The crazy people also shop at the grocery store, maybe we should be wary of doing that as well?

reply to post by Adyta


What game is this? Sounds interesting.

Link me?

reply to post by Hiasyouwant


They have rating systems for a reason. Much like r rating for movies, games with an m aren't for children.

So how about, you go shove your bible up your liberal ass (or conservative or w,e you are) no different than movies, or even real life pending on which country you live in. So by censoring violence your censoring life, so when something bad does happen. Your sensitive @$$ is going to have a panic attack and be useless to everyone around you

War situation your crying in the bunker hoping it's a bad dream, yea I get it your react with your emotions not intellect. People are de-sensitized from violence because life is hard and bad things do happen.

So who survives during a war, or mugging or robbery etc. In a bad situation someone who is sensitive to violence cannot overcome it, or help others in a stressful situation like that. When someone who is used to the image of violence deals a lot better with better results.

Anyway I like video games, I am very anti religious, magical thinking ends no where expect with you being dead. Religion causes more wars then saves. So really who's side are you on? A peaceful gamer, or the religious institutes that encourage such bloodshed in the name of "god"

What kind of god asks for bloodshed? Not a god at all. So judge others in your own mind, and others will not judge you, only in their mind.