The World Is Stil In Denial of the Harmful Effects of Violent Video Games

I'd just like to make a post reminding people that their anecdotal evidence is not admissible as scientific evidence. If you want to comment on the OP's post I would suggest citing peer reviewed studies to back up your opinions.

The "I'm alright jack" mentality is a plague on the scientific community in all fields and is even addressed in the OP's link. You cannot simply say "I once saw a kid play this and he went on to be a doctor/kill everyone" and expect your post to be taken seriously. Statistical tests are a mathematical aggregate of a large representative sample and a basic necessity to any generalised conclusion postulating a causal link between two correlated variables.

Please stop defecating all over the thread by pretending your occasional experience with the subject matter is a more valid measure of the truth of the topic than SCIENCE.

reply to post by Char-Lee

There is a reason that many games are rated Mature only... unfortunately most parents don't care are not home.

After reading your first two posts, I was going to make this exact point but you made it for me. The games have a rating for a reason. It's not even legal for someone under the age limit for the rating of a game to purchase said game so it's solely the parent's responsibility to monitor their kids and restrict what they have access to, not the game creators or the government which was the point of my post.

Originally posted by chrisb9
The Tragic Shootings at Newtown, Connecticut elementary school is yet one more " Wake Up Call " in the long list of " Mindless Killings " that are the product of Violent Video Games and Violent Movies.

While many people hop on the " band the gun's " bandwagon, everyone realizes more and more that this " Monstrous Evil Plague " on the nations of the world has it's roots in Violent Video Games and Movies.

Denial is " Not a river in Egypt " and until everyone world wide wakes up to the fact of how our children are " Programmed by " Violent Video Games. These random insane mass shootings will only increase in numbers world wide.

Are Violent Video Games More Harmful than Violent TV Programs and Films?

There are at least three reasons to believe that violent video games might be even more harmful than violent TV programs and films.

•First, video game play is active whereas watching TV is passive. People learn better when they are actively involved. Suppose you wanted to learn how to fly an airplane. What would be the best method to use: read a book, watch a TV program, or use a video game flight simulator?


•Second, players of violent video games are more likely to identify with a violent character. If the game is a first person shooter, players have the same visual perspective as the killer. If the game is third person, the player controls the actions of the violent character from a more distant visual perspective. In a violent TV program, viewers might or might not identify with a violent character. People are more likely to behave aggressively themselves when they identify with a violent character (e.g., Konijn et al., 2007)


•Third, violent games directly reward violent behavior, such as by awarding points or by allowing players to advance to the next game level. In some games, players are rewarded through verbal praise, such as hearing the words "Nice shot!" after killing an enemy. It is well known that rewarding behavior increases its frequency. (Would you go to work tomorrow if your boss said you would no longer be paid?) In TV programs, reward is not directly tied to the viewer's behavior.

Quoted From: The International Human Press

The effects of violent video games. Do they affect our behavior?

by: Brad J. Bushman, Ph.D. Professor of Communication and Psychology, The Ohio State University; Professor
of Communication Science, VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

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Proverbs 22:6 :

" Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. "

edit on 12/14/2012 by chrisb9 because: (no reason given)

Didn't people already try this approach back in 1999 with the whole Columbine thing?

Saying that Dylan & Eric were "tainted" by video games like Doom & Wolfenstein?

It might just be me, but I'm pretty sure those rumors were dispelled as nothing more than that; Rumors.

There are certain people who I could make like a certain song they proclaim to hate just by listening to it by them. There are a huge amount of impressionable people out there. People are product of their surroundings...why do you think the south has so many conservatives? And Christians?

A lot of people just knee jerk re-action and say NO NO NO VIDEO GAMES DO NOT INFLUENCE PEOPLE... but then will go on about how MSNBC or FOX is brainwashing their viewers.

Can't have it both ways.

Originally posted by ShotGunRum


A lot of people just knee jerk re-action and say NO NO NO VIDEO GAMES DOESN'T INFLUENCE PEOPLE...

They do influence people, they do have an effect on the brain.


They don't make people do anything.

reply to post by eNumbra


I agree

Let see folks a benefits of playing video games.


video vames afe not evil
video games does not make people evil
video games does not make children evil
video games are not the cause a shootin around people and grannys
people make people evil secondly
a person himself make self evil firstly by nature of surroundings people and actions,
then stuff in head rewrite,add, update, and relate on previous events and synapses of current and past state in need of overcoming past to stand alive today based on new pathway. This does not exclude video games, movies, or popcorn. It is everyday thing.
So people make them self evil and other people help them to become that. Depend on isssue.

Maybe we ahould ban this plamet earth, this planet make people evil and cause thrm to do very very bad bad stuff.

Originally posted by Char-Lee

Originally posted by ElOmen
Big gamer here, and I am very nice I wouldn't hurt a fly.

Does that mean that my mind is too powerful for the programming to have effect on?

Are you a child? Have you been raised on violent video games?

Two kids a couple days ago near here an 11 year old and a 7 year old held up a woman with a loaded gun, they wanted her vehicle and money. She asked the 11 year old if the gun was real which made him angry and he told her he was going to "blow your head off".
She hit the gas and got away, they handed these two over to their parents!

Growing up with no one at home and spending all their time on these very violent games must have an impact. I play also and am not against games. I am against violent games raising children for us.

You would be better off arguing that violent kids or violent adults are drawn to certain violent video games, not vice versa. (That isn't to say non-viloent people don't enjoy them too however) If anything though, you would probably also find lower rates of actual violence if people can take out their aggressions in a simulated environment. It's called venting.

As far as the video games themselves having any impact on the person, I presume near impossible to argue that. Those kids, had they not said "I'll blow your head off" could have said another hundred terms/lines/quips in the act of what they are doing.

The have issues that made them act that way. None of it can be blamed on media, games, etc. Now, if you tied them down, beat them, broke their will and destroyed their self-esteem, I could see that as a good reason for some of those behaviours. Just as rapists often start out as victims, etc...

Circles of violence always have a starting point...

reply to post by boncho

ou would be better off arguing that violent kids or violent adults are drawn to certain violent video games, not vice versa. (That isn't to say non-viloent people don't enjoy them too however) If anything though, you would probably also find lower rates of actual violence if people can take out their aggressions in a simulated environment. It's called venting.

All young children are drawn to violence, pornography, etc.

That is why they have parents, because exposed to early to things the mind is not ready for effects one for life.

The facts are there many many studies have been done.

The only video games I play are violent, and there is a reason for it.

Exactly what you say it's for, to train. To train my mind, and to perfect the art of timing.

Doesn't mean I have the intention to hurt anyone because of it.
It HAS made me much more efficient then I was but not anymore inclined to actually use it.

reply to post by ElOmen


Wouldn't hurt a fly?
Only a "virtual" fly? Suppose on a psychic level you are damaging something when you commit virtual
violence.

Even though you think your mind is too strong to be effected, in the right circumstance you would respond
with game reflexes.

You are a mass murderer, however, so far just a virtual mass murderer.

reply to post by boncho


"They have issues that made them act that way. None of it can be blamed on media, games, etc."

None of it? You're in denial. You are doubtless a "virtual" mass murderer with a severely damaged conscience.
When I was young, nearly every household in my state had guns. These mass shootings never happened. Oh, there was one in Texas. The guy had a brain tumor.
Adam Lanza had all the signs that he was a gamer. Computer geek, withdrawn, nerdish. The biggest sign was his ruthless efficiency in dispatching his victims, then hitting "reset" when he heard the sirens. Gun control might have helped this family, but game control would have done more.

When TSHTF, we will have a world full of people over the edge. Will you(the guy with his head in the sand?) be a target or a perp?

reply to post by AlphaX


"I can't stand people like this. To anyone who is not a gamer: Imagine someone saying that any remotely violent sport like American football or remotely violent movie or music that you like is creating psychopathic killers, that is how I feel when people say that video games are causing these problems."

Football, violent movies, and misogynistic music are all problems in increasing psychopathic tendencies, but not to the extent that fps games are with the proactive violent mindset. Where did Adam Lanza learn the ruthless efficiency with which he snuffed his victims?

The military has alway had a lot of difficulty finding people willing to shoot another human being. In WWII a surprisingly small fraction could actually bring themselves to shoot directly at another human being. Present soldiers are far more effective killers. Is it possible that gaming has an impact on this?

Sir, I see that you are another mass murderer. Though, so far, just a virtual one.

reply to post by UMayBRite!

None of it? You're in denial. You are doubtless a "virtual" mass murderer with a severely damaged conscience.

Ever watch a movie with a rape scene? Ah yes, but I am not the one calling you a virtual rapist am I?

When I was young, nearly every household in my state had guns. These mass shootings never happened. Oh, there was one in Texas. The guy had a brain tumor.

The crazed gut nut who killed a county constable and another person and wounded two others in a shooting near Texas A&M University on Monday was a "ticking time bomb" that was ready to blow, his family said.

"He was crazy as hell," Richard Weaver, gunman Thomas Caffall's stepfather, told Houston station KPRC television.

articles.nydailynews.com...

May 17, 2000: San Antonio, TX
Two 12 year old male middle school students were arrested at a home while packing up weapons to be used to shoot school other students they were involved with in a conflict. One male pointed a .22-caliber rifle at the arresting officer and the other was found with a .25 caliber handgun pointed at his own head. Both were arrested.

*

The Luby's massacre was a mass murder that took place on October 16, 1991, in Killeen, Texas, United States when George Hennard[1] (born October 15, 1956) drove his pickup truck into a Luby's cafeteria and shot 23 people to death while wounding another 20, subsequently committing suicide by shooting himself. It was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history until the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

*

Shooting at UT
AUSTIN (1966) On this date in 1966, Charles Whitman killed his wife and mother, then climbed to the top of the tower at the University of Texas and starting shooting at the people below, killing 16 and wounding 30.

*

Adam Lanza had all the signs that he was a gamer. Computer geek, withdrawn, nerdish. The biggest sign was his ruthless efficiency in dispatching his victims, then hitting "reset" when he heard the sirens.

His ruthless efficiency? Seriously? The family of the boy were avid shooters. He would have been trained by his family in his ability to shoot, reload and any other gun handling. Usually gun training offers respect for the tool in young kids. This person in particular was obviously a pretty disturbed individual.

How you relate it to video games though is beyond me.

Gun control might have helped this family, but game control would have done more.

Based on your expert opinion? I already showed you made erroneous statements in your previous post. You sir, I don't believe you know what you are talking about.

When TSHTF, we will have a world full of people over the edge. Will you(the guy with his head in the sand?) be a target or a perp?

Maybe it's the people that wake up every day expecting, waiting or wanting for "TSHTF"...

reply to post by UMayBRite!

Football, violent movies, and misogynistic music are all problems in increasing psychopathic tendencies, but not to the extent that fps games are with the proactive violent mindset.

Um, the murder rate has declined throughout history.

See source here.

Proving your hypothesis to be horribly incorrect.

Where did Adam Lanza learn the ruthless efficiency with which he snuffed his victims?

Maybe he worked at a canning facility. You ever see how many empty jars can be filled with jam by a single person....

(This point of your argument is stupidly ambiguous)

The military has alway had a lot of difficulty finding people willing to shoot another human being.

Source?

In WWII a surprisingly small fraction could actually bring themselves to shoot directly at another human being.

Source?

Present soldiers are far more effective killers. Is it possible that gaming has an impact on this?

With far more effective weaponry.

Originally posted by AlphaX
If video games or any medium are promoting this kind of behavior in certain people, we should be trying to find those people and fix that problem rather than trying to just get rid of that medium all together so that no one is then able to enjoy it, because clearly they aren't effecting everyone this way.

Why is ATS so mainstream?

I would have thought that HERE one could find people who SEE, and who can THINK about these things, instead of immeditely ADOPTING the polarized stands that TPTB wants them to.

Why are you doing this debate from only two viewpoints: 1) Video games cause violence, ban all video games 2) Video games don't cause violence, all video games should be loved and embraced

Don't you see that they are doing the same thing again, that they always do, when there's something fishy going on. With HAARP, they created the debate about 'drilling a hole into the stratosphere' or something weird like that, instead of talking about the mind control abilities.

With Large Hydron Collider, they focus on the 'will there be a black hole or not' debate, instead of talking about what OTHER purposes those super-expensive hyperpowerful computers might actually be used for (to advance the PTB agenda).

And now they are doing the same thing again - instead of discussing _WHAT_ harmful long-term consequences can constant bombardment of metal music, depressing sceneries (rusty factories and such that you see in so many games, badly lit, too), horror, bloodshed, gunshots, murder, etc. have on the human aura and energy system - and in what way can TPTB use video games to lower people's IQ, general wellbeing, vibration frequency, sensitivity to higher planes (so they would never find out the truth), etc., they are just polarized about "do videogames cause violence or not".

I don't believe this!

This is supposed to be Above Top Secret, and not "Exactly The Same Crap As In Mainstream"!

Of course a video game cannot make a murderer out of a balanced individual. That's not what people should be debating about when it comes to what video games cause.

Those awful, horror-movies and gory films, with the gunshots, explosions, violence and all, are in effect the same as video games, but the time spent on video games seems to be a lot longer, so video games are potentially a power powerful factor in 'bringing people down and keeping them there'.

The change is of course gradual, because the human system tries to always repair itself, but in the end, I think it works a lot like opium; you get addicted to getting your next 'fix', so that instead of letting your body-energy-systems repair you into harmony after all that disruptive noise and flashes and intense focusing on murdering virtual people, you are starting to use that as your 'healing' - so instead of ever healing, you damage your aura more and more, until your systems 'adapt' to this new lifestyle, and you become permanently 'a lower being'.

Maybe you don't go around murdering people, but you are also not thinking what the government does, and you are not connecting to any higher planes, you are not meditating, you are not using your sensitive aura to communicate with nature and plants, you are not perhaps as compassionate towards others' misfortunes as you might otherwise be, and you become hardened, less human, and more demon. Maybe you curse more than before, maybe you drink alcohol more often. Perhaps you have taken up smoking, drinking coffee, and other destructive habits just to keep your aura at the level that is required for you to be 'in tune' with the low vibes of the game(s). So your 'fix' will be more enjoyable.

It's hard for me to imagine a sensitive, higher being - let's say Jesus for clarity - sitting down and starting to blast people's heads away in a modern computer/video game and laughing how much fun it is.

We are being systematically desensitized, AND horror, pirate-theme, masonic symbols, black clothing, metal music, and other such things are being NORMALIZED. These soul-tearing video games are just -one- (but a very powerful) way to do it.

It starts with Kirby for the kids, shooting innocent, cute creatures with cannons (why always cannons in so many games?) and then getting 'monster flame' and burning their forest down, after which he has to kill a TREE, like nature is so evil that we must not care about it, but instead hate it and destroy it. How diabolic does it have to get before people admit that modern video games are not "normal" (except that this world has become such, that in THIS world, they seem very 'normal' indeed)?

Does someone always have to get murdered, before we can question certain typical, modern video game elements? Try to find 10 popular, modern games without any horror/military theme in them, or some similar word in their names, even. Take the 10 most popular games, and you are lucky if you find ONE. It's systematic, and you are falling for it..

I think that if violent video games cause violent children then other video games would have other effects on children's behavior.
How many kids do you know who are planting gardens? AKA Farmville.