Violent Video Game Research

[watercooled]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/01/pre...t-video-games/

This sort of thing really annoys me, if 75% of parents really think there's a link between violent games and real-life violence, stop buying games with an 18 label for your 12 year old kids, instead of pushing the blame to someone else and trying to ruin another avenue of entertainment!

Personally, I doubt there's any real link between games and violence, it's just something convenient to blame, but still I reckon some of the stuff in mature games e.g. gore/dismemberment/zombles/etc could be highly disturbing for immature minds.

[kopite]

I think the link is more with people who have violent personalities before hand.

The media will allways try and blame something for violent acts. Books got the blame, Comics got the blame big time and films got the blame as well. Computer games are just the most recent whipping boy because as an industry it isn't as mature as the movies/Printed industries.

Its funny how every time something happens games get blamed but in 2 cases that spring to mind one the daily mail blamed the game man hunt for a murder stating the murderer was obsessed with the game. the true story is it was the victim who played the game.

The virginia tech killing they said he was a game. The only proof that came out about his gaming was he used to play sonic the hedgehog.

[Smudger]

It is a known fact that there were no violent crimes before video gaming came about. Or television. Or Cinema. Or books.

[chuckskull]

He referenced video games n particular in his speech, but it's actually far more broad and includes all "media images", it's more about undoing a previous ban(well total block on funding, the same thing) on federal institutions doing almost any research at all on gun violence.

However it irks me greatly that no-one ever turns around and ask these ignorant anti-*insert storytelling format of choice* plonkers why they're raising such impressionable children?

Seriously if a work of fiction, however visceral, can inspire your children to commit mass murder, then you the parent are to blame. Not the author, not Hollywood, not TV, not games, You.

[TeaTimeRebel]

Given the fact that many of the public already hold the stereotype that gamers are timid geeks whom live in their parents' basement (although times and opinions are changing), it makes the video game industry the low hanging fruit when some normally shy timid guy goes on a rampage. The media's sheer abuse of statistics is ludicrous. If there was an increase in sales of video games and an increase in the number of car accidents, it does not mean video games are causing car accidents.

[watercooled]

Yeah, these people seem to forget most youths/children in developed countries play video games of some sort.

The problem with stuff like this is a complete lack of control groups, people just jump to wild conclusions based on their own emotions with no real supporting evidence. I understand the study I linked is about more than games, but I find the survey results shocking.

The media, and some individuals, love to abuse statistics to demonstrate patterns which simply don't exist, or aren't nearly to the magnitude they make out. http://xkcd.com/605/

[deejayburnout]

This sort of thing really annoys me, if 75% of parents really think there's a link between violent games and real-life violence, stop buying games with an 18 label for your 12 year old kids, instead of pushing the blame to someone else and trying to ruin another avenue of entertainment!

I couldn't have said it any better.

Video games have violence in them, but its pretend, its made up. It may look real but its not. Computer generated images that are obviously not real. Any rational person can see that.

Movies and TV are completely different.

Violence, car Chase scenes. It looks real, its made to be real. I see more and more movies that are getting more graphic. The last Rambo movie springs to mind.

I hear no one complaining about them. Bet the same parents will complain about video games, but not the movies.

where is the violent movie research???

If games where to influence us all that much, we would all be listening to repetitive music, munching mad pills. Waka waka waka.

[hesham1516]

Why all the fuss? all this will do is prove once and for all that there is no correlation between gun crime and violent video games. Gun crimes are almost unique to america and existed long before video games did. Also games are not the focus of the research, but rather all media, including games.

If anyone needs to be worried, it would be news media outlets and 24hour news coverage channels. Have a look at the link below.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...hool-shootings

[melon]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/01/pre...t-video-games/

This sort of thing really annoys me, if 75% of parents really think there's a link between violent games and real-life violence, stop buying games with an 18 label for your 12 year old kids, instead of pushing the blame to someone else and trying to ruin another avenue of entertainment!

Personally, I doubt there's any real link between games and violence, it's just something convenient to blame, but still I reckon some of the stuff in mature games e.g. gore/dismemberment/zombles/etc could be highly disturbing for immature minds.

well its like asking what came first, the chicken or the egg ?

m

[Smudger]

It seems films are getting the same stick:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/f...questions.html

It's just a way for people to lash out, rather than say who's actually responsible - the perpetrator and the environment they lived in.

[csgohan4]

I think the link is more with people who have violent personalities before hand.

The media will allways try and blame something for violent acts. Books got the blame, Comics got the blame big time and films got the blame as well. Computer games are just the most recent whipping boy because as an industry it isn't as mature as the movies/Printed industries.

Its funny how every time something happens games get blamed but in 2 cases that spring to mind one the daily mail blamed the game man hunt for a murder stating the murderer was obsessed with the game. the true story is it was the victim who played the game.

The virginia tech killing they said he was a game. The only proof that came out about his gaming was he used to play sonic the hedgehog.

Come on guys leave Sonic alone

[chuckskull]

If video games really do influence kids so much, why is it so hard to find a bloody plumber?

Shamelessly stolen from a mate