are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Yes indeed it is. To much violence in games such as Grand Theft Auto and other games for kids to be playing. The only game my mom lets me play that has violence in it are Halo, and all the old fighting games. If I had a child I wouldn't want him to be playing video games with extreme violence thats why the Nintendo Wii is way better then the PS3 and Xbox 360 becuase if its fun factor in games such as Mario Party etc etc.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Look at this graph:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/viort.htm (This is part of the website of the Office of Justice Programs, which is a part of the U.S Department of Justice).

Notice that the violent crime rate started dropping dramatically in 1994, just before video games started getting good enough graphics to depict violence and blood and such.

You say that violence has increased dramatically within the last 20 years. Of the last 20 years, violence spiked in 1994 (just before it dropped off), and in 2005 (when this graph ends), it's the lowest it's been since before 1973.

EDIT: Turns out that site also lists a bunch of other information about crime trends.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow



Kids shouldn't be playing M-rated games. Simple as that.

It's the parent's fault if such a thing is true, but as Relam pointed out, video games, violent as they may be, keep kids from doing other things out of boredom. Like crime. As such, crime rates have plummeted since video games were released.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I agree. Young kids shouldn't be exposed to most M-rated games (I personally still don't know why Halo/2 is an M), but that's the responsibility of the parent to recognize. Every video game has the ESRB rating on the front and the back, along with just what caused it to have that rating (on the back only). "Blood and Gore" seems to be a popular reason to make games M-rated, though I personally disagree that only those 17+ can handle it. Extreme blood and gore (e.g. Mortal Kombat) should probably be 17+, but games like Halo/2 don't seem to have enough of it to merit an M-rating in my opinion.

Here, actually I'll go find out what the M-rating came from. "Blood and Gore, Violence, Language." I haven't seen any blood in Halo that's made me even bat an eye, and language is in my opinion a laughable reason to make games M-rated (excepting extremely grotesque sexual things and the like), but oddly I can understand the "Violence" part. In the game, you can kill allies with a few shots from your gun or a melee attack to the head, and there is no inherent penalty for doing so. Thus, young teens (13 etc) -may- develop problems after seeing that (since there is nothing in the game that punishes you for killing allies), though I personally can't say for sure one way or the other.

I guess the gist of what I'm trying to say is that the rating system needs improvements. Currently we have Early Childhood (before 6), E6+ (6 and up), E10+ (10 and up), T (13 and up), M (17 and up), and A (18 and up). I would personally like to see something like this:

Early Childhood - below age 6
6+ - 6 and above
9+ - 9 and above
12+ - 12 and above
15+ - 15 and above
18+ - 18 and above

Many M-rated games would probably fall into the 15+ category in such a system, and it is my personal belief that almost all 15-year olds can handle something like Halo.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

This has always been a topic of heated debate, particularly with the (zomg stereotype!) over-protective mothers of America, and while I was a kid who grew up rooting for videogame rights, now there are more examples of games out there that make me wonder how they even got onto store shelves.

Companies like Rockstar Games, and in rarer cases Acclaim, thrive on churning out crap games with loads of violence and gore to cover up the absence of any recognizable storyline. It's in regards to these cases that I can sympathize with the mommies, but only in the aspect that they're over-the-top.

In short, meaningful vidja-gayms pwn. Crap games give the sport a bad rep with PTO moms.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I blame parents more than I blame the games. I feel it is the parents fault for not putting up more responsibilty into disciplining the kids. Though todays media does contribute to turning kids into brats too. Not just video games, but movies and music too.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

You know, there are hundreds upon hundreds of factors involved in violent crimes, and as such, it's perposterous to say that 1 of the factors possibly involved causes the change we see, at least not without a lot more supporting evidence.
The example told in at least one of my psyc classes used to explain how careful we have to be with correlation, is that violent crimes increase with ice-cream sales.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Exactly. For those who possibly misunderstood, I am -not- claiming that the release of video games caused the decline in violence. I am merely -showing- that violence has declined steadily since the growth in video game popularity, which defeats the idea that violent video games have caused an increase in violent crime. This is, of course, because there has not been an increase in violent crime, but rather a large decrease.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I think violent video games should only be allowed to older persons (ESRB Ratings M and AO). This system was designed to keep violent games away from our youth. However, I know that some parents buy these games for their children and totally disregard the warnings. Therefore, the games are not entirely in fault; the parents have more responsibility when it comes to their young children.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Further, the idea that crime is at some manic all time high is a total myth. Relambrien linked to some excellent sources on that, but the real issue is not an increase in violent crime, it is an increase in the reporting of violent crime in media.

Child abductions, as an example, are at their lowest in decades, but the incidence of child abductions -reported on the news- is up 600% over the past 10 years.

The most you can say about violent videogames is that people who are already prone to violence might get some ideas playing games intended for adults. The same is true of watching the evening news however, and to claim that a game can warp someone into being violent is rediculous.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I almost told Squeek that, (I hate it when people misread things!) but by the time I got around to posting, you had already replied and didn't contradict him.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I agree with almost everything Relambrain said, but what I don't understand about this whole situation is why violence is less taboo than sex and nudity. I mean there are "T" rated games like Medal of Honor where you can blow up people with C4 and the like, but any game that has nudity is rated "AO", Period. You would think that killing people (something that is against the law obviously, and no one is ever supposed to do) would be a lot more "AO" material, than sex (something that everyone desires and almost all people engage in.)

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

First of all, a person can't just randomly link some random teen or youth to violent videogames just because he/she goes around trying to commit a crime. There has to be some reasonable evidence that by banning violent videogames there would be less crimes or violence or else you're just limiting free speech without any cause. Videogames and violence somewhat portray what happens in the real world. A good amount of violence can be found by most of the stories the media has to put out.

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Yes, I feel that violent video games are a contribution to rising violence among youths. However, there can also be personal issues and such which may also help to contribute to this. Plus it's so easy to get a hold of guns or even knives that violence is becoming an everyday occurence since people can avoid handfights.