are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

[dood gone krazee]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I'd have to say that video games today are difinetly ruining todays youth. Video games are fine, but only certain ones. Kids ages 8 through 13 should definitly NOT be playing games like Grand Theft Auto, or Medal of Honor. These games have way too much violence, and it's teaching kids too much about it. Same with Gears of War, I've played it a few times, and I KNOW that some 7 year olds even play this game. Now if I were this kid's parent, I would'nt want him playing a game where you can easily blow some guys head off with a gun, see blood and guts and such splatter everywhere, then go up to the dead body on the ground, kick it, and make more guts explode from the corpse!

But then, what if video games like this, weren't even invented? Kids would be out in the streets alot more, probably doing the crimes, instead of just being able to do it on a computer screen.

So at the same time, video games are very bad for todays youth, but also, it has a good side. Keeping the kids from doing the crimes in the real world, and doing it virtually.

[devonin]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

It is fallacious to argue that a game explicitly intended for those over 18 is inappropriate for those under 18, and use that as a basis to say that video games are "a bad influence" If you're talking about teens, you shouldn't be looking at anything rated over T for Teen. If you're looking at children, E for Everyone should be the only valid category to judge.

Inappropriately accessed video games are a bad influence on children, sure, but that doesn't make Rated M games bad or wrong or even morally ambiguous, there just needs to be appropriate enforcement of the age restrictions.

I mean, I'd argue that free access to hard liquor is a bad influence on 8 year olds, but since it is legally only for those over (depending on country) 16, 18, 21, if there are 8 year olds getting access to hard liquor, that doesn't speak to booze being -bad- it speaks to insufficient controls on access.

[Sullyman2007]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I see where your comming from, Devonin, but shouldn't you be able to infer what thats doing to a childs mind? When an 11 year old kid sits down at his T.V, switches on his 360 and starts decapitating people with chainsaws, shouldn't that constitute as being, "a bad influence"? I'm not trying to sound biased, but that should be common sense.

Also, I do believe that parents should have more of an insight on what their kids are doing. I think that most kids get away with playing these games because the parents really dont know what their playing. Its a parents responsibility to moniter what his/her child plays, and for that matter, what their child watches on T.V, websites they visit, etc.

[Chrissi]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I am noticing a theme in this thread.

"If the parents raised the children well, the children won't be messed up."

"People are responsible for their own actions. Everyone can make good decisions."

I would like to cite the example of Phineas Gage. Phineas Gage is a guy who lived about 150 years ago. He was a typical hardworking, responsible, kind railroad construction worker who was well-thought of by everyone he knew. He had a high status at work and a good social life.

However, he was involved in a freak accident at work where an iron rod blew through his head, probably destroying most of his prefrontal cortex. He recovered and was perfectly normal, able to go about his life unimpaired except for one thing - he was no longer the same person. He wasn't kind, well-mannered, responsible, and well-loved anymore. He had become an extremely irresponsible, bitter person, who was prone to losing his temper.

He made lots of bad decisions. He couldn't work anymore. He cursed a lot, when he never did before. He was violent, whereas before he was quite docile. It basically destroyed his life, his personality, and his ability to make reasonable, responsible, and rational decisions.

This case is often cited in psychology, and should really be causing many of you to question what causes people to behave in stupid ways. I know lots of people who were raised by bad parents and turned out to be excellent people. Then again, there are those whose parents practically killed themselves over trying to resolve their problem child, and the kid is still terrible.

I'm not saying it's entirely within the brain. I'm saying you can't blame either environment or mental capacity. I think they both work together. Everybody's brain is kind of different from everyone else's, and these variations can sometimes make for an aggressive or a docile person, a responsible or an irresponsible one.

But who's to blame? The person? Think about Phineas Gage. Is he to blame for his actions? He was a great guy who developed a terrible personality out of a freak accident. You might say, no, it's just really sad. Phineas Gage was awesome, and it's none of his fault that that happened.

But then, if a person is born with brain damage similar to what happened to Phineas Gage, can we keep blaming them for their irresponsible/violent behaviour? I guess something has to be done.

I think we need to stop looking for people to blame and start looking for ways to resolve problems.

If we say "Oh it's all the parents' fault, you can't do a thing about it unless you are the kid's parents", well, even if that were true, it makes things simple, but it doesn't resolve a damn thing. If it's all the parents' fault, what can we do to help? Nothing? That isn't useful at all. Why are we blaming the parents when we could find the real root of the problem and attempt to solve it? Similarly, why blame video games? We need to actually find out what makes people tick, instead of blaming everything around us.

Accurate statistcs might help too.

[Dark Ronin]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow? i think they are because violence has increased dramatically in the last 20 years

Video games have nothing to do with increased violence, and really violence isn’t increasing. It’s always been here. Slight increases could be due to the increased population across the world. But if you really think about it, where do all the violent video games come from? What about the horrifically violent anime and manga that we don’t even have in America? It’s all coming from Japan. But Japan has the lowest crime rate in the world. It’s true that Microsoft is getting some American games out there, but it’s not like just as soon as they made an Xbox crime rates shot up, and they still get our games in Japan too. I do love how this is a thread on a gaming site though. Of course everyone is going to be pro video games here.

It is true that a group of people went on a killing spree and blamed it on GTA, but people have done the same thing in the name of music, celebrities, TV shows, old killers, etc. If it wasn’t the game it would have been something else. It’s just how humans are made. Their always has been and always will be murderers. I assume by violence this thread is more about anger issues, if that’s the case sports cause much more violent tendencies than do video games. Video games are more likely to cause one to repress violent outbursts than express them. That’s not always a good thing, but it’s true.

I am noticing a theme in this thread.

"If the parents raised the children well, the children won't be messed up."

"People are responsible for their own actions. Everyone can make good decisions."

I would like to cite the example of Phineas Gage.

Phineas Gage was pretty awesome, but I don’t see how what happened to him really applies here. It is true that if one suffered from some sort of mental handicap that there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. They are still to blame for their actions. For example, there was a man my father knew in the military. He lost it one night and just started killing people. Not just enemies but shooting everyone around him. Its true that he wasn’t thinking clearly. He was under a lot of pressure and something inside of him snapped. But he was still responsible for his actions. Its not like just because he had mental issues he was exempt from the law. Phineas Gage lost his ability to filter his thoughts, and make rational decisions. He wasn’t a typical person. Violence definitely has a lot to do with your parents. They supply the genes and usually the environment. If both of those go together just right, you become a psycho killer. Its interesting to think that if you were that person, and you went through everything they did you would end up a killer too. But the truth is we are all different. One person in the situation, might snap and start killing, the other may kill him or her self, another could get away from it and better themselves, or go into shock. There are countess ways to deal with any given situation. Both nature and nurture play into everything we do. But it is impossible to separate the two so we may never know which has the greater impact.

[chunky_cheese]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

It seems that kids of today (and FPS developers) are making console games more fictional and more and more having to do with killing zombies/aliens or other fictional creatures, how does this fare in the eyes of "Video games make kids eat their lunch in jail" fiends?

[bluelight888]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I think through the media and a more lenient system of choosing games to play has corrupted Americans. Recently, I was at a Gamestop where a kid who couldn't have been much more than 12 was eyeing Halo 3 and saying,"Can I have that Mommy?"

You see death and you've never seen death before, you think how horrible it is, the blood, the gore, everything. You see death 28,543 times, you think death isn't a horrible thing, blood happens, people shot in the head on television, who gives a sh!t?

Thanks to how loose our system of choosing media is, our society has grown to not caring about death, sex, gangs, guns, bombs, and war. Ask anyone from Iran or Pakistan what death is and I'll bet my life that they know what true death is, true pain. So here's a message to all people who treat corruption as a joke: STOP IT. Stop pretending like you have a grip because you play Halo 3+ hours a day. Cause death is a bitch. It's not a joke.

[devonin]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

The game is rated in such a way that the child -cannot- simply "choose" Halo 3 as media. It is up to the parent hearing the request to exercise something approaching due diligence in the raising of their offspring and actually -looking- at the game and its rating before buying it.

If the parent has decided that its okay for their kid, whose fault is it truly if the kid is adversely affected by it?

[bluelight888]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

The game is rated in such a way that the child -cannot- simply "choose" Halo 3 as media. It is up to the parent hearing the request to exercise something approaching due diligence in the raising of their offspring and actually -looking- at the game and its rating before buying it.

If the parent has decided that its okay for their kid, whose fault is it truly if the kid is adversely affected by it?

Well I can't really argue with that. But seriously, parents need to be more careful over what they expose to their children. Because what I saw in that Gamespot store was shocking. The mother actually LET that kid who couldn't have been more than 12 buy the game! It was almost his birthday, after all. Oh gee, so I guess that lady has many more birthdays to go.

[DARKSAMUS]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

Are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow? i think they are because violence has increased dramatically in the last 20 years

You must be a liberal. I wouldn't think so. As long as your a mature person then no. But if a fourth grader is playing halo and all those Tom Clancy games etc. Then it just might. Eventually all they will think about is killing things and blowing things up. I know from experience.

[Coolgamer]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

You must be a liberal. I wouldn't think so. As long as your a mature person then no. But if a fourth grader is playing halo and all those Tom Clancy games etc. Then it just might. Eventually all they will think about is killing things and blowing things up. I know from experience.

Umm... excuse me?! Most liberals are in FAVOR of less controls in the gaming industry. (Liberman does not count. He is an independant.)

You and I both can name members of each party that have issues.

That's still no excuse for your broad generalization.

Do not label people politically from their opinions, and don't use the "OH YOU MUST BE A LIBERAL/CONSERVATIVE/ATHEIST/BIBLE FREAK" argument here. It won't work.

[knuckles2224]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

My little brothers play Grand theft Auto, I don't think them going around stealing any cars or punching random old people in the streets.

[drakethelegend]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

I agree with cobalt wire. It's not really video games, ive been playing violent vids all my life, it's all the parents fault, well mostly. Parents are a lot more slack these days and don't spank their kids and they wonder why they end up brats. Ever seen those parents with the pet collar thing on their kid? There's my proof lol. It does have to do with the media like cobalt wire said though, music, games, and especially music, all influence it, but that's below the parent level. If the parents were on top of it, then it would be fine, i think, but most arent', so that level takes over.

[chuckey]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

i don't think violence from video games are messing up our youth. I think kids should be smart enough to know that they should not do that in real life. I think it's more the medias fault for changing a kid.

kids see a REAL PERSON shooting people and getting away from the cops without consequences, and they think they can do that too because they saw a real person do it also, not a video game character.

But you never know, kids this generation are stupid spoiled brats with things like "stupid spoiled whore video playset."

[Bangcrashboom]

Re: are violent video games ruining the youth of tomorrow

truthfully, i dont think that its the games itself, its the type of kid before they play the games. The games just make it worse if the kids are already violent...