Do video games cause violence?

So far 2 people think games CAUSE violence and 3 are undecided.... Interesting...

I wasn't sure what I would get for those results on a gaming site like GBAtemp. Now if only they replied and gave their reasoning...

Dude, there are like, 7 people in my school who wanna be Master Chief when they grow up.

Video gaming won't cause crimes. I always haven't experience in my life over the years...

[quote name='Cablephish' post='2278720' date='Sep 25 2009, 05:07 PM']Dude, there are like, 7 people in my school who wanna be Master Chief when they grow up.[/quote]

and how old are those people?

[quote name='Cablephish' post='2278720' date='Sep 25 2009, 10:07 PM']Dude, there are like, 7 year old people in my school who wanna be Master Chief when they grow up.[/quote]
Fixed

Almost nobody here will agree with the idea that violent media effects behavior. Who wants to admit that their favorite hobby could be negatively influencing their actions?

And to the person who posted the Calvin and Hobbes comic, that came to mind immediately when I read this thread.


I did read up on a few studies about TV and video game violence. If you just go tl;dr, you should know. Both cause violence. You cannot argue that fact. (Though you still will because this is a video game site)

http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/reso...tv_violence.cfm
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/reso...lence_child.cfm

And video game research as well.
http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm

I did my homework. Mostly out of boredom.

I would like to say no, but I'm sure the excessive violence and the desensitising nature of the things we are exposed to doesn't help.

Then again, I wouldn't say video games necessarily CAUSE violence, I think the urge has to be there in the first place, and you can't place blame solely on one thing. They definately glorify and desensitise people, but so does much of the media and the world nowadays.

I think it would be almost impossible to prove for certain that video games cause violence, but it is also very difficult to prove that they do not.

Good luck with the essay though.

thanks for all the informative replies, Tempers!

Let's see how long we can keep it up, eh? More votes & replies means better evidence against this theory.

I believe that it somewhat depends on the individual, as well as the age of the person exposed, and to what they are exposed.

I also believe that it depends on your perspective, and that most of the common things I keep hearing about this topic are ridiculous.

Some things to consider:

1) To the people that say video games do not cause violence what-so-ever, I disagree. Find a 3 year old or young child, let them watch a TV show such as Power Rangers for an hour or so, and tell me what they do for the rest of the day. They run around swinging their arms, jumping off the walls, attempting Power Ranger like maneuvers. You can't tell me that media in general, both TV and video games, don't affect people.

2) Some people also say that video games desensitize people.. but I don't really buy that. Maybe they do in some ways, but I don't think its particularly bad. I live with my grandparents, and I'll sometimes ask them about their childhood because I find it interesting. When my grandpa was young, one of his neighbors took a shotgun and blew his own face off. He saw the aftermath. Now, my guess is that this was a pretty gory scene, and even with all of my violent and bloody video games I've played, that would have really disturbed me. Yet this was no big deal to people back then. Neither was killing animals and such for food. Maybe I'm just spoiled or w/e, but I probably couldn't stand cutting a head off a chicken, or killing pigs. And people will claim that playing something like God of War desensitizes me to violence? Really..?

Anyway.. do video games cause violence? Idk. If the person playing them is mature and understands that it is just a game, I don't think so by much. To someone that is immature, or maybe very competitive, or young, then I think it could affect them much more drastically.

Thank you, vampire.

I agree about how games would affect the young or overly cmpetitive, but the News and other forms of media make it appear games make sane, mature people suddenly flip out and go on killing sprees.

Like the kid in Asia (Thailand? somewhere...it's so long ago I can't remember), when he killed a Taxi driver and said "he wanted to know if it was as easy as GTA IV". The News said that he appeared to be sane before the incident, and they reported that all of his friends and family didn't think there was anything wrong with him.

YEAH RIGHT. How many GTA IV players have killed somebody because of GTA IV?

I seem to remember a little while later a report that his friends remembered he was beginning to act a little strange. Hmmm...

Of course they do, infact just yesterday I went jumping on mushrooms, eating ghosts and cutting people up with a beam katana...oh wait, I forgot, I don't immitate everything I see. I'm not 8!

*bump*

anyone else have anything serious to contribute?

*bump*

2 days and nobody has any more input?

@ Admins: if nobody else provides any more input by this time next Friday, can you close this topic? Or is there a way for the OP to close it...

You should watch the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode on videogames. I remember watching it a while back and it was quite informative. I'm sure a quick google search will bring up a few links that aren't youtube as the youtube video was taken off.

I've provided my input. They do cause violence.

Found that video! took me a while...

http://www.wisevid.com/view_video.php?view...zbugecqgg26262#

not sure if this goes against the gbatemp rules or not since that's an actual tv show.... guess I'll find out soon, eh?

[quote name='chrisman01' post='2299551' date='Oct 3 2009, 01:41 AM']Found that video! took me a while...

http://www.wisevid.com/view_video.php?view...zbugecqgg26262#

not sure if this goes against the gbatemp rules or not since that's an actual tv show.... guess I'll find out soon, eh? [/quote]

I don't think it goes against GBAtemp rules. And if does, well fu*k that!

Uh... Its pretty effing obvious that they do.

If I have to wait any longer for Imagine: Zookeeper to come out, I just might have to choke a bitch.

With your essay, you could choose which side to write for, but you could mention the positives and negatives in a paragraph, and then conclude with your analysis with your aformention evidence... Hope this helps!

[quote name='jackdanielchan' post='2299642' date='Oct 2 2009, 08:29 PM']With your essay, you could choose which side to write for, but you could mention the positives and negatives in a paragraph, and then conclude with your analysis with your aformention evidence... Hope this helps![/quote]

Uh, yeah that's... what she's teaching us to do...

Anyway, I watched the entire video. The ending puts the nail in the coffin that games do NOT cause violence. Poor kid...

I just wish the host didn't swear so often, y'know?