Violent Video Games

who'da thunk?

i love how most of the clips are from gta, it's such a brutal game, i was just playing it with this video in mind, and holy shit it crosses the line! it's sick

interesting...

there is some bullshit up in that video, like kids who don't play video games being at greater risk for violent behavior -- all this is really saying is that if you don't play video games you're more likely to have a social behavior problem. It's not to be taken to mean that if kids who don't play video games started playing video games they'd stop being violent, it just means that not playing video games is a good indicator of having problems interacting socially.

The research also didn't seem to focus on causality, if they were only doing questionairs and surveys etc. then they are limited to making correlated claims. This dosn't seem enough to disprove the evidence that the other college studies have done to show the causal relationship.  -- Granted they do have a solid point that the majority of psych studies done are only really relevant to the psychology major freshman, but those tests actually get at causality. I also remeber older reserach expieriments where the researchers would show violent clips or cartoons whatnot to kids, then leave them alone in a room with a "punching doll" (inflated clown ballon thing, with a weight at the bottom so you can punch it down and it'd return to it's feet) and the kids who watched the violent clips were more likely to attack the doll.... again there is reserach that does show that violent media does cause violent reactions.

i think the video is interesting, and that it definitaly sheads light on the subject. I think it opens up new directions for research. But i don't think that it's the end all be all on violent video games -- it dosn't mean that we're going to stop blaming them for violence. Then again when the media talks, what they say and what psychologists say is often times open to large discrepencies anyways.

BUMP

i have to do a research paper on video game violence and am wondering if any one has more sources with this point of view

What they mean is that playing video games kills a lot of idle time that would otherwise be spend just hanging out with friends, doing nothing, and in most cases, looking for trouble.  For kids, its best to keep them active and always busy with school and sports so they don't have much extra time to get into trouble, and video games are a good, safe way to spend that time.

I read it more along the lines of video games being more of the 'norm' activity for kids so if you're not participating in the 'norm' then you'll be more likely to be a  'social outcast'

i agree -- keep kids busy, but i think there are other better ways to keep kids occupied (and out of trouble)  than sticking them in front of a TV -- (or allowing them to do so on their own... parents should tell their kids to get off their ass and go outside.)

its true, obese people are not as dangerous

easy to outrun :P

but yea i saw the topic of video games being beneficial much along the lines of keeping them busy or just another form of entertainment that is enjoyed with friends, such as movie etc.  For instance, if you don't watch movies that takes away a lot of possible activity to do with your friends.  Now I'm not saying that movies and other digital entertainment is all there is to do, but for many people who aren't fans of sports etc. its a great way to compete and interact with friends in a safe way.

i think its just a video game to do something you think is cool, but would most likely never do in real life. Take racing games or flying games, are those influencing kids to become race car drivers or pilots? No! its just kind of like living out a dream.

Take for example earlier, i was playing GTA IV and i shot someone in the knees for money. I would never do that in real life, but it's something i think would definitely make my life more interesting. But I don't really wanna do it and get fucked in real life, so i do it in a video game. And I am by no means an angry, violent person.

If i get really pissed at someone, i come home and play the game to relax. The game has no influence on me, but that might be because i'm not some 13 year old kid who probably shouldn't be playing it in the first place.

I'm not going to bother reading through all these posts, but here is what I read in a super reliable magazine, I think it was time, or economy, or something like that.
Letting kids play with guns, play violent video games, is pretty much something you have to do. Kids who are suppressed in the house hold, etc. are more likely to develop violent temperaments when they grow up. There was a whole bunch more that I totally forgot.... this post sucks..... shit

pretty much though letting kids play with violent toys and games has been proven to be a healthy part of growing up

Not sure if its really relevent but I was watching some discovery channel show on Army recruitment and they were interviewing some colonel and he was talking about how their best soldiers were generally people who didn't have access to violent video games as children.
In a way I think games help people relieve stress, and seriously, if you take anything you see in a game seriously you've got enought problems already