Ban Violent Video Games?

[Aquila]

I found this interesting:

Everyone is talking about banning guns.

What about banning violent video games?

Here's a list of the mass murders linked with video games:

1. Adam Lanza, Sandy Hook Elementary, was a frequent player of violent first-person shooter video games. It was said his existence largely involved playing violent computer video games in a bedroom.

2. James Holmes, went on a rampage in a movie theater showing The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado in July 2012, He was a frequent player of violent video games including World of Warcraft, an infamously addictive role-playing game.

3 Jared Lee Loughner, Tucson, who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others in Tucson in January 2011, was both mentally ill and a video gamer.

4. Eric Harris, based on his journal, a panel of psychologists, psychiatrists and FBI agents point to Harris' contempt for others and his total lack of empathy and conscience as evidence of his psychopathic tendencies. He also enjoyed violent video games.

5. Elliot Rodger, killed seven young men and women, including himself. He was hooked on violent video games from a young age from his own admission, hiding himself in World of Warcraft, where he felt comfortable and secure.

6. Nehemiah Griego, killed five, including his mother, father and his three younger siblings. He loved playing violent video games and even enjoyed talking about them to crime investigators.

7. Jacob Tyler Roberts, played violent video games (his rampage enacted a violent scene in Grand Theft Auto)

8. Anders Behring Breivik shot 68 people dead at a youth camp of the Norwegian Labor party, another nine in a bombing of government buildings According to the judgment rendered against him, he liked playing violent games. He actually used the video game Call of Duty to train for his shooting massacre.

9. Michael Carneal shot girls as they prayed in a prayer group. Carneal never moved his feet during his shootings, and never fired far to the left or right, but instead fired only once at each target that appeared, just as a player of video games maximizes his game score by shooting only once at each victim, in order to hit as many targets as possible.

10. Jose Reyes, a 12-year-old boy who opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun at Sparks Middle School last October, killing a teacher and wounding two students before turning the gun on himself, had watched violent video games for months.

11. Dylann Storm Roof, spent much of his time playing violent video games.

12. Jeff Weise, a 16-year-old, shot dead nine people at and near his high school in Red Lake, Minnesota, had an obsession with violent animation.

13. Chris Harper-Mercer, shot dead nine people and another seven injured in a community college in southern Oregon.

14. Evan Ramsey, snuck a shot gun into his high school and shot a student and the principal and wounded two others. He claims that a video game, Doom, distorted his version of reality: "I did not understand that if I pull out a gun and shoot you ... you're not getting back up. You shoot a guy in Doom, and he gets back up. You have got to shoot the things in Doom eight or nine times before it dies."

Other killers have been hooked on violent video games too and have a warped sense of what's real and what's not, thinking that real life is just like a video game.

Numerous studies have linked violent behavior to consumption of violence in video games.

Recently, researchers at Ohio State University conducted a study and concluded that, "People who have a steady diet of playing these violent video games may come to see the world as a hostile and violent place." Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at OSU, continues, "These results suggest there could be a cumulative effect" in making video game players more aggressive and violent over the long term as well as over the short term.

This is just one of thousands of studies about depictions of violence in the mass media, including video games, that come to similar conclusions.

https://charismanews.com/culture/526...nt-video-games

[n david]

Banning won't do anything.

I read, but have not verified the accuracy, that in all but one case the shooters did not have a father in the home.

America's youth are broken because our homes are broken.

[Jito463]

As a gamer myself - and one who even plays those "violent" video games - this is a red herring. Video games don't cause people to go on murder sprees, any more than movies or books do.

Violent psychotics will be violent psychotics, and the trigger is irrelevant.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by n david

Banning won't do anything.

I read, but have not verified the accuracy, that in all but one case the shooters did not have a father in the home.

America's youth are broken because our homes are broken.

I'm not so quick to accept the dichotomy. Coming from a broken home can create deep frustration in children. Homes without fathers tend to be especially hard on young men who have no role models. This frustration can play out in school yard bullying, neighborhood fighting, and yes... the attraction to violent video games. When such a vulnerable young man plays these games non-stop, they desensitize them to killing, blood, gore, and serve to present an environment that is a virtual training simulator... which in essence, programs them to channel their frustrations and anxieties into...gun violence.

It's not a dichotomy between broken homes vs. violent games. It is a composite of broken homes and violent games.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Jito463

As a gamer myself - and one who even plays those "violent" video games - this is a red herring. Video games don't cause people to go on murder sprees, any more than movies or books do.

Violent psychotics will be violent psychotics, and the trigger is irrelevant.

I had to take Call of Duty away from my son because his behavior and language began to change. He even began to obsess over what guns were more powerful, and what damage real explosives can do, etc. He's only 11. Apparently his biological mother felt it was alright to give him the game for his birthday. I took it away from him and broke it. I then demanded to see all his games. I broke Grand Theft Auto (5?) and Assassin's Creed, too.

When he walked up behind his sister and acted like he was slicing her throat, just like they do in the video games, that was enough for me. I was done.

[Jito463]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I had to take Call of Duty away from my son because his behavior and language began to change. He even began to obsess over what guns were more powerful, and what damage real explosives can do, etc. He's only 11. Apparently his biological mother felt it was alright to give him the game for his birthday. I took it away from him and broke it. I then demanded to see all his games. I broke Grand Theft Auto (5?) and Assassin's Creed, too.

When he walked up behind his sister and acted like he was slicing her throat, just like they do in the video games, that was enough for me. I was done.

The thing is, all those games you listed were never meant for someone his age. They're rated M for mature (meaning, 17+). There's already existing systems in place to determine what age group a game is intended for, if they're utilized properly then the problem is minimal.

[Amanah]

Originally Posted by Jito463

As a gamer myself - and one who even plays those "violent" video games - this is a red herring. Video games don't cause people to go on murder sprees, any more than movies or books do.

Violent psychotics will be violent psychotics, and the trigger is irrelevant.

Sometimes I play Rift, zone into the warfront for player vs player combat. It's an adrenaline rush, but certainly does not make me want to harm anyone in real life.

[n david]

Originally Posted by Jito463

The thing is, all those games you listed were never meant for someone his age. They're rated M for mature (meaning, 17+). There's already existing systems in place to determine what age group a game is intended for, if they're utilized properly then the problem is minimal.

Bingo.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Jito463

The thing is, all those games you listed were never meant for someone his age. They're rated M for mature (meaning, 17+). There's already existing systems in place to determine what age group a game is intended for, if they're utilized properly then the problem is minimal.

True, in his case, yes.

But I'm talking about frustrated and unbalanced kids from broken homes without a father figure. Only a fool would say that such immersion in violent games has no effect. Let's flip it... what if it were violent porn? What behaviors would you expect to manifest?

[Esaias]

Funny how people are so quick to ban various things like tools and games, but absolutely freak out if anyone suggests banning things like murdering one's unborn child, or pervert pride parades, or adultery.

'Murika. It's what's for dinner.