One can look through history to see an endless stream of examples of humanity making sport of violence. The Roman Gladiator games come to mind. So now Humanity has the means to depict this entertainment in a slightly more civilized manor......if you can call it civilized, We no longer derive our entertainment from people's actual death. but in any event. Ancient entertainment cost players their lives. Even as recently as America in the Old West used to host public executions. When I was a kid, they used to say Dungeons and Dragons caused sociopathic behavior. This doesn't even say anything of how graphic and violent television and movies can be. But hey.....Video games!
Yeah, there is always some morally superior, self righteous, self serving group with studies in hand to try to make connections to things that have little to do with their cause.
Not every culture has violence and the ones who had it most is the ones with the most people in power and biggest empires like rome.
Yeah, there is always some morally superior, self righteous, self serving group with studies in hand to try to make connections to things that have little to do with their cause.
Three words everyone should always be leery of because they usually precede slanted bullshit: "studies have shown..."
There are bought and paid for studies showing how carbon emission isn't causing accelerated global warming
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Yeah, there is always some morally superior, self righteous, self serving group with studies in hand to try to make connections to things that have little to do with their cause.
Three words everyone should always be leery of because they usually precede slanted bullshit: "studies have shown..."
There are bought and paid for studies showing how carbon emission isn't causing accelerated global warming
x + y = z huh. Did you know movies today that fall under PG-13 would gets an R rating 15 years ago? Jaws that was R rated in the 70s looks tame by TV show standards today. IMO its like a frog in boiling water. You chuck him in and he will jump out. Now if you drop him in room temp water and slowly turn up the heat you can cook him to death and wont jump out. We are that frog and kids over the past few years are being fed violence on a level never done before. We have not had the time to finish the outcome of your equation. x + y = yet to be answered. I have used my logic to come up with what I think is coming. You have used yours to say all is ok. We will see who is right over time.
"Not had enough time to finish the outcome of the equation?" Really?
You should read up on animals in nature, historical and today. You realize that animals do not only eat others and others of their own kind, but also while they are still alive? You should read up on human violence, historically over thousands of years, up until about WWII. Do you believe video games (which do not even exist in any of those instances), created said violence in those instances? If the question begs the question, then perhaps you should consider why that is.
End of that equation is simple, there is nothing to wait and see. Animal nature of which humans are included, are violent by nature in order to survive. It is only based on our intellect and being civilized that we do not act on those natures. Not everyone holds such faculties.
x + y = z huh. Did you know movies today that fall under PG-13 would gets an R rating 15 years ago? Jaws that was R rated in the 70s looks tame by TV show standards today. IMO its like a frog in boiling water. You chuck him in and he will jump out. Now if you drop him in room temp water and slowly turn up the heat you can cook him to death and wont jump out. We are that frog and kids over the past few years are being fed violence on a level never done before. We have not had the time to finish the outcome of your equation. x + y = yet to be answered. I have used my logic to come up with what I think is coming. You have used yours to say all is ok. We will see who is right over time.
"Not had enough time to finish the outcome of the equation?" Really?
You should read up on animals in nature, historical and today. You realize that animals do not only eat others and others of their own kind, but also while they are still alive? You should read up on human violence, historically over thousands of years, up until about WWII. Do you believe video games (which do not even exist in any of those instances), created said violence in those instances? If the question begs the question, then perhaps you should consider why that is.
End of that equation is simple, there is nothing to wait and see. Animal nature of which humans are included, are violent by nature in order to survive. It is only based on our intellect and being civilized that we do not act on those natures. Not everyone holds such faculties.
And as history has shown us, "intellect and being civilized" is not enough to save a society (it just prolongs it's cycle). Entropy effects all order (man made or otherwise).
The code of the pessimistic loner: "We unpopular loners are realists, who follow the three non- popular principles: Not having any (Hope), Not making any (Gaps in your heart); And not giving into (Sweet talk)".
They absolutely do not make me violent. I've spent most of the last ten years playing Avalon, a game where if you want to be that sort of player, you can just run around killing everyone and anyone and - not only that - rob them blind, strip them naked, beat them unconscious and leave them trapped, afflicted up the ass and totally helpless unless someone rescues them. I've seen players get into such rage that they have threatened to kill me RL, heard people saying they've thrown keyboards out of windows and more. None of this has ever made me personally feel like I want to be violent. That kind of ideology is a bit ridiculous if you ask me; it's like asking whether watching the news makes you a newsreader. Read: IT DOESN'T.
I like running over pedestrians in GTA5, but I'm not a violent person IRL. I'm probably the closest thing to a pacifist as I can be. I avoid conflict and I think I've maybe been in one fist fight in my entire life. (when I was 5)
I think some video games are a release for people that normally wouldn't do the acts portrayed in the games. People have frustrations IRL and this is a good way to take those out.
No. Entertainment media has a middling to negligible effect on us. We are not a composite of the comics we've read, films we've watched or games we've played each working to influence our actions.
Sorry boys and girls, we still have agency over our decisions and are ultimately responsible for the things we do.
No, I do not believe violent video games make people violent.
However, I do believe that frustration from games can make people violent (or frustrations from anything for that matter).
I have seen someone become violent while playing Tiger Woods PGA Golf for the Wii, purely because the ball didn't roll as he had planned - a broken Wii remote and missing paint from a wall soon followed. I would argue that a Golf Game for Wii is a violent game. This man was also in his 50's and hardly a person I would have ever declared violent in any way.
Personally, in an MMO setting, I have never become violent when I am dominating a situation, be it PvP or PvE. However, failing at these tasks brings up frustrations and, yes, I have become angry or violent (I punched a wall once, many years ago), but not because the game itself was violent.
Frustrations can come in many forms and a lot of times those frustrations come from other people, especially in a medium in which people are not held accountable for their actions or things they say.
People tend to confuse violent graphics with emotions that can be brought up anywhere. A kid guns down his classmates and people say its because of his violent video games, or maybe, its because his frustration with his classmates teasing him and bullying him had finally reached a breaking point and he snapped.
The vast majority of people who can separate reality from fantasy should not be restricted due to the tiny minority who cannot- otherwise we should ban all politicians from public life for using whores and embezzling cash. Think we would have a far better hit rate with politicians.
"Discussion / Do violent video games make YOU violent?"
I doubt many here are in a place to rationally and honestly track what makes them as individuals violent, or what has desensitized them to violence in others even if they personally don't express theme selves in that way. Pretty much everyone has a real blind spot when it comes to this kind of clear self examination and self awareness. The person that points at and laughs at violence is no better than the perpetrator... Maybe they are worse even.
My personal belief is that no, playing a single, or a few, violent game won't turn you into a raving nutter if you don't already have issues. But I do believe that constant habitual exposure to violent media can, over time, desensitize individuals to violence and make it more acceptable to them. I believe that this desensitization is contributing to the 'sociopath' culture that seems to dominate gaming communities (and, increasingly, the real world).
Anecdotal "I play games and I'm fine" discussions are pretty worthless, partly because they do not know what kind of person they would be if they didn't expose themselves to habitual constant violent media (not just games).
Can powerful art also inspire individuals to imitate it? Of course, you would have to be blind to say it doesn't.
It's clear that violent video games have inspired more than one 'fragile' individual to extreme personal violence, maybe even tipping them over an edge. Does this mean that I would ban them though? Nah, of course not. Let's not pretend that the media we soak ourselves in every waking moment has no effect on us though.
If video games make people violent then we should probably outlaw social media too (meh, maybe just the whole Internet), because it's turning people into aholes.
The answer to the question is of course not. There is a certain class of researcher who will rush out flawed studies claiming otherwise because they know that such conclusions play well with certain sections of the right-wing press.
Anything competitive makes people aggressive. Though it's up to their mentality, upbringing and culture to dictate whether they are able to tell fantasy from reality -- of which there are sources such as the internet, news, movies, famous people, etc. that influence people are more than just sitting on their bum for a couple of hours.
There wouldn't be a T-shirt saying "I'm sorry for what I say to you during Mario Kart." without competition bringing out people's verbal bad side. We can look at League of Legends and WoW for this as well (people who think numbers equal how valuable someone is and how big their epeen must be). The want to "be the best" is also a social stigma that has existed since time immemorial and is one of the true culprits of foul-mouthed people. This is unique to no specific setting.
Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing). German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century. Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now). I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things). In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while. If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this. If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own. Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis. Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
Comments
Three words everyone should always be leery of because they usually precede slanted bullshit: "studies have shown..."
There are bought and paid for studies showing how carbon emission isn't causing accelerated global warming
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
You should read up on animals in nature, historical and today. You realize that animals do not only eat others and others of their own kind, but also while they are still alive? You should read up on human violence, historically over thousands of years, up until about WWII. Do you believe video games (which do not even exist in any of those instances), created said violence in those instances? If the question begs the question, then perhaps you should consider why that is.
End of that equation is simple, there is nothing to wait and see. Animal nature of which humans are included, are violent by nature in order to survive. It is only based on our intellect and being civilized that we do not act on those natures. Not everyone holds such faculties.
The code of the pessimistic loner: "We unpopular loners are realists, who follow the three non- popular principles: Not having any (Hope), Not making any (Gaps in your heart); And not giving into (Sweet talk)".
8 years and counting addicted to
Avalon: The Legend Lives - the longest running online RPG in history
I think some video games are a release for people that normally wouldn't do the acts portrayed in the games. People have frustrations IRL and this is a good way to take those out.
Sorry boys and girls, we still have agency over our decisions and are ultimately responsible for the things we do.
In fact Games help vent aggression.
If you release your aggression on a bunch of Pixels, you are less likely to hit a real person on the street.
It's a bit like Porn.
The more you watch it the less you do the real thing...............
However, I do believe that frustration from games can make people violent (or frustrations from anything for that matter).
I have seen someone become violent while playing Tiger Woods PGA Golf for the Wii, purely because the ball didn't roll as he had planned - a broken Wii remote and missing paint from a wall soon followed. I would argue that a Golf Game for Wii is a violent game. This man was also in his 50's and hardly a person I would have ever declared violent in any way.
Personally, in an MMO setting, I have never become violent when I am dominating a situation, be it PvP or PvE. However, failing at these tasks brings up frustrations and, yes, I have become angry or violent (I punched a wall once, many years ago), but not because the game itself was violent.
Frustrations can come in many forms and a lot of times those frustrations come from other people, especially in a medium in which people are not held accountable for their actions or things they say.
People tend to confuse violent graphics with emotions that can be brought up anywhere. A kid guns down his classmates and people say its because of his violent video games, or maybe, its because his frustration with his classmates teasing him and bullying him had finally reached a breaking point and he snapped.
"Discussion / Do violent video games make YOU violent?"
I doubt many here are in a place to rationally and honestly track what makes them as individuals violent, or what has desensitized them to violence in others even if they personally don't express theme selves in that way. Pretty much everyone has a real blind spot when it comes to this kind of clear self examination and self awareness. The person that points at and laughs at violence is no better than the perpetrator... Maybe they are worse even.
My personal belief is that no, playing a single, or a few, violent game won't turn you into a raving nutter if you don't already have issues. But I do believe that constant habitual exposure to violent media can, over time, desensitize individuals to violence and make it more acceptable to them. I believe that this desensitization is contributing to the 'sociopath' culture that seems to dominate gaming communities (and, increasingly, the real world).
Anecdotal "I play games and I'm fine" discussions are pretty worthless, partly because they do not know what kind of person they would be if they didn't expose themselves to habitual constant violent media (not just games).
Can powerful art also inspire individuals to imitate it? Of course, you would have to be blind to say it doesn't.
It's clear that violent video games have inspired more than one 'fragile' individual to extreme personal violence, maybe even tipping them over an edge. Does this mean that I would ban them though? Nah, of course not. Let's not pretend that the media we soak ourselves in every waking moment has no effect on us though.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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There wouldn't be a T-shirt saying "I'm sorry for what I say to you during Mario Kart." without competition bringing out people's verbal bad side. We can look at League of Legends and WoW for this as well (people who think numbers equal how valuable someone is and how big their epeen must be). The want to "be the best" is also a social stigma that has existed since time immemorial and is one of the true culprits of foul-mouthed people. This is unique to no specific setting.
I'm like the Hulk. I just want to be left alone to game until the heat death of the universe.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
"Let destruction rain!" from Asbel Tales of Graces f