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Do video games make people violent?

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Kirk

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There's been claims in the past by the media and government officials that video games make people violent; an example of the use of this statement would be after a young teenager or adult, whom have an expressed interest in video games, commit murder.

To me, I've always found this idea to be absurd. I have played video games since the age of four, and I would not consider myself to be a violent or aggressive person. Indeed, a lot of the people I know are perfectly healthy and unaffected by the violence they may see in a video game. Personally, I find the statement is usually used as an excuse to ignore other factors such as an individuals family background, their mental health, or their life situation at the time.
 
No, not at all. The amount of people who play video games and actually carry out actions from a game in real life is negligible. I've played video games from a young age (violent ones from around 10), yet have never been violent towards anyone. It seems to be something that is easy to blame so that the perpetrator doesn't look as bad as they are - I mean, they must of been influenced by that video game they played right? Sure, they may have played a video game that involved killing people but chances are they had other reasons for committing whatever crime they did.
 
In psychology there's stuff saying yes and no, yes mostly.
From personal experience, one of my parent's friends kids plays a tonne of video games and is honestly the most violent person I've ever seen in real life. He's like 8 and always talks about rape, murder etc.
 
Poontang said:
In psychology there's stuff saying yes and no, yes mostly.
From personal experience, one of my parent's friends kids plays a tonne of video games and is honestly the most violent person I've ever seen in real life. He's like 8 and always talks about rape, murder etc.
Click to expand...

... oh dear.
 
Blaming videos games, violent films and controversial music is much easier than accepting that a society/community we still fail at finding and helping problem children before it is too late.
 
I think videogames can be an influence in a kid's behaviour but the larger issue is that they are the only influence. Parents treat games, television and school as ways to raise their children through neglecting their own parental responsibility to teach them right from wrong and spend quality time affecting who they become later on in life.
 
Personally, I feel like it depends on the person, and it depends on the parents.
When I was young, like... 5-8 I was playing games like Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto on my playstation and I watched a lot of anime like Cowboy Bebop and such, and I didn't turn out to be a violent person. But then, my parents were always there to tell me, "That's just TV. You can't shoot people in real life and you can't steal their cars, or run over people or break their necks".
 
I think video games do have that effect on someone ONLY if there's other problems going on. A child who isn't being brought up properly would be easily impressionable by horrible games/films.
It wouldn't matter how violent a game or film I played/watched was, I'd know it was wrong and continue to not be a violent person, especially as I've always been brought up not to be. However, I think young children who do not have the "right and wrongs" set in their minds by parents and teachers from an early age are susceptible to being influenced by such things.

The ten year olds who killed James Bulger used methods of torture seen in the Chucky films. I personally believe that age restrictions are there for a reason and that kids are seeing too much too soon. Too many young kids are swearing and are fully aware of sexual and violent subjects, it's not right and I do think that violent films and video games are best left until a child is old enough. Ten is not old enough to play or watch 18 games or films. I think 16/17 is acceptable.
Anyway, I don't think the material is to blame exactly, but that the way they're brought up means the game/film will put ideas into their heads that they can't identify as being "wrong" because of their lack of morals instilled in them from a young age.

Parents need to be the ones to say "it's not real".
 
I will resume my opinion to this: video games don't make you violent, lag does.

Finished!
 
I believe that violent and inappropriate video games are surely to have a bad effect on a kid. That effect might not be translated or portrayed particulary by violent actions, but I think there are 100 ways where the effect of bad video games or TV can get a young child, or even teens.
 
I don't think so, honestly. I mean, if you take people like my brother, he might be an active video game player but, he has expressed thoughts of murder and has been violent toward me because he is mentally ill. (Yes, we got him help).

If you take a person who stole a car, and plays video games, who's to say they didn't just do it for the adrenaline, because they wanted a cool car, or the sheer fact that they got away with it for a moment?

Regaurding murder, most people murder due to a mental illnesses, whether it be explosive anger, schizophrenia, being turned on by it, or something like that.

I love Assassins Creed but, I'm not going to run around in a hooded cloak calling myself Altair and killing people with his weaponry.
 
Depends on the upbringing, I think. If parents take steps to ensure that children know real violence isn't okay, I don't see a problem with violent games. However, if you don't supervise and discuss, well... you get kids like [MENTION=29]Poontang[/MENTION] 's post describes.

I've honestly never understood why we allow children to see violence from such a young age, and yet people freak out about casual (not sexually intended) nudity...
 
I think some are drawn ti the violence of video games - they will go on to commit act of violence or murder. maybe chicken or egg here - what came first the game or the violent instinct.
 
I think there's got to be something already wrong with you for a violent game to affect you like that. They're isolated cases, most people are fine and we played violent games well before we should've.

Thing is though, it's easier to use violent games and films as scapegoats than to go into the underlying problem that causes the violence in kids..
 
Total rubbish. If someone playing video games turned out to be violent, it is because they had violent tendencies in the first place. Video games is a medium that has been on the receiving end of lots of bad publicity because it's a good "excuse" for people to use, and the "older" generation currently don't quite understand it. Books and film are far more violent and seem to get completely overlooked. Just look at what you sometimes see on the news, throughout the day when kids are watching, and you'll see where they get their "real" idea of what happens in life.
 
There are some pretty terrible video games out there, but it's down to the parents to totally avoid these and encourage their children to enjoy the better ones. I've played TombRaider, Grand Theft Auto and a load of others, and encouraged my girls to enjoy them, also. Fiona is 14, soon to be 15 and is a regular teenager, happy and no probs at all. And then there's Alexxa, a bit older - again, unaffected by video games. This also applies to TV and being choosy in what they read. I buy the books, I control what they watch on the telly and that includes films. No probs so far, no going mayhem in our village except Fiona gettin' into a rage when a boy tried to feel her up - put him in A&E overnight. I had words with his moronic parents, and believe you me, put them right on the subject of decency and how their mangy little git should be raised to respect others. Said parents didn't like my attitude, so I told them to go bluddy stuff themselves and stay away from my daughters. Which they have - just as well. ;)

I maintain that as a foster mum, no different from any other parent - that if we 'rents get talking to our kids and have a great parential realionship with them, then our children are going to turn out pretty well alright. I'm proud of my two. Great girls. :D
 
i don't believe violent games directly lead to violent behaviour, but i do believe that it desensitises people to violence in general.

i feel that's how they make the connection between games and violent persons- all they're really doing is making an already violent by nature/nurture person find it 'alright' do act out. it does NOT help that parents are buying their children games meant for a much higher age group, and probably neglecting their children's violent outbursts as well. violent games are more of a passive reassurance to violent people that yes, it's okay to behave that way- in fact, you can be heralded as a hero.

i also deeply believe that it have numbed the general public in terms of witnessing violent crimes. for example, if a woman or man were being attacked in the street, a person is much more likely to shove it in the back of their mind as 'not real' or 'not happening'. coupled with the bystander effect, this means that woman or man is going to be attacked without interruption.

THOUGH i figure that more violent video games are good for humans, as well. in day-to-day average life, we really aren't met with anything more dangerous than driving down a highway. we are still animals, and we're always going to crave a good fight (hence why getting into intense debates/internet arguments are so fun). it's a good outlet to let go of some of that steam, to keep that part of our brain fit- just in case something dangerous DOES happen. there's definitely a reason why we enjoy watching violence so much, why a lot of us run scenarios in our minds where we save the class from a rogue gunman.

i don't really know much, but what i do know is we shouldn't blame violent behaviour on video games, but rather the person who behaves that way and their actions. upbringing is definitely a factor- as is the entire community they grew up in. it's one thing to play violent and fictional games, it's another to be bullied constantly or abused.
 
In a way yes..
Violent games can really affect children.
Adults not so much.
But children when in nursery or school will re-act the scenes and use violence to their friends.
 
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