Yeah about the latest massacre guy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5346110.stm


Why do they always find the games? i mean we all play games that are more or less violent. It's totally irrelevant and unimportant data if you ask me. :tai:

What they don't realise is that not games are faulty of people going berserk, but wrong social conditions where parents don't have time for their children or simply don't have an idea of how to bring them up which ends up in children searching for their own place among others, often in such a wrong direction. Blaming games for people's weird psyche and prohibiting / censoring them is easy, but there were such massacre guys already before the term "computer entertainment" firmly established itself.

When they find no other reasons, they blame something that they are unaware of and that is easiest to blame. It's inquisition. Holy war.

Or that's atleast how it goes if you like to think black & white. :)

I'd say your right, but ....

Of course, violent video games aren't THE cause of violent behaviour, same goes for violent movies and television series. But I'm still astonished to see so much violence on screen, while there is plenty of censorship on nudeness and eroticism. It's like saying : "Killing people is allowed, but reproduction is forbidden". Though seeing so much violence does not make one violent, it does make one indifferent when seeing violence. I can watch a movie where the "hero" kills dozens of people, without feeling any emotions towards the victims. Of course, I know they're only actors, and brutal violence in real life can still shock me. But I'm not sure if children really make that distinction. For this reason, I think it's good to keep children (and I don't mean teenagers) away from highly realistic and ultraviolent video games.

When it comes to violent behaviour, I agree that social conditions are often the most important factor. That's why violence (and other criminal activities) appears frequently in families in decent neighbourhoods. Pressure in modern day work environments is often so suffocating, many parents are having difficulties to balance carreer and family life. You could say they need the income for raising their children, so they don't always have a choice. But in many cases, parents just want to stick up with others in their social class (mobile phone, 2nd car, GPS, home cinema, etc.) and should really think about what's most important, their social status or their children. I know what 's most important to me. :ok:

I don't know the statistics, but I wouldn't be surprised if violence were more frequent amongst players of violent video games. But, statistics should always be treated with caution, as they fail to take into consideration cause and result. What I mean is that people with violent tendencies will be more likely to start playing violent video games. So there may be more violent people amongst the violent game players, but that doesn't mean their behaviour is caused by playing such games.

<Walks away and starts playing some Carmageddon> :whistling:

Not again....

:tai:

It is correct that violent content, playing or watching, can affect your behaviour... but... :)

Let's take a game "condemned: criminal origins". The game is psychological thriller, with very brutal violence and very dark and scary atmosphere. You enter room and hear noise. You see dark figure running in next room. You shoot but miss. You check the ammo: no ammo! Damn. You drop your gun and grap the pipe running at wall. Right at the moment, a drug addict runs at you, swinging locker doorBANG! Ouch. You take it back and swing the pipe at the thugs face, giving the guy horrible scream, blood splatting over the walls and teeth flying on floor (and with the voice effects). The addict curses and makes counterattack, but misses. You swing the Canalis Analis couple more times and make him unconcious. While unconcious, you take the thugs head and bang it to your own, with very stomach twisting crack. Im thinking: jesus, this game is *dirty word* awesome!

BUT

It still doesn't make me bloodfrenzied killer. I actually sold my knife collection last week, and felt huge relief. I have also chosen non-military career in country where it is almost required (and respected by most). Im very peaceloving person and I will avoid violence by all means. I believe in self defence however..

BUT

Some of us snap. And then, the mr. and mrs. perfect comes and blames the videogames. Simple. And usually blames games like doom or mortal kombat, that are the most favored games of teenagers. Bwahhahahah!

Last time it was Counter-strike. untill they eventually found out that it was not the game but the conditions they lived in and their parents who maintained a weird relationship with them.

i agree that violence might makes us numb. that's why i like the Austin powers movie where for every guy that get's killed they contact their familly and ring them the news. something you usually dont' see elsewhere, but makes sense.

also it owuld be good to make a film (maybe a trilogy that are so popular now) of same story, with same actors but from different points of view. For example, imagine Star trek from Borg's side and their struggle to survive. :-) or what about Black hawk down from one of the Somalies that died when trying to capture the marines. it could be made similar, with same scenes, only from another perspective. -- nah no one would be insterested. they are just no-name africans that died.

The interesting one is The tank (or is it The Beast?!) of russian soldiers in Afghanistan. If only the tank comander would be crazy the film would get another dimension. somehow you see how basically both the Taleban and the Russian supported Afghans had a very good point to fight. one fought back cause their families were tortered or killed for no good reason while other joined russinas because they thought they oculd bring prosperity in the poor region. but not many films show both sides of the story. and usually like here one is distorted.

Huh? Blaming games?

/me grabs the gun and shoots whoever blames games

The point here, that the news always turn out of proportion, is that violent games works as a catalysator. Some people have psychological problems or inclination towards violence, and violent games can (over a long period of time) push these people over the edge.

For the rest of us, these games have no influence - other than "Wow. This is a fun game!" or "Oh... kay... a bit too morbid and violent for my taste."

The theory is that the above mentioned group of people would be "normal" and not snap, had they not played violent games (as violent behaviour is always rewarded in those games - giving the player a sense of "Violence = Good" ).

However, in my opinion, that is only part of the truth. Everywhere we look, we can see things that proclaim that "Violence = Good", not just in games. It's just easier to point the finger at games, as they are getting more violent and more life-like for each passing day. And I also believe that these games are one of the biggest violent influences in the industrialised world.

However, depending on your psychological profile, watching the news might actually be more devastating than playing a violent game. If your dream/fantasy is to be "famous", you have to make the news. The easiest way to do this, is to kill someone - as they get the biggest headlines and are mentioned all over the world. The more violent and random the kill/killings, the more the news will focus on your name.

Another point is that by watching the news, you can get the idea that inflicting damage on another human being is something that everyone does, and that it is not such a big deal, really.

(Please note that I am still talking about mentally unstable persons. If you go "wtf?" at the above, you're safe.)

What I mean is that you get news reports about death and destruction every day in the news, and you never ever see the anchormen/women go "Holy crap! That's just wrong... I hope he gets the chair.", however they seem to not care at all, and just triffle the event away. How often have you seen the following scenario?

"Today, a young man was brutally killed in Downtown Seattle. The young man was beaten to death with a baseball bat, after being hit by the car of the killer. Witnesses later described the killer as "In his early thirties, and wearing a T-shirt that said 'GTA Forever!' written across his chest... Here's Tom with the weather, and it looks like we're in for a good time. Tom?"

To someone who are mentally unstable in terms of empathy (or lacking completely in that aspect) the above scenario looks like a quite alright thing to do, as there is no apparent reaction from the anchorman. He seems to be more interested in the good weather that is coming, rather than being disgusted about the killing.


Bottom line is this: There are violent influences everywhere we look, but not all of us are ticking bombs waiting for the right catalyst to turn us into killers. However, some are, and for them violent games and so on, can be very devastating. Both for them and for the rest of us.

So, violent games are not the cause, but it can be the thing that makes these people snap.

To cure this, more money should be spent on researching human behaviour, so that this exact group of people can be found and treated before their inner bomb explodes.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gregor @ Sep 15 2006, 08:21 AM) [snapback]255078[/snapback]</div>I could not agree more. One of the few Movies/Films/Whatever that got it right was "The Enemy Below". It showed both sides, something that Rarely happends in War Movies, and without Portraying one side as evil...