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Do Violent Video Games Cause Real-World Violence? [Rant Alert]
I had been doing some research into this topic, and granted, it's a bit of a random topic to post since Jack Thompson has a been slightly out of the picture as of late, but I feel that it's a good idea to bring this topic to everyone's attention, especially our Geeks who are also parents and are questioning the effects that videos games such as these may have on their children.
I'm going to start with three words: Grand Theft Auto. A historic game franchise, an instant classic the day Grand Theft Auto III was released. Now, you hear all of the activists and conservative, "Bible-Thumping" parents complaining that these types of games are pure smut, and any time a child mentions "Grand Theft Auto," (or Halo, Gears of War, BioShock, Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, True Crime, Doom, Counter-Strike, etc., etc., etc.) a red flag should immediately thrown without any logical reason as to why these games are horrible and have nothing but negative effects on the kids of this world.
Now, what logical reasons am I speaking of?
How about, the fact that since 1991, around the time of the original Mortal Kombat and six years before the original Grand Theft Auto, the violent crime rate in the U.S. has dropped an average of 42%, with the homicide rate dropping 46%. Oh, and this isn't me saying this, it's the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
How about the "Jack Thompson Connection?"
This is a name I have given to the fact that most everyone who is an opponent of violent video games thinks every person who shoots up a school is a video game player. Now, right off the bat, using nothing but common sense, I can tell you that this is pure rubbish. I have NEVER heard of a video game being scientifically linked to a school shooting. Granted Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris of Columbine and Seung-Hui Cho of Virginia Tech played Doom and Counter-Strike, respectively, but people like Jack Thompson overlook one MAJOR detail... These people had a history of psychological issues BEFORE playing these games. You mean to tell me, that if you stick a well-adjusted and normal member of society into a room with GTA: Vice City for three-hours, he'll come out with an AK-47, go to his school, and start shooting everyone? No, that's BS.
Oh, but now, I suppose the argument is that while they had intentions of killing before playing these games, they used the game to "train." Okay, (and all our Geeks who have served in the military can vouch for me, here) Glenn Beck has said on one of his reports that $60 can now buy you the same thing that cost the leaders of our nation's military at the Pentagon millions upon millions of dollars to do, and that's train people to kill in war. Really? Let's process that statement logically. Soldiers don't just randomly kill, it's done in the defense of a nation. With the exception of the Revolutionary War, Civil War (which was among our own people), and Vietnam, the United States of America has NEVER instigated a war. All the killing our nation's heroes do is just that, self-defense. Our Armed Forces only kill if it means that they are about to be killed first, they don't go up to helpless civilians and shoot them in the face.
Where am I going with this? A video game can't come near the real-world experience of war, and it NEVER will.
One final point I'd like to make is the fact that there is no TRUE way of linking these games to crime among teens. When an adolescent gets in trouble for dong something idiotic (like bringing a knife to school, attempting to solicit prostitution, etc.), and he has played one of these games, chances are he'll say that the game taught him to do this. (Anyone who lives outside of NYC and remembers the incident in New Hyde Park, Long Island last summer knows where I'm going with this.) This is a futile attempt for the idiot minor to get off easy, and all it does is add ammo to to the arsenal of anti-violent game activists.
And in closing, I'd just like to say this, I respect that some parents aren't comfortable with their children being exposed to these games. Period. And that's respectable. It's the idiot lawyers and activists [Cough! Jack Thompson! Cough!] who try to pull this game off the shelves from not only children, but adults as well. And when people ask the question why are these games even made... Well, the gamers of the 1980's, who were children at the time, have grown up, and they still game. The target demographic of the gaming industry is the 25-35 year old male, and these ADULTS want games that are more mature and made for them. Now, admittedly, I'm 15. Two years short of me being legally allowed to purchase these games for myself. But here's the thing, I know the difference between right and wrong, and the line between reality and fiction is not blurred through my eyes at all, and that's the key to this whole argument.
Oh, and this "trash art form" is protected under the United States Constitution, and taking these games away from us would be taking away the Game Developer's rights of Freedom of Expression and Speech, and taking away the Gamer's Freedom of Choice to play them. (Our Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves.)
If you have read this all the way through, thank you, and thanks for allowing me to BS to you.
-Matt DeFazio: A 15-year-old adolescent who knows the difference between reality and fiction and what's right and what's wrong... And most of all, a kid who just wants to play his games. Period.
I'm going to start with three words: Grand Theft Auto. A historic game franchise, an instant classic the day Grand Theft Auto III was released. Now, you hear all of the activists and conservative, "Bible-Thumping" parents complaining that these types of games are pure smut, and any time a child mentions "Grand Theft Auto," (or Halo, Gears of War, BioShock, Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, True Crime, Doom, Counter-Strike, etc., etc., etc.) a red flag should immediately thrown without any logical reason as to why these games are horrible and have nothing but negative effects on the kids of this world.
Now, what logical reasons am I speaking of?
How about, the fact that since 1991, around the time of the original Mortal Kombat and six years before the original Grand Theft Auto, the violent crime rate in the U.S. has dropped an average of 42%, with the homicide rate dropping 46%. Oh, and this isn't me saying this, it's the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
How about the "Jack Thompson Connection?"
This is a name I have given to the fact that most everyone who is an opponent of violent video games thinks every person who shoots up a school is a video game player. Now, right off the bat, using nothing but common sense, I can tell you that this is pure rubbish. I have NEVER heard of a video game being scientifically linked to a school shooting. Granted Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris of Columbine and Seung-Hui Cho of Virginia Tech played Doom and Counter-Strike, respectively, but people like Jack Thompson overlook one MAJOR detail... These people had a history of psychological issues BEFORE playing these games. You mean to tell me, that if you stick a well-adjusted and normal member of society into a room with GTA: Vice City for three-hours, he'll come out with an AK-47, go to his school, and start shooting everyone? No, that's BS.
Oh, but now, I suppose the argument is that while they had intentions of killing before playing these games, they used the game to "train." Okay, (and all our Geeks who have served in the military can vouch for me, here) Glenn Beck has said on one of his reports that $60 can now buy you the same thing that cost the leaders of our nation's military at the Pentagon millions upon millions of dollars to do, and that's train people to kill in war. Really? Let's process that statement logically. Soldiers don't just randomly kill, it's done in the defense of a nation. With the exception of the Revolutionary War, Civil War (which was among our own people), and Vietnam, the United States of America has NEVER instigated a war. All the killing our nation's heroes do is just that, self-defense. Our Armed Forces only kill if it means that they are about to be killed first, they don't go up to helpless civilians and shoot them in the face.
Where am I going with this? A video game can't come near the real-world experience of war, and it NEVER will.
One final point I'd like to make is the fact that there is no TRUE way of linking these games to crime among teens. When an adolescent gets in trouble for dong something idiotic (like bringing a knife to school, attempting to solicit prostitution, etc.), and he has played one of these games, chances are he'll say that the game taught him to do this. (Anyone who lives outside of NYC and remembers the incident in New Hyde Park, Long Island last summer knows where I'm going with this.) This is a futile attempt for the idiot minor to get off easy, and all it does is add ammo to to the arsenal of anti-violent game activists.
And in closing, I'd just like to say this, I respect that some parents aren't comfortable with their children being exposed to these games. Period. And that's respectable. It's the idiot lawyers and activists [Cough! Jack Thompson! Cough!] who try to pull this game off the shelves from not only children, but adults as well. And when people ask the question why are these games even made... Well, the gamers of the 1980's, who were children at the time, have grown up, and they still game. The target demographic of the gaming industry is the 25-35 year old male, and these ADULTS want games that are more mature and made for them. Now, admittedly, I'm 15. Two years short of me being legally allowed to purchase these games for myself. But here's the thing, I know the difference between right and wrong, and the line between reality and fiction is not blurred through my eyes at all, and that's the key to this whole argument.
Oh, and this "trash art form" is protected under the United States Constitution, and taking these games away from us would be taking away the Game Developer's rights of Freedom of Expression and Speech, and taking away the Gamer's Freedom of Choice to play them. (Our Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves.)
If you have read this all the way through, thank you, and thanks for allowing me to BS to you.
-Matt DeFazio: A 15-year-old adolescent who knows the difference between reality and fiction and what's right and what's wrong... And most of all, a kid who just wants to play his games. Period.
Tags: adult, america, crime, games, gta, guns, mature, military, violence, violent
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by logan -
i quit runescape ...
but only becouse i found it was laving files in my computers hard disk. that and it was ruining our internet connection and slowing other things down but it is not violent theirs like 5 or 6 year olds at my schools.
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Permalink Reply by Beef_Log_FTL on -
I heard of a teenager who killed his mother and was going to kill his father because they took away Halo 3.
But no IMO video games do not cause real world violence, when played by people who have a clear sense between the real world and the fantasy world of video games. If people who do not have a clear distinction between real and make believe, while playing violent video games, then who know what they could do its really a coin flip.
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Permalink Reply by X Jod 9 on -
Did he kill them hoping they would respawn and learn their lesson or something?
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Permalink Reply by X Jod 9 on
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It's like smelling cat urine to get high, it's not the cat's fault, it's the people using it the wrong way.
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Permalink Reply by Jada L. on -
Video games don't make kids violent. Its our inability to teach and supervise our kids that makes them violent. i think that it is up to us as parents to teach our kids that video games are just that games.We have the responsibility to teach our kids right from wrong, and guide them to make good choices.video games and TVs are not babysitters and when they are treated as such and your child starts acting up you are quick to blame the video game or TV show, because it is easier then looking in your home and putting the blame where it belongs on yourself. I have 2 teenage boys and they know games are just that games, and what they do on the game is not how they are to act in the real world. They have never been in trouble and are respectable members of society. They both do well in school and have jobs to boot. They both have all the grand theft autos, halos,medal of honor, ghost recon, and a few more that are escaping me at the moment so I guess that theory has just been shot down.... pun intended.
a proud mama
Jada
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Permalink Reply by RedRebel on -
Video games shouldn't effect one's judgement when it comes to reality. Video games are meant for entertainment not a substitute for reality. Ironically, video games are as violent as the evening news that people watch in which they show murder scenes, refer to shootings, rape, assault, battery, theft, and so on. People who blame their faulty behaviors on video games really need to have their heads checked for brain damage. One's own fall out with reality comes from their interactions with the real environment and not with something artificial. Furthermore, all game developers caution the players that the materials as seen in video games are for the most part fictional and should not be associated with things in real life as they bear no resemblance and should such resemblance occur, it is purely coincidental unless you're playing a racing simulation in which the cars, damage, and tracks are real in most cases but thats another issue since those games do not influence kids as much.
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Permalink Reply by Rob on -
Ok before anyone takes this the wrong way read this whole message through and realize that I really don't like Jack Thompson. I think that he doesn't look at problems completely and effectively. That being said I do believe that some sort of violent gaming does attribute to real world violence. I used to believe that it didn't but after getting my degree in Psychology and analyzing the behavior of children who had just watched some sort of violent act I noticed that they mimicked what they saw. I don't think that violent games need to be banned but there need to be better restriction. That restriction need to come from the parents of children. Some children are able to differentiate the difference between fantasy and reality by the help of adults while others may not have that aid or may have a certain disability preventing them from learning this. I think that anyone who sells a child, anyone under the age of 17 or 18, a copy of GTA or Fallout 3 should be fined. However, those games should not be banned though because that would go against our freedom of speech.
Sorry if that offends some of you but after years of looking at the facts and results time and again I realized the impact violent games can have on a child and hope that it is enforced better.
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Permalink Reply by Craig Chamberlin on -
This is all a product of psycho-babble from the 60s and 70s teaching adults their children's decisions are outside of their own control. In reality, the only person responsible for committing a crime is the person who committed it. All other entities involved didn't force them to make such a decision.
What makes even less sense, is this psychobabble of today even goes as far as saying a woman who gets raped is at fault because she "dressed promiscuously" - really? Are you kidding me?
Listen, people can control themselves, and when they choose not too, they shift the blame on other things such as "violence" in the media, at their homes or in their neighborhoods or "how they were raised".
The Jack Thompson's of today just want to point the finger at everyone else except the person involved. THEY made the decision to commit atrocious acts and our society should respond in punishment, not in sympathy towards the one who committed the crime. NOT in blaming that person's acts on someone other than themselves - that just begets MORE irresponsibility...
Okay... my rant is done :D
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