A group of people i belong to, and known to be great artists/athletes of the mind, gamers, is being demonised by some figureheads of society, we are seen as violent, unruly people who commit crimes at the drop of a hat. Many people in america have most likely heard the 'crusade' of Jack Thompson, a man who, so he claims, wants to eradicate violent games.
Allow me to tell you why i think his crusade is not only misplaced, but also a hyporcite move: Mr. Thompson decided to offer a 10.000 dollar reward for the first person to make a (violent) game using his script.
The misplacement is this: Violent games are made for adults, most games that contain a single drop of blood, are rated for 12 years and older, if it goes beyond that, it's rated 18+ for good reasons, yet parents do not question their children owning these games, thinking that they raised them good enough, when frankly, they should be paying more attention and showing alot more interest in their children's activeties, sometimes they THEMSELVES buy these games without looking at the box, or even checking the game's content rating. Games won't turn children wrong, ignorance does, that said: Shops should be obligated to ask for ID should someone purchase a game with a rating of 18+, that way if an underage still gets it, then neither the creators or the shops can be held responsible.
I am a gamer, and when it comes to the world outside i am a pacifist too. Yet i can vent my anger with games that allow me to do physical harm to digital manifestations, if that is wrong, than i'd rather be that than being right and venting it on objects and beings in the real world.
That's my 5 cents on this, i just HAD to rant this out, if anyone, parent, gamer or otherwise has an opinion to add, or something against what i just stated, i'd love to read it.
I think the idea that violent video games leads to people being violent is bogus. The same thing has been said about other things in the past, like music, books or films. I think those who became violent would of still have become violent reguardless of weither they were exposed to violent video games.
Playing violent video games can be a healthy way to relieve stress and the desire to kill someone when angery.
Playing violent video games can also be unhealthy if for example someone gets a thrill out of doing violent things in the video game, which could lead to a desire to do it for real. However I believe such a person has issues that might need worked on and would probably have found some other source for which to gain this thrill for violence if the person had never been exposed to video games.
The people who think exposer to violence rather real or imagenory can lead to real violence should maybe focus there effort on the media after all there always reporting violent news stories. :wink:
I think the dire to kill or do something else violent is instinctive so even if a person has never been exposed to violence could have a desire to do something violent and imagen doing so and be driven to do so for real.
I don't play violent video games, but I don't care if others play them; that's there choice, not mine.
Ok, I play games, some violent, some not... while for some individuals it may not cause them to be violent, some people out there have a hard time distinguishing real from fiction and that is where some take things out of control. Overall I don't think that video games can be fully to blame for a child's violence, children also tend to have at times overactive imaginations and can be hyper.
Can't agree more with you all, children aren't supposed to be exposed to this sort of thing, but with their parents working to support their lifestyle, or simply not caring, the blame is easy to shift... That's what ticks me off, Thompson has done nothing more but take advantage.
Anyone who plays a game and then goes and acts out that game in real life, or who acts out a film in real life, has serious issues which cannot be caused by an entertainment medium.
Example:
Someone who watches the matrix and then puts on a trenchcoat and starts shooting people could just as easily read the bible and start stoning people. The entertainment medium is simply inspiration for an already disordered mind.
A big problem is that certain types of parent assume everything is made for children, not realising that society has functions other than babysitting their rugrats. Unless the children in question are Aspies, I do not give a damn what reaction they have to my writing. I do not write specifically for them.
heres a good Quote I know:
Blaming video games for teh worlds violence is like blaming my pen for misspelled words.
Oddly enough, in the hey-day of the Commodore 64, a short fad with publishing completely non-violent games started. The games focused around such things as trade or just everyday stuff like gardening. You would think that if it were commercially viable to do this, more companies would do it. The reality has always been that many adults would like to vicariously punch the stuffings out of Tom Cruise or whomever, and video games as well as films thrive on the fact.
FPS's can signifigantly improve reactions speed in real life, RPG's can (and have made me) think about life in a more structured fashion, and RTS's are games that demand intelligent thought, not unlike chess. Admittidly, after playing a violent game for a while, you can feel a little agressive afterwords, but I get much more angry from seeing/hearing propoganda/advertising. A strirring speech by your local whoever has more effect on you than a game.
It really depends on the game a lot. I have written three complete novels now, all of which feature lengthy battle sequences. The second novel borrows a lot of ideas from an RPG called Eye Of The Beholder II, but there is nothing in it that is likely to unleash the aggressor in you. On the other hand, I also play a tabletop wargame that is a lot like a cross between Dungeons & Dragons and chess. This alone would get a lot of deny-everyone-else-everything types raving, but the only thing it serves for me when writing is to give me an idea of how to create believable combat physics.
Australia is one of the less good places to be when you're a gamer.
Addendum: Oooh! PALADIN!
I live in Australia and I didn't know that. Is that just for games then or does it also go for movies and other media content too? I guess that's why Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas got banned here then instead of just having the rating changed. Still, it seems excessive... even though the makers of the game were being really juvenile by doing what they did. (In case people reading this don't know, this game has hidden sex scenes which can only be accessed if you have a hacking/cheating device).
Time to add to this thread... I was hittin' the stores yesterday when i suddenly heard mention of the game GTA: SA. Apparently, parents in this town let their kids order that game.
Agreed, plus the fact that they allow their kids to buy anything without asking information about it is rather stupid, but it is their own risk, that's the law in this country: The game package already warns about age preference, if parents choose to ignore it and the violence/bad abuse tags, that's their own responsibility.