Ban or Censor Video Games, Not Guns?

[catzmeow]

He's actually really good at the game, but prone to screwing with people when he's bored.

I suffer from a similar affliction.

 

[JustTheFacts]

He's actually really good at the game, but prone to screwing with people when he's bored.

I suffer from a similar affliction.

most campers actually are pretty good at the game. In fact I would argue that using an exploit that the game manufactures weren't smart enough to avoid is being REAL good at the game.

Most of them now have random respawn points to prevent that, they've figured it out. Took awhile and lots of complaints , but they got there lol

 

[Lukas]

Video games have both a negative and positive impact on violence around the world (see videogames.procon.org) but in general the negative out weighs the positive in almost every aspect. Although the number of juvenile murders have fallen since video games sales have quadrupled from 1998 - 2008, the number of "lesser" crimes, such as physical bullying, has increased among those who have played a violent games. The cause of such is a result of a dehumanizing of the masses. Video games aren't reality, violence is.

America is a capitalistic society, should we ban such games? No. It isn't the place of the government to do such, but rather of parents. In doing such, we move the power of authority to the person who knows the subject (child) the best.

A recent example is that of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The man, (according to my knowledge), lived with his parents, was a "loner" and most likely played violent video games. In my opinion, the guy was intent on hurting somebody regardless of how it was done. In this instance he used a gun, but couldn't he have equally used a knife? Or any other object. If we are going to ban guns what is next? Are we going to ban knives? What I can't figure out is how you are going to ban somebody from beating up people.

Banning guns is not the solution, it will only create a huge problem. When a child sees a no guns allowed sign, they often are appalled. What's going to keep a criminal from entering if he is intent on crime? If somebody in Sandy Hook would of had a gun (concealed carry license) the disaster could have easily been avoided- sparing 26 lives. My grievance goes out to that town and school.

 

[beagle9]

Maybe not, but I seem to remember reading about some research that had to do with improved mental acuity in older people. The active mental participation required stimulates the brain and can help ward off some of the effects of age.


>>>>

Like many subjects, I think the negative effects of video games are overstated by people whose sensibilities are offended by them. These are often the same people who overstate the negative effects of porn and other things that also offend their narrow set of values.

Narrow sets of values eh ? Yet here you are talking about porn and video games being of value, when we have study after study showing that these things are rotting young peoples minds big time these days, but not all video games are bad I agree, and this all depending on content, but porn and many other movies coming out of Hollywood are just plain bad, and these have no family value at all to them. This is what we are talking about here, the welfare and the hope of the modern family in America, which is something in which you are confused badly on it seems.

 

[beagle9]

Video games have both a negative and positive impact on violence around the world (see videogames.procon.org) but in general the negative out weighs the positive in almost every aspect. Although the number of juvenile murders have fallen since video games sales have quadrupled from 1998 - 2008, the number of "lesser" crimes, such as physical bullying, has increased among those who have played a violent games. The cause of such is a result of a dehumanizing of the masses. Video games aren't reality, violence is.

America is a capatilistic society, should we ban such games? No. It isn't the place of the government to do such, but rather of parents. In doing such, we move the power of authority to the person who knows the subject (child) the best.

A recent example is that of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The man, (according to my knowledge), lived with his parents, was a "loner" and most likely played violent video games. In my opinion, the guy was intent on hurting somebody regardless of how it was done. In this instance he used a gun, but couldn't he have equally used a knife? Or any other object. If we are going to ban guns what is next? Are we going to ban knives? What I can't figure out is how you are going to ban somebody from beating up people.

Banning guns is not the solution, it will only create a huge problem. When a child sees a no guns allowed sign, they often are appalled. What's going to keep a criminal from entering if he is intent on crime. If somebody in Sandy Hook would of had a gun (concelled carry liscense) the disaster could have easily been avoided- sparing 26 lives. My grievance goes out to that town and school.

Influencing Hollywood into changing the content of these games would be a great place to start, and then job creation for the young folks next, because they have been left behind big time these days, and they have been isolated in worlds in which breed these kinds of bad things, especially when idled out for way to long. We have a volatile cocktail is what we have in this nation being mixed into these young folks, and sometimes even into their parents, so when they act out like they do, we then know what happens in these situations, but the money has won the day each time, and it has won for way to long now in America. It's time to do right without money being the deciding factor in it all, and then we will get back to the light hopefully.

 

[MaryL]

That isn't exactly a new idea; however, it is a possibility. Kids use to play some violent games when I was a kid, boys used to play with wooden or plastic guns and pretend to shoot each other, not on a video screen. It seems that something else has changed. Going back a generation or so, Thompson Submachine guns were sold via the mail with no background checks. Different eras have totally different values, so where we are today; I am not sure what has changed. Life seems to have different a value now.

 

[catzmeow]

Influencing Hollywood into changing the content of these games would be a great place to start, and then job creation for the young folks next, because they have been left behind big time these days, and they have been isolated in worlds in which breed these kinds of bad things, especially when idled out for way to long. We have a volatile cocktail is what we have in this nation being mixed into these young folks, and sometimes even into their parents, so when they act out like they do, we then know what happens in these situations, but the money has won the day each time, and it has won for way to long now in America. It's time to do right without money being the deciding factor in it all, and then we will get back to the light hopefully.

Which is why crime is down in the U.S.

 

[beagle9]

That isn't exactly a new idea; however, it is a possibility. Kids use to play some violent games when I was a kid, boys used to play with wooden or plastic guns and pretend to shoot each other, not on a video screen. It seems that something else has changed. Going back a generation or so, Thompson Submachine guns were sold via the mail with no background checks. Different eras have totally different values, so where we are today; I am not sure what has changed. Life seems to have different a value now.

It's so easy to see where we are today, and why we have gotten here, so I don't buy the excuse or ignorance that people are expressing by not knowing where we are today or how we got here today, and so again I don't buy this not for one second in this nation this excuse.

 

[beagle9]

Influencing Hollywood into changing the content of these games would be a great place to start, and then job creation for the young folks next, because they have been left behind big time these days, and they have been isolated in worlds in which breed these kinds of bad things, especially when idled out for way to long. We have a volatile cocktail is what we have in this nation being mixed into these young folks, and sometimes even into their parents, so when they act out like they do, we then know what happens in these situations, but the money has won the day each time, and it has won for way to long now in America. It's time to do right without money being the deciding factor in it all, and then we will get back to the light hopefully.

Which is why crime is down in the U.S.

The corrupting of a mind is a crime, but it is not so easily seen or realized until it is to late, and then we have all the enablers, protectors and people who are just plain evil themselves blocking the path that leads directly to the culprits.

 

[Foxfyre]

Influencing Hollywood into changing the content of these games would be a great place to start, and then job creation for the young folks next, because they have been left behind big time these days, and they have been isolated in worlds in which breed these kinds of bad things, especially when idled out for way to long. We have a volatile cocktail is what we have in this nation being mixed into these young folks, and sometimes even into their parents, so when they act out like they do, we then know what happens in these situations, but the money has won the day each time, and it has won for way to long now in America. It's time to do right without money being the deciding factor in it all, and then we will get back to the light hopefully.

Which is why crime is down in the U.S.

The corrupting of a mind is a crime, but it is not so easily seen or realized until it is to late, and then we have all the enablers, protectors and people who are just plain evil themselves blocking the path that leads directly to the culprits.

The jury is still out, but ideology seems to play a big part in the debate. You have one camp saying that crime overall is down; therefore the video games are not a problem. And I'm pretty sure if crime was on the increase, at least some in the same group would say there is no evidence that video games play any part in that.

Again I love the video games and have been playing them for a very long time. My kids and all their friends grew up with them and none have shown any criminal tendencies that I'm aware of. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the susceptible kid who spends long periods playing the violent games can be programmed to equate violence and mayhem with personal glory, respect, and success. And could that provoke a mentally unbalanced person to act out on that in real life?

I think the experts need to continue to study the phenomenon.

I don't have a clue if that is the case. But I continue to be interested.

 

[beagle9]

Which is why crime is down in the U.S.

The corrupting of a mind is a crime, but it is not so easily seen or realized until it is to late, and then we have all the enablers, protectors and people who are just plain evil themselves blocking the path that leads directly to the culprits.

The jury is still out, but ideology seems to play a big part in the debate. You have one camp saying that crime overall is down; therefore the video games are not a problem. And I'm pretty sure if crime was on the increase, at least some in the same group would say there is no evidence that video games play any part in that.

Again I love the video games and have been playing them for a very long time. My kids and all their friends grew up with them and none have shown any criminal tendencies that I'm aware of. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the susceptible kid who spends long periods playing the violent games can be programmed to equate violence and mayhem with personal glory, respect, and success. And could that provoke a mentally unbalanced person to act out on that in real life?

I think the experts need to continue to study the phenomenon.

I don't have a clue if that is the case. But I continue to be interested.

Check out the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" starring Gene Wilder, and then check out the more current one with Johnny Depp. Tell me that their isn't a more strange and dark thing going on here between these two movies and their content that was being directed at children. My daughter watched the first version with Wilder, and then she tried to watch the one with Depp, but rebuked the one with Depp because she saw it as strange and dark without the same innocence found in the one with Gene Wilder. Now look at each movie and video game as it has progressed in content over the years now, then you tell me if something hasn't shifted and/or changed for the worst in our media content over the years, yet as each generation has come along, it's as if they are more susceptible to this stuff without resistance of anymore, but why ? Why have we become a nation of susceptible people, even protecting the devil himself many times when he is revealed in the details of this content? Are we becoming a more evil and heartless people as we progress now in this nation, and if so what are the reasons for this evil progression in our society? Hollywood is an influence, just as it has been said here over and over again about kids playing cowboy's and Indians, cops and robbers, and on and on it all goes.

Is Hollywood the seat of the devil himself in America (i.e. where his control panel is), and we are now in his video game in which he is controlling ?

 

[Foxfyre]

The corrupting of a mind is a crime, but it is not so easily seen or realized until it is to late, and then we have all the enablers, protectors and people who are just plain evil themselves blocking the path that leads directly to the culprits.

The jury is still out, but ideology seems to play a big part in the debate. You have one camp saying that crime overall is down; therefore the video games are not a problem. And I'm pretty sure if crime was on the increase, at least some in the same group would say there is no evidence that video games play any part in that.

Again I love the video games and have been playing them for a very long time. My kids and all their friends grew up with them and none have shown any criminal tendencies that I'm aware of. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the susceptible kid who spends long periods playing the violent games can be programmed to equate violence and mayhem with personal glory, respect, and success. And could that provoke a mentally unbalanced person to act out on that in real life?

I think the experts need to continue to study the phenomenon.

I don't have a clue if that is the case. But I continue to be interested.

Check out the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" starring Gene Wilder, and then check out the more current one with Johnny Depp. Tell me that their isn't a more strange and dark thing going on here between these two movies and their content that was being directed at children. My daughter watched the first version with Wilder, and then she tried to watch the one with Depp, but rebuked the one with Depp because she saw it as strange and dark without the same innocence found in the one with Gene Wilder. Now look at each movie and video game as it has progressed in content over the years now, then you tell me if something hasn't shifted and/or changed for the worst in our media content over the years, yet as each generation has come along, it's as if they are more susceptible to this stuff without resistance of anymore, but why ? Why have we become a nation of susceptible people, even protecting the devil himself many times when he is revealed in the details of this content? Are we becoming a more evil and heartless people as we progress now in this nation, and if so what are the reasons for this evil progression in our society? Hollywood is an influence, just as it has been said here over and over again about kids playing cowboy's and Indians, cops and robbers, and on and on it all goes.

Is Hollywood the seat of the devil himself in America (i.e. where his control panel is), and we are now in his video game in which he is controlling ?

There has been a breakdown in a unified American culture since the cultural revolution of the 60's. And yes we,. as a society of people, have become progressively more tolerant of violence, of coarse, vulgar, and abusive language, a different moral center, alternate lifestyles, etc. etc. etc. And that is bound to be reflected in video games as it is on television, in the movies, on the internet, and other media medium.

It was first driven home to me when we were watching an old movie with our kids when they were in college. And they mentioned that the movie was okay but was pretty 'hokey' and the dialogue wasn't very realistic as people just don't talk that way. They were referring to the lack of profanity and the more creative ways people used to demonstrate displeasure. And we realized how different the two generations were. In those 'olden' days, certain words were never used in polite society where they are commonplace now. What horrified, disgusted, or offended people back then are shrugged off as routine now.

Of course those who never experienced the previous generation are usually more fixated on any negatives they perceive and they don't believe there were any positives or what positives are related never really existed. And they think this current generation is just fine and far superior to any that preceded it.

And is that a factor in the rash of mass killings we have seen in recent years? I don't know. It feels like it. But how we feel is rarely a reliable guide to how things really are.

 

[beagle9]

The jury is still out, but ideology seems to play a big part in the debate. You have one camp saying that crime overall is down; therefore the video games are not a problem. And I'm pretty sure if crime was on the increase, at least some in the same group would say there is no evidence that video games play any part in that.

Again I love the video games and have been playing them for a very long time. My kids and all their friends grew up with them and none have shown any criminal tendencies that I'm aware of. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the susceptible kid who spends long periods playing the violent games can be programmed to equate violence and mayhem with personal glory, respect, and success. And could that provoke a mentally unbalanced person to act out on that in real life?

I think the experts need to continue to study the phenomenon.

I don't have a clue if that is the case. But I continue to be interested.

Check out the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" starring Gene Wilder, and then check out the more current one with Johnny Depp. Tell me that their isn't a more strange and dark thing going on here between these two movies and their content that was being directed at children. My daughter watched the first version with Wilder, and then she tried to watch the one with Depp, but rebuked the one with Depp because she saw it as strange and dark without the same innocence found in the one with Gene Wilder. Now look at each movie and video game as it has progressed in content over the years now, then you tell me if something hasn't shifted and/or changed for the worst in our media content over the years, yet as each generation has come along, it's as if they are more susceptible to this stuff without resistance of anymore, but why ? Why have we become a nation of susceptible people, even protecting the devil himself many times when he is revealed in the details of this content? Are we becoming a more evil and heartless people as we progress now in this nation, and if so what are the reasons for this evil progression in our society? Hollywood is an influence, just as it has been said here over and over again about kids playing cowboy's and Indians, cops and robbers, and on and on it all goes.

Is Hollywood the seat of the devil himself in America (i.e. where his control panel is), and we are now in his video game in which he is controlling ?

There has been a breakdown in a unified American culture since the cultural revolution of the 60's. And yes we,. as a society of people, have become progressively more tolerant of violence, of coarse, vulgar, and abusive language, a different moral center, alternate lifestyles, etc. etc. etc. And that is bound to be reflected in video games as it is on television, in the movies, on the internet, and other media medium.

It was first driven home to me when we were watching an old movie with our kids when they were in college. And they mentioned that the movie was okay but was pretty 'hokey' and the dialogue wasn't very realistic as people just don't talk that way. They were referring to the lack of profanity and the more creative ways people used to demonstrate displeasure. And we realized how different the two generations were. In those 'olden' days, certain words were never used in polite society where they are commonplace now. What horrified, disgusted, or offended people back then are shrugged off as routine now.

Of course those who never experienced the previous generation are usually more fixated on any negatives they perceive and they don't believe there were any positives or what positives are related never really existed. And they think this current generation is just fine and far superior to any that preceded it.

And is that a factor in the rash of mass killings we have seen in recent years? I don't know. It feels like it. But how we feel is rarely a reliable guide to how things really are.

It is linked yes, it has to be, and we know this, but convincing a more desensitized generation of this, well is almost impossible as these shootings are proving to be a testament to.

 

[MaryL]

When I was a kid, there weren't mass shootings up until the Texas mass shootings in 1966, and that was a result a physical abnormality, a tumor in the brain of the shooter that resulted in his aggressiveness. Even the shooter himself, Charles Whitman KNEW he was ill. In this day and age, how are we going to know WHO is in their right minds to purchase a firearm to begin with? We don’t and we can’t.

 

[Foxfyre]

When I was a kid, there weren't mass shootings up until the Texas mass shootings in 1966, and that was a result a physical abnormality, a tumor in the brain of the shooter that resulted in his aggressiveness. Even the shooter himself, Charles Whitman KNEW he was ill. In this day and age, how are we going to know WHO is in their right minds to purchase a firearm to begin with? We don’t and we can’t.

No we really can't in some of the cases. In some we can. But we CAN study whether the repetitious nature of the video games--doing the same violent routine over and over and over again--is programming some minds to equate violence and mayhem as the way to be noticed, to succeed, to be praised, to be admired. And it is only common sense that this could be a dangerous thing in some cases of mental illness or mental unbalance.

Being aware of the potential dangers, if such exist, is NOT the same thing as blaming all murders or violence on video games or suggesting they should be banned for everybody. But if we are agreed that guns should be kept out of the hands of people with mental dysfunction as much as possible, would it not follow that we should also be aware of what triggers some people to use those guns in destructive ways?

 

[PaulS1950]

You should stop and consider that you can't prevent crimes. Only then will you find a way to respond to a crime instead of reacting to it. We need to prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of the laws we have and to treat those who are mentally unstable when they commit a crime. We need to teach our children the difference between right and wrong and allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions from a very young age so they understand that there will always be consequences.
plea bargains show criminals that the consequences are flexible and may not apply to them. That kind of judicous system does both the criminal and the people a disservice.
Treatment for mental illnesses should be available to any who need it without consequence until they break the law. At that point there must be consequences as well as further treatment.
You simply cannot treat everyone as a potential criminal in a free society so we have to wait until the law is broken and then respond with prosecution that validates our freedoms and shows the criminal that he will suffer if he breaks the law.
We need to remove the comforts that are available in prisons and go back to teaching the criminal that he is being punished for his crimes. If he wants rehabilitation then that should be available but only if it is requested.
You can't help someone who does not want it.

 

[Foxfyre]

You should stop and consider that you can't prevent crimes. Only then will you find a way to respond to a crime instead of reacting to it. We need to prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of the laws we have and to treat those who are mentally unstable when they commit a crime. We need to teach our children the difference between right and wrong and allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions from a very young age so they understand that there will always be consequences.
plea bargains show criminals that the consequences are flexible and may not apply to them. That kind of judicous system does both the criminal and the people a disservice.
Treatment for mental illnesses should be available to any who need it without consequence until they break the law. At that point there must be consequences as well as further treatment.
You simply cannot treat everyone as a potential criminal in a free society so we have to wait until the law is broken and then respond with prosecution that validates our freedoms and shows the criminal that he will suffer if he breaks the law.
We need to remove the comforts that are available in prisons and go back to teaching the criminal that he is being punished for his crimes. If he wants rehabilitation then that should be available but only if it is requested.
You can't help someone who does not want it.

That would be a valid argument on a thread dealing with crime in general. But I don't see how it relates to identifying and intervening in a mass murder in which the shooter almost always has no prior criminal record at least of a violent nature and almost always results in the shooter taking his own life.

I don't think any amount of deterrant via consequences or punishment would have any affect on that type of crime.

 

[Foxfyre]

Anecdotal evidence for sure, and not 'proof' of anything, but another point to consider in the debate of whether the violent video games and other media influences are having a dangerous negative effect on kids.

Most of you know about the Albuquerque 15-year-old who murdered his family of five in cold blood this past week. He first killed his mother, then his 9, 5, and 2 yr old siblings, and finally his father when he arrived home later. This was a 'good' kid, with a pastor father, a member of and active in one of our largest, most prominent evangelical churches, and viewed as normal by most. He played several different instruments in the church praise band, was not really a 'loner' as some have attempted to portray him, and was generally viewed as bright and extremely talented.

His intentions, as reported to police, were to go to a nearby Walmart and shoot as many people as he could before killing himself. A pattern that has become chillingly familiar. The only 'motive' offered so far is that he was peeved at his mother.

But the one thing that keeps cropping up in media report, after media report, is that, like Adam Lanza, he loved violent video games.

After his arrest, he told investigators he was “frustrated” with his mother, but only seemed to show emotion when he spoke about video games he loved, such as “Modern Warfare” and “Grand Theft Auto.”

“It was kind of what he was into and was quite excited as he got the opportunity to discuss that with investigators,” Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston told reporters Tuesday.

Read more: New Mexico teen Nehemiah Griego was 'heavily involved' in violent video games; relatives say he was 'troubled young man' - NY Daily News

http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/01/22/teen-who-shot-killed-family-liked-violent-video-games

Nehemiah Griego, Teen Accused Of Killing Family, Had Homicidal And Suicidal Thoughts: Cops

New Mexico teen accused of family slaughter loved 'violent' video games, police say - U.S. News

 

[1Templar]

Ban teenagers.

 

[Circe]

But the one thing that keeps cropping up in media report, after media report, is that, like Adam Lanza, he loved violent video games.

It's training, that's the thing. These kids, who become schizophrenic in the natural course of things, TRAIN for hours a day some of them, to shoot, kill, shoot, kill their enemies on the screen.

I know it's training because I play these Xbox 360 games myself, if not the most stripped-down combat camouflage shooter types, but all of them now are shooter/killer games and learning how to do it and how to get through the tests to a save point sometimes takes (me) days and the hands learn and the emotions learn and learn to do it better and better until it works.

These kids are training hours a day to kill, kill, kill. I can remember when they banned scary comics -- and my husband pointed out that no one would have even tried to sell games and movies like they have now. No one would have done it and if they had, they'd have been put in jail!

But somehow violence and pornography got away from us and became mainstream. Kids practice and practice and then they do it live.