Despite What the "media" tells you video games are not the problem.

[ZM90 99]

I'm going to rant but here it goes. I am sick and tired of every time a violent tragedy occurs that the media and some on the "left" point the blame at video games. It is bull. You know what actually killed those kids? Guns and the USA's terrible mental health system. Look I played ZombiU a few days back and it's very bloody and violent, guess what I DIDN'T GO ON A MASSACRE. It's like trying to blame music for a violent tragedy occurring. I don't think those who want to censor or get rid of video games will get too far however seeing as how a Supreme Court ruling says video games are protected under the first amendment so clearly any legislation that would censor or ban any form of video game would be clearly declared unconstitutional. Okay rant over. Feel free to respond from either side I just wanted to rant.

[Vriff 21]

some on the "left" point the blame at video games.

I agree, but....

 

wat

 

 

It's the right, not the left, that's throwing the blame on video games (and always has, since Columbine).

[ZM90 99]

I agree, but....

 

wat

 

 

It's the right, not the left, that's throwing the blame on video games (and always has, since Columbine).

 

I put "left" in quotes because those blaming it are claiming to be "liberals". I myself am a liberal and as far as I am concerned video games are free speech and I will defend them as free speech protected by the first amendment. I'm mainly talking about faux-liberals.

[Vriff 21]

I put "left" in quotes because those blaming it are claiming to be "liberals". I myself am a liberal and as far as I am concerned video games are free speech and I will defend them as free speech protected by the first amendment. I'm mainly talking about faux-liberals.

I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. The only people I've seen blame video games are Fox News and their "experts". Can you provide an example or a name of who you're talking about?

[ZM90 99]

I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. The only people I've seen blame video games are Fox News and their "experts". Can you provide an example or a name of who you're talking about?

 

People on sites like "Democratic Underground" which supposedly most members are to the left of the Democratic Party (I know I am). There's a big argument going on over there over it.

[Vriff 21]

People on sites like "Democratic Underground" which supposedly most members are to the left of the Democratic Party (I know I am). There's a big argument going on over there over it.

Eh, DU is pretty much the left's version of Tea Party. It's nothing but a bunch of extremists, but either way, they're not the representative of the left media at all, which is what the thread references.

[ZM90 99]

Eh, DU is pretty much the left's version of Tea Party. It's nothing but a bunch of extremists, but either way, they're not the representative of the left media at all, which is what the thread references.

There are some very smart people on DU and yet there are others who DO NOT get the concept of the first amendment. One guy tried to claim video games weren't free speech (lol wut). Well the argument started due to that right-wing hack Joe Scarborough blaming video games for the tragedy. Why the hell is Joe on MSNBC anyway? That asshat belongs on Fox News.

[Vriff 21]

There are some very smart people on DU and yet there are others who DO NOT get the concept of the first amendment. One guy tried to claim video games weren't free speech (lol wut). Well the argument started due to that right-wing hack Joe Scarborough blaming video games for the tragedy. Why the hell is Joe on MSNBC anyway? That asshat belongs on Fox News.

I'm sure there are, but most of them are extremists and don't represent the general party in anyway, but that's a discussion for another thread/forum. The "vidya games and rock n roll devil music" theory has been debunked by study after study, scientist after scientist.

[ZM90 99]

I'm sure there are, but most of them are extremists and don't represent the general party in anyway, but that's a discussion for another thread/forum. The "vidya games and rock n roll devil music" theory has been debunked by study after study, scientist after scientist.

 

Well I am to the left of some things of the party not everything though. You probably noticed I am to the left on the internet freedom but, I took the political compass test at one point, I didn't score the furthest left possible but I scored pretty far left and pretty well on the libertarian side of that instead of authoritarian side. You know though there's actually been studies that say playing video games reduces aggression because it gets it out of a person's system.

[Rtas Vadum 17]

The problem lies in the person, and not so much the game.

 

I would rather kill a bunch of people knowing that it was just in a game, and I won't have to deal with any of the repercussions. Although, I usually still want a reason to do so, even if it is as base as survival. One could ask simple questions about something like this, most of them relating to why you might be killing people left and right in a game. Well, if I don't, then as is obvious, they have no reason to NOT kill me.

 

But I do think it is a nice correlation. A guy plays video games, and at some point chooses to kill people. Well, then the game MUST be the problem, since the idea...CERTAINLY NOT HIS OWN!

 

Okay, I'm done.

[ShinDangaioh 12]

It's BADD all over again. I wonder if someone will tackle this, like Stackpole tackled BADD with the Pulling report.

 

Back in the 1980's, if you admitted to playing D&D in certain states you were tossed into an insane asylum. (At least that was one of the stories)

[ZM90 99]

It's BADD all over again. I wonder if someone will tackle this, like Stackpole tackled BADD with the Pulling report.

 

Back in the 1980's, if you admitted to playing D&D in certain states you were tossed into an insane asylum. (At least that was one of the stories)

 

The first amendment of the United States Bill of Rights applies to video games. Here's the text it's pretty easy to interpret.

 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

 

That little beautiful clause right there is what protects video games from legislative censorship or banning. Since video games clearly express an idea and expressing an idea falls into "Freedom of Speech" that means that any legislation censoring or banning video games can very easily be interpreted as unconstitutional.

[Mandalore 61]

I agree with the first part of what Rtas Vadum said - I don't play any games unless I have a reason to do what I'm doing (why I prefer RPGs). Generally, this means I don't really play first-person shooters, but I will if there's a good reason for me to be fighting (I like Halo because there's a point to my battle, as opposed to stuff like Call of Duty where it's war for the sake of war).

I definitely don't think video games should be blamed for this though - if someone is influenced by games enough to do this, there's something more than games that needs to be looked at.

[KotorHDTVchannel 11]

 

 

I'm going to rant but here it goes. I am sick and tired of every time a violent tragedy occurs that the media and some on the "left" point the blame at video games. It is bull. You know what actually killed those kids? Guns and the USA's terrible mental health system. Look I played ZombiU a few days back and it's very bloody and violent, guess what I DIDN'T GO ON A MASSACRE. It's like trying to blame music for a violent tragedy occurring. I don't think those who want to censor or get rid of video games will get too far however seeing as how a Supreme Court ruling says video games are protected under the first amendment so clearly any legislation that would censor or ban any form of video game would be clearly declared unconstitutional. Okay rant over. Feel free to respond from either side I just wanted to rant.

Yeah, I agree. I was reading a few years ago on Wikipedia about GTA games, that were not appropriate for children ( there were a few incidents when a kid started killing 2 officers ).

In my opinion, that kid was probably mentally unstable. So what if games are violent or with lots of blood? You, the player, must realise that a game IS a game! You can't just do whatever the games show! It's sad that video games are blamed so much!

[Jac 5]

It's like blaming lack of gun control: it's a quick fix to a more deeper problem. I think people blame video games because when something like this happens, they look for the reasons why and, like guns, video games are a visual "problem" that can be fixed; whereas reforming our mental care is not. Until people stop trying to look for easy answers, video games and guns will always be blamed for tragedies when they happen because none of us should be held responsible for our actions.

[VarsityPuppet 1,084]

This reminds me of a rant by Bill Hicks...

 

..basically they're putting the cart before the horse.

 

 

In Bill's rant, he goes on to explain that Playboy is NOT the cause of sexual thought. There exists sexual thought, thus there is Playboy.

 

Same with video games. Violent Video games do not instill violent thought - there is violent thought, thus there are violent video games.

 

 

And I know there is research that shows that violent video games do correlate with increased aggression, but what it really boils down to is the person and the thought behind it. Or as others mentioned, there's a mental factor that people are ignoring.

 

 

I play Halo, have massacred villagers in Fable, killed people for no good reason in TSL, Mass Effect (so on and so forth) and how come I haven't gone on a murderous rampage?

 

 

 

Anyone want to wager a guess?

 

 

(no, the answer is not "I lack the resources")

[VarsityPuppet 1,084]

I know this is off-topic, but I'm also tired of hearing about sexism in video games. It always rubs me the wrong way when people post things like this:

 

 

1.) Games are geared towards a particularly hostile, aggressive crowd. They're all about competitiveness, dominance, bragging rights, all things that are archetypically masculine in nature. Women are, by contrast, stereotyped as the more maternal, gentle, emotional type who'd rather play cooperatively than get all riled up over a Team Slayer match.

 

2.) When girls go online, they can seldom be themselves. Most often they'll get harassed for not being male or accused of sounding like a little kid (because it's hard to tell with that shitty audio compression either way), so the easy way out is to make a gender-neutral gamertag and overall pretend to be guys, because you don't even know the scope of guys who will message girls asking for titshots and nudes.

 

3.) Video games are expensive, and we we all know, women get paid less on average and have to pay a ton more for clothes made of thin, easily rippable material, expensive brand-name makeup, fragrances, shoes, you name it- the pressure's on women to dress up to our liking if they want to be appreciated. To then throw expensive electronic hardware/software into the mix is kind of a tough lifestyle to sustain.

 

4.) Video games involve a lot of spatial reasoning (mental rotation in 3D spaces), which males are inherently better at. I've introduced a handful of girls to video games, the biggest problem they seem to have is combining camera-rotation with character manipulation. They can turn the camera, or move their guy, but to do both at the same time is an ordeal.

 

5.) Online gaming is where civility goes to wither away.

 

 

Anyone want to take a guess as to what's totally off base here? I know the online persecution is for the most part true, but I absolutely HATE when people consider only COD over XBL or PSN as the only form of gaming.

 

 

It's a blatant lie! So since not a lot of women are into FPS games, that means that women don't play Video Games? That doesn't make any sense!!!!

[Jac 5]

Talk about being sexist. I wonder if the poster of that realized they were being sexist? I'm sure the irony is lost on them.

[Kerk 12]

You know, it is silly to deny that video games can exacerbate violent inclinations in particular individuals. There are people who are by nature prone to alcoholism, so if you subject them to alcohol over and over what kind of result would you expect? I for one can say that Nintendo games of the 90s have really harmed my psyche, as I would get really frustrated with them, but couldn't stop, so addictive they were. Of course, the problem is that all sorts of things can exacerbate schizophrenia in certain individuals, so we might as well ban every piece of entertainment.

 

It mostly boils down to parental control. If parents don't know their own child, what else can be said?

[Darth_Sapiens 89]

well as a whole i feel media is getting more violent, not just video games, though i dont feel video games alone ever cause a problem such as this, a multidude of factors influence a persons mind, video games being one of them, they have both positive effects and negative effects, i feel video-games desensitize people to violence, blood and gore. does that mean they make murderers, no. the whole world is full of violence, as much as video games are free speech, they have laws on pornography for a reason, it affects people differently depending on there developmental stage, video games should in my opinion be similarly policed, i honestly would never let a child of mine play a rated m game until they demonstrated a certain level of maturity,i mean i know of six year olds playing call of duty and skyrim, right after they pretend to kill each other with guns etc. totally idolizing people, really i dont play video games to kill people, i play for the story, creativity and the wow factor. i personally hate gore in games it turns me right off of a game. i guess the point is that a person with a mental illness can have a hard time with reality and what is not real, the lines get blurred, there are also sick people out there who love to kill.

what i find is most killers play video games, most video gamers, almost all, are not killers and couldn't put down a dog let alone kill a person in cold blood.