quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster

>> Being a parent has opened my eyes alot and you will suddenly realize that alot of the ''bull'' that the movie industry and game industry try to tell you about this topic, is nothing but that: BULLSH$7 . >>

Ok, so what separates their bullshit from your bullshit? Have you presented any kinds of facts to support your theory? No, you are basicly saying that since you experience an up and a down, the earth must be flat. What if your kid says that he is gay and starts smoking crack? Will you blame his drug addiction on his sexual orientation too?

They have done actual studies in the areas of media violence where they have studied kids and measured the violence among the kids objectively (by counting blows exchanged in the school yards etc.) rather than like you, letting the shock of the realization that your kids are not little pacifist angels cloud your thinking. Through the study they found no rise in violence when the kids were introduced to TV showing violence. They did the study on the island of St. Helena that first got access to TV in the 1990s, allowing the researchers to study the effects of TV pretty damn accurately.

Henry

We currently don''t allow our children to watch anything we don''t know about. We also now homeschool our children. Their attitudes have changed dramatically. They are much better. I never said I was trying to make them pacifists, but I don''t enjoy them thinking that kicking and hitting people is appropriate play. (which many kids do nowadays because of Power Rangers).
I have SEEN many children get hurt doing this kind of play, so I KNOW that it happens whether it''s meant or not. Kids immitate it because they see it on TV and they think it''s cool. That''s all the proof I need.



B e S
"It’s da bomb, baby"

quote:Original post by Coyote

Well, here''s my 2 cents:

The problem I have with people saying that video games cause violence is that it shifts responsibility from people to things. Things cannot make us do anything because we possess a free will - an ability to choose. If indeed a video game "caused" someone to commit a violent act, then that person was probably psychotic to begin with. (Psychosis is a loss of touch with reality, or an inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy.) And if a person is psychotic with violent tendancies, that aspect of their personality is gonna be expressed regardless of whether or not they play video games.

But we''re talking about children here. Ones that should be protected from this stuff by their parents, but aren''t and thus a problem occurs. Children are VERY influenced by the world around them, including movies and games.


B e S
"It’s da bomb, baby"

Another thing. One problem here is that alot of the people on this board are still children and are too close to the problem to see it''s effects. (I''m 30 personally) I know parents are responsible for what their children see, but there has to be a line drawn on both sides of the issue at some point, and it doesn''t look like the entertainment industries are willing to draw their line yet.



B e S
"It’s da bomb, baby"

I think the biggest problem society has as a whole with violence is that we believe ourselves to be...what''s the word...oh, yes, "civilized." Everyone seems to think that violence is some barbaric and anamalistic tendancy. On the contrary, human beings are violent by nature. The only reason why little children seem to be more prone to violent reactions (and, believe me, they are) is simply because they haven''t been "civilized" like everyone else. Now, I could go on and turn this into a referance to 1984 , but I''ll leave that up to the reader.

When I was very little, my parents shielded me quite a bit. I only watch Sesame Street and that sort of stuff. And, yet, when my sister was born, I got great enjoyment out of throwing my toys at her while she was in the cradle. Now, as I said before, I was very shielded. No rated PG movies for me. Actually...no movies at all! Obviously no computer games. So, what is there to blame for me throwing (rather heavy) toys at my sister? My parents are good parents, it was no fault of theirs. Neither was it movies or video games. It was the fact that I hadn''t yet been "civilized."

Well...when I started this reply, I hadn''t intended to say that, but it''s a good example. Also, another thing about me: I used to have the worst temper in the world. If I fell down and someone laughed at me, I''d attack them. Of course, I''d get punished, but I didn''t care. And, yet, now I have The Matrix sitting up on a shelf in my room...although the video is in the VCR more often than it is in the box. I watched Sleepy Hollow and enjoyed it. I probably play games like Unreal and Quake more often than the Columbine shooters (and the media said they were "addicted" to Doom...come on, Doom is so behind-the-times now!). So now we''ve quite a decision to make. Is it that, simply, I am not as violent in my teenage years as I was in my younger years, or am I just really good at hiding the bodies?

Also, if I remember correctly, someone mentioned that they don''t like their kids play-fighting. Why not? Kids have been play-fighting for about as long as at least my grandparents were kids, if not longer. My dad broke his top front teeth playing cops and robbers, and, besides, who HASN''T played cops and robbers...or cowboys and indians (which, btw, is under "attack" now because it "encourages racism"). I remember up to about 5 years ago, my friends and I would build forts in the woods around the neighborhood, and we would have wars with other kids. No, we didn''t shoot each other, we threw sticks and rocks. Yes, sometimes someone would get hurt, but we were "just being kids."

I''ll admit, perhaps there are some people who are more violent than others. That''s always been the truth. Should 99% of society be punished for the actons of the 1% who can''t handle life? Should the few be more important than the many? Some people call for a ban on violence. Violence is part of life. Just because you take it out of games and movies doesn''t mean that you can take it out of PEOPLE. Yes, there is some blame on parents that don''t raise their children socially "correct." I''m not going to say, though, that there is much blame on game developers and movie-makers. Why? Well...yes maybe there is gratitous violence in games and movies, but that''s only because it''s what makes money. If society--if the very people that bitch about violence in entertainment--would stop going to see Scream and stop buying Soldier of Fortune, then perhaps game developers and movie-makers would stop MAKING them. The problem isn''t just on parents or on entertainment medias, but the blame falls on society itself.

We, as a society, are blood-thirsty and barbaric...we simply hide it behind this bullshit we call "Political Correctness." BTW, I see Political Correctness as the same thing as "Censorship of the Individual." That''s all it is...the destruction of Free Speech.

P h a n t a s m -- "Through dreams I influence mankind."

The only thing that causes violence is old reruns and Barney (Im gonna get the purple bastard one day) .

-----------------------------

A wise man once said "A person with half a clue is more dangerous than a person with or without one."

One of the posts here mentioned Power Rangers and just reminded me of the south park episode ripping off Pokemon: Chinpokomon. One of the parents said something along the lines, "We souldn''t let our children watch this trash." "Why not? It''s not violent or vulgar." "No, but it''s just stupid, and that can be worse on a childs mind than any violence or vulgarity"

I agree. Too many childrens shows are plain s--t with a massive marketing campaign attached.

quote:The only thing that causes violence is old reruns and Barney (Im gonna get the purple bastard one day)

Well put.
(Contact me, I wanna help. Let''s make a new underground "Get Barney" conspiracy cult!)


__________________________
"I like the green one better."

I''ve been wanting to reply to this for a while, but my dumb job has kept me from it!

Well, I did a report on this for school one time, if you think back to the poll I had a few months ago. Anyway, there have been studies on the psychological effects of video games to a child''s mind. And yes, it does have a direct effect on the child. Whether it is a large effect, or it is a small effect.

As mentioned before, the Columbine shooters were huge Doom fans (Doom was big at that time) it is also rumored that one of them even used a Doom level editor to make a level much like the school.

However, the parents should have taught them right from wrong and watched them a little bit better.

I personally grew up on low violence games. Like the Final Fantasys, Dragon Warriors (great games), Marios, Donket Kongs, KQ, SQ, and QFG. I have 2 brothers, one older one younger, sure we got into play fights, but we never had the intentions of hurting each other.

However, when I bought Battle Arena Toshiden, things changed dramatically. My little brother got really into it, and I mean really into it. He was jumping around grunting and saying ''owe'' every time his character got hit. I got bored of beating him and turned the PS off. He cried some Japanese word that was mentioned in the game and jumped me, punching and kicking.

My Mom got rid of the game, and we haven''t had the problem since.

~~~

I agree that human''s are born with violent tendancies, but it''s how those tendancies are dealt with is what counts. You can either surpress that nature, or feed it, there is no in between.

I must admit I was a very sheltered child, my parents watch everything I did, and I thank them for it. They let me watch the news, any time I wanted to actually. I would sit there and gasp and ask why somebody would get shot or killed in a hit and run. I had been raised tpo understand this was wrong.

I think some parents use video games to keep their child occupied, and to keep them quiet. My Mom would sit there and play Super Bomberman with me and my brothers for hours on end (even though she was no good at it ). We had so much fun kicking bombs at each other. An entire family should be able to enjoy a game.

Yes Bomberman uses violence, but there is no blood or gore at all. If you''re character gets hit by a bomb blast he falls over and fades away. 3 seconds later that same bomberman is running around the screen again.

I''m done for now.

To read my report click here.



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Guardian Angel Interactive