While Im not for over-the-top violence, I feel that there should be no restrictions on violence in videogames, there should instead be tighter restrictions on movies. I dont like being told by a certain US senator that the games Game Devellopers make are, and I quote: "Murder simulators". If the some kids go out and shoot people, blame the parents who should have paid more attention to their spoiled little brats.
Many parents said games are to violent, but the same parents buy those violents game to thei child!
I got a cousin, when he was 7 years old his parnt buy him Doom! It is a violent game.
My poit is this, parents (espesialy of young childrens) should have a control on the game their kids are playing, they shold try to know if the game is violent before they buy the game!
And also, their was violence before video game was invented!
when going into a violent game, the child needs to know the delineation of violence in simulation and real life. The child has to be TOLD or EXPLAINED beforehand (and it doesn''t have to be just before giving a 8 yr old kid SoF) about the fact that in normal society people don''t do this. Sure it''s easy to think that the kid should know, but subconciously he/she *doesn''t* comprehend the reason for the violence. That way the child can pretend to kill his computer enemies with vengeance (or fun), and not act the same way in real life. Those tests they do when they make kids watch something violent and then they go out and become more violent at play-time dont'' report that they told the children that this is not what normal poeple do. I don''t know if i''m explaining this very well, but the main idea is that a child (or any impressionable person) should already know what normal people do and dont'' do. Give a peaceful kid that already understands that violence is not a good way for resolving problems, some violent computer game, and i don''t think that particular child is going to commit acts of violence paralleling the game.
my "psycho"-analysis of the disjunction of juvenile violence and violence computer games
In my opinion, I believe the fault lies a great deal with the parents if their child goes to school and shoots somebody. The point is...there were extremely significant signs pointing to violent intentions/behavior in the Columbine shooting. Eric had posted threatening things on the Internet, his room was suposedly full of signs, and he suposedly carried the shotgun to school in a duffle bag with the stock sticking out. His mom thought it was a BB gun. I agree, sometimes parents can''t help it if they get a bad kid..._but_, it IS up to the parents to recognize whether or not their child is mentally stable enough to play violent games and not be affected.
First off, let me preface this by saying that I support developers to make whatever game they want. I don''t believe that TV and games efffect NORMAL people. The funny thing is this though: Super Bowl commercials. Or really any commercials for that matter. Companies pay an exorbant amount of money to air commercials that will influence us to buy their products. Why would they do that if they didn''t work? Its the same with games, TV, and movies. They are influential on our lives, and it makes me sad that these industries are so hypocritical as to not take any responsibility for there products or ads. I don''t believe that Quake caused any stable person to go on a killing spree. I do believe that it could have influenced some already very sick people. The same way commercials influence us to buy a specific brand of shoes, or go see a particular movie.
I don''t think it''s a matter of violent games (or any other media for that matter) making the player more violent. I think it''s more of a problem of violent and disturbed people being drawn to violent media. With shootings like at Columbine, these kids were obviously extremley mentally disturbed. They posted threats on the internet, they were involved in neo-nazi groups, their parents were apparently detached from their lives. As some have stated before, a kid needs an ethical basis to fall on, a code of conduct. Kids are very impressionable. But, the games aren''t really meant to be played by 7 and 8 year olds. And noone intended for these games to create such behavior. In the vast majoritity of people, these games may make them a little testy, probably more from frustration at losing than the exposure to violence. Hey, some non-violent games can frustrate me more than violent games. My sister gets furious when she can''t get the timing just right on Parrapa the Rapper for the tenth time. And I will say something to her and she will hit me. Here is a case in which a completly non-violent game has upset someone. But, this effect never lasts longer than 10 minutes. After awhile, she will calm down and realize it''s just a game and doesn''t need to get mad. Most games have some sort of violent content, so statistically people are playing more violent games that non-violent games. I''m betting on frustration at the difficulty of a game is more of a culprit in short term emotional and mental effect than the violent content. I don''t think games have any long term effect on people. Excuse me, maybe it will increase their hand/eye coordination and weight. But at the end of the day, you don''t go to bed at night pissed at the world because you couldn''t finish level 23. And you don''t go massacreing the McDonald''s because you saw it in a video game. The parent''s of the children that got killed were looking for a scape-goat. They see a coralation between the violent kids and their violent gaming. I know a church pastor that plays some of the most violent games I have ever seen. You could say that because you see a lot of minimum wage people driving beat up cars that beat up cars cause people to earn minimum wage. I''m probably going way to long here. I wrote an essay on this once, so I''ve investigated it before. Once again, the problem is not with the games, it''s with the people who play the games (the kids) and the ones that buy them (the parents). Parent''s need to stop letting the family computer baby-sit their kids and start taking an active role in the childs upbringing.
"YOU APES WANNA LIVE FOREVER?" Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein "Who wants to live forever?" Queen "Never trust a bald barber" me B^)
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