NationStates Jolt Archive

Part one: http://one.revver.com/watch/296081

Part two: http://one.revver.com/watch/316856


Some highlights and points:

-Overall teenage violence has gone down over the past ten years, while violence in video games and explicitness of graphics have gone way, way up.

-Getting kids interested in video games lowers the time they spend on the streets, and thereby lowers the chance of them doing something bad or something bad happening to them.

-People blamed video games for Vtech before they even knew who the shooter was.


Thoughts? Counterpoints?

*resists urge to spout meme*
It's hard sometimes, ok?

Video games causing real life violence is complete bullshit. People always claim that video games are desensitizing kids to violence. Yeah, like the media isn't doing that anyways.

The benefits of childhood obesity skyrocketing, maybe? :p Nah, honestly I don't look at video games being responsible for either the increase or the decrease. People predisposed to violence may love violent games, but those are the outliers.

-Overall teenage violence has gone down over the past ten years, while violence in video games and explicitness of graphics have gone way, way up.

I has a counterpoints to make for that points that the video has makes:

Correlation does not prove causation.

Our media is more violent in general. We watch people get blown up on TV all the time and get desensitized anyway - so go blame TV and movies not video games.

I has a counterpoints to make for that points that the video has makes:

Correlation does not prove causation.

It proves that video games aren't causing an increase. If it were, there would be, y'know, some sort of an increase. We wouldn't be able to tell if it was caused by video games, per se, but it would still be there, and it's not. At all.

I'm not entirely saying that video games -prevents- real-life violence, but there doesn't seem to be any proof at all for a promotion.

Our media is more violent in general. We watch people get blown up on TV all the time and get desensitized anyway - so go blame TV and movies not video games.

To be fair, I wouldn't even do that.

I think if someone's fucked in the head, they're fucked in the head. There's nothing that causes them to be more or less fucked in the head that wouldn't already have happened if that something hadn't been there at all.

But has violence risen or fallen among the groups of kids in the social/economic groups that would have and play video games? If it rises or falls among kids too poor or not likely to have or play these video games it doesn't really speak to the issue, it has to be the group of kids in the social/economic classes that now own video game systems and buy violent video games.

Just for the sake of argument, I don't buy the video games make you violent, I'll go with the few psychiatrists I hear interviewed when this comes up who say, "No, if you're prone to this kind of violence you're prone to it, and whether it's a video game or a tv show or watching a cat catch a bird, the trigger is really immaterial."

I've certainly never understood the assertion that violent video games desensitizes you to violence. I've played violent video games ever since Wolfenstein 3D came out, and when I went to Iraq in 2003 I was plenty sensitized.

It's just as silly as when they claimed that playing Doom made the Columbine kids better shots.

I've certainly never understood the assertion that violent video games desensitizes you to violence. I've played violent video games ever since Wolfenstein 3D came out, and when I went to Iraq in 2003 I was plenty sensitized.

It's just as silly as when they claimed that playing Doom made the Columbine kids better shots.

You mean to tell us that you don't aim on a 4:3 box with a thumb stick?

Pfff, next you'll be telling us that being hit does more than make the screen flash, or shooting first aid kits don't heal you. Weave us another fairy tale, Mother Goose...

I'd be willing to bet that the number of videogames involved in violent crimes is less than the number of weapons involved in violent crimes...

-Overall teenage violence has gone down over the past ten years, while violence in video games and explicitness of graphics have gone way, way up.

Take that, Jack Thompson! *imagines being annoyed at Jack Thompson in a totally non-violent way*

I'd be willing to bet that the number of videogames involved in violent crimes is less than the number of weapons involved in violent crimes...

I've never understood that. I'd like to ask a congressman in front of the press whether he thinks shooting guns at targets in real life makes you more violent, and then watch him squirm as he attempts to dodge the implications of the yes or no answer.

Take that, Jack Thompson! *imagines being annoyed at Jack Thompson in a totally non-violent way*

He's such a douche. If video games really made you violent, he'd be long, long dead. Long dead.


If anything, him still living shows what pacifists we are.

He's such a douche. If video games really made you violent, he'd be long, long dead. Long dead.


If anything, him still living shows what pacifists we are.

That is a very intriguing point… but I can guarantee he'd take it the wrong way.
He'd be all: "they're making threats on my life! Sue someone!" :(

EDIT: Yay! I spelt guarantee!

I've never understood that. I'd like to ask a congressman in front of the press whether he thinks shooting guns at targets in real life makes you more violent, and then watch him squirm as he attempts to dodge the implications of the yes or no answer.

Firing an actual firearm at nonliving targets doesn't make you more violent either. Wanting to kill another human being without a damned good reason requires a certain type of crazy that I imagine you have to be born with.

Firing an actual firearm at nonliving targets doesn't make you more violent either. Wanting to kill another human being without a damned good reason requires a certain type of crazy that I imagine you have to be born with.

I think the idea is that he can't reply that actual firearms cause no harm (because that lets other "violent" things off the hook), but he also can't say that they do cause violence because he'll lose the gun-nut vote.

To be fair, I wouldn't even do that.

I think if someone's fucked in the head, they're fucked in the head. There's nothing that causes them to be more or less fucked in the head that wouldn't already have happened if that something hadn't been there at all.

True true :D

Our violent TV, movies and games make them more inclined to act out the actions but it doesn't make them violent because they were thinking that way in the first place.

If you look my game collection, most involve taking over a world or shooting people.

I think the idea is that he can't reply that actual firearms cause no harm (because that lets other "violent" things off the hook), but he also can't say that they do cause violence because he'll lose the gun-nut vote.

True enough. I guess they'd rather place the blame for violence on an easy target like video games or TV than on social problems where it belongs.

If you look my game collection, most involve taking over a world or shooting people.

Taking over and shooting? :p

Taking over and shooting? :p

Yeah, that too! :D

Firing an actual firearm at nonliving targets doesn't make you more violent either. Wanting to kill another human being without a damned good reason requires a certain type of crazy that I imagine you have to be born with.

Exactly.

True true :D

Our violent TV, movies and games make them more inclined to act out the actions but it doesn't make them violent because they were thinking that way in the first place.

If you look my game collection, most involve taking over a world or shooting people.

As am I! We should join together and be negatively influenced by things like Fallout 2 and punch people until the sides of their torsos explode - huzzah!

True enough. I guess they'd rather place the blame for violence on an easy target like video games or TV than on social problems where it belongs.

Yeah, because then they'd have to actually -do- something about it. Just bitching about something is a good way to get votes while not actually doing anything about the problem.

Taking over and shooting? :p

Yes. No such thing as overkill.

Yes. No such thing as overkill.

*revs chainsaw bayonet*

I think the idea is that he can't reply that actual firearms cause no harm (because that lets other "violent" things off the hook), but he also can't say that they do cause violence because he'll lose the gun-nut vote.

Nailed it.

Nailed it.

I has jeeneus.

*revs chainsaw bayonet*

You're clearly negatively influenced by .hack//GU in which they have broadswords where the blade is a chainsaw.

Let's sue CC Corp!

You're clearly negatively influenced by .hack//GU in which they have broadswords where the blade is a chainsaw.

Let's sue CC Corp!

I've never played GU, only the first .hacks… I have heard it was better than the first ones though.

I was actually referring to Gears of War (http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1167/1153839751.jpg)

Edit: Chainsaw broadswords sound good too, though

Yes. No such thing as overkill.

There's just open fire and reload.

There's just open fire and reload.

You forgot frag out.

I've never played GU, only the first .hacks… I have heard it was better than the first ones though.

I was actually referring to Gears of War (http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1167/1153839751.jpg)

Edit: Chainsaw broadswords sound good too, though

Eh, they're two completely different kinds of games. They revamped pretty much everything - combat, environment, graphics (cel-shaded now), voice acting (Johnny Young Bosch ftw!)... overall I like the new one better, but that could entirely be because it's newer. Also, GU isn't as intellectual as the original 4 were - you're not the young hero attempting to save the world, you're the anti-hero who's attempting to save the world while not really admitting it to himself or anyone else. It's got a more badass image - your armor is fucking awesome, and you're not a 5'2" kid wearing an oversized beret.

The first 4 are amazing, though, and they're some of my favorite games ever, and without those the new .hack wouldn't be possible. They're just fucking innovative in every way possible.

Eh, they're two completely different kinds of games. They revamped pretty much everything - combat, environment, graphics (cel-shaded now), voice acting (Johnny Young Bosch ftw!)... overall I like the new one better, but that could entirely be because it's newer. Also, GU isn't as intellectual as the original 4 were - you're not the young hero attempting to save the world, you're the anti-hero who's attempting to save the world while not really admitting it to himself or anyone else. It's got a more badass image - your armor is fucking awesome, and you're not a 5'2" kid wearing an oversized beret.

The first 4 are amazing, though, and they're some of my favorite games ever, and without those the new .hack wouldn't be possible. They're just fucking innovative in every way possible.

But I loved the beret! I set the voices to Japanese, anyway. The English voice acting was too painful. :D

There's just open fire and reload.

And pwn, and frag, and boomheadshot...

You forgot frag out.

Hai. Can't forget the explosives.

Hai

Also martial arts.

(Wow. Nearly wrote "marital acts"!!! :eek:)

You forgot frag out.

Actually, I was referencing this.

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040223.html

But I loved the beret! I set the voices to Japanese, anyway. The English voice acting was too painful. :D

It wasn't bad. Much better than most, I'd say.

Oh and Johnny, if you didn't know, does the voice of "Kuhn" in GU. He also did the voice of Vash the Stampede in English, and was the black ranger from Power Rangers for quite a while, starring in the first Power Rangers movie.

Actually, I was referencing this.

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040223.html

This thread is rapidly becoming a series of mis-references…

Also martial arts.

(Wow. Nearly wrote "marital acts"!!! :eek:)

It's a fact that afterschool martial arts training is known to make children more violent and there have been numerous reports of 7-year-olds going on karate-chopping rampages - DINING ROOM TABLES ALL OVER THE PLACE, CUT RIGHT IN HALF. RIGHT IN HALF, I SAY!

It's a fact that afterschool martial arts training is known to make children more violent and there have been numerous reports of 7-year-olds going on karate-chopping rampages - DINING ROOM TABLES ALL OVER THE PLACE, CUT RIGHT IN HALF. RIGHT IN HALF, I SAY!

Well… children are a side-effect of marital acts anyway… occasionally.
*is censored by Thompson*

It's just as silly as when they claimed that playing Doom made the Columbine kids better shots.

RL haz autoaimz?!? :eek:

Those guys are right though, when I play FPSs I'm not thinking about how I'm killing people, it's about winning the game at hand.

Taking over and shooting? :p

Taking over the world, then shooting the world at other things?

Part one: http://one.revver.com/watch/296081

Part two: http://one.revver.com/watch/316856


Some highlights and points:

-Overall teenage violence has gone down over the past ten years, while violence in video games and explicitness of graphics have gone way, way up.

-Getting kids interested in video games lowers the time they spend on the streets, and thereby lowers the chance of them doing something bad or something bad happening to them.

-People blamed video games for Vtech before they even knew who the shooter was.


Thoughts? Counterpoints?
But now that they won't go out the street and do some fist fighting, them teens would get obese without the exercise of brute manual combat. :rolleyes: