Violent Video Game Effects Linger in Brain

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I am sure that video games are not the cause of modern day violence.
 
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The problem with "studies" like these is that they usually only display the effects of video games--with no comparisons to other activities people consider "normal."

Watching violent movies, reading violent books, playing violent sports, etc--they achieve much of the same effect, but you're not going to see that in a report using a study to further the goals of their individual organization.
 

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I don't think games cause violence. I do, however, think games like Bully, GTA (3+), Postal, etc (about any "omfg i r gangstah lol i r shoot ppl do drugs go to hookers yaaaay") should be banned, just because they fail and only count on the 'shockfactor'.. Without this shockfactor, the games would blow.
I haven't played Postal, but both Bully and GTA are great games and it's not the violence that makes them great. GTA was the first free roaming game I played with such a massive environment, I was blown away. And Bully isn't even that violent / shocking, other than the name. That's not to say that the violence had nothing to do with the success of GTA, but it's certainly not the reason the game was great.
 
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Thank god for scientists.
As a student of the sciences, I feel stung by your barb :(

However (and more to the point), what I've learned in Psychology, thus far, indicates that violent video games in a regular lifestyle don't have any significant effect on one's behavior, much in the same way that "subliminal advertisements" have no real significant effects (be those short-term, or lasting).

It's but another attempt to generate some explanation for bad upbringing, in my opinion. It'll pass.
 

MC

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Violent video games only promote violence in those who are willing/wanting to commit violence. The same applies to every form of media and entertainment.
 
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As a student of the sciences, I feel stung by your barb :(
Oh Maj, I only made that comment because I didn't need a scientist to tell me that the brain reacts differently while playing violent video games verus a game such as Tetris. =P
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if there were short term effects after playing Tetris either. You might not be more aggressive or prone to eat people, but you might think more logically than you normally would for a short time after playing the game. Or you just might try to put random shapes together in your imagination.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if there were short term effects after playing Tetris either. You might not be more aggressive or prone to eat people, but you might think more logically than you normally would for a short time after playing the game. Or you just might try to put random shapes together in your imagination.
Actually, during vacation, I played quite a bit of Tetris DS in my free time.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I would see Tetriminos fall into place as if I was playing it.

My sister had the same thing, rofl.

Scary.
 
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So, you buy your son a fish tank.

Maybe you're too tired from work, maybe you're too drunk from last night, maybe you can't look at the brat for more than five minutes without thinking about how easy it would be to just get in the car and keep driving.. whatever the reason, you buy your son a fish tank.

Occasionally - by which I mean every week or two - you'll ask him how the fish tank is doing. And he'll say something, but by that point you've filled your obligation as a parent so you don't really hear it.

Five years down the line and your son is doing little else but feeding his fish and going joy-riding with the other waster-brats that that crappy school of his is churning out. He never talks to you. He never does anything right but clean that bloody fish tank of his. He's always buying stuff for that fish tank, and where the hell does he get the money for that, anyway?

Fish tanks, that's the trouble. They affect the kid's brains. They turn them all into little monsters. Can't keep a boy straight if he's got his grubby hands on a fish tank.

Bloody fish tanks.
 
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If I didn't know that I'd get banned for making a post as equally enlightening as yours, Engar, you'd be reading about why fish tanks drove Hitler to do what he did.
 
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Wow... That was utter insanity. I want whatever you're on! :laff:

I dunno, when I play BT2, it makes me wish I had continued my studies of the martial arts... But it doesn't make me want to hurt people, or go out and start beating on people.

Likewise, when I play Counter-Strike Source, I consider what it would be like to live that lifestyle, but, I'm still not going to become a counter-terrorist, and I'm not going to go out and shoot a man wearing a turban because I feel he is a "terrorist."
 

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Hitler for example was very violent, did he play too much Doom or Wolfenstein in his youth? Wait...those didn't even exist in that time. This is just a load of bullcrap, and I'm not even going to bother reading that article.
nah

he was busy being a vegan and painting pictures.
 
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I don't approve of hitting your kids considering I've been on the receiving end of such punishment many a time. While it might be effective when trying to show a kid that killing animals or hurting people or mooning everyone they see is wrong, it shouldn't be used for stupid things such as children crying or not doing what you say exactly as you say it. Then again, you shouldn't give your children too much control since they're constantly testing your boundaries. This is a concept most modern parents fail to understand. They usually choose between the light and dark sides and forget that Luke Skywalker used both.

Hitler was a victim of bad parenting and was probably schizophrenic (which probably resulted from the bad parenting). I saw a case study on the psychology behind Hitler and, although I think Freud was an idiot, they used his teachings to map out Hitler pretty well and there was evidence to support most of their claims. But again, Wolfenstein must have really ****ed him up.

Last time I checked (or accidentally saw...), violence has been going downhill ever since the inception of video games. It gives us an outlet to relieve ourselves of some kinds of emotions and allows us to indulge in fantasies we would otherwise not indulge in (or fantasies that some might actually realize, like killing people you meet in bars and then cutting them up for dinner).

...wasnt hitler in wolfenstein?
 
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44 youths does not constitute a ground breaking study, they could be from any background or part of town, doesn't matter t hat they haven't been violent themselves. Regardless, I personally think it's foolish to believe that video games have no effect on youth. Working in retail I see children as young as 8 years old asking me to take Grand Theft Auto out of a video game case on a disturbingly regular basis, and I can't lead myself to believe that they aren't absorbing the contents of these games. Once you are old enough to figure out that video games and hollywood movies aren't realistic you can blow off the nonsense and enjoy the game, but really young kids are really impressionable whether they lean towards violence or otherwise.

Youth on the internet as absurdly biased and immediately attack anything that acts as though it understands them, or anything that claims they have been influenced against their will. Every experience in your life impacts you in one direction or another, and the raw truth of the matter is that the younger you are, the harder it hits. Yes, it's up to the parent to decide what their kids are allowed to play, and I firmly believe that the brain-dead X generation has absolutely no concept of what their kids are bringing home to play, but no matter who is at fault I still find it ridiculous that everyone is so ready to team together to fight this garbage as though it were some outer-planar evil. Like Zeonix. Maybe instead of going off on wild tangents with fish tank and Wolfenstein analogies you guys could be discussing exactly why you think these games have no effect.

/Devil's advocate
 
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I completely agree with Bolteh and Sonic. Sonic basically explained everything I try to tell other people, and every bit of it makes sense. If you don't think so, reconsider the types of games you're defending.
 
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And what about the video games that the christians and catholics played during the inquisition and the crusades?
Lol I was just going to refer to the exact same thing xD
 
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Yes, it's up to the parent to decide what their kids are allowed to play, and I firmly believe that the brain-dead X generation has absolutely no concept of what their kids are bringing home to play, but no matter who is at fault I still find it ridiculous that everyone is so ready to team together to fight this garbage as though it were some outer-planar evil. Like Zeonix.
Did you call me some kind of outer-planar evil :( ?

I believe anything has an effect after prolonged use. If I read a book for 3 hours straight, I'm probably going to relate everything I see afterwards to that book. If I play GTA for 3 hours, I might imagine myself stealing that taxi over there and then I'd probably ask myself "Why do people bother stopping at red lights?". Studies have shown there are no long term effects though. Anyone who plays a game like GTA and goes on a killing spree was going to do so anyway. He just needed something to emulate. There was obviously something wrong with the kid beforehand, and the game was the straw that broke the Arbiter's back.

Better?

@ ZeroNightmare: It was a prophetic game...
 
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If I weren't at work right now, I would be able to refute things and state my case more plainly, but at the end of the day it's this simple:

Don't censor my games because Momma McStupid doesn't give enough of a crap about which Automatic Babysitting DVD Rom she buys at the Automatic Shut-Your-Kid-The-Hell-Up Machine Store.

The fact is no one has ever actually committed a violent crime that emulates anything you can do in a game. Honestly, I thank god for Grand Crap Auto and Rockstar...without them and their mediocre games to take the heat some GOOD games like Gears of War or Dawn of War might be taking the heat.

Also you shouldn't write off Engar's fish tank story. It is a picture perfect representation of the issue at hand in it's truest, ugliest form--the uncaring parent who just wants to shut their brat up for the night.
 
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If I weren't at work right now, I would be able to refute things and state my case more plainly, but at the end of the day it's this simple:

Don't censor my games because Momma McStupid doesn't give enough of a crap about which Automatic Babysitting DVD Rom she buys at the Automatic Shut-Your-Kid-The-Hell-Up Machine Store.
THANK YOU! My god! There isn't much more to say. "I bought my kids a game where they go around robbing people, having sex with then killing hookers, stealing cars with a half assed story line AND NOW THEY'RE VIOLENT! I want games banned because I'm retarded"

Yeah Pride summed it up.
 

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