A Look At Video Games And Youth Violence
from the not-so-connected... dept
Every few months there seems to be yet another story from some worked up adult about how video games should be blamed for youth violence. There's even a lawyer who has made quite a career out of being the blame the video game lawyer. Any time there's a youth crime committed, and the kid played violent video games, that lawyer is there, trying to take the responsibility off of the kid who committed the crime, and putting it on the video game makers. Never mind that most studies have suggested that there's no real link between violent video gaming and violent acts -- and that, in some ways, violent video games may act as a way for kids to "vent" their frustration, rather than taking actual action. However, it seems to touch a nerve and people automatically seem to react badly to those who suggest that violent video games might not lead to real life violent acts. This is going to get some more attention with all of the bogus hype around Grand Theft Auto, but duke ferris has written in to point out an interesting analysis that, at least in the aggregate, suggests that it would be quite difficult to prove a connection between video gaming and violence as the reports of youth violence have continually dropped as video games have become more popular. Of course, that doesn't necessarily answer the question on an individual basis -- it certainly does give some fodder against those who seem to think that video games are causing a youth violence epidemic.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
If a person is trained (educated) in sound critical thinking then it would be impossible for them to become violent from playing violent games.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The real issue
[ link to this | view in thread ]
For example
http://www.img3.imagebarrel.com/out.php/i4508_abuse.jpg[
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: For example
heres a link to a random news story that is totally unrelated to what we are talking about.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/youll-meet-a-large-dark-writ/2005/07/07/1120704483784.html
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: For example
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Can you back that up with a reference please? :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
Here's a good analysis that goes through a number of these studies:
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/conf2001/papers/goldstein.html
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pfft
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Youth kept off of the streets. Thanks to video gam
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Youth kept off of the streets. Thanks to video
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
However, I do not support or agree with Jack Thompsons execution on games. Instead of rallying support from other adult gamers (I don't even think I apply as a "gamer", I only play halo 2 and other FPS games occationally, mostly with buddies), JT keeps ratting out all gamers as "brainless" or "on drugs". I guess that applies to those police officers too doesn't it JT?
JT is just attempting to grab the publics attention by excessively blaming things on video games and such. He attempts to relate it to religion (I have no problem with his religion, but he attempts to speak for everyone in the US when he says it's against the bible to play games, im agnostic, not christian). He relates every piece of evidence he can, but steers clear of the evidence against it in fear that his career of lies and harrassment are over.
Thankfully I live in Canada. Our political voices and lawyers know the facts about video games already.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Violence in video games,hurting each other, NOT TR
what about the old days when kids still commited some of these crimes. in an ever changing world we seem to forget the past and look on toward the future well i say we need to think about the times of jack the ripper or hitler or all the other horrific events that blaming now we would blame on video games all the death back them if someone would have shot someone i bet we would be living in a censored enviroment censored music and other things censored movies and mostly no games but learing games who really wants to sit down and learn more stuff from a video game when you could be talking with people half way across the world and learing just as muc that way. i say that buying a Mature rated game for a kid under the age of 14 is a bad idea cause that age and the younger ages seem to be more impressionable about things we cant have them think they fully know right from worng most people dont understand that they rate them for a reason and that reaon is to have the parent look at the rating and tell there child no because of the rating things would be better if they actually followed what it say if it says m dont buy it for your kid if you dont want it to affect them. and another thing i read about......
Video Games to treat ADD?
whats all this about people like that are the most impressionable i say because of the chemical imbalance and i should know i myself have ADHD and BI-Polar 2 and ive been playing games for many years everyone at the gamestop in my town knows me by name i have a hard time finding a place where no one knows me in there town but back on the violence thing i think its just a bunch of hos posh and they should leave it alone.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Youth kept off of the streets. Thanks to video
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Violence in video games,hurting each other, NO
[ link to this | view in thread ]
BOOOOO
[ link to this | view in thread ]
you guys just dont get it
i found when doing my paper that the sucide rate rose in adults thats a crap load of youth violence right there
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The whole video game crap
[ link to this | view in thread ]
stupid adults with small brains
games dont create violent video games!
thats like saying crack isn't dangeres.
the person they need to blame is themselfs!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: stupid adults with small brains
violent video games dont create violent kids!
thats like saying crack isn't dangeres.
the person parents they need to blame is themselfs!
sorry about befor had to fix it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
But the history of movies and media don't seem to support that. How many people go running through town with M-60's shooting it up because they seen Rambo? None that I know of.
Naaaaaa, you should blame Ozzy and his music.
been there done that - same crap now - first it was movies destroying the earth, then heavy metal music, then rap, now it's video games.
whatever.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
In my opinion
They had some book burnings around 367 AD, and most of them included violent material. This made the book lovers, and philosophers to go on a strike on anti-censorship during those times.
Now fast forward to the 1980's, there wasn't a lot of blame towards video games at that time, but at the violent movies that kids are exposed to.. Friday the 13th, Poltergeist, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Tom Holland's child's play.. A lot of parents shift the blame towards the media and television for making their kids do dumb stuff in the streets and committing juvenile acts.
I lived around the 80's and I can tell you that it is BS, to blame violent movies degrading society. I asked a question to a father that had a son that's been in Juvenile detention many times.
Did you raise him, and teach him from right and wrong? He goes yea, but it's the damn horror movies that's controlling him to behave that way.
I didn't want to correct him or anything, I just wanted to see from his point of view.. Then I question myself. Did his son behave this way after watching Friday the 13th or Child's play? Or is he using these tactics as a scapegoat to hide his faults?
I think that it was his own fault that he robbed a store, and beaten people up not because of the movies, but because of peer pressure and the people that influenced him to do these things.. He joined a crypt gang at the age of 15, and they accepted him as part of the family. He thought it was ok to beat people up, and steal because the leader of the crypt gang would tell him lies... Then when it's fed to him he becomes the product tied up in chains.
Now let's fast forward to our modern day video games, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the hype of GTA, and other violent video games that cause kids to be violent.
Jack Thompson is trying to get Game Developers to stop making these games because it's destroying the youth.. I mean come on, I've been gaming for years.. I played violent video games ever since 13, but did I pick up a sniper rifle and blow someone's head off? Nope, never in my life did I kill someone, and even if I did do something stupid like that on purpose, I wouldn't blame the video games, but I would blame myself.
So the point I'm trying to make is a lot of people don't want to admit it's their fault for murdering, stealing, selling drugs. instead they blame it on Video games, Movies, Music, a bottle of shampoo, hairnets, hair pins, a mouse, a dog... for their violent acts.
One thing that I do believe though is that, some video games can cause people to get mad when they lose, but does that always lead them to become Psychos?
It makes me mad when the mainstream media exposes this lie; Violent video games causes people to be violent is BS, all research is doing is putting more money in their pockets, but still their is no link between fantasy violence causing people to Kill.. If that was really true, then we would all be killing someone if we touched GTA for the first time, or Doom for the first time; We would have WW3, and after that the apocalypse in 5 years, then the world would be a dry desert of nothingness.
So Remember, we live in a nation of fear right now, and sometimes that fear can play tricks with most people's minds to accept that as the truth, but sometimes people need to look at the bigger picture instead of always believing and hearing what others say in the news, or research, etc.
I hope this clears the misconception on video game violence.
If I missed something then, emal me at furiousalma33@yahoo.com.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
Can you point me to any of these studies?
All I found was this one:
http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=531930
Stop manipulating the facts.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cause and Effect
That's a contradiction. If video games prevent "taking actual action" then that's a link between the two. How about this:
A link does exists between frustrated children with aggressive tendencies and their attraction to violent video games: The first causes the second. A link also exists between frustrated children with aggressive tendencies and their potential for actual violence: The first causes the second.
So of course there's going to be a correlation between violent video games and actual violence. Neither one causes the other but both have the same cause: frustration and aggressiveness. Not that a kid who plays such a game has a problem, but a kid who is obsessed with such games at the expense of all other normal activities probably does have a problem. Violent video games can be an indicator for the likelihood of violence.
Removing the indicator is silly. That's like removing umbrellas to stop the rain.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
all posted my juveniles
[ link to this | view in thread ]
from a teens point of view
[ link to this | view in thread ]
POV
[ link to this | view in thread ]
fsu rocks!!!!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Common Sense and Media Violence
COMMON SENSE AND MEDIA VIOLENCE.
While researching for my paper, I realized a few things... There is a lot of the violent media in the world today.
* The average American child spends 1,023 hours watching TV and only 900 hours in school. (Media Awareness Network, 2002)
*Children will view 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders by age 18. (S.C. Attorney General’s office, 2006)
The government has done it's job of censoring the TV, Movies and Video Games and protecting our children from violence by putting rating systems into place, playing shows or movies with viewer discretion warnings, playing violent shows late at night, and having the V-chip in 13" or larger TV's since 1996.
As parents I think we have given control to the government to protect our children from media violence. Why have we placed the blame game on the government? It is responsibility to raise our children and to keep them from harm, not anyone else's! I personally watch whatever she does, just so I can "cover her eyes" and keep her from that type of violence. I try to discuss movies, TV and video games with her, asking if she thinks they are real, or if she should do those things she sees to other ppl. I am trying and so far she seems to know the difference. In the end she has no one to blame but herself for the wrong things she does because she knows she made those choices.
I think parents need to spend more time censoring what their children watch and help them understand what is right and wrong. When they choose to do the wrong thing there is and will be consequences.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
none
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Violence in video games,hurting each other, NO
what i support is that video game work as a stress ball,
it helps to decrease anger/violence...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
personal choice
people who kill other people, wont play games that dont involve killing people, its simple.
the kids who attacked columbine highschool, when their house was searched, they found violent games. it wasnt because the games made them violent, its because they were crazy and thought about killing people, so they found a game where they could kill people. they went looking for it.
violence has been in society as long as there has been society (probably before it too). kids have always played war games. how many young boys played army growing up? how many of those boys are now normal business men? how many shot people?
people are inherently different. i myself am considered a violent person. im a martial art instructor, swordsmen and SCA heavy list fighter, so its not a large leap of logic to assume that i like games that have violent themes.
if i like shooting classmates, id find a game that has it. but i like fighting with swords, so i find a game that has that. im sure someones done a study to see if NBA all stars played basket ball video games when they were kids, and ill bet some of them did, and some of them didnt.
so, speaking as one of these aggressive, violent people, yes i like violent games,(i should also add that i love harvest moon, and animal crossing, two games without any violence) will i kill people because if it? no, since it seems like everytime i attack a couple hundred people with a sword, i die once or twice. and in the real world, i can only do that once.
one more point, in one of the studies linked above, they say that there was a rise in violence in the 1960s... saying that it was movie violence that did it. im sure they will say that WWII had absolutly nothing to do with it. like they said the gulf war had nothing to do with the violence in the 90s, and how this current war in iraq has nothing to do with violence now. its all video games fault
[ link to this | view in thread ]
wow
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hmmmm
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: stupid adults with small brains
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Next, there are a lot of violent games out there there's Halo 1 and 2, Call of Duty, Super Smash bros. if you think about it but they are just Games. If kids have good parenting and their parents know what they're getting into then they wont do anything. For me after I have played a violent game such as halo 2 with friends I feel hyper not like overreactive but I start laughing at stupid jokes and that sort of stuff its just fun to play those games. Also me and my friends are very agressive we will punch, kick and tackle eachother if were in the right mood. Its quite fun and is an example of just having FUN. games are not a cause of youth violence and neither are movies and the media. but if you allow them to soak in too much they will start to mess you up. back up at the top of the page someone said that they think it would be smart to not sell M rated games to people under 16. I totaly agree M games are just stupid to start out with they are the games that can screw you up. They will have you shoot and kill for no reason just to do it. Like grand theft auto for example. That is the STUPIDEST game i have ever heard of. all you do is kill and destroy with no objective or purpose. At least in halo and other games you are fufilling a command from your CO to defend the place you are at or take control of a major base.
That is entirely my opinion if this seems at all irrelevent or non-orginized my bad. but more citations would be welcome
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
....
Before i was born,my father tried to kill me.
he was on drugs(heroin,etc.)and didnt want to have to pay for me to live,and so he headbutted my mother over and over again to get rid of me.
he played video games ever since they first came out.
at age 2,i started playing video games(super mario,etc.)my mother knew how to raise us.i have played video games ever since.for the record i have As and Bs,and avoid conflict with other ppl mostly.i do have anger issues becuase i tend to bottle it up,but even when i release my anger,it is controlled,and even at my peak i would never intentionally kill somone unless they were going to kill me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tired Of The Pointless Argument
Im sure 99% of them probably have a TV in their own home. If TV was really the problem, wouldnt they want to get it out of their house at the earliest possible moment? Wouldnt they want to delete all of their illegal mp3s, and burnt CDs, so they wouldnt be sucked into the influence of committing a possibly violent act?
My point with asking this is to point out something that no one in here has mentioned up to this point. It doesnt trully seem to bother them too much, otherwise they would be safeguarding against it, ( the same way a person that believes in Satan wears a cross or sprinkles holy water to ward away the devils.)
I know that if i had something that i trully believe was influencing my mind in a way that i didnt want it influenced, then i would get rid of it rick-e-tick.
You can blame it on the parents and so forth. It is partially all of this. The thing is, you guys are trying to prove the unprovable. You CANT prove that bad parenting, and NOT video games, is the cause for violence. You can only prove that video games DONT cause violence. All the rest should be left alone. Allow the "experts" run their mouths. As long as they dont have concise evidence then nothing can really be done about it. We already know that there never can be any real vidence (that isnt influenced by interest) because of the fact that free will exists, and everyones free will and concience is different. Different things are wrong for different people.
The simple fact of the matter is that if one of the sides dont give up the argument, or if they dont come up with an agreeable solution, then this argument will remain forever. It will be a perpetual cycle of "this causes... yeah well this causes... that doesnt cause..."
If we know we are right, then why dont we be the mature ones and take the high road. Let them bitch and bicker about it all they want. Its much more undignifying to laugh at their accusations than it is to return fire. Think about that.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Agreed
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I would say both that vilent video games sometimes releave stress from kids that are mad thus decreasing the amount of outbreaks, and in other cases they cause some calm kids to become more violent.
i would say that is why violence in children has not increased or decreased with video games coming out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
games and youth violence
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The whole video game crap
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The whole video game crap
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: The whole video game crap
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: The whole video game crap
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rediculous
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: In my opinion
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Rediculous
[ link to this | view in thread ]
pokemon
[ link to this | view in thread ]
gangs
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: gangs
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Common Sense
[ link to this | view in thread ]
video games do not cause violence in the youth
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Video games
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hi
[ link to this | view in thread ]