Researchers "Link" Violent Video Games To Aggression
from the dr-bunsen-and-beaker dept
Somebody call Jack Thompson: researchers from Michigan State say that violent video games cause brain activity characteristic of agression -- or at least it did in 11 young German video gamers they tested. The study looked at the effects of a first-person shooter game on 13 German males between the ages of 18 and 26 that play an average of 15 hours of games a week -- hardly a comprehensive sample, and one made up of subjects that are probably already somewhat aggressively minded. But aggressive thoughts directed at the game itself -- what some might call being engaged by it -- aren't harmful. It's a question of acting on aggressive thoughts outside the game, something the study doesn't touch on. It misses the point: while video games may cause feelings of aggression while they're being played, it's what happens to those feelings afterwards that can become problematic. It seems like most of the instances of violence blamed on video games happen after kids play, not during.
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No Subject Given
i can safely say that videogames have given me an outlet and prevented me from having any aggressive outburts in real life.
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No Subject Given
I think it is; even if we don't want to admit it. It's our INTELLIGENCE that seperates us from wild animals. The fact that we KNOW causing harm to others is wrong and we should be going against any such thoughts or using ANY means necessary to avoid committing horrible acts.
If this really is the case, isn't it better to release your suppressed violence and rage of the real world in an imaginary one? Aren't these people doing the world a favor by releasing their anger in a NON-VIOLENT imaginary way??? Would we rather have them bottle up all their rage until they EXPLODE IN A FURY OF REAL VIOLENCE because they can't hold it in anymore.
Yes, these kids were violent while playing games. We all get pissed off when we play sometimes. That's part of the rush and fun of it. Because when it's over, we think, "wow, that was pointless reason to be angry" and then laugh about it.
But where is the report showing how violent these people are on a regular basis? Where's the report showing how much more violent kids are that NEVER play video games?
If you are a male between the ages of 15-25 and you aren't physically active, you don't play video games, you are drug free, and you don't get laid regularly, then YOU ARE A VIOLENT MAN.
And if you're not, you are a rare male...
All of the above mentioned items suppress violence, not encourage it. Funny how most of these things are trying to be stopped or hidden from us...
Censoring = Evil
Am I wrong?
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Maybe
IF it's decided that violence triggers rage, what about people who are enraged by commercials? You're watching a great movie on Tv, and boom, commercial!
If videogames are responsible for violent actions, it will set a precedent where life itself could be blamed for what we do.
Imaging your best friend being viciously murdered and it is ruled that it was becuase he played some fps's earlier that day. Could he walk free?
Scary thought.
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What if...
And not to mention the fact that if they were playing against other players, only the winning person would not be aggrivated more than normal. Everyone else would be mad for losing.
Just some thoughts.
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hmm
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Meaningless Study
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Re: sports
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Re: hmm
We speak our mind in order to open up the minds of others. While every comment on Techdirt cannot be considered 100% accurate, at least they can get people thinking or debating about a specific subject from all kinds of different viewpoints.
And for the record, any researcher can take any kind of "evidence" and skew it in a way that supports THEIR OWN OPINION.
Studies like the one about video game violence don't even need to be accurate, they just create a buzz and get enough attention to sell media and ads. Which is what 90% of all mainstream media is about anyway.
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I wonder.......
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scientific grandstanding.
The study looks to have been directly guided to "prove" a link between violent video games and agression right from the start rather than to actually investigate the possibility of a link.
They set out to find a link and of course they found it, released the results and the media willingly grab hold and the University gets its publicity. The Title of the article itself "Violence in games stimulates brain for aggression" is exactly the result they wanted but was not what was proven. What was "proven" was that playing that particular video game stimulated the brain "for aggression".
Whether it was the violence in the game that stimulated the aggression was definately not shown.
It could have been any number of things, my unproven, untested, personal opinion would be it was the competitive nature of the game rather than the violence.
I think its a pathetic attempt by the University to get in the spotlight. Its a small sample size study with no control group and no investigation into what factors other than the violence in the game could be causing the reaction. They set out to get the result the media is looking for on a hot topic.
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Of course they reacted!
Mind you, the study was not about the reactions after the game, but DURING the game! And I think it's no more than normal that the brains of these players reacted to a (realistic) virtual violent environment in a way similar to real violence.
What the study didn't show, was that these players' minds were somehow influenced AFTER the game was over.
I find it more scary to hear that 2 people didn't react. Was it because they were not interested in the game? Or maybe these 2 just don't react at all (a symptom more commonly found in serial killers). In other words, shouldn't we be more scared of the 2 that didn't react?
Just a thought...
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Another take on it
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No Subject Given
The fact is that ppl are F*CKED up ... including these researchers ( lol ) ... we are naturally flawed, instictually animalistic at times, and sometimes some of us cannot not handle our aggressive feelings and we end up lashing out. I have been playing violent video games since the NES ... NEVER ONCE after a game of Double Dragon ( which I played till calluses erupted on my thumbs in the wee hours of the morning ) have I felt like kicking someone in the face with a spinning bird-kick or bludgeoning someone in the head with a baseball bat.
The thought that someone is CAUSED, or CHANGED TO COMMIT A VIOLENT ACT by something they see or experience is natural and yes, we get angry when we lose or see someone else get hurt or when someone makes us angry ... and we NATURALLY want to ACT on that ... but that doesnt me we all act on it because of what we see or experience.
I watched my mother get BEAT for 14 years of my adolescent life ... and I HAVE NEVER ONCE BEEN IN A FIGHT OR ALTERCATION WHERE VIOLENCE WAS MY CHOICE OUTLET FOR MY AGGRESSIVE THOUGHTS OR FEELINGS OF PUNCHING SOMEONE IN THE FACE! I would say whether I ever had a game controller placed in my hand or not wouldn't have changed me in the slightest. I still would have WANTED to punch someone in the face for pissing me off ... BUT I NEVER HAVE and NEVER WILL. I turned to music, or friends, or some other outlet because I was RAISED to CARE FOR OTHER PPL and not to HURT THEM ...
IF children become violent ... dont blame it on the video ... just think for one second about the VALUES their parents FAILED to teach and nuture their kids with. HELL, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had GRENADES in their beareau drawers and guns under their BEDS ... WHERE WERE THE PARENTS ... hmmm ... well ... they were probably IGNORING THEIR CHILDREN and encouraging them to sit QUIETLY in their bedrooms and play video games ... it wasnt the games that caused them to KILL ppl ... it was the way they were raised and treated.
F*CK CENSORSHIP and RESEARCHERS THAT WASTE OUR TIME TO FILL US WITH BULLSH*T SO THEY CAN GRAB A PAYCHECK.
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Re: No Subject Given
If one is to spend significant amounts of time carrying out violent acts, whether virtual or not, they will develop stronger pathways in the brain for such activity.
There is also a chemical rush associated with these types of acts such as adrenaline and monoamine oxidase. Excessive quantities of these chemicals can lead to an addiction to the resulting rush.
I enjoy playing all games, but have found some of the excessivly violent ones to change my attitude for the worse.
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Re:Re: No Subject Given
The thing is we dont know and there have been no conclusive studies (that I know of..) to tell either way.
Or should I say there have been no studies that *prove* one case or the other. Plenty of studies have tried to claim results but none I have seen have been anywhere near thorough enough.
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Dan's post
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Re: Dan's post
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Do studies of violent video games cause violence?
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No Subject Given
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Re: Video games
The more they play the violent games, the more the very violence becomes part of them. Mind you, at that age, the brain is growing rapidly and assimilating alot of informations which can become akinned to physical behaviour of the kid as he/she grows up!
Note that physical enviroments where one grows tend to shape that person to that physical enviroment in adulthood! Do you know that only in America that are there too much child violence and capital crimes committed by children?? Ask your self why?? the answer is simple! too much TV /video games violence in America watched by kids! They pick their parents' guns, go with them to schools and shoot fellow students thinkingthey are playing video games!!That is a child's mind! Let us not be blinded by MONEY we get by selling these games! Human being can not be replaced But money can be got through other means!
So my friends just protect your kids from playing with these violent games lest you become his/her own victims of violence they learn from the games!!
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Re: Video games
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Juma K is wrong
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Stupid People
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