Dismantling The Research Being Used Against Video Games
from the it's-got-problems dept
Two of the pet peeves we have here are all of the studies that claim to show a link between violent video games and real violence, and the obsession (or, perhaps we should say "addiction") researchers seem to have with calling just about any new technology that people use frequently an addiction. Neither one tends to hold up under scrutiny -- though, the press rarely digs into any of the claims and usually reports them as fact. Of course, it shouldn't be a surprise that the "blame the video game" crowd is now adding the "addiction" element to their case against video games -- which of course could make for typical vapid press coverage. NewScientist apparently had just such an article lately -- with scary graphics and plenty of weak or unsubstantiated claims.So, kudos to Business Week for ripping apart the NewScientist piece while digging deeper into the research concerning the impact on real world violence as well as the addiction issue. In both cases, the research again comes up lacking. Most of the research concerning video game violence impacting real world violence comes from one source (or is based on his original work). The article notes that the interpretation of the data is often clearly biased, as they leave out perfectly reasonable explanations for the data that have nothing to do with making people more prone to violence. There's a good example of a study that claimed violent video games "desensitizes" people to real violence based on how video game players' brains didn't react as much to violent images -- but a similar study of baseball players showed how good baseball players' brains reacted similarly to seeing a pitch being thrown at them. No one says the batter is "desensitized" to the pitch, but everyone simply recognizes that they need less cognitive power to understand the situation and know how to react. Yet, the video game study makes no similar suggestion. The addiction research has similar issues, as we've seen repeatedly with almost every recent claim of "tech addiction." Coming just as we have another batch of stories trying to link a crime with the video games the deranged killer played, it's nice to finally see the media digging into the research. Of course, we're still wondering why almost no one in the media reports on the fact that, as violent video games have shot up in popularity among kids, incidents of youth violence have continually decreased. If these games are such an influence to violence, wouldn't you expect the opposite to happen?
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BUT...
I mean, I seriously want to become violent against these people. Now I've never acted out on these, and haven't actually gotten into a physical fight with any one since grade nine, but I still feel the urge to become violent when these people anger me with their ill informed speeches.
Of course I usually resort to simply hopping into Grand Theft Auto (whichever is the latest one) and running over people, but I still feel these violent tendancies.
I guess the world was a much less violent place in the days before video games. I would guess that people who don't play video games just never get angry and have never became violent.
Why, oh why, did we ever create video games? This is the whole reason wars have just started happening since the creation of video games, because before this time, no human had ever violently harmed another human.
F'in' nitwits... :)
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Re: BUT...
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Your so clever!
You must be some kind of genius, because I didn't see that coming at all!
It all really made up for the lack of any evidence contrary to "scientific" opinion.
And to close with the foreign-language thing mixed with an insult...wow...just brilliant! I'll bet you have a 12th grade education at least.
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Re: BUT...
As a human, which I assume you are, (heh) you are designed to feel emotions. Anger is an emotion, and it's related in a lot of cases to violence; but you made the very important comment toawrds the end of your post. When you're frustrated, you hop onto GTA and run people over. In this way, your gaming can be seen as a way to get out your frustrations, not build them (unless you're lagging hardcore or keep dying.) There are studies to show that playing video games increases your ability to understand emotions like fear and anger, and deal with them more effectivley.
You get frustrated with the people who say that, not because video games have made you violent, but because you hold your own opinion, with information to support it, and they are making irrational claims based only on what they have been told as opposed to what they have experienced.
In the perfect world, no literature would be biased, but not only would that be boring, it would also be too easy. People want to be right. Articles will be lined with false claims and exagerated statistics because people want to be right.
"One day the world will ask you who you are. If you do not know, the world will tell you."
If you think games are going to make you violent, then you're subconciously going to let yourself lean toward violent tendancies.
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Games
I grow increasingly convinced that the whole idea of addiction is simply bullshit. Its about people not being willing to tack responsibility for their actions. "Its not my fault, I'm addicted."
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Re: Games
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my 2 cents on why
There are votes and/or contributions, or subscriptions (in this case) involved. Look at the publicity that this publication has received, at very low cost.
Those that do this sort of thing know that the laziness of the mainstream media and the dumbing down of the population gets them a free ride, more often than not.
Politicians thrive on that tactic.
It's only notable that the WSJ took them on because it's so rare that anyone does.
Two quotes:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
An idea known as 'Hanlon's Razor' by Robert J. Hanlon
“Never attribute to stupidity that which is malice.”
An idea known as Howard's Scissors from my brother Howie
Both are indispensable insights.
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vid addiction
Please excuse me now, I need to go legobotomize Darth Vader.
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Re: vid addiction
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Master Race 2
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A new scapegoat...
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Re: A new scapegoat...
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Video game violence and addiction
However my guild is waiting for me to log in so we can kill things and take their stuff.
Violence and addiction? Nonsence!
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Turn about is fair play
The news media is just as culpable as video games based on the addiction and desensitizing effects and they have a much BIGGER audience.
Why isn’t there legislation trying to limit what the news media is showing us……oh I almost forgot that’s called censorship!
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Good.
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correlation is not causation
How do they know that it's not the other way around? Children already capable of commiting a violent crime like to buy violent video games.
That seems way more likely to me than a violent video game causing a child to commit a violent crime.
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Yo enloco, help me understand.
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Religious war is not violent and is acceptable?
Bombing innocent women and children in restaurants, on trains, at weddings, at funerals, kidnapping, hostage taking, throat slitting on video tapes, bombing mosques, synagogues and churches are acceptable non-violent activities - when done in the name of religion?
I have no idea what religion you follow - nor do I want to know; but you have a very strange definition of violence.
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Re: Yo enloco, help me understand.
He said religion is the CAUSE of the war, not JUST a scapegoat.
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What needs to happen is an overview of cultural trends.. By responsible parents with a mind to raising good children. You go to the source. The upbringing of a child into society with a mind to guiding them past dangers and pitfalls. Unless your child is developmentally disabled, a strong parental presence is really the key.
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I don't know what the @#&! video games are, but
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Re: I don't know what the @#&! video games are, bu
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just as soon as I finish this level
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Statistics.....
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Fun and friends
Thank you Mario, you have prevented yet another mass murderer!
(but our princess in in another castle!)
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Anonymous coward makes a good point
Maybe violent behavior is something they take up after they quit.
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The REAL culprit!
Burn the books and destroy all the presses and the world would be a more peaceful place!
Stop before I read again!
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video game
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the REAL problem
that's right. if a researcher is playing so many violent video games, why are their research labs not breeding ground for psychopaths? Obviously they have some antidote to video games, and they are not telling the general public about it, or else every now and then we'd hear about another researcher who got loose and murdered his neighborhood.
i say that the video-game antidote obviously used by researchers should be made publically available and for free, without any license or royalty given to the research lab, and quickly to prevent any more deaths caused by un-immunized video game players worldwide. it's in society's best interest this be done quickly... for the children.
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An Escape
Yet the answer, as I believe it, has been stated by all of you - each stating that it made you mad and you wanted to go kill innocents in various games!
The affect that a video game has on a person's psyche is no different than that which going at a punching bag for an hour would be. The number of times that I have gotten upset by something, taken my car out and drove like a complete dumbass is countless!
Question: presumably, a mortician reads books and watches documentries on performing autopsies and such. Is his/her desire to be a mortician derived from watching/reading these texts, or do they read these texts due to their desire to be a mortician?
When I read a book, or watch a movie, or play a game, I immerse myself in the world present to me by it. I imagine that I am one of the characters portrayed by it. Yet, at least last time I checked, I wasn't going around telling everyone that I was Belgarath the Sorcerer, several millenia old, and known as 'the Eternal Man' in the Mrin Codex!
Ref: The Belgariad, David Eddings. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgarath
When I read a book, I do it so I can, at least temporarily, effectively 'leave this world', and all the concerns that bother me, and become someone else, someone not troubled by my own concerns. I may be alone in this, but without that, I probably would have cracked! Am I addicted to books?
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Re: An Escape
Ever hear of sarcasm? Evidently not.
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video games
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hello
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load of crap
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