Bring on the Violence (in Games)

I found this article posted today. It is refreshing to see some Acedemicians standing against rampant stupidity and prejudice based on nothing more than whimsy.

The article is short but it should be expanded upon and printed in every major paper in the country.

http://www.vnunet.com/News/1135410

Now we have all heard of some nutcase killing himself or others and violent games being blamed. But this is just the latest. I remember when Bugs Bunny was bad because some kid hit his sister with a hammer. Then Dungeons and Dragons was bad because of a couple of incidents, main one being a kid who committed suicide when his character was killed.

These types of analysis have no basis in scientific study. Millions watched bugs, one kid acted stupidly, hundreds of thousands played D&D and one commited suicide. Now there are millions of gamers around the world and anytime one does something even remotely bad it is linked to the game.

Well excuse me but what about the fact that out of a million people the chance that one is going to be depressed, have violent tendencies, or be just plain stupid is pretty high. Comparatively the gamers seem to have proven to be statistically abnormal in a good way. If you take avid gamers and run the numbers against suicide, violent crime, murder, or rape vs. groups based upon wealth level, sports affiliation, school grades, etc. I would bet you will find that gamers are statistically no different or better than any random demographic you wish to use.

However, that doesn't sell papers and it doesn't explain why some kid hits his sister with a hammer, damn that bugs bunny.

I would have to say that a kid hitting his sister with a hammer is a result of very bad parenting. Not to point fingers, but what the hell is a hammer doing around a baby's play area??? I have friends with kids, and they would never let anything like a hammer get in the reach of their kids. People are just quick to point fingers in todays world. I live in Colorado, and here they blamed Colombine on music. Go figure, has to be the music we listen to. Anyway, in todays world, somebody or something has to take the fall for anything that happens. Sad but true....

I grew up watching the Vietnam war on TV... Shows like Looney Tunes, Combat! (it was a WWII based show),etc... I played with toyguns that weren't orange and looked like the real firearms they modeled... I was abused as a child by an over bearing father and a mother who looked the other way when dad smacked us around for sport... I listened to Heavy Metal music (and still do)... I turned out ok... I served my country for over 6 years in one of the toughest units out there... I became a paramedic so I could continue helping people when I got out of the Army... When the chance presented itself I joined my local police Department as a SWAT medic... The conection between violent games, abusive fathers, D & D, etc and violence in the real world is that some people are just violent...They look upon comapsion, kindness, or just general niceness as weakness and they seek to exploit it by what ever means at hand (usually violent)... The liberal, democrat, give up your guns for the children, don't listen to that because we know what is best, take a punk to lunch bunch is just looking to find anyone or anything to blame for these violent peoples actions... In there eyes no one is truly responsible for their actions because everyone has some sort of trauma in their past that made them do it... I say some people just do not know how or want to live in polite socitiy so solve the problem and put the blame where it actually lies... with the people who commit he crimes and those who make excuses for them... Rant is done :D

People are greedy naturally, so as they are violent and they love to destoy things. There is no point of blaming wotever happens to people that somehow relate to computer games, so as there are loads of stupid people around who want to be violent, even if the game is about being good and everything, those people still try to do it their way... in other words games is not a cause of violence, but violence is a cause of violent games, so why dont we stop violence and then stop the violent games.

Also, most cartoons are more violent then games.... it is a damn good fact... so why dont u blame them?

Excelent article! If only it got the kind of coverage it truly deserved. The whole blame thing kind of connects with people suing and attacking gun makers because someone used one of the guns made by the company to commit a crime; its just pointless and stupid really. People are going to do what they want, wether it is good or bad, irregardless of videogames, gun manufactureres, or anything else. I've actually found that violent videogames are a good way to releave stress, at least in my case, that could have led to me hurting myself or others.

I heard some kid had hung himself right after watching an episode of South Park because it seemed as though since poor ol' Kenny lived once again, maybe he could too....

I find it funny that nobody blames games & the TV when serial killers make murder into a hobby.

The sad truth is no parent wants to admit when their kid is cunning, evil, & a murderer.
I mean do you honestly beleave that if a kid watches alot of violence that he's gonna forget whats wrong and whats not?

If you forget what is good and evil then either your really dumb or you are evil. Does being a child make you a saint? NO!!! The sad truth is we all do something wrong and I wish peaple could deal with that instead of blaming other peaple and makeing excuses to make the world seem less sick and sad.

Instead of covering peaple eyes or rubbing peaples' faces into the truth peaple should just learn to deal with things better.

My aunt and I were discussing this thread on the phone and she emailed this to me... And it fits pretty good with the discusion here I thought...


Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.
As children we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special
treat.
Our baby cribs were painted with bright colored lead based paint.
We often chewed on the crib, ingesting the paint.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when
we rode our bikes we had no helmets.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.
We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were never
over weight; we were always outside playing.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Some students weren't as smart as others or didn't work hard so they failed
a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. That generation
produced some of the greatest risk-takers and problem solvers.
We had the freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how
to deal with it all.

~author unknown