More video games violence problems...

[Pikawil]

I'll let the 2 links speak for themselves (They're 'bout the same thing, different replies):

http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~polycount/ubb/Forum1/HTML/011594.html?00035
http://www.dragoneye.ca/isoah/index.php?showtopic=23044 (You can find some of my posts)

 

[a441]

Article text in case of slashdotting:

a 17 y.o. kid killed a 14 y.o. after he got obssessed with 'manhunt' on PS2. so now the daily mail (right wing national newspaper in the UK) and the daily mirror (left-ish newspaper) are calling for violent games to be banned, already dixons and game stores have removed manhunt from sale. here

but, the daily mail are screaming 'BAN THESE EVIL GAMES!' on their front page and inside targetted SOF2, hitman 2, state of emergency, UT2004, Doom 3 and a couple others. the mirror got a psychologist in to comment on the '9 most violent games' here amongst them SOF2, manhunt, GTA vice city, postal 2, hitman 2 and hooligans: storm over europe...

the thing that bites me the most is, manhunt is rated 18 by the BBFC, this is a LEGAL age restriction not a voluntary one like the ERSB ratings. and the kid had cannabis on him when the cops arrested him. so everyone ignores the fact that he shouldn't have had the game as he was under-age, the fact that he was a drug user and the fact that his parents obviously weren't exercising control over him to stop him a)owning the game and b) getting obssessed with it and instead they go straight for the video games AGAIN.

thank christ the BBFC chief said in today's mail, "i personally wouldn't want to see manhunt on sale, but under the law i can't do anything because it's one distraught parent blaming the game.' apparently, the BBFC can only ban a game if there is concrete evidence of a game causing harm to a person.


i don't get how they can get wound up about doom 3 when the game's not even been releaseed yet, and how they can get het up about UT2K4 when it's not realistic. i mean, how many 8ft tall killer mechs with plasma weapons have you seen running down the road?

 

[Walan]

I once did a research paper on the video game violence issue. In my opinion, a video game is just as dangerous as the child that precieves it as such. The problem isn't with the game's content, but rather it's the child's mental state. I've been playing Doom for years, but I've also never killed anyone because of it. If a child is already mentally unstable, then yes, I believe that a game like Manhunt could drive that person over the edge, so to speak.

And yet, other mediums go unnoticed. People want violent video games banned, yet that remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is still on Wal-Mart shelves. (I even bought a copy.)

But like the article says, this does all go back to the parents. Sadly, in today's society it is easier to give a kid a video game to make them shut up than it is to actually spend time with that child. And that leads to all the problems in the first place.

 

[firemario1001]

banning doom 3 would really suck...

 

[Walan]

banning doom 3 would really suck...

Thank you for boiling down what I said into a single sentence... :?

 

[Freaky Mutant Man]

Yep, The Parents Fault, Not A Video Game!

 

[Mystic]

There is no substitute for decent parenting. Enough said.

 

[Pikawil]

i mean, how many 8ft tall killer mechs with plasma weapons have you seen running down the road?

How many times did I shot a rocket at Bender's corpse in Quake 3 to see it explode into gibs? Really unrealistic when you take the fact that Bender's a robot...

And what should be the ESRB rating for Mugen?

 

[matthayter700]

I once did a research paper on the video game violence issue. In my opinion, a video game is just as dangerous as the child that precieves it as such. The problem isn't with the game's content, but rather it's the child's mental state. I've been playing Doom for years, but I've also never killed anyone because of it. If a child is already mentally unstable, then yes, I believe that a game like Manhunt could drive that person over the edge, so to speak.

And yet, other mediums go unnoticed. People want violent video games banned, yet that remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is still on Wal-Mart shelves. (I even bought a copy.)

But like the article says, this does all go back to the parents. Sadly, in today's society it is easier to give a kid a video game to make them shut up than it is to actually spend time with that child. And that leads to all the problems in the first place.

Yeah, you do make some good points, especially of the other mediums going unnoticed. Also, about the it's the child's mental state comment, I kinda agree. After all, a kid won't kill if they don't have a reason to. If they do have a reason to, that's a pretty big deal in itself. But you can't blame the people who say that violence exists, or for that matter, (This is on an almost separate topic) can't sue the makers of UMK3 for showing kids violent moves. It's like suing encyclopedia writers for "telling kids how a-bombs work".

 

[LTS]

Ya, I hate it when people make a big deal out of stuff that they don't understand. I've had to deal with a lot of crap like that over the years. You know you got it bad when your parents don't want you playing Super Smash Brothers because "it's too violent". They don't even sit and play it themselves, so I just do it when they aren't looking. :D

 

[Mystic]

If Smash Brothers is too violent, then all of those cartoons from the early days of TV are too violent. I mean, Elmer Fudd has a GUN. And he SHOOTS things with it.

 

[Pikawil]

I mean, Elmer Fudd has a GUN. And he SHOOTS things with it.

HEADSHOT!

*starts shooting random people and absorbs their powers*

Mega Man made me do it! Because of Dr. Fudd! Remember him?

 

[Shuffle]

I play Mario Bros. and geez is that game SUCH a bad influence.
It made me start jumping on turtles much more often than I used to.

 

[matthayter700]

If Smash Brothers is too violent, then all of those cartoons from the early days of TV are too violent.

AGREED!!!

Yeah, I can't stand how people seem to call games violent whereas most games don't encourage the kids to repeat it. For god's sake, in cartoons, someone gets their head blown off and puts it back on! What if kids see that and think that will happen if someone's head blows off?

But NO, games are more likely to have BLOOD. Just what does having blood have to do with kids repeating violence? Heck, you can't "repeat" BLOOD. Blood makes you NOT repeat violence. Therefore, games with more blood should be LESS likely to be M-rated. But THEN, the problem was scaring kids, now it's repeating and... WAIT A MINUTE!!! Kids see blood in real life all the time. What about falling off their bike and landing on a pile of rocks and watching their arms bleed?

Anyway, back on topic. Violence in adults' video games does not make people repeat it, if it did, the same would apply to comic books, movies, cartoons, school playgrounds, (Picking up a large rock and throwing it at a kindergartener could be repeated in less than five seconds for crying out loud) and kids' games, which are just as violent, if not more so, and more influencing. (I mean come on now Sonic Adventure 2 Battle even slipped past the ESRB with an E-rating just because it doesn't have blood)

 

[Pikawil]

(I mean come on now Sonic Adventure 2 Battle even slipped past the ESRB with an E-rating just because it doesn't have blood)

Don't worry, 4Kids will strip down the SA2 saga of Sonic X to an E-Rating!

*punches random idiots, sending them out of my vision and into orbit*

Love Hina and SSBM made me do it! (Read: Naru Punch and Falcon Punch)

 

[LTS]

Oh, what was in it that they would want to edit?

 

[Pikawil]

Oh, what was in it that they would want to edit?

They might think SA2 is way too violent. (The GUN robots (In a fact that they're more realistic that Eggman's). The Biolizard and its ugly stinking mouth. The ARK crashing on Earth. A deep story. Need I say more?)

 

[ST218]

Violence in video games causing problems is utter crap. I've been playing games since my 3rd birth day, and I never once broke my head trying to spin dash my brother. I mean, they just want a reason to keep us from playing in a media that the little guy can reach the mass market. Think about it. The video game industry is one place where a few friends can put together a game, and a year later it's sitting in Wal-Mart. In movies and television, you have to go through corporate big-shots to get your idea out, same with books. Doing things on the internet doesn't guarentee it will reach a wide audience (coughsrb2cough), but in games, it's easier.

Of course, I probably should lay off the TechTV, looking up, but I'm sure something made sense...maybe.


On a side note, how come every topic on a world event leads to us mocking it? Saddam getting captured led to an upside-down pic of Hitler in GFZ.

 

[hotdog003]

I agree on banning violent games, because I hate violence, and it doesn't matter if it isn't "real life", or "it's just a video game". People play so many violent video games nowadays that the main character becomes their "hero", and they want to be like it/him/her, even if it means killing someone.

 

[Mimiru]

I agree with hotdog, violence is bad, no matter where it is. Mario Smash Bros is not violent. But things like Resident Evil...Vice City...those aren't for little kids and stuff. He's right. They are kids' "heros" and they want to be like them. Trust me, I know. :?