The Truth About Violent Youth And Video Games

[AdamCecil]

http://www.fatal1ty.com/news/?type=PR&ID=26


The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games
January 19, 2006

What parents need to know about the relationship between violence and video games.

Written by Duke Ferris

Thanks to the current media frenzy and barrage of lawsuits surrounding violent video games, I can’t tell people what I do for a living without getting a lecture on the current plague of youth violence and the scourge that is Grand Theft Auto. I decided it was time for a rebuttal more effective than shrugging and saying, “Well, I think you’re wrong.”

So I sat down to write this article, and started doing some research. What I discovered startled me. I'm not sure I have the ability to write a totally serious piece - it is not in my nature to be serious, nor the nature of GR - but the issues are very serious indeed and the evidence is very real.

I am even going to use charts. With words on 'em. We spare no expense.

First off, I have absolute proof that video games are not the cause of this epidemic of youth violence in America. No, really, I do. Ready?

There is no epidemic of youth violence in America.


So is the media and the government flat out lying to us? Yes, and they have been doing so for years. As touched on in the rabble-rousing films of Michael Moore, fear sells. It’s how you turn terrible tragedies like Columbine and the WTC Attack into election votes and must-see TV.

The media in particular loves to bash video games, making sure to point out any time there’s an Xbox within 50 yards of a crime. This is because games are the new competition - every hour you spend interacting with a game is one hour less spent drooling in front of their fear-mongering programming.

And it's working. Sparked by Columbine, mainstream media routinely paints a picture of gamers as odd shut-ins dangerously close to the precipice of violent behavior, and almost unerringly misconstrue the games themselves without taking the time to fact check, as is the case in the very first sentence of this CBS News report. Points for killing cops in GTA? Do games still have points?

I really like how he uses the graphs with the timeline. His facts prove that violence is going down, and that the media is lying to us. God damn media.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

There has never been a conclusive link between youths and video game violence.
Jack Thompson and Joe Lieberman are big, fat, fucking liars.

[Syndicalista]

If people wonders why there is such a vast amount of violence in the US today, they really should look into how easy it is for people to get their hands on weapons. How many other countries has this problems? None of wich i know here in EU. And can we find a "red thread" in this? No where in europe can a person buy a weapons without speciell permits and a background check with the police and authorities wich is very strict. Personally i think that would be the main reason why there is such violence in the US.

[FULL METAL JACKET]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 02:01 PM
There has never been a conclusive link between youths and video game violence.
Jack Thompson and Joe Lieberman are big, fat, fucking liars.
Joe Liberman has no clue. He's the same guy that blamed Marliyn Mason for the columbine shooting.
I grew up on violent movies and violent video games. I haven't killed anybody, I haven't got arrested. I don't even remember the last fight I've been in. No matter what happens the media and society always need a scapegoat.

[FULL METAL JACKET]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 03:03 PM
If people wonders why there is such a vast amount of violence in the US today, they really should look into how easy it is for people to get their hands on weapons. How many other countries has this problems? None of wich i know here in EU. And can we find a "red thread" in this? No where in europe can a person buy a weapons without speciell permits and a background check with the police and authorities wich is very strict. Personally i think that would be the main reason why there is such violence in the US.
But here in the U.S we do need background checks and permits. Unless you're out hunting with your father you can carry a rifle.

[Dreckt]

I think the problem with this question lies in where it began. If I'm right, the question began in the US, since (duh) US companies were the first to create video games. Naturally, they looked at what happened in the US, and then assumed the same with the rest of the world.

On the other hand, I think the problem with games in Europe, or at least what I've heard and seen, is the addiction, mostly to online games (such as World of Warcraft).

Hell, I saw Alien (1) when I was 7 and I never crawled into a went with a firethrower :D ...

[Gura]

The supposed dangerous effect of violent video games on children makes for good media coverage. People get into these sensationalist stories about violent games (or kidnapped children, or paedophiles, or other such bullshit) and ratings go up.

[ChemicalBrother]

People love to establish erroneous positive causal relationships.

It gives them something to point to and say "bad" and waste taxpayer’s money to eliminate it. As stated before there has never been a correlation between violent video games and violence in real life. The most sadistic murders have been known to watch cartoons.

[piet11111]

first of all i am a violent agressive person.

when i was going to school i was bullied daily and i if i had the chance at that time i would have had no problem painting the school walls with the brains of my regular tormenters.
but after i got my playstation i started to play games like final fantasy 7 and i found a way to unwind from all that stress and forget about the hell i would go through the next school day.

if anything videogames prevented me from going nuts and stabbing those bastards.
i always thought they where plotting to kill me and at that time i hardly cared aslong as i got a fighting chance to take some with me.

its obvious shit like that leaves permanent scars but now i only want to be left alone instead of violent confrontations.
without videogames i would have had nothing to distract me from the fear i had of going to school.

if only i had that playstation sooner

[bcbm]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 02:03 PM
If people wonders why there is such a vast amount of violence in the US today, they really should look into how easy it is for people to get their hands on weapons. How many other countries has this problems? None of wich i know here in EU. And can we find a "red thread" in this? No where in europe can a person buy a weapons without speciell permits and a background check with the police and authorities wich is very strict. Personally i think that would be the main reason why there is such violence in the US.
The existence of guns and the ability to procure them does not cause violence, as violence is a social occurence where as guns are objects, not social factors.

[Rawthentic]

This is a good argument on the relationship between violence and video games. But I used to play video games alot and saw that i was rotting away in front of the tv. My mind was blind to the problems of the world and the only thing i cared about was how to beat the next level on my video games. This happens to millions of youth in America. They may not be committing violence, but they are rotting away in front of a tv whether you guys would like to admit it or not. So instead of that, i started to read alot on socialism, Che Guevara, Marx, and found a much better way to steer my potential. I no longer play video games but expand my knowledge on the revolution and have committed myself and my time to something much more productive and important in this world. How exactly do you think that you are helping revolution by playing video games? Just like our media, video games keeps Americans blind and sterile. This type of technology has separated and isolated man from man. Man no longer communicates or socializes like before. We would rather be cooped up in front of a tv playing xbox. Its as if these video games bring in a new reality or fantasy world to the players. If youre being bullied at school, confront it head on, dont cower away on youre playstation. I dont mean kill anybody, but confront in a way that would make you look good and get youre bullies fucked. Just something to think about.

[piet11111]

:lol: oh wait your serious

i tried to confront them but when its 1 vs 10 and the teachers choose to ignore it then you dont stand a chance.

also there is little to do when it comes to advance communism.
there are no concessions to be won anymore and class warfare is still decades away so all i can do is save money and read but i cant read all day long.
so i choose video games as entertainment and some games like operation flashpoint can serve quite well as a tool in learning about some issues of guerilla warfare.
its better then nothing at all and its fun at the same time.

[321zero]

Video games and the internet are a bourgeois plot, created for the sole purpose of diverting the attention and energies of revolting youth from the study of Great Marxists.

True communists must launch an ideological Total War ™ against this degeneracy. ;)

[piet11111]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2006, 08:59 AM
Video games and the internet are a bourgeois plot, created for the sole purpose of diverting the attention and energies of revolting youth from the study of Great Marxists.

True communists must launch an ideological Total War against this degeneracy.
ok if i understand that right and assuming you apply the above to yourself then you are not a true communist :blink:

the ability to judge your chances are much more important then the ability to sum up every work of marx from memory.
and the chances are not yet favorable so i just take my time and wait for things to chance in our favour.

[ColinH]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26 2006, 05:28 PM
Hell, I saw Alien (1) when I was 7 and I never crawled into a went with a firethrower :D ...
Aw man, you've never lived!

[RedAnarchist]

Whenever I play GTA San Andreas, I always like to put those explosive things on cars and park them next to cop cars, before running to a safe distance and blowing it up, but I'm not going to go out and do that just because I do it on a video game.

[321zero]

I added a ;) and a ™ to my first post. Sorry for the confusion.

[piet11111]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2006, 11:17 PM
I added a ;) and a ™ to my first post. Sorry for the confusion.
that is a blinking smiley ? looks more like he got something in its eye
woops i overlooked the trade mark thingy aswell (im blind for those you know :blush: )

[*PRC*Kensei]

just one opinion:

I game evry fucking day. (i know, capitalist blablabla... i got to do something right ?) tons of games... shooting...killing...all sorts.

And i never attacked a person in my life or attempted to.


end o story.

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2006, 08:59 AM
True communists must launch an ideological Total War ™ against this degeneracy. ;)
:lol:

Perhaps the most fitting use for a ™ ever seen on a commie website.

But to turn serious for a second, violence sells, sex sells, controversy sells. Does anyone here think the media are interested in the "public good" or the "truth"?

[Abakua]

Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".

[Kaze]

i usually play games with some sort of meaning to them like deus ex where you get to steer the future development of humanity in the end.

or civilisation 4.


BIG games like that the kind of games you have to buy sun tzus art of war to help you with. as far as GTA goes if i want to experience gangland violence ill just hang around in the street for a while.

games are becoming like films in their popularity, reality and story content, and quite frankly you are not "rotting in front of the tv" if you are interacting with something, like a game. using your head to think up solutions, instead of using your head to collect useless information about what colour pants a celebrity wears, like so much trash media forces down our throats.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 02:53 PM
Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".
I play computer games and I get stoned. Doesn't mean shit in terms of my resistance to the despotism of capital. So you can cram your neo-puritanism up your ass where it belongs

[Wanted Man]

I'm going to take a rather less mainstream stance on this: video games indeed do not cause violence, and that's a bloody shame!

[Guerrilla22]

Joe Lieberman is an ass wipe. This is the same line that's come from politicians in washington for ages, they seem to think that violence in the US stems from fucking video games and movies, but don't think the large amount of guns in the country, large social ineaquality or the country's promotion of violence through war mongerin has anything to do with it.

[piet11111]

i liked black and white 2 its just so much fun throwing fire balls around torching villages and villagers.

elder scrolls is cool aswell especially oblivion (finally some blood yay !!)
archery in oblivion is fun especially if your not a good archer i have seen some of my opponents take dozens of arrows and looked wierd with all those arrows sticking in them.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I play First Person Shooters because I like killing things onscreen. I especially like FPSs with absurdly large amounts of enemies to shoot to bits.

"Let's get serious!" - Serious Sam

[Axel1917]

Liberman and Co. are merely the representatives of a coalition of bad parents looking for a scapegoat for their kids' problems. Have you ever noticed how Liberman and Co. keep attacking video games, while at the same time, they maintain complete silence in regard to violent books and movies?

I would say that things from a capitalist psychology, such as bullying, are real problems when it comes to violence in children.

I don't play video games very often anymore. They don't seem to be as good as they used to be (most of the games I do play, and I don't play them very often, are emulators and ROM's from 8-bit and 16-bit video game systems that I missed out on, given that I did not have a lot of those games as a kid, as I had no source of income). Most of my spare time is dedicated to studying Marxism.

[Syndicalista]

I think that video/computer-games makes you more violent, But that is just when you are playing them and failing. I know when me and some buddies where playing COD II
We went nuts. But then afterwards there was nothing, And none of us is any violent outside of that. I must although say that one of the most pleasurable moments that a man can have must be behind the nazis own MG42 in COD II when you gun down the fascist fuckers and force them back to their "fuhrer".

[Commie Rat]

Sounds like Reefer Madness for the 21st century.

[Abakua]

Originally posted by NoXion+Mar 28 2006, 04:53 PM--> (NoXion @ Mar 28 2006, 04:53 PM)
[email protected] 28 2006, 02:53 PM
Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".
I play computer games and I get stoned. Doesn't mean shit in terms of my resistance to the despotism of capital. So you can cram your neo-puritanism up your ass where it belongs [/b]
So when your sat there monged out in fantasy land, your fighting capitalism?
Perhaps the lines of reality have been blurred for you. Shove that up your ass and smoke it.

[dusk]

Well movies and music can give inspiration for violence.

It's someone's own responsibility to do something to that.

[*PRC*Kensei]

Originally posted by Abakua+Mar 29 2006, 12:21 PM--> (Abakua @ Mar 29 2006, 12:21 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 04:53 PM

[email protected] 28 2006, 02:53 PM
Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".
I play computer games and I get stoned. Doesn't mean shit in terms of my resistance to the despotism of capital. So you can cram your neo-puritanism up your ass where it belongs
So when your sat there monged out in fantasy land, your fighting capitalism?
Perhaps the lines of reality have been blurred for you. Shove that up your ass and smoke it. [/b]
dude... you could aswell say:

at 3 o clock at night, when your in you bed: are you fighting capitalism ?

[*PRC*Kensei]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 06:07 PM
i liked black and white 2 its just so much fun throwing fire balls around torching villages and villagers.

elder scrolls is cool aswell especially oblivion (finally some blood yay !!)
archery in oblivion is fun especially if your not a good archer i have seen some of my opponents take dozens of arrows and looked wierd with all those arrows sticking in them.
OFF TOPIC:

oblivion top game ? u advice it to me ? (planning to buy it)

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Originally posted by Abakua+Mar 29 2006, 12:21 PM--> (Abakua @ Mar 29 2006, 12:21 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 04:53 PM

[email protected] 28 2006, 02:53 PM
Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".
I play computer games and I get stoned. Doesn't mean shit in terms of my resistance to the despotism of capital. So you can cram your neo-puritanism up your ass where it belongs
So when your sat there monged out in fantasy land, your fighting capitalism? [/b]
When you're buying food to eat, are you fighting capitalism, or supporting it? What about when you pay for your travel fares or pay for petrol? What about your precious leisure time? Or do you "fight capitalism" 24/7?



Perhaps the lines of reality have been blurred for you. Shove that up your ass and smoke it.

If you can't fight capitalism and have fun at the same time, I think it is you that has the problems.

[*PRC*Kensei]

Originally posted by NoXion+Mar 29 2006, 01:42 PM--> (NoXion @ Mar 29 2006, 01:42 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2006, 12:21 PM

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 04:53 PM

[email protected] 28 2006, 02:53 PM
Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".
I play computer games and I get stoned. Doesn't mean shit in terms of my resistance to the despotism of capital. So you can cram your neo-puritanism up your ass where it belongs
So when your sat there monged out in fantasy land, your fighting capitalism?
When you're buying food to eat, are you fighting capitalism, or supporting it? What about when you pay for your travel fares or pay for petrol? What about your precious leisure time? Or do you "fight capitalism" 24/7?



Perhaps the lines of reality have been blurred for you. Shove that up your ass and smoke it.

If you can't fight capitalism and have fun at the same time, I think it is you that has the problems. [/b]
u can fight & have fun at same time... but i thought that was called "rioting" or something :ph34r: :lol: :D :D

[Abakua]

Originally posted by NoXion+Mar 29 2006, 01:42 PM--> (NoXion @ Mar 29 2006, 01:42 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2006, 12:21 PM

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2006, 04:53 PM

[email protected] 28 2006, 02:53 PM
Video games are pacifiers, "Keep them stoned and playing games".
I play computer games and I get stoned. Doesn't mean shit in terms of my resistance to the despotism of capital. So you can cram your neo-puritanism up your ass where it belongs
So when your sat there monged out in fantasy land, your fighting capitalism?
When you're buying food to eat, are you fighting capitalism, or supporting it? What about when you pay for your travel fares or pay for petrol? What about your precious leisure time? Or do you "fight capitalism" 24/7?



Perhaps the lines of reality have been blurred for you. Shove that up your ass and smoke it.

If you can't fight capitalism and have fun at the same time, I think it is you that has the problems. [/b]
I don't buy no petrol, yes I buy food to eat - I find it necessary. I don't line the pockets of exploitative games co's at £40 a hit. My leisure time is my business but I don't like to sit in front of a box killing imaginary people. That's my choice, no need to get prissy.

[*PRC*Kensei]

their not imaginary... their digital. you dont have to "imagine" something you see.

a kid can just aswell play with plastic soldier who kill eachother... video games only make it more interactive.