News US parents blame games for violence as much as guns

Have a look through this article on the kids at the Belfast riots: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...ts-too-much-to-stop-says-cleric-16260244.html

While it (luckily) doesn't blame games it does nicely show that some kids these days even with non violent alternatives available do prefer violence.

 

Yeah ok, I have been gaming since '84 and never felt the need to harm anyone or anything and I play just as many so called violent games as the rest of us. In fact I have never thrown a punch in anger. I think it's just American kid's getting high on a power trip when they have access to high powered semi auto rifles. Heaven forbid it's the person behind the trigger that's the problem.

 

How do they explain the violent kids from before computer games/movies/books existed (i.e. since the dawn of time)?

Or in central Africa where entertainment doesn't exist?

Some people are inherently bad, but the majority are made bad by a society which doesn't understand/nurture them. A society in which it is a touch too easy to get hold of firepower and kill everyone in the immediate vicinity at the drop of a hat.

 

It's easier to blame it on video-games than thinking of changing the society into a more peaceful one.

 

I bet only 1% of the parents in the survey had every played a game anyway, let a alone a violent one.

 

But there are things that make sense to be done with the media and specifically the advertising industry also....

when adverts are played and so forth...

But I admit, I am also in the same mindset as you on this one. There are people out there who probably have more guns in their house than I have old games consoles. Some of which are definitely not for hunting. (can't remember the last time I shot a deer with a pistol for instance, or a duck with a M16.... or needed to go out with an assault rifle. My parents have licensed firearms for hunting. One rifle and two shotguns.)

One of the things that still amuses me most is the amount of kids playing games that they are not old enough to play. So 18 rated games in the hands of 11 year olds. That really makes me laugh... there is an irony there to suit the gun problems of certain countries.

"I have educated my children to know better. They have been brought up with Guns and are perfectly safe."

Fact is, those teenage years are ****ed up. I did some pretty hairy things, some that I'm greatly ashamed of, in those years. At the time, they were just things in my universe. They didn't effect others. Despite a large capacity for empathy; testosterone and selfishness fuelled by the irrational exuberance of youth made me do some weird things. Let alone adding drugs and peer pressure into the equation.

My point being that even the right circumstances cannot prevent the course of nature in the young.

 

its a culture of blame everyone else and no self responsibility

 

I am from the state, and to be honest, the whole cod community over here consists of "children" and the idiocy of the kids on the live chat usually makes me stop playing, and I have a feeling that this is the case with most other people in my age group (18+) the amount of flaming that is thrown around and rage makes the "mature" state of gaming with ESRB M a laughing joke because it is filled with children. HOWEVER, the stores do not allow children under age to buy games that is rated M, which means that the adults are to blame for their participation. Parents have equal share in this mess, and its just a moronic thing to pin this onto companies that try to cater to the older audience. I feel that pretty soon that the parents will come up with the idea that the whole US of A should be children friendly, so no more night clubs, bars, adult-only-late-at-night-fun-oriented events. Long live Unicorns and princess and all fluffy things

 

If left unqualified - such as mentioning the complexities of an assault rifle versus a handgun - this is a pretty ridiculous statement. Considering there have been instances of children bringing guns to school and opening fire, it can't be that hard to figure out pointing the business end of a gun and pulling the trigger nets the result you're looking for.

Except that the vast majority of guns and ammunition used in mass shootings here in the 'States were purchased legally. Handguns also tend to be the weapon of choice by a 3:1 ratio to assault rifles. Murders committed by illegal weapons tend to be one-off and specifically targeted, and are often connected to other illegal activities (e.g.: theft, drugs, gang-related activities).

In the 2nd Amendment is a phrase that essentially reads, "For the purposes of a well-regulated militia..." people have the right to keep and bear arms. Few people today recall the laws of yesteryear when laws were employed that kept rifles, powder, and ammunition in separate locations. (I can't imagine what would happen if I told an American gun owner, "You can keep your gun under your pillow if you'd like, but you have to keep your clip of bullets in a locked safe in a different room.") Banning weapons is perfectly allowable by the Constitution if followed explicitly to the letter, yet gun industry lobbyists will tell you that is not the 'spirit' of the Constitution. A US Supreme Court justice will go either way with little predictability.

I generally go a step further by pointing out that a public execution was good entertainment up through the early 20th century. You can find newspaper archives that tell the story of how a criminal was wrangled, shot, dragged to the nearest theater, hung, and let theater patrons take shots at the body (balcony ticket holders got unlimited shots, while general audience members were allowed only one). No joke. This was a thing, and not too long ago. The problem is people normalize their perception of violence based on their temporal and physical environment. (E.g.: Most Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States don't recall a time when it was weird to be either, never mind the fact that it was only 50-60 years ago.)

It's worth pointing out that, most likely, those who were surveyed likely don't live in urban areas, have never directly witnessed actual violence themselves, and don't consider that most of the 13,000 murders in the US occur without prompting from any sort of media interaction. Just a hunch based on a life lived in a high murder rate urban area in the US.

 

I blame the parents.


Just sayin'.

 

me to, if their children are playing violent video games rated (18)(M), then they are definitely to blame for giving in to them, Just say no, followed by a short sharp slap on the arse if they continue to pester for it.

 

QFT, FPS games are not highly detailed weapons simulations and if it qualified as such, would we have to hand out driving licenses to anyone who clocked lets say 100 hours on Need for Speed?

Anyway, in America it isn't unheard of that parents take their kids to the shooting range, so if the kid later at home plays CoD it may very well know how to use a gun, although not from the game.

Although as the article I linked ealrier nicely shows, some kids do view real life violence as a fun activity.. but if games would be a cause, the solution would be simple:

Parents could just break the CoD disc forcing the kid to watch if it brings it home, saved up all year from your allowance for it? tough luck, next time buy something suitable for your age and I hope you learned your lesson, now off to bed without dinner and the xbox goes in the basement for 2 weeks.
But unfortunately it isn't that simple, even if you actively try to push the kids to none violent alternatives they just tell you to get lost.

 

This is why I hate living in America - the country is too huge for such statistics to be accurate. If you're in the north-east coast (like I am) or in the west coast, you're going to get a bunch of liberal gun haters. If you focus on the southern and mountain states, you'll get the gun activists and fat religious people. The irony is the people who hate guns and video games are the people who are most likely going to encounter the things they fear those products will produce. I live in Massachusetts, which has one of the highest gun crime rates in the country and guess what - its also one of the most strict on gun laws. Crimes get increasingly worse as more laws are passed. You can't just simply wish something away by law and if someone has the incentive to kill, they're going to do that regardless of having legal access to a gun or exposure to video games.

You could argue that a video game lets kids think killing is ok, but on the other hand, if the kid feels the need to kill, perhaps a video game is a good way to relieve that urge.

I don't understand how some people are so narrow-minded.

 

It's true, all of it, *cry* video games make people violent *sniffle*, Mario made me punch daisy's, Oh the shame!

 

Not to mention the mushrooms I did on that game...

 

Everyone has made good valid points. Gaming is not to blame but it could be used as a catalyst to aid process of turning to the dark side just like a violent thought, violent book, violent film, a past experience. For me it comes down to parenting, the environment - surrounded by bad influences, and psychological well being. but most importantly choice! in the end an individual is responsible for their own actions and reasons for using a gun against another human being.

 

Blaming it on the game itself is a rather irresponsible statement. It's akin to blaming porn for ******* sons.

Terrible analogy aside, the issue is that Americans (like almost any other culture) don't want to own up to the fact that our laws are rather absurd. Gun Control is as likely as the recent end of the world in all honesty. Too many guns have been distributed as it is. The only way to counter this is to educate people. And that's a scary prospect.

If there's anyone to blame it can't be video games, hell it can't even be the media (that much anyways), it's the education of the children or lack therof. Couple with irritating self-entitlement that runs rampant in this country and we have a rather nice concoction of factors that make it easy for everyone to point the finger at anything but themselves.

 

as an american I would love to paint this as a unfair survey being used far beyond the scope of it's sample size. But I've seen way too many parents let their 6 year old children play grand theft auto. I'm guessing it's not unique to america, but there is a serious issue with parents blaming things on games, even though the sale of M rated games is restricted to adults here, and most of the time the kids are playing these games on the family TV.

 

+1

 

^THIS. We ARE in a quick-fix society. What a such society lacks is decent education.

[rant]
As to my opinions on guns? No, you don't need 5/person, but remember: Gun control attempts to control everyone, but it ends up only affecting law-abiding citizens.
As to guns themselves? They're small, powerful, effective. You know what else is small, powerful, effective? Knives. What's next? Knife control?
[/rant]


As for the games themselves? I don't think that the violent nature is a direct cause of major incidents, but once you see a theme for long enough enough, you start to see it as normal life. Hear a lie long enough, it becomes truth in your eyes.